recently I've had a very difficult time making music

e.g. i find myself starting a project, then getting totally 'lost in the sauce' as it were -- loading too many samples, trying too many things, getting my tracks on the octatrack mixed up -- generally losing focus and finding songs falling apart under their own weight

the doppeltrack

here are the specifications for my hypothetical octatrack:

room for 8 flex samples per project

2 tracks, each with an EQ, filter, delay, and one other effect

ability to resample, and fine-grained control of sample playback

up to 128 bars in an arrangement

only two patterns per arrangement

ability to crossfade between up to 4 different scenes

rosin, why?

i wanted to take as many options away from myself as possible and see what happened

I should say that in present tense, because it's ongoing

I want to take away as many options as possible with this piece of gear (the Elektron Octatrack) because presently I'm getting totally bewildered by options in music

and then I want to make some songs (2 of which are currently 'done')

and the songs don't have to do much, they could even be a single loop for 16 bars. I would accept that as a minimally complete song

then i'll make an EP

friction

sometimes life rubs me a little raw

sometimes a simple thing is all that's needed

sometimes it's done with very little effort

limitations

maybe the dumb, unclever way is better

maybe the dumb, unclever way is the only way it'll get done

maybe it's not dumb or unclever to be simple, it's merely simple

friction

when you're doing something unusual you're going to stick out

it's not that i feel the need to go looking for that,

but that feeling is how i know that at least im being honest

: : : :

you get to be really really good at one thing in life

i decided i wanted that thing to thread through everything else, so that i could always do it