Ambient Noodlings

Happy Sunday afternoon! It’s a milestone day with episode #200 of these weekly (mostly) posts. This has been an incredible challenge for me to carve out the time to create and post something each Sunday. The idea to do this weekly in the beginning was to force myself to spend the time to learn something new, with some artificial pressure to motivate me to do the “work.” I hope you enjoy today’s re...

Happy Sunday evening! I’m posting a bit late this time because I’ve been in bed most of the day. I think the high pollen count here got to me. When I’m not having sneezing attacks and runny nose, I feel groggy and just want to sleep. Finally felt like getting up and tinkering on the Digitakt some this evening. Spring time in these parts can be brutal! Anyway, I put together something that I found...

Happy Sunday evening! I found a few minutes to noodle on the Digitakt in the midst of another busy weekend. I just played with some patterns and textures that I ran through an Eric Synths Echolator and Eventide Space. I enjoyed playing the recording in the background while I got some work done. Have a good week ahead everyone! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other...

A good Sunday evening to everyone! I’m doing a late-ish post that I’ll blame on adjusting to the time change. I had trouble getting to sleep last night and then lost an hour on top of it. Really wish we’d stop that nonsense! Anyway, back to today’s jam. It’s a bit on the dark side. I think I’m reading and watching the news too much and there isn’t a lot of good news out there these days. I’m glad...

Happy Sunday evening! Hope y’alls weekend has been relaxing. Lots of crazy stuff going on in the world. Mass shooting in my city, more war overseas. I had to try and avoid the news today. Sometimes it is overwhelming. I’m thankful I’ve got my synth and ambient musings as a brief respite. Sounds by Minifreak, sequenced by Digitakt 2, along with a bit of added background texture. Grab some headphone...

Happy Sunday evening! Today I have a laid back noodling with a pad on the Minifreak. I used the Digitakt for sequencing and some background sounds, including some vinyl-like noise. Grab some headphones and chill out for a few minutes. It beats doom scrolling. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelconn...

Happy Sunday evening! I was tinkering around with a pedal I’m auditioning and time got away from me. While I had some fun, I didn’t really put together anything recording worthy. Running out of free time for the weekend, I ended up just noodling around with a pad sound that I like in the Minifreak, running through the Space reverb. Hope you enjoy the chill, meandering sounds. This is a public epis...

Happy Sunday! Apparently there is some big sports ball game going on today that has everyone all excited. I’m content to spend some quiet time with the synths after a hectic work week. Today’s track is a kind of meandering noodle with a pad on the Minifreak, along with some background texture by a Soma Cosmos pedal I’m trying out. Neat how a handful of notes can become so expansive. This is a publ...

Happy Sunday! I’ve got a darkish jam for today. I was playing around with the Minifreak, getting to know it. This track is based on a slow arpeggio with lots of manual tinkering with envelopes and filter, plus a bit of percussive sounds from Digitakt. Eventide Space and Zoom MS-70CDR+ pedals were used for layers of modulated reverb. Grab some headphones! This is a public episode. If you would like...

Happy Sunday! It’s a cold day in many of the states after a surge of Arctic air descended all the way down through southern states. We were spared the predicted ice storm last night and got away with some light to moderate sleet coverage. It’s enough that I didn’t venture out of the house today, knowing that the streets will be a thin sheet of ice under the sleet. Today’s jam is something differen...

Happy Sunday evening! Today’s track is a bit of noodling on an Arturia Minifreak. It has been a while since I’ve played an actual keyboard. I’m not much of a keyboardist, but I like the tactile and expressive nature of a keyboard synth. No sequencing in this track, just manual playing of keys and filter sweeps. Reverb by Eventide Space. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this w...

Happy Sunday! I’ve got a lot going on this weekend with preparing for some home repairs to start tomorrow. It’s going to be a fairly big disruption in house for a week or so. I didn’t think I’d have time to jam today, but I managed to work in a quick session. Mostly, I just tinkered with some wave tables on the Digitakt. Sometimes I can find something inspirational with a minimal of effort by usin...

Happy Sunday evening, ambient music fans! I’m headed back to work tomorrow after taking a bit of time off for the holidays. I was feeling a dark drone today and noodled around on the Lyra-8 for a bit. What a strange device. I don’t claim to understand it yet. It’s kind of meditative to play, although it plays nothing like any standard instrument. Anyway, grab some headphones and drift along with t...

