Elektron Digitakt - Expectations (a sleepytime jam)

Published on Apr 28, 2020 Payton Carter

"I've had a difficult time lately with creative slumps and what I perceive to be musical failures. Sometimes I'll look back on my older tracks and think I haven't made anything I like in months. I've gone through buying and selling some gear with the expectation that once I get [piece of gear], it will be all I need, and then I can start making real music. In the last year, I've bought and subsequently sold a MicroFreak, OP-Z, iPad, Model D, and DeepMind; the Circuit (my first hardware) is the only one I've kept. Obviously, it's not the gear.

I'm sure many of you are like me in that there are hundreds of unfinished tracks sitting on your hard drive. Especially lately, I feel like nothing I've made meets the imaginary expectations I set for a good track. The chord progression is weak, I can't find the right bass sound, there's not enough movement or tension... I end up abandoning the project, and the only thing I gain is a little more frustration. Making music hasn't really been enjoyable lately, which makes me really sad.

Yesterday I decided I need to step back and just finish a new song, with the understanding that it doesn't need to be the greatest thing in the world. I started on this track and tried to just push through, ignoring second guesses and distractions. I've always admired Will Wiesenfeld's work as Geotic, because his music just radiates emotion. It's joyful, it's heartbreaking, it's nostalgic—not afraid to wear its heart on its sleeve. I tried to capture a similar kind of feeling in this song. It's simple and not the most interesting track in the world, but it fills me with optimism. Whatever you create, it is good enough.

On another note, the lack of stereo sampling on the Digitakt is really bumming me out more than I thought it would."

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Some notes on that here: https://www.elektronauts.com/t/your-stereo-samples-on-the-digitakt/40089