Personally, I’m deeply drawn to minimalism and space in the music I listen to. But when I sit down at my battle station, most of what comes out is a wall of 80’s poly synth sounds. Here’s an eloquent two-minute perspective on minimalism from Caterina Barbieri, from a Loop event hosted by Ableton.
Take All Of Me – Rough Akai Force Demo
Stumbled upon this vid in the ol’ photostream, and I like it. Should go back and rename the project file “Take All Of Me – U SHOULD POLISH THIS ONE NO FOR REAL” It’s a low key off-kilter jam, in the Mixolydian scale. I was practicing recording and looping while unquantized. Built on Akai Force.… Continue reading Take All Of Me – Rough Akai Force Demo
Mike Dean Walks Into a Moog Factory
Mike Dean is an amazing hip-hop producer who’s produced music for Kanye West, 2Pac, Scarface, Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, Jay-Z, Desiigner, Drake, and The Weeknd. One of my favorite synth-centric albums is his live, improvisational album 4:20. Rough around the edges, and glorious.
Bob Ross Beats – the story of a jam session
I finally forked over some hard-earned cash and treated myself to the Novation SL MKIII, an incredible MIDI controller and sequencer. My studio now has two ‘sequencer brains’, the Model:Samples still reigns supreme in sequencer depth and complexity, but the SL MK3 fills in a lot of the remaining void, such as polyphonic sequencing. This… Continue reading Bob Ross Beats – the story of a jam session
TR-8S
Hi–welcome to the latest episode of GAS [Gear Acquisition Syndrome]! Wife is sick, kid is struggling, work is stressful, so . . . you’ve guessed it, yours truly is nerding out on the latest “Boop Box” that would totally take my music to the next level! Never mind that ever-present truth, the a voice of… Continue reading TR-8S
Endlesss – Live Music Collaboration Online
They’re pretty new on the scene. They have Mac and iOS software, with a Windows offering scheduled for “Summer of 2021”. Side note, the company name is uniquely un-googleable. “Did you mean ‘endless’?”
Throwing down the gauntlet
In response to “You’re Never Getting Your Minilogue Back”: Dearest Ethan, Sir, I accept your challenge. While you’ve basked in the analog glow of voltage controlled oscillators, I’ve increased my power as well. You dual wield two synths of incredible girth, and I’ve sought to increase my level control beyond your imagining. For you see,… Continue reading Throwing down the gauntlet
Dynamic, Grooving Atmospheric Pads
This is a chill, improvisational, synth-forward track. What struck me was the way it incorporates atmospheric pads, occasionally slightly distorted / overdriven (which I love), in a way that is extremely dynamic. They’ll soar briefly before falling back, and they bob and groove with the beat. It happens all over; it’s quite noticeable between 5:20… Continue reading Dynamic, Grooving Atmospheric Pads
You’re Not Getting Your Minilogue Back
Dear Stephen,I regret to inform you that you will not be getting your Minilogue XD back. Those dreamy, drifting VCOs have ruined me. Also, I am now dual-wielding Peak and XD, and have become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. My midi controller plays them both simultaneously as two layers. 12 stacked voices on… Continue reading You’re Not Getting Your Minilogue Back
Tempo-synced LFOs
Got some stuff I’m working on for an audio or video demo around creative ways of using tempo-synced LFOs. This is a wee draft placeholder, but wanted to share this brilliant use of synced LFOs by Rival Consoles. Right from 0:05, listen to how they rapidly adjust the rate of the LFOs. Each rate they… Continue reading Tempo-synced LFOs