Making music: hardware versus computer

I've been inspired recently to try and exclusively use hardware(synthesizers) for making music. This is quite a change for me since my past processes have involved the use of a computer with very unconventional tooling (no DAW, just code).

This is what I came up with in my first experiment:

My ultimate goal is to craft a hardware setup that is like a sandboxto play in. I want to maximize the improvisational capabilities ofmy machines and be able to command them quickly.

This is harder than it sounds![1]

• the Elektron sequencers are deep
• Syntakt sound design is challenging
• I have to create many patterns for the variation I desire
• I use two machines which have similar yet different interfaces
• Figuring out how to play

Elektron sequencers are deep

I will always say that TidalCycles is king for sequencing, but the Elektron sequencers are a close second. They are so deep! The parameter locking and per-step trigger conditions (e.g. fill,no fill, probability, step modulus, etc) let me achieve much of the chaos and variation I crave.

One of the features on the RYTM is "accent", which lets you add yet another type of variation on a step. I've never used this feature before.

Syntakt sound design is challenging

It took me years to really get comfortable with the nuance of sound design on the RYTM. It's a deeper synth than it appears to be. If you combine its sample layering then you can really achieve a lot of unique sounds.

On the Syntakt I feel like I am still a beginner. I guess I just haven't found my "voice" on that synth yet. I fear that it's going to take me years of hands-on practice with it ona nearly daily basis (just like on the RYTM) to finally get comfortable with it.

many many many patterns

I like a lot of variation in my music. I rarely want the same sequence to play more than one or twice in a row. The Elektron sequencer can help fake out your ears by adding variation per step, but the real solution is creating entirely different patterns and changing between them on the fly.

This is a good solution, but takes a lot more time to assemble.The only real feasible way to do it on the Elektron synths is to _copy_ patterns. Good luck trying to create each pattern from scratch!

two machines, similar but different

The RYTM and Syntakt are very similar in their interfaces. They both have a similar LED display with a consistent presentation of eight synth parameters per voice. Their sequencers are programmed in the same way.

But that's kind of where the similarities end.

The two machines differ in how you:

• mute/umute parts
• change patterns
• use performance macros to make wholesale changes

There's a bit of cognitive overload when operating both machines at the same time.

Figuring out how to play

I'm too accustomed to improvising in TidalCycles code.

"Playing" on the Elektron machines is not natural to me (yet). I'm still developing some muscle memory for certain actions,and I need to read the manuals some more.

The two big objectives I have here are:

• craft a performance arc
• know how to steer the machines into chaotic territory and then rein them back in