YOUTUBE - My entry for the Westworld Scoring Competition 2020!

But before going to it, I hope you all have been safe in these weird times!


This year has definitely been an odd one for sure, and despite the recent lockdown, it hasn't been much of a productive year, as you might have guessed from my lack of posts here...


My setup has been thru some changes lately, as I have sold quite some gear I felt was not essential, including my Akai MPC2000XL and the Korg Triton I have with me, but unfortunately have not yet gotten a replacement sequencer, which is what I feel right now is fundamental for my setup, as I would really like to go back to more sequenced performances rather than just doing drone ones...

But on the plus side, I got one of my Ensoniq Fizmos back, that had been on a loan for the regulator fix, and can likely try to record a proper demo with it pretty soon, if you are interested in hearing it! :)


But getting back to the point of this post, here goes my participation for the Westworld Scoring Competition 2020:



I recorded my score with Ableton Live 9, since it could handle the video file provided for the competition, as well as create a new video file with my score included!

As audio sources, I used my Korg Minilogue for the first lead sound, with my E-MU E-Synth Ultra providing the remaining sounds (all sounds are presets included in the original E-Synth ROM).
In terms of processing, I only added a touch of reverb, using Ableton's own reverb plug-in.


However, as you might have guess by the end result, I didn't really have much time to actually get this project finished, as I only became aware of this competition with less than a week to go, a pretty busy time for me...

And to make things worse, without the Akai MPC2000XL and Korg Triton, I was left with Ableton Live 9 as my only sequencer...
That isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially since I have Ableton Push to go along with it, but my experience with this combo is very limited, which made it really hard to get some nice sequences going on in such a short amount of time...

So... I ended up playing everything you listen to, recording it first to MIDI so that I could apply some quantisation, and then using it to play the different instruments.
But there was just no time to record any "proper" sequenced industrial drum grooves or basslines, despite the final version of this piece should have definitely have had something more going on...


Anyway, this is what I could do with the time I had, and since I feel the Korg Minilogue lead sound really fits the video, I thought it was worth sharing, despite I have no illusions there is no chance my composition will be picked... :)

Still, it was pretty fun to do this and I definitely learnt a lot!
It also sparked my interest in learning how to use Ableton Live a bit better, as it could definitely ease my GAS for an hardware sequencer...

And to be honest, I might still give it a try and rework this piece later on, as I feel it was heading in the right direction!
I feel the structure of the piece was pretty decent, with the change in the mood as soon as the shooting begun making it quite interesting!
However I would most likely replace the sounds I used from the E-MU E-Synth Ultra, as I wasn't totally happy with them (especially following such a nice Korg Minilogue sound)...
Furthermore, I also feel I could have enhanced the sounds a better if only I had used my Symbolic Sounds Kyma Capybara 320 (or even my Eventide ModFactor and Space pedals) rather than sticking to Ableton's own plug-ins, despite the reverb used really enhanced my sound!
And of course, add extra parts to add some depth to the piece, as I mentioned before!

But thinking now about all I would have added to this piece, I see that would probably be work for few days, so it's not like I just needed some few hours to have gotten it to the level I wanted this piece to be! :)


Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it, and if you are wondering when will I perform next, that will be the 20th of June, this Saturday, for the electro-music.com June Solstice Concert 2020!
My slot is at 20:00 GMT, so be sure to tune in!


P.S. - If you happen to have a Pioneer Squid, or another nice sequencer (Squarp Pyramid, E-MU Command Station, Yamaha RS-7000 and I'm sure some others...), and you could be interested in trading it for a Roland TR-727 (needs some check, but is usable), two E-MU ESI-32s or some vintage guitar effects, let me know as it would really make a difference to my setup!
But in the meanwhile, I'll try to just learn Ableton Live 9 a bit better! ;)