Reflection: last year to now

[thejewk]

I added a midi router and filter to my setup today, a CME U6 Midi Pro (very good and very cheap btw) and it necessitated me making some template projects on my Digitakt and Analog Keys with the midi routing set up to make future work a little easier.

It got me thinking about where I was this time last year. I had just received my Digitakt and was spending a huge amount of time and mental energy envisioning as system where each of my Digitakt projects instantly recalled via the midi settings the patches on my other devices. I was going to have ordered projects in which I would work extensively to make live sets. I was going to record a stereo out and do all of my playing live.

And now?

I have a new project started left and right, with zero order, and I do not return to them at all after I’ve recorded the work out. Everything is integrated with Ableton Live via Overbridge, and my stereo recording device is in a cupboard.

I work on one box live to get a skeleton, multitrack it out and then develop it and add things on one or two tracks at a time playing along to my already recorded audio.

I was going to create a lot of kits of drum samples for quick access. In reality I end up making most of my percussion on the fly, and I’ve barely looked at the many gigs of samples I have.

So much time wasted solving problems that didn’t exist, and planning for things that didn’t happen.

Reflecting back on your own music making and setup, how have your plans changed when you have actually got stuck in with the music making?

[tinara]

So much of my plan changed vs beginning of the year when I had an OT mk2 and Syntakt sitting on top of a Roland FP-10 planning to be that crazy trio human-machine to explore (and ready to get rid of the Polyend Tracker). I have been out of the country 50% of the time during the first semester. I had no gear to take with me and installed Ableton Note on my phone just to have fun. I did not made any musical bit that was relevant or that would be recorded besides a jam with the Syntakt one night. I recorded a few ambiance and environment during my travel with my phone but did not used them as I planned to.

Fast forward, sold the Syntakt, swapped the OT2 for a DT2 and decided to use the PT like a 8-voice synth. I also added an Arturia MB2S because why not and so on. The MB2S is sunbathing on the shelf, the Tracker have never been used as a Synth with the DT2. I made a mini-habit for a few weeks to make some jam patterns with the DT2 and recording a few jamming sessions. Never really used it like I planned neither.

Now I have still the gear and Ableton Live 12 Suite and I am having so much fun on Ableton actually that I want to ditch my hardware. Because, well, I don’t think that I want that much to be OTB. It was the default for me but never been a goal. Maybe get the Move or the SP404 MK2 because I want to try and see (but also hello old pattern). This kind of reminds me of myself switching from Linux after 15 years to MacOS and realizing that I wanted an integrated ecosystem without doing too much of the work. Maybe it is getting older or just had enough adventures and accepting I am less of a tweaker that I used to be.

And now?

• I did not learn to play piano but I learned a lot of chords progression, music theory and stuff that I was intrigued about.
• I did not make these 30 minutes sets that I wanted to do with the DT2 but I do hope to be able to get there in a way or the. other
• I end up being happy to be ITB with Ableton/Renoise/VCV Rack/Plug Data but I did not make yet the real investment to make music with them.
• I keep losing myself trying to see how to implement a VST or a VCV Rack plugin or whatever else that is so advanced because I understand it in theory but don’t have the level to get there in practice without investing a humongous amount of time in it.

This year was crazy intense and rough. Making music took a back seat and dopamine GAS/binge-watching stuff ends up being most of the energy invested in it.

In summary, like you said:

@thejewk

So much time wasted solving problems that didn’t exist, and planning for things that didn’t happen.

[Oxenholme]

Good thread, some thoughts I’ve been having over the last year(s):

• I’ve tried to go all Swedish hardware and have 3 Elektrons synced up with the same patterns/banks etc. but it turns out I’m just too scatterbrained to make that work, and I really only have enough brainspace for 1 Elektron box at the time.
• I’ve tried to do everything in the MPC , but as I was stemming out 30+ projects today to actually finish things off in Live… That’s also not the way to go. I need session view and clips.
• Same for the MC707. I does have clips and scenes but the rest was just too cumbersome.
• Templates are good but the moment I get too ambitious with them it all falls apart. I need to start with either drums or a melodic thing and develop that enough before adding the other.
• I like to somewhat perform my parts. Even if sequenced I need hands on control to be ‘spontaneous’ in some way.
• If I want to have somewhat of a chance at finishing a track it needs to be in Live as soon as possible with some skeleton of an arrangement. Hardware is great fun, but ideally the DAW needs to be open at all times for anything to stand a chance of reaching the finish line.
• It’s been a fun ride exploring all these things though… Current status is: In the box using Push (controller) with one piece of external hardware (got more but I swap em out) connected for efficiency.

[malus_mons]

I finally bought Ableton Suite just so I can use M4L which I only care about because it’s what I need to use Fors’ Opal lol.

