since the last demo, i have been playing with some new gear in the studio. we have acquired a roland ju-06 and wan o they wee pocket operators from teenage engineering. these are cute wee sound toys, and they will inevitably find their way onto a single release at some point – when i have learnt how to make them squeal 😀

i can sync them all up together outside of the daw – so i have been noodling away to my heart’s content without complications.

having said that, the daw is behaving pretty well, although i’ve not really pushed it hard since the last demo. fingers crossed that the upgrades to all the studio equipment and software will be enough to satisfy the step change in the windows os :s

anyhoo, in addition to playing with funny sounds, i have decided to explore some other genres for my next project. there are millions of “official” genres into which record stores etc. can drop our tunes. it is rare that any of mine fit snugly into these pigeon holes – and i think this is true for lots of independent producers.

what does the pigeon hole give us? many artists may scream that it provides nothing more than a straight-jacket to creativity. true. but i think it can also provide a straight line to more listeners.

i spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks listening through the juno drum and bass catalog (apparently i am “dirty dubstep and trap“). here, it doesn’t really matter if a track is a remix or an original – there is still quite a bit of variation across many of the “traditional” elements of drum and bass. so, i thought i might try and do some tracks that follow a formula and see if this can make my music more accessible to folk who might not otherwise have heard it. obviously, i’m not a die-hard addict of any genre, so i might not be quite true to the form … but it might be fun to try 😀