The making of: Dreams of Grandeur

I reccently found out my releases are available to listen at Spotify and Deezer, so you can check these while reading how Dreams of Grandeur was made:

Make Noise 0-Coast Wavetable Pack for Serum

What can one do with this semi-modular contraption? Nah, not the music. Sample the hell out of it!

This new wavetable pack explores a variety of controls and timbres 0-Coast has to offer. Some of them are simple knob sweeps of high quality, others feature aperiodic and overall bizarre shapes and sets. These are simple .wav files, so should work in other synths and programs, but were made using Serum. Enjoy!

Download (Google Drive, 56 MB, .zip)

Feel free to share the link as long as you feature me in the credits. This took quite a while to make, you know.

And yes, I’m going to make a track with all these sometime this year.

On curiosity

Inspiration can come from unexpected sources. As a software developer and AI enthusiast, I recently stubled upon a great material about self-learning AI based on curiosity.

Now, the way this scientific project works is very similiar to the way humans learn new things, in particular in music production area. Sounds obvious once you realize it, but often stating the obvious can be the greatest breakthrough.

Dreams of Grandeur double EP

Long time no update.
But now I’m back with another double EP!

Double trance EP with different tunes that have one thing in common – unusual composition using exotic key changes.

Available now in the Internet near you:
Beatport
iTunes
Juno

Inverse Universe 2018 is actually a rework of my old tune from 2013, with little changes in composition but day and night difference in quality.

Dreams of Grandeur is an idea I’ve had stuck in my head for years… done completely different.

I also got quite positive opinions about this EP. Suprisingly more people appreciated the unusual key changes rather than didn’t like it. So there’s a room for experimentation in trance, too!

As usual, I’ll discuss every track from this EP in separate article. In the meantime, enjoy!

Make Noise 0-Coast

So I finally  decided to buy my first hardware synth (or any hardware device that doesn’t just serve as an interface for PC) – 0-Coast by Make Noise. Why this one?

I always wanted to have a hardware synth (or a dozen, you know this feeling), but realistically they are very expensive compared to functionality they offer. A cheap hardware synth is still 3 times more expensive than the best VST, such as Serum – and offers a fraction of its possibilities on paper. The hardware, however, has the advantage of fast work and also is great for learning and experimenting with hands-on experience. There are no presets in this curious box, so every time I need to make a patch from scratch. Also, it encourages experimenting and improvising.

There are a plenty of synths I considered, but they all miss something. Some have keys, some have polyphony, some have sequencers, others have eurorack connectivity – but in general their feature list is always limited. There is no one box to rule them all, and they are expensive.

However, I never gave up 0-Coast – simply because it has no replacements. It’s a truly weird eurorack-style synth using unconventional modules arranged as a traditional monosynth. Make Noise are the leaders in eurorack and develop modules which do not resemble traditional synths at all, yet still allow to build incredible musical contraptions. Evolving and self-generating, aperiodic and atonal sounds are something that not many people deal with, and something that I’ve been missing in my setup. So here it is.

Mind this is not a magic box that makes music on its own – early I encountered shortage of supplied cables. Also menu diving is abysmal, and number of signals is limited. Still, I plan to make extensive use of it. It’s great for plucks, basses, agressive synth sounds for psy-tech, but also a source of samples and wavetables for further use. Certainly there’s a lot to discover. However, I have the skills to make use of it all, and will explore 0-Coast to the max.

Sunrise in Brisbane 2018 Remix

Okay, this is a rework of track that’s only few months old. The difference is not so apparent this time, but certainly it sounds better. Cleaner and smooth. Not much more to say here.

I also learned that good mix is not necessarily achieved by making everything loudest  and clearly audible – even though it eventually gets there anyway. The good mix is when nothing sounds wrong and gives listener no “WTF” moments. Just as in professional productions you hear on the radio.

John Fisherman – Mirage Remix

Another track. In fact the only one finished this year. It’s pretty ususual both for me and for progressive genre as a whole. How did it come to live? Well, it ticks many boxes:

• Sometime this year I felt strong in mix / mastering, and wanted to try if I can make quality sounds out of anything.
• I’ve got Live 10 and wanted to test drive it, using mostly (if not only) sounds it provides.
• There was a remix contest hosted by Exia Recordings, who were looking for heavy genres: deep / progressive house, psy and techno among others.
• I need quality stuff for showcase, that covers many different styles.