I still fire up the OT and DN for some live looping craziness but man oh man @Ess made the most beautiful piece of music making software there is. Whatever Tonverk turns out to be, just know there’s a $70 app that already exists that will take you to places Electron hardware can’t, but still feel like you’re in the “workflow”

[thejewk]

I’ve actually ended up with a pretty productive setup, it just doesn’t work how I thought it would and the things I thought were important to me don’t seem to matter to me in the slightest in practice. It’s weird.

I think my major goals to poke fun at next December are:

To learn Max well enough to be able to make simple devices and sequencers without too much outside help.

To learn my way around Cardinal, and to integrate it with Max.

To do those things while actually continuing to keep pace with my music making this year, doing Jamuary, a handful of EPs at least, do another Dungeon Shamble at least, maybe pursue a collaboration or two, oh and reasonable participation in Disquiet Junto.

[protrusion]

@tinara

This year was crazy intense and rough. Making music took a back seat and dopamine GAS/binge-watching stuff ends up being most of the energy invested in it.

In summary, like you said:

@thejewk

So much time wasted solving problems that didn’t exist, and planning for things that didn’t happen.

@thejewk

I’ve actually ended up with a pretty productive setup, it just doesn’t work how I thought it would and the things I thought were important to me don’t seem to matter to me in the slightest in practice. It’s weird.

hear hear.

In 2024 my impulsivity around gear acquisition led to some poorly timed or carelessly executed trades, leading to some “missed financial gains” which I might regret. Impulsivity really was the theme of 2024.

In 2024 I really stopped having patience for bugs that frustrate me in my spare time. In part, that led to me trading buggy/frustrating gear for other gear, just to get rid of it. Could have tried to sell it for a better price and banked that money, but instead was distracted by Shiny Item That I Need, And A Trade Is A Way To Quickly Get It, While Getting Rid of That Which Does Not Serve Me. Oh well.

In 2024 I came up with tracks/songs/patterns I really liked while testing & building setups, then let those setups gather dust and be torn down when I needed the space for other things. When I came back to tracks/projects I made on those setups, I liked them a lot. Learnings: (1) total recall is great, (2) I don’t have the time/energy for follow-through & production beyond the initial session, (3) I can effectively pass time by using what I already have , if I have time I want to pass.

In 2024 I realized that my time, energy, and attention are scarce.

In 2024 I finally broke the seal on having a synth which is only controllable via CV/Gate. One unexpected side effect: it is freeing not to think about capturing sounds & modulations & sound changes into a MIDI sequencer, while instead performing those sound changes “live” into a live looper. Which leads to:

In 2024 I realized that I like easily-usable and reliable live loopers w/total recall. I suspected this would be the case. Had to give up on one “it can do live looping” instrument and discover another “it can do live looping” instrument before I could fully explore this.

In 2024 I was lucky to have guidance from an older & very experienced friend on getting the most from an analog monosynth. Watching him perform & modulate & manipulate the sound was humbling. My own explorations yielded gurgles and blecch, while his explorations made sounds that would sing and rock. This leads me to want more collaboration in 2025, rather than trying to do it all on my own.

In 2024 I started getting into modern video craft and am ready to ditch my old broken down video gear. It feels freeing to Let Go, after spending hours trying to troubleshoot and fix dying electronics. And it feels fresh & nice to be part of some new video tools / instruments like r_e_c_u_r, which I learned about from this forum actually (so thank you, 'nauts).

In 2024 I further developed my understanding that I like raw analog oscillator / subtractive synth sound for performance & sequencing, but for my own sound design explorations I prefer having samples as my initial material / oscillators.

Here’s to 2025. I know what I’m hoping for but I’m scared to write it down.

[moredat]

I had that classic dawless-phase last year. Tried drum machines etc. Then, I quickly realized I dont like producing dance music, justifying such setup, and went back to a hybrid-daw workflow, where I sequence and effect mainly in DAW and use hardware instruments. I still use Digitone’s sequencer but model:cycles is resting unplugged for those occasional jams with friends.

I really like having the midi information in DAW for so many reasons: preserve them neatly, triggering fx with midi, easy rerouting, modification, duplication…

[Azzarole]

@thejewk

So much time wasted solving problems that didn’t exist, and planning for things that didn’t happen.

I can definitely relate to that. My year has been a bit like that as well. One thing I notice is that sometimes I get a new piece of gear or landed on a setup that works for me, and go solving the next „problem“ instead of making music. Like „oh, I really like this function on that synth, but it misses this thing to make the most use out of it. What if I had XY to have the best of both worlds?“.

