Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
This track is a mix of the Synthwave and Ambient genres, prominently featuring the sounds of the Casio CZ-1 in a gentle tour of the constellation Cassiopeia (hence the track name).
Follow Cassiopeia as she walks through the Ghost Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia, accompanied by a cornucopia of Casios!
Process Notes:
I tried to keep to using only Casio synthesizers (Arturia's CZ-V plugin) but in the end the track really needed a warm vocal sounds, and the venerable CZ-1 just wasn't up to the task, so I added in one instance of Output's Exhale to provide the vocal tone.
@Modalics released EON-Arp while I was creating this track, so I added that into the production. It has some things to get used to but provides some features I don't have in other arpegiators and sequencers. I also mixed in Bitwig's Ricochet and Arpeggiator as different key switches, to give the arp line more variations.
To give the track a little more sense of movement, I added in some subtle percussive taps using Modular Icons and Rise & Hit.
Using Midjourney, I generated a series of images of Cassiopeia as a lady made of stars. I processed those images in Affinity Photo to create the outlines, which I think stop-motion animated in DaVinci Resolve. This video has my most complex use of the color page, with several nodes to animate and make the stars in the static image "sparkle" independently and not just flicker all at the same time.
Music created in Bitwig Studio, using:
- Arturia's CZ-V, Efx Fragments, Dist TUBE-CULTURE, Delay TAPE-201, Delay BRIGADE, Rev INTENSITY, Rev PLATE-140, COMP VCA-65
- Modalics' EON-Arp
- Native Instruments' Solid Bus Comp, Phasis, Modular Icons, Rise & Hit
- Output's Portal, Exhale, Thermal
- Cableguy's Shaperbox 3
- PaulXStretch
- XLN's RC-20
- Kilohearts' Trance Gate, Filter
- Valhalla's Vintage Verb, Supermassive, Shimmer
- TBProAudio's dpMeter 5
- Fabfilter's Pro-L 2
- Soundtheory's Gulfoss
- iZotope's Ozone 10, Tonal Balance Control
- Plugin Boutique's Scaler 2
Video created with:
- DaVinci Resolve 18.1
- Affinity Photo 2 for the Artifonica device/logo, cover art, and other photo touching up
- Magic Animate and Magic Zoom V3, by @MrAlexTech
- Ghost Nebula image courtesy of ESA/Hubble, NASA
Thanks @EuropeanSpaceAgency, @hubblespacetelescope, and @NASA!
Keywords:
Synthwave, Retrowave, 80s, 1980s, retro, upbeat, Midjourney, AI art, meditation, chill, chillout, relax, relaxing, relaxation, unwind, sleep, dreams, dreaming, space, soundscape, science fiction, sci-fi, RPG, background, peace, peaceful, ambience
This track is a mix of the Synthwave and Ambient genres, prominently featuring the sounds of the Casio CZ-1 in a gentle tour of the constellation Cassiopeia (hence the track name).
Follow Cassiopeia as she walks through the Ghost Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia, accompanied by a cornucopia of Casios!
Process Notes:
I tried to keep to using only Casio synthesizers (Arturia's CZ-V plugin) but in the end the track really needed a warm vocal sounds, and the venerable CZ-1 just wasn't up to the task, so I added in one instance of Output's Exhale to provide the vocal tone.
@Modalics released EON-Arp while I was creating this track, so I added that into the production. It has some things to get used to but provides some features I don't have in other arpegiators and sequencers. I also mixed in Bitwig's Ricochet and Arpeggiator as different key switches, to give the arp line more variations.
To give the track a little more sense of movement, I added in some subtle percussive taps using Modular Icons and Rise & Hit.
Using Midjourney, I generated a series of images of Cassiopeia as a lady made of stars. I processed those images in Affinity Photo to create the outlines, which I think stop-motion animated in DaVinci Resolve. This video has my most complex use of the color page, with several nodes to animate and make the stars in the static image "sparkle" independently and not just flicker all at the same time.
Music created in Bitwig Studio, using:
- Arturia's CZ-V, Efx Fragments, Dist TUBE-CULTURE, Delay TAPE-201, Delay BRIGADE, Rev INTENSITY, Rev PLATE-140, COMP VCA-65
- Modalics' EON-Arp
- Native Instruments' Solid Bus Comp, Phasis, Modular Icons, Rise & Hit
- Output's Portal, Exhale, Thermal
- Cableguy's Shaperbox 3
- PaulXStretch
- XLN's RC-20
- Kilohearts' Trance Gate, Filter
- Valhalla's Vintage Verb, Supermassive, Shimmer
- TBProAudio's dpMeter 5
- Fabfilter's Pro-L 2
- Soundtheory's Gulfoss
- iZotope's Ozone 10, Tonal Balance Control
- Plugin Boutique's Scaler 2
Video created with:
- DaVinci Resolve 18.1
- Affinity Photo 2 for the Artifonica device/logo, cover art, and other photo touching up
- Magic Animate and Magic Zoom V3, by @MrAlexTech
- Ghost Nebula image courtesy of ESA/Hubble, NASA
Thanks @EuropeanSpaceAgency, @hubblespacetelescope, and @NASA!
Keywords:
Synthwave, Retrowave, 80s, 1980s, retro, upbeat, Midjourney, AI art, meditation, chill, chillout, relax, relaxing, relaxation, unwind, sleep, dreams, dreaming, space, soundscape, science fiction, sci-fi, RPG, background, peace, peaceful, ambience
