#10

From how I perceive it, monome’s been conceived as an open-instrument (which can be many things), as opposed to an open-DAW-arranger. And pretty much the same way you don’t ask your guitar to organize your piano, and drums and open electronic landscapes together, I never asked the monome to arrange the songs. But then again it’s “just a box with buttons and lights” so it might be a nice way to arrange if you create a max application for it or something, I just don’t see it being that intuitive for that kind of tasks when indeed, there are octatracks and DAWs and various controllers aiming at that very purpose on the market.

4 Likes
#11

It’s probably worth that the grid on its own is just an interface, and it’s the combination of a grid + an application (whether it runs on a computer or in a Eurorack module) that (to my mind, at least) becomes the instrument. Kria or Earthsea or mlrv feel like instruments.

To that end, one possible option is as with any instrument, playing the song from start to finish: many of the possible instruments (such as Earthsea or mlrv) are entirely possible to perform things that are not just fixed loops with, or to manipulate them as you play.

I mean, to that end, I can really recommend Brian and Kelli’s SF performane, simply to see music that very much resembles songs - not just in that there is singing, but also in that there is very obvious sections and changes - played in part on an isms setup where the grid is a key part.

A lot of people here have described only using the DAW as a tape-recorder, but it’s there nontheless as part of the landscape for this sort of work.

And, as a lot of people in this community seem to have ended up doing: often, the lack of the ideal option has led to them creating the tool that suits them.

3 Likes
#12

Thanks. Great community, great people, great replies.

What appeals to me with monome, is that while each tool appears pretty defined and limited in a healthy and interesting way, the combination of them offers no limits. I know I could go down the Push / Maschine / MPCTouch route, but they’re set in environments that don’t appeal to me.

It’s like going modular without going modular, kind of. And I have all these ideas I just can’t realise with the Circuit. They’re not complex ideas, they just don’t all fit within one instrument.

But I kind of wonder, maybe they all fit within a monome and an exploration of apps.

1 Like
#13

I think, for reference, I will post a track that I’ve made. Here:

This is all Octatrack. But it wasn’t a particularly enjoyable process to build this song within the Octatrack.

Ever since, I’ve looked for options.

1 Like
#14

This is really good.

#15

So: what about these environments doesn’t appeal, out of interest? (I ask as I own both a Push and a Maschine. I’ve drifted away from the latter for various reasons, but it’s very self-contained if you want it to be).

Trying to understand more about what appeals - rather than, say, what your functional requirements are - might help.

#16

Thanks :slight_smile: I was posting it so that you could just get an idea of what I want to do, and if the monome platform is a good toolkit for doing it, but I appreciate your comment all the same :slight_smile: :sunny:

#17

They’re too complex. They contain tons and tons of features I don’t need, their interfaces scattered with switches, buttons, views and stuff, showing me stuff I don’t much care about, don’t want to learn.

I’m a piano player to begin with, very comfortable with hardware such as Octatrack, Tempest and so on - so I don’t mind digging deep.

I just don’t need all that much stuff or features. I just need the right combo.

And - and - this is important - it needs to look good on my desk. I’m obsessed with aesthetics. The Pushes and Maschines are design abominations. The monome grid is achingly beatiful. I’m prepare to go pretty far to learn new things or bend them in ways not intended, or just endure, if it means doing it in a beatiful way.

#18

I will admit: you had me until you mentioned the Octatrack, which is a lovely instrument, but as interfaces go has always seemed just scattered with stuff, and which whilst I know many people love, I’ve met few people who loved it from the second they picked it up.

Until, of course, one learns it, and likely embraces the half one needs and abandons the half one doesn’t. I felt similarly about several hardware interfaces until I made them work for me.

It sounds right now like you’re going to just have to endure a lot of things or write a pile of software if the most important thing to you is how an object looks; I have found that “doing things in a beautiful way” is often not related to how the objects I’m using look. (Many of my favourite pianos have been a bit run down things; I used to have access to a Bosendorfer Imperial, which was lovely for certain things, and just not right for a bunch of stuff I played).

If I sound bemused: yes, I am, but I’m also interested because the design of instruments for people to play is a topic I’m really into right now, and making things that appeal to players is a huge part of that.

#19

If ever you need a subject that picks instruments and builds workflows where priorities might appear a bit odd, I’m your target. There’s probably entire chapters to write about how I’m wired, or not wired, in this regard.

To me, the entire experience of the instrument is so important, I’ve turned away from instruments that literally would fit my need at that exact time, just because I don’t like how they feel or their appearance. I threw out our tv and bought a new, smaller one, just because the design blended perfectly with my book shelf. And so on.

Seeing as I’m pursuing consistency, it does mean that I wake up every morning to a home where every single piece holds some inherent beauty for me. As a consequence, I don’t own much stuff. Same goes for clothes. I have one small closet and there’s room to spare. But whatever I keep, stays with me for a long time.

#20

Thanks. Checked it out. It’s along the lines of what I’m looking for. Seems powerful enough to string things together into more coherent stuff.

1 Like
#21

Can I wire the Mark sequencer to sequence other monome apps? One app on channel1, another app on channel2 and so on? Didn’t quite understand if that was possible or not.

If it is, then this is very powerful.

#22

No, I don’t believe that is possible.

#23

ableton is pretty great, especially with Terms

#24

Do note it’s a mac os only option. (That might matter)

#25

I would say monome is most complicated of all. I love it but I spend the first 15 minutes at least of every session just trying to get it to make sound come out of my speakers.

#26

After giving this some thought, especially after thinking about what @Shmaltzing said, I’ve decided to wait with a grid for now.

Being the father of two little children, busy with work in between and other duties, I don’t have much time left for music and what time I have, I want to spend on just writing music.

I think that the tinkering part of this universe leans too much towards drivers, software versions and settings, stuff I don’t want to spend time on. I’m not saying it appears to be a whole lot of that stuff, just enough to make it less appealing to me now. And I could even enjoy that kind of stuff, but not right now, not in this phase in my life.

#27

After deciding that giving thought to things aren’t always the best way to go, I’ve now gone ahead and bought a grid.

Wish me luck.

5 Likes
#28

haha. excellent choice

#29

Not strctly monome related, but i’ve just finished a ‘digital music’ after school club with bunch of kids aged 8-11. Most of them had no experience of any musical instrument, and definitely never attempted to write a song before. It was great to watch their individual approaches.

But one child stood out by the way he approached songwriting. He wrote songs like stories… He imagined a senario in his head (one song was a rusting old spaceship slowly breaking down, the next was a celebration and party in a barn) and created sounds and textures to tell the story. I found it refreshingly naïve and inspiring to watch him work so joyfully and without any constraints. I may have to try this myself sometime!

8 Likes