Well, I've been working on a track called "Transition" but right before finishing an error made the bass guitar recording unusable (as well as a synth track glitch). Don't have time right now to redo-it so here's the usual backup acoustic guitar improv to go along for the week :)

Had some very nice moments of chilling and sitting in the sunlight today after some very difficult couple of days. This acoustic pieces tries to convey the feelings I had whilst in those moments.

As I sort out some issues with my electric guitar setup here's a nice improvised track on the acoustic guitar, using a looper and Eventide Blackhole. There's a clear post-rock vibe and a tense ending.

Continuing the exploration of the melo-ambient style I feel that this week I've been better and giving the track a better sense of form. There is a now a much stronger build-up and climax of sorts and I'm very happy that it got to this since the process is still based on improvisation. There were three takes to this, one which consisted of the looper-based performance of 12 string acoustic, chants and percussion (from Novation Circuit) over a pad with LFO driven, self-oscillating filter coming from Arturia MicroFreak.

The sounds of the feddbacking filter somehow led me to imagine a mystical garden, along with the slight oriental theme the improv took in the later part. The second step was adding the bass and the third some synth lead patterns (also from MicroFreak).

This week past in such a speed I barely believed today's Sunday. I haven't manage to prepare any material so this one is right in the same style as the previous: acoustic guitar, eerie chants, weird percussion some flute passages and an overall floating feel. It was a one take improv.

Listening to it now again before uploading I realised it gave me some memories of bands I used to listen quite a number of years ago: Arcana, Elend, Deine Lekein, Dargaard, Samsas Traum, Die Verbannten Kinder Evas and several more of the genre they used to call dark wave. Not saying it's a direct tribute since I only now figured this influence, especially since I haven't been listening to those in quite a while. Perhaps a subconscious hint? :)

I've had several options for this week in my usual style with lots of synths and acoustic instruments on top. However, after I recorded one it then occurred to me to use just a single instrument for the task whilst keeping the big reverb, expansive delays and looper I usually use (Eventide Blackhole, FAC Alteza, Eventide UltraTap and Gauss Looper).

I chose the panflute I have since I really love its tone but I didn't do much with it lately, having focused on acoustic guitar. Since I'm mostly a beginner with it, I can't do any complicated phrasing so the accent was more on the texture the looper and delay create together, alternating octaves and mostly using the Eminor key (the panflute is tuned to G major). I also tapped on the wood of the instrument from time to time to create a sort of a ritualistic feel to the whole track, I like how the delays also catch that up and compliment nicely.

This week I was improvising acoustic over a static pattern, initially an arpeggio pattern on the MicroFreak synth which I then spiced up with a delay and high-resonance filter sweeps. As I was building atmospheric textures with Magellan 2, Korg Volca Modular and Keys I had a reminiscence of those moments you sit on a window, rain is outside and thoughts just emerge and disappear at once, each pulling into their own direction then just as quick releasing tension, like the dance of the drops of rain in water puddles.

With that in mind I went to add a recording of rain I once did from my window and then to wrap up the song I added a meditating drum rhythm, a short solo on the Volca Keys and let the acoustic looper run on its own for a couple of seconds.

On this week inspiration for this song was a Volca Modular patch with its Stochastic Sequencer making constant variations on a pentatonic pattern. I added generous chorus and reverb (FAC Alteza) and Eventide Crystals delay with gentle pitch shifting. This created a less gritty sound than the Modular usually does. Over this I added a rhythmic E pedal tone on my acoustic guitar, with some occasional other notes.

The main melody was played on the GeoShred app on the iPad, using the GeoViolin sounds. After this I added a simple drum accompaniment and two short acoustic and wooden flute part.

While the violin does tend to give it a very cinematic feel, I made the rest of the sonic texture (especially by reverb modulation) intentionally oversized so it feels like there's tension between the two.

This is a track that continues the sonic explorations I've made last month on Weekly Beats, so a theme of "Forward" is very adequate.

The song started with playing acoustic guitar with an iOS looper called Gauss which has loop decay and a really long delay time so you are basically able to improvise with your own self, or with the music you've done 30 to 40 seconds ago. Over this I layered a bass guitar part then a keyboard pad made with Magellan 2 (also iOS). Finally I designed some flute and violin like tones in the same synth and added a very simple drum pattern.