Hypnotic jam with Sequential Take 5, Midicake ARP, Dreadbox Nymphes, Roland SH-101, DrumBrute Impact

video upload by Jay Hosking

"Please support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/jayhosking
A live, semi-improvised synthesizer jam performed entirely on hardware.

I'm lucky enough to have access to a new studio space, and am now in the process of moving over there. That means the days and nights have been long. One evening I was casually noodling on the Take 5 and came up with a patch and arpeggio I liked, but didn't feel I had time and capacity to do a full sequence and arrangement with other devices.

That's where the Midicake ARP comes in to save the day. Rather than sequence anything, I simply sent my MIDI data out of the Take 5 and into the ARP. The ARP then recontextualized the notes and can send them out to up to four other devices (here, I used three, plus MIDI clock to the DrumBrute Impact). Thanks to the ARP, I could explore chords and improvisation without having to write a single note in a sequencer. The ARP really is a great solution to a classic songwriting problem: being able to find the song with all the parts at once, rather than imagine all the parts and then write them.

From there, it was a matter of laying down some instruments and effects I liked the sound of. No surprises here, other than the Boss DM-101, which I got recently. It doesn't quite have the personality of the Matriarch delay, but it's a great and more versatile analog delay that I look forward to using more.

All in all, a really fun jam, and I was extremely grateful to have the tools I needed to write the song on the fly across multiple instruments.

Thanks for listening.

Sequential Take 5 - main arpeggio, MIDI controller/data out
Midicake ARP - "sequencer" (note recontextualizer? arpeggiator?)
Arturia DrumBrute Impact - drums
Dreadbox Nymphes through Strymon BigSky - arpeggio two
Blackout Model D through Boss DM-101 - bass synth
Roland SH-101 through Walrus Sloër - arpeggio three (the slow high one)
Kenton Pro-Solo Mk3 - MIDI to CV for SH-101
Kenton MIDI Thru - MIDI through to all devices

Performed and recorded live, with eq, compression, and limiting in the box.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com"