Today's Jam is well described by the title...
For daily jams sometimes , it does not go to plan... this jam was an interesting lesson learned, which I detail below :)

I recently got a Frap Tools Usta sequencer (thing below Octatrack) , a really nice hands-on sequencer.

Ive been doing small sequences with it, but wanted to start to extend them into multiple patterns, and switch things around during a performance.
Basically I have 4 melodic parts and some percussion from Rample.

Idea was simple create some variations, and then use the usta to loop certain patterns etc, switch between them....

all seemed good in isolation, but as soon as I started trying to perform it, disorder ensued...

I realised quite quickly the issues were the variations were too much, basically all parts were constantly changing, exacerbated by my decision to use polymeters , tracks of 15,16,17,19 steps long.
basically, things were changing so much that it was hard (at least for me) to discern the musical pattern ... since whilst there was order in individual tracks, they were constantly shifting against each other.

so in the end for this 'take', I stop the patterns looping automatically, and instead triggered them manually ... so that they could 'hang around' for longer.

lesson learned... whilst variations are needed to create interest... however, make it too complex, and it starts to just become a jumbled idea.

so plan of action....
try patterns that have much less variation and without polymeters
use polymeters a bit more sparingly, and ensure they have recognisable patterns.

on the positive side...
I did get alot of practice with usta, Im much more comfortable with it - it works very nicely.


#Jamuary #Octatrack #Eurorack