describes my entire artistic trajectory for at least 20 years now.
@dailyrituals
TL:DR scroll to the gif. no promises as to whether I answered anything but I hope there is some insight here and I’m more interested in a dialogue than a concrete statement.
I think you should hold on to “specific to your [my] needs.” like, literally any reverb does not overlap with my needs. I’m not going to spend time there. there are thousands of accounts ready to tell you what you should buy. I’m not them. I don’t know if I have a “definable approach” mostly because I haven’t worked to define it with language so maybe here we go?
because I have been working in a more or less modular workflow for a very long time (most of what I look for in hardware these days originates in software tools I built or modified), I understand that a single instrument’s performance for me is not based solely on that instrument or section. the ___ should work because I have a place for its initial palette and (basic) understanding of its interface, and can move other materials around to accommodate, express, expand. I understand that I can make a “typical use” module “mine” by locating it within my larger palette and my practice. I read the manual, not thoroughly, but are there openings for me?
I have some basic things I like to do with control structures - to interpret and obscure and distribute and try to bring back together as something coherent, expressive - I tend towards time-based instruments for this: buffers, granulators (not so much delay). my use of ____ doesn’t “sound like” _____ because I use it as part of a larger relationship within the instrument. functions are often duplicated: there are two pattern generators, two modulation generators, two voices, two filters, etc. Wilderness And Luxury is almost all modules you know from reading threads and I recorded most of it on headphones sitting on the floor in our bedroom while my child did “chill out time.”
very few modules or instruments get sold within the first year - I want to honor my intention/inspiration and thought and trust myself a little. this is also how ____ doesn’t “sound like” _____. I don’t have a clean and quiet studio and undisturbed time to be like “oh yeah well this was a mistake bye” within a week. I’m also not trying to make a {insert genre} album for release on {cool label} in the next year.
I tend to build a system and I practice. I spend maybe 2-3 weeks determining if the selection is close enough. I practice. that’s right:
I tend to leave patches in place for a while. I find where relationships are happening and let them do their thing.
I think I’ve been doing more or less the same thing for phew a while, I think 10 years ago the brother of a musician I was performing with a lot said “you always seem to be bringing the same sounds and approaches when everyone else always has something new.”
when I was I think in 2nd grade an art teacher said “don’t come to me and tell me you are finished” which is a lot for an 8 year old but it has totally stuck with me and I’ve come to understand it as, “this is the time you have to work on this art, use the time. it is not ‘better’ because you are done faster. the point of the class time is not to finish, but to work.” yeah I’m doing this for you, the listener, but I’m also doing this for me. we do have the experience together, and I put a real premium on enjoying the work I do for that.
