Not Every Good Idea Gets a Vote
I tried to integrate the Moog Minitaur into my MPC workflow this morning. (And to the little green f-er that said there’s only do no try, he was wrong in this regard.)
I am going back and getting all the Daphne Falls songs set up for live, and I’m trying to come up with a way to properly integrate an analog synth. One option is the Key 37 and the Grandmother. Another option is a table-beat scenario where I have the Key 37 integrated with the Moog Minitaur, which, as I’ve mentioned before, is my very favorite synth, and I know it well.
I’ve used it plenty live, so there’s confidence there. No matter how screwed up the knobs get, I can always get it back to where I need it to be within seconds. Obviously, that’s a huge deal.
So when making these tracks, I can very easily come up with something for the Daphne Falls backing tracks, which I’m responsible for: drums, bass, and some kind of synths. Very easy. And like I’ve always said, if it’s easy, keep doing it.
So this morning I tried to get that live synth in there, and something was way off.
Younger me, and I’m talking a few months younger, would have kept at it and spent a week on it, then thrown my hands up in frustration and gone back to what I was doing before. But what I’m doing now is delete the project and try again tomorrow morning. That’s it.
I was already asking the thing to do too much, like a complete idiot. And I say that because I’ve done this so many times before.
But the good news is that I stopped myself in my tracks this time.
I know that I can integrate one of these synths, no problem. I just, for some reason, have gained the patience. And I think it’s because I’ve been thinking a lot about all this thinking and iterating and all these ideas bouncing around only inside my head that are not helpful to the music and, at the end of the day, will not produce a better show or make the people I’m working with happier because I’ve been in my head for days.
And the MPC-only version of what we’re doing, we’re all overjoyed with. It’s just working.
So I’ve got to get to the point where the Minitaur works in that scenario or it doesn’t.
Try it. If it doesn’t work, move on. Keep it in the back of my mind, and if I can think of a scenario where it works, great. Otherwise, why not just make it easy on myself?
Just bring the MPC and the SP-404.
I can use the SP-404 for effects, but it’s also a backup. And I know that pretty well, and it’s really similar to the way the MPC works. People will say it’s different, but it’s not that different. It just does different stuff. It’s much better for one-shots and things like that, although I could use a drum program in the MPC for that too.
So do I really need it? I don’t know.
But you do need a backup.
And that thing sounds amazing through a live sound system. So those two pieces may actually be essential.
If I can add the Minitaur, then great. But if I can’t, I’ve got to be okay with that.
I’m going to keep trying to work it in, but I’m not going to force it. At the end of the day, no one cares. But if I get it right and everything sounds better and feels better, then everyone’s going to care.
See? That’s the rub.
So I’ll put myself through it. I’m just not going to put myself through hell anymore.
Thank the Lord.