Day 82

Day 82:

On a grey early evening, I was playing the keyboard in my room. It was during that time when the sun is setting, and it's getting darker outside, but it's not quite dark enough to have the light on yet. The glow on the keyboard's little electric screen lit up the keys, a shadow stepping down from each black key onto the white one below. I'm playing around with some of the strange sound settings that come on these things, like the 'Horse' voice (which is just a 'clip clop', 'clip clop' rather than an actual horse's voice). The wheel on the keyboard has up to 800 different voice options, so I just start to scroll through them, in reverse order. 

In the process of going through the random 'tweet tweet', 'VROOMMM' and 'DJ!' sounds, I arrived on 'Goblins'. It struck me as strange; unless Yamaha knows things that the rest of us don't, they can't have sampled any real goblin sounds. It became even more odd when I tried to play it. It seemed very quiet at first, but it grew the longer I held the key down. Almost like a wailing sound, with space-age sound waves weaved in between them. When holding down multiple notes, it became almost unnerving. The waves of alien-like screeching clashing against each other, making even C major sound very far from home. 

'This must be some mistake,' I thought. 'No depiction of goblins I've ever heard sounds anything like that! Unless Yamaha knows something that we don't know..'. My senses were heightened and curious, and as the room grew darker, there was no time to flick on the light. I realised that 'Goblins' was voice number 663, and I cracked a little smile. I gently rested my hand over the wheel and turned it, crossing from 664, 665, to 666. The voicing was called 'Ring pad'.  Maybe it was just the black and white light, and the black and white keys, and the darkness that I suddenly realised was surrounding me, but I felt very unnerved by that name. I'm not good with horror at the best of times, and I have never watched 'The Ring', but just the idea of it made me look over my shoulder.

I lowered my finger down onto one of the keys, so slowly that the sound was too faint to hear. I played it again, more firmly. It sounded a lot like 'Goblins', but something was different. It was more, sudden. It came up on you much more quickly, and stayed at the same level for longer, almost like some haunted trumpet. I was repelled, and yet totally sucked in by the sound, and I sensed the light from the keyboard to be glowing brighter. Of course, I knew that couldn't be the case. I played some chords, then held down the sustain pedal and played lots of different notes. It was a cacophony of sound, that rattles and rumbles, but doesn't change. Just holding and holding, no loss of strength. Until I lift off of the pedal, and there is nothing. Except for the black and white light.

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying that Yamaha are in any way involved with goblins :)