The music journey – Making an album (week 26)

This week it was a week mostly spend on reading about music instead of making any music. I did however work on my Max MSP patch. And it slowly starts to click in my mind. It’s a really great environment to start some sonic exploration and go beyond the beaten path. The way of thinking about music and how you approach ideas also slowly changes. It’s an ever evolving way of building your own musical tools, without having to buy new equipment.

Just the thing which is such fun with modular synths. Building your own instrument which you can change over and over. Max doesn’t replace my need for physical interaction with instruments but its a great way for me too stay active with music and not producing any sound.

The physical part of twisting and turning knobs and sliders and patching cables is what fascinated me about synthesizers from the beginning, so don’t sell all your hardware just jet. But Max MSP is something I can recommend for anyone in music too really take a good look at. Just chancing your perception on how too approach music, the concept of sound design and controlling (or not) the outcome is fascinating.

It has a steep learning curve, which is undeniable. But the help function is outstanding. Also lot’s of very good video’s can be found online.
If you dive in it will reward you especially in combination with a modular , in my case Eurorack, synthesizer. With all available interfaces out there the connection between a computer and the Eurorack world is such you solve a need for a certain function most likely with a Max patch without the need to go out and buy another module. And just that is reason enough to learn Max.

Het blijft geweldig om de interactie met de knoppen te hebben en dat is wat mij ooit fascineerde aan synthesizers, maar Max MSP is iets wat ik iedereen kan aanraden om eens echt goed naar te kijken. Al was het alleen maar om je perspectief te veranderen en de manier van denken over geluid, het ontwerpen ervan en het controleren (of juist niet) ervan onder de loep te nemen.

If you are looking for an interface between your computer and Eurorack be sure to check out Expert Sleepers, very good modules which you can expand as your needs grow.

The possibilities with MAX MSP and a small Eurorack setup are endless. So is the fun to be had.

The music journey – Making an album (week 5)

This week was a week of adapting to my possibilities, after being away for a little while most of the week was comprised of rest & recovery. Late Wednesday afternoon was the first moment in the week the energy levels were sufficient enough for my music activity.

So I got off course a bit.

Planning

My original planning consisted of the following:

      • Ableton Live & Samples.
      • Freeform patching with my Eurorack.
      • Reading manuals.
      • A coaching session.

Execution

My week started on Wednesday afternoon, just started working on a patch and pressed record. Without taking any notes and wondering about how to reproduce the results later on. Just recording some variations.

Practiced a little in taking samples out of the recordings and processing them. Not done a huge amount of work, but that’s all part of it. The good thing is I did some work and kept the consistency. Which gives a solid base and will yield results later on.

Got together with my coach for a session and the end of the week and got some new assignments in going around the fatigue which makes working with actual sound strenuous for me. Brain damage sets the pace in my case. Things I would never come up with, this alone makes having a coach worthwhile, on to next week.