A place for the discussion of all things related to the electronic synthesis of sound.
I used to put onto SoundCloud 20+ minute uncut recordings of sessions I thought were cool after I had developed a patch for a while. Turns out most people aren't interested in sitting around that long to find the gems that happened somewhere in the middle. On the other hand, I found that sometimes without the context, the cool moments don't seem as interesting to me.
Definitely interested in hearing what works for others though.
Right, like that makes sense. I just got done playing for 30 minutes or so. Most of it the same pattern over and over while I wiggled the cutoff. I guess this is the point of YouTubing or streaming. I thought about streaming and just showing like a 2000s music player visualizer.
What are you doing nowadays when you’re jamming? Just living a moment or did you learn how to tame the 20 song temptation?
I'm sad to say the past few years have been tough for me, creatively. I'm just starting to find the spark again so for now I'm just trying to stay in the moment.
I did have one pretty cool live streaming experience where someone else was creating visuals with hydra while I played. Before I slowed down, I started working on a better live audio and video setup and I was probably heading in the direction your discribing.
I always assumed that I would get far enough along in a patch at some point to justify a more compositional approach that could be edited down a bit. Honestly though, if you're finding joy in what you're doing, stick with it. Let the rest flow naturally. I can tell you from experience, a meditative session in solitude is better than silence.
I’d go out on a limb and say the last few years have been tough just overall. I don’t know your personal experiences but for almost a decade I’ve slowly let work erode all of the creative parts of myself fade away. Even tho I work in a very related field (broadcast production, did live sound for remote video productions) it just became work.
A few years ago, a very good high school friend had me track drums on a few tracks on his debut album. Took him a few years to finish but it just came out. Something about hearing me from the past kinda kickstarted this change of mindset. It just started with listening along and then thinking of ways I could have done something cooler, which then gave just enough of a spark for original ideas to start coming back. And loud enough to drown out work thoughts.
It’s sounds egotistical to say that listening to my own recordings with a big ass grin on my face, but it’s just the longing to want to be creative like that again. Rejuvenating. It honestly might have been the first time feeling actual joy again for a very long time.
I’ll pm you the link to my friends album. He’s a fantastic guitarist, it’s dad rock, and lll admit I don’t think the lyrics were a strong suit.
I’m actually had to stop touching my Subharmonicon as I’ve stumbled upon this polyrhythm sequence that is just 🔥 as the kids would say. It’s given me a learning challenge of now how to create a lead with a Behringer Neutron.
Yeah, I can relate strongly with a lot of this. I took have had the experience of grinning listening to recordings from some time ago, not because they are great but because I had that spark and the memory of it and being inspired to think about what could have improved reignites it.
Back when I first had a full enough setup to make it fun to explore, I remember bringing my gear to an old friend's house. We just explored the patch and I would basically point him to a module and say "play with that for a while." The next day he said he hadn't smiled like that in a long time and I knew exactly what he meant.
I'd welcome a link to your friends album and I wish you continued inspiration as you approach your new ideas.
Truthfully, I don't. I don't really commit anything to recording until I've pored over it a bit. I've definitely lost a few wow-moments here and there with the philosophy, but I'm not too concerned. I'll continue to hit the record button only when I'm ready.
I used to post to r/synthesizers on Reddit, but well, that ship sailed. Now, I mostly do no self promotion, though I still upload almost everything with Distrokid. I have recently joined up with Sound on Sound's forum because it's more active than the synth communities on Lemmee.
I’ve been practicing letting those wow moments go and just appreciate that I experienced them. Very meditative for me personally.
It always kinda sucks to find out the hard way that the wow moments are more personal in nature and other people find them just meh, too.