the turning point

All Yamaha FS1r, 8 voices.

Update: track notes:

"Looking back at '15, I find it hard to believe that I've spent over 6mths analysing ONE 16-note arp!!!

It took me quite a while to understand the shape of the arp, by stretching it, compressing it, inverting it etc using only an event-list editor. Things started to click when I began to separate out the frequencies in the arp and assign them to different voices. The rhythms that already existed in the arp, became better defined.

I used the matrixsynth fs1r editor [here] to create some of the envelopes. There's no patch library feature on this app yet, so there was still a vast amount of buttonwork on the synths - yes, I used a pair of fsir modules and a QY700, nothing else whatsoever apart from the amp and monitors.

Being limited to 8 voices was a real challenge. We know that two oscillators produce a more complex sound than one, and I upped this massively by allowing 2 voices for the pad. The sub-bassline and the kick drum take up another 2, so that's one machine used up already, meaning that I only had 4 voices for everything else.

The levels of complexity needed in a sound, to make it interesting, should also not be underestimated, and required efficient use of fseq, lfo, and fx assignments. There's no cc happening, variation was produced using lfo to freq mod, amp mod, filter mod, and for the drum tracks, 32quantise against 16accent up, which are preset templates on the QY700."