Spudboy wrote:Ok, I have one that is related to audio equipment...
I used to live in an old (1915) condo in a six-flat on the south edge of Uptown in Chicago. Our place was the finished basement and first floor. Among more than a couple odd things being moved (including a glass carboy for beermaking being thrown 10 feet across the storage room and shattered from the shelf it was sitting on with over a foot of clearance to the edge) etc, we had several instances of feeling weird cold drafts - in the summertime - around the stairs or in the basement, and one of our friends that looked after our cat while we were gone expressed reluctance to do so again as "you guys have something in the basement".
My home studio was set up at the far end of the basement (basically one big room), and I was toiling away late one night playing with some sequencing software and my Akai S2800. It was about 3am, and I was taking a short break to light a cigarette and dig up some more samples, when suddenly this groaning sound erupted from the speakers, at double the volume of anything else that night. I froze. Then, this slow, strange rhythm started playing with a droning noise...loose, but seemingly orchestrated. I was a little freaked, but I figured ok...old building, power surge - my synth is freaking out. So, I unplugged the MIDI cables from the back of the sampler.
It kept playing.
Now, I'm freaked. For those unfamiliar, the S2800 is a simple machine. You load samples, and trigger them via MIDI - no onboard sequencing or triggering capability beyond the "play" button for a single sample. This was a multi-track performance of some sort.
Once I managed to shake out of my stupor, I grabbed a tape and jammed it into my 8-track. The music stopped, but I hit record and sat down. After about a 2 minute break, it did it again. Similar, but with some minor differences in timing and note selection.
I should also mention that the entire time, I feel chilled and my hair in on end. My wife (apl4eris to you) ran down halfway through the second time, asking what this was, and also experienced this cold/electrical feeling.
After a few minutes, it stopped, and never played again. The sampler worked perfectly to this day, and I have absolutely no rational explanation for this, but here is what I got on tape, for your judgement.
Sweet dreams.
P.S. I intend to use this as a hidden track on a record, so all rights reserved.
Awesome story! I feel like this is The Ring or something...
Have you tried playing it back sped up? Cause the groaning sound, to me, sounds exactly like what you get if you track a vocal through a delay pedal with the tape sped up... then when you play it back at normal speed, it sounds all spooky like that. I, uh, knew some guys back in college that used to record stuff like that when they were on acid.
Are you sure you weren't just chillin in your basement on acid?