Some improvised synth jams...
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I’ve been very inspired lately to try to make more music in a transient manner, without much pre-planning, strict form considerations, and using tools I don’t use very often in very straightforward manners to try to get to the core of their use. In PVSI 1, I wanted to experiment with the sound of a polyphonic synth stealing held notes when new ones are played to evolve the sound in a subtle but rigid way, and used a single polyphonic synth plugin in Logic with minimal effects to hear it clearly. For this, I wanted to focus more on some of my hardware synth workflow in Ableton.
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In Improv 2, I was inspired to explore the powerful features and sensible limitations of my Moog Minitaur synth, as I’d just fixed some electronics setup for recording it at home. In this improvisation, I found a phrase that pattern that interested me and sequenced a few versions centered on different keys into Ableton’s session view and triggered them and modified the settings on the synth and reverb effects throughout, trying to evoke a somewhat meditative but intense state. Upon beginning work on a percussion layer, I found Ableton Live’s new “chance” feature to be very useful in sustaining long meditative phrases. It allows certain notes in a MIDI sequence to have a certain likelihood of triggering or being skipped over, among other things. as it was able to create constant interest/novelty with each passing loop. I ended up adding these chance-nased tones to the main synth lines as well. I included some additional layers in this, unlike the first, to help enhance where I interpreted sections to begin and end as well as add a bit more chaos and dream-like distant voices to certain moments.
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I think it was a success and had a lot of fun working on it after not making a ton of music for a while. Hope you enjoy if you listen :)