Yamaha CS-60: "Too Many Days"

Published on Dec 27, 2016 raycastile

"Hello again. This is a brooding, layered improv, kind of melancholy, kind of meditative, with a few sparks and hysterics.

Instead of a video of me playing live, I'm giving you a montage of still images. What a gyp! But there's a reason. I rolled out of bed Dec. 27 (had the day off for holiday break), drank some tea and started playing my synths. Then I hear about Carrie Fisher dying and felt more bummed out than usual, so I worked that into my playing. I thought I might as well record this while I'm at it, so I just started recording. I randomly selected that little rhythm ta-ta-ta-ta sound on my MoroderNova and thought it sounded pretty cool, so I just started building on that. Twenty minutes later, I had the foundation of this track. Then I started layering more parts. I hadn't showered, changed clothes, or done anything. I just rolled out of bed and recorded this. So that is why there is no video of me playing it. I did not look presentable.

I'm terrible coming up with titles. I called this 'Too Many Days' because there have been too many days this year (2016) when we had to face bad news. Maybe a beloved artist dying, or something else going spectacularly wrong in the world. Too many days like that. This year has been too long. Enough already. And there is still a week left. Too many days left i this lousy year. Maybe there are good things on the horizon, but there are too many days between now and then. So that is where the title comes from. And the piece just goes on and on forever, much like 2016. But unlike this year, you can cut it short if you wish.

All the lead sounds are performed on my nifty Yamaha CS-60. The ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta rhythmic thing and the wind sound are from the Novation MoroderNova. The arpeggiated electric piano is the Yamaha Reface CP. The string/choir pad is from the XILS V+ plugin. The percussion is the standard orchestra kit in Logic Pro X. Am I forgetting anything? I think that's it.

Boy, I should have cleaned that hair off the pitch ribbon before I took those photos. Oh well.

Thank you for listening! Bye bye."