(Ambient) April

[Lumby]

This is an ambient piece I made in Reason 12. It initially started out as a simple VI-I pad loop while I was working on an effects combinators. However, I decided to create an arrangement of building and diminishing chord extensions & bass notes by automating the different parameters of Scales & Chords.

For those curious, the synth is a single Malstrom with some send effects and the aforementioned effects combinator.

Enjoy!

[Chizmata]

this doesnt work for me at all. the modulations are beautiful, but the base sound is still very raw and there is no rhythmic or melodic variation. even as someone who makes minimal music himself, i gotta say this idea doesnt carry the track.

[mimidancer]

This belongs in a Wes Anderson film.

[selig]

This belongs in a Wes Anderson film.

Yea, it has that feel for sure.
If I were to comment on anything it would be on the “perfection” aspect of the piece, since every chord is exactly the same length, with the same gap before the next chord. If, for example, you played this un-quantized and in real time for the entire length of the piece (and not to a click) it would have natural subtle changes over time despite it’s simplicity.
It’s my belief that these subtle changes keep interest of the listener, since a ‘perfectly’ repeating pattern allows the brain to begin to ignore the piece. To put it another way, as your brain recognizes it’s exactly the same pattern each time, you have a little less and less reason to pay as much attention. BUT, if there are subtle variations in timing and level over time, your brain knows to keep paying attention or even to pay more attention since things are always changing.

As for effects, I was expecting to hear more obvious exploration of the effects on the synth, but was listening on my iPad so may have missed all the subtlety here!

[TritoneAddiction]

Perhaps a bit too repetitious for my personal taste, but I do like the sounds used. The song gives a very warm feeling imo.

[Lumby]

Thanks for the feedback and listens, everyone!

I think my next steps will be to perform the song on a MIDI keyboard in order to introduce a more human touch. Perhaps I'll also introduce some expression controls to slowly change the timbre of the sound.