Mid-Winter Meditation II

Published on Jan 15, 2017 Sacred Synthesis

"I've been working on this piece for a while, and it's still a work in progress, but I wanted to post it here so that I could move on to other musical projects as well. It was possibly the most difficult piece I've ever recorded and took a total of four hours. And still there are some mistakes! Not that the piece that much skill. Rather, it's the production that was so difficult. It requires many changes while playing - a sound engineer's worth. Every bit of movement throws off my position at the organ bench, which then throws off my playing. What a grueling bunch of sessions went in to this one. I hope after it all some one enjoys the music!

The Prophet '08's provide all the solos sounds (oboe, PWM reed, and string) as well as the carillon patch. The latter is a challenge to play because the envelope is very sensitive, and since the sound is already so dissonant, the slightest mistake is doubly noticeable because of its harshness. However, I've been interested in composing music just for it, and so this piece has two little carillon sections.

The Poly Evolver Keyboard provides a staple sound for me - a PWM piano patch. I use this at two different filter settings, adjusted by the modulation wheel. This sound is eminently useful for accompanying melodies with left-handed arpeggios, but it's quite nice for solos as well.

Incidentally, all the arpeggios in this piece are played by hand. The whole thing can easily be played on piano, and that's just the way I intended it to be."