Lorn remind me i must get the Subharmonicon. Simple four step melodies that work really well. Thanks for the heads up.
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…years and years ago, i had to stay underneath the radar of a major deal i was tryin’ to get rid of…
and i finally understood the four to the floor kik in all kinds of techno/house music finally…
took me a while…
because for another long time before all that, i hated the doof doof doof dictatorship…
whenever a track was driven by that, i was disgusted…
but then i got it…ahhhh…
so took the chance to escape from that major deal and started releasing vinyl on small techno labels…2 to 3 thousand copies in vinyl…that was not much of in majors intrests back then…
but for me, good money anyways…
so i got pretty experienced in four to the floor…
but i lost it…
‘cause what i never understood was this…
one track is going doof doof doof doof…and nothing happens…
the other track goes doof doof doof doof…and the whole wolrd is spinning…
what makes the fukkin’ difference…!?
drove me nuts…
i could feel and hear the difference…right away…always…but never found the spice that made it…
what is it, that makes the sonic result MORE than just the sum of it’s details…???
hmmmm…question remains…
sometimes it worx…sometimes it does’nt…
so keep on tryin’…always work with what is there…right in front of u…
u can’t find the myst…the myst finds u…
what helps me…always…is singing…fake it til u make it kind of thing…
catch vocal phrases…not necessarily with words or even punchlines…
can be just mouthing too…
add a boom…add a tschak…find some bassline move that glues…
spent that a shake…
and take it from there…
but never ever start on some prefab top loop…
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I went on a bit of an odd quest to make tracks as unrepetitive as possible in the shortest sequence I could come up with.
I made a video about it, mainly because it was a lot easier to do that than try to explain myself in other ways
As a result of using round robin & hit probability, the 1 bar sequence won’t actually repeat in a way it has already played for some absurd amount of time (I haven’t done the maths, but it’s a lot)
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Unfortunately, it is only possible to ‘
’ a post once
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When I had DT (and later on when I paired it with DN), I used to create a loop and get it sounding really good, then copy that to pattern 2, mess it up a little, change some things, change samples even, then copy that to pattern 3, then rinse and repeat that process until I had finished 16 related patterns that often went in really unexpected directions compared to the initial loop. Then either ‘play’ that back into a DAW by selecting different patterns, or more deliberately record each section separately in multitrack via OB for then arranging into a full song within your DAW of choice. The trick is to not worry too much and to move v fast. Give it a go!
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Resurrect those formats and structures from your earlier stuff but use your electronic gear to do it. Don’t bin them off entirely would be my tip. Yeah, electronic gear can do blips and buzzes and glitches but that’s all been done to death imo. Nothing wrong with structure. Noise for the sake of it is just that.
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I know it’s not an answer, but i guess some of it depends on what style of music you want to make (or genre, if you want to put a label on it).
I’m currently trying to make 10/20 minute ambient/dub techno pieces but am really struggling. I only want subtle changes, but 10/20 minutes is a lot to fill without sounding boring/samey…and those genres don’t really do big, sudden changes either.
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Reading this thread with interest, but Jezus, that Lorn record mentioned further up is ridiculous. 
It’s times like this that I really appreciate having my work laptop audio running through a 2k rig with 18” drivers, and being in alone on a Friday… 
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How does this work for you out of interest? I’ve always considered making music with a specific place in mind but it never seems to work. Like I’m trying to force a relation between what I’m making and the place in mind. I dunno, maybe I’m just trying to hard.
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