Jewel Dirks

These three little pieces were written back in 1990 on my Ensoniq sampling keyboard with it's tiny 3 x 6 cm screen for the onboard recording sequencer.  (In other words--this was before my computer, Cubase, sound effect plugins, sound card, and monitors!)  I was experimenting with different rhythms, and used the onboard synth sounds and some of my own sampled drum sounds.  I originally downloaded this to a cassette recording in 1990, then transferred that to a CD in 2019.  This is now (2022) a remastering, where I was able to get a bit of the hiss out---but the original mash of sounds (ie, the loudness and the crushing lack of balance between parts) remains thick and overbearing.  ...That photo, by the way, is of two huge mountain ants going at it when I was goat packing up at about 12,500 feet by Windy Lake in the Wind River Mountains.  They grow to at least 3/8 inches long at that altitude.