That being said, my GAS is less all over the place than when I started out and I kinda know what I‘m into and what doesn’t work for me. I‘ve also been quite productive over the year and have established various setups and workflows that work well for me.

But my suspicion is: finishing/polishing is always more „work“ as opposed to the fun of the first creation/jam. So I, and maybe others here as well, tend to focus on seemingly easier to solve tasks like re routing cables, than sitting down and making a song out of a sketch.

[Bryan_T]

A year ago I had just bought a used Digitone and was diving in. Trying to make Buchlaesque sounds, not really developing the tracks very far.

I got back into looping guitar pretty heavily, using a Looperlative LP2. I built out TouchOSC interfaces for it and some of my other MIDI-controlled effects. That led to some productive music making and sound design.

That morphed into programming my own looping plugin using Cabbage and Csound. Countless hours were spent reading, coding, refactoring, demoing, … I’ve used it on a few projects and have really enjoyed it.

So obviously the next step was to become obsessed with the ukulele. I got one in Hawaii and have been writing a ton on it. I had my Digitone with me on the trip, but missed the physicality of strings.

Maybe the next step will be a Digitone/ukulele looping extravaganza?

It was an odd year!

[B_LD]

My this year’s reflection is short and a bit depressing.

The plan was to do more. In reality I lost motivation to play throughout the year. Hardly ever sat down and did anything. Didn’t record anything substantial for months. Felt like I’m missing something and tried to spark interest with re-acquiring the OG DN. Barely switched it on since then. Hesitant to buy anything else obviously.

Boreout is my friend now as it seems.

[palm]

Simply put…from slowly progressing forward, to absolutely everything going to shit.

[thejewk]

If it’s any consolation I’ve enjoyed the stuff you’ve shared.

[B_LD]

Thanks! It’s nice to hear some kind words, of course.

It’s been an emotionally challenging year after all. Maybe the future will be more bright.

[alechko]

try finding some minimal albums to listen to, thing about minimal stuff is that it’s easier to break down to elements and try finding inspiration in these elements, could be a melody, a rhythm, a sound or two, maybe try different genres from what you’re usually trying and do something else, maybe a good clear challenge of “how do I do that” will re-spark interest. having an idea definitely helped me this year.

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@thejewk

Everything is integrated with Ableton Live via Overbridge, and my stereo recording device is in a cupboard.

I went the other way around haha, from trying to integrate daw I literally fell in love with playing in a live fashion and record the stereo take, the freedom from “producing” cleared my mind from a lot of unnecessary clutter and output a whole bunch of stuff, maybe it’s not as polished but I actually like it this way…
wish I’d do better job at self mastering, this shit is hard af! thinking maybe getting a few courses or something in 2025 and getting a bit more in depth tools then random YT videos…

[thejewk]

Oh for sure, it’s a great way to work too and I like the results I had with it as well. I just sort of tried this way once or twice and then never felt the need to go back.

[Jeanne]

Digitakt II and Digitone II have been a transformative experience for me in various regards.
There was also a shift in what kind of music I was listening to this year, which played hand in hand with that.

DTII and DNII made me loose interest in almost anything else “on the market”. Everything else I tried went back after 10 minutes. A lot of stuff I sold or I am going to sell. However, I’ve added some more obscure eurorack stuff to my collection, which I can sample into my DNII.

I finished a 3 Track EP that is Syntakt with some very subtle DNII additions.

I have 1-2 albums worth of music on my Digitakt II (sampling all my other synths) close to be finished. Haven’t shared any of that yet except https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SXT87VJ0po - so much I’ve been caught up in that

(Well and tons more of music that is a bit farer from being finished )

[sacguy71]

I realized how little gear that I really need to be productive.

[diswest]

Well, in 2024 I survived many rounds of chemo, radiotherapy and stem cell transplant (that were the most tough months of my life). After some rounds I had a significant risk to get permanent hear loss (it had dropped to 10-12 kHz both ears and I got strong tinnitus).
But now I’m in remission and my hearing is good again, so that’s not so bad I think. Even my brain and mental health are almost recovered which was the most difficult part.

Because of permanent stress and literally inability to do anything I bought a lot of musical stuff: couple of guitars, bass, Summit, Push3 SA, H90, Nord Drum, digital piano and some other smaller things. All these things really helped me get through all bad days.

Now, when I can to do things again I move even faster than ever before: theory, technique, sound design and so on. I just don’t have enough time to play with all these old and new toys, so I believe I will not buy anything significant next year and still will be quite busy with different music stuff for the whole year.

[thejewk]

Fingers crossed the remission continues on mate, sounds like a tough year.

[diswest]

At least, now I definitely have enough time to finally finish some of hundreds sketches and publish a proper release. That was a good kick to stop putting things off until later