Happy Sunday evening! Hoping everyone is having a good holiday season. I’m enjoying a little time off from work myself. Today I put together this little tune on my Digitakt using just a couple of samples I made the King of FM app on my iPad. I was inspired by a video I was watching by Hans Zimmer the other day. He was talking about using just a note or two and tweaking it with things like filterin...

Happy Sunday evening! Last weekend before Christmas - wow! Doesn’t feel much like it with sunny and warm weather here. Today’s track isn’t very holiday fitting either, unless you’re like me and watched Krampus last night. Maybe that inspired today’s auditory meanderings. Grab some good headphones for this one. It’s got some deep bass rumble going on. The audio is all from the Lyra-8, manually play...

Happy Sunday evening! It has been a cold-ish gray day here and I decided to put together a dark and brooding drone. I’m still getting to know the Lyra-8 I mentioned last week. All sounds are from the Lyra with some help from a Vongon Paragraph pedal and an Eventide Space reverb. No sequencing here, everything is manually manipulated. Grab those headphones and chill out in the dark for a while. Thi...

Happy Sunday evening! I’m down to the wire getting a new jam kicked out today. I didn’t have time until late this evening and I decided to try and record something with a new synth. I traded off some modules I wasn’t using any longer for a Soma Lyra-8. What a weird little beast! Probably wasn’t the best idea to perform and record on something as odd as this thing, with no previous experience or mu...

Happy Sunday evening! It’s the end of a few days of holiday for me. Back to reality in the morning. I’ve missed a few weeks of posts now and I’m happy to have finally found some time to do something I enjoy tonight. It has been a been a difficult past couple of weeks for a few reasons. The synths provide some needed joy now. Today’s track is primarily my Digitakt, with a backing drone by Piston Ho...

Happy Sunday evening! I can’t believe October has come and gone. It has been a busy time for me. For the first time in over 3 years I missed posting a new tune last weekend. Too much going on with my work and getting a post in last weekend would have meant forcing myself to squeeze it in when I was physically and mentally exhausted. I do this to relax, not to add to my workload. I didn’t get as mu...

Happy Sunday! I’ve got a chill jam going today. It’s something I recorded last night while playing around with different timbres on a wavetable oscillator. This particular oscillator can really shred, but run through a good filter it mellows out nicely. I’m amazed out how many different sounds I can get with just filter frequency and resonance modulation. Grab some headphones and check it out. Pat...

Happy Sunday evening! It’s a late posting for me again this weekend. I found some time to play around on the synths this evening and ended up messing around with this not exactly ambient jam. Most of the timbre variations are filter manipulations through modulation and manual tweaking. I started out with a drone and ended up jamming over the top. Patch Notes * Digitakt II driving sequences and dru...

Happy Sunday, my ambient loving friends! I spent some time this afternoon exploring the wavetable Piston Honda oscillator and was pleased to find some string-ish and glassy timbres. I put together a sequence driven by the Digitakt and chilled out for a bit, playing with levels and filter manually. Patch Notes * All voices are the two oscillators in Piston Honda * Sequencing by Digitakt II * Pam’s...

Happy Sunday evening! I’m getting in my jam time a little late today. I put together a laid-back tune that I had fun tweaking on my small modular system. There is a lot hands-on modulation going on. Grab some headphones and chill out for a bit. Enjoy! Patch Notes * Piston Honda wave table oscillator provides the melodic voices * Sequencing by Digitakt with a couple of MIDI tracks * Maths for envel...

Happy Sunday evening! I’ve got a little jam on my Digitakt for y’all today. I did some experimenting with creating a somewhat generative tune. I’m slowing learning how to do things on this interesting little box. My background with modular synthesis certainly helps with wrapping my head around all the options in the interface. Some things are easier to do on the ‘takt and others take some digging...

Happy Sunday afternoon! I spent some time playing around on the Digitakt this weekend, still working on figuring it out. Creating a tune with only samples is interesting. It’s very different from how I’ve done things the past few years with modular synthesis. I wasn’t sure I’d like the Elektron workflow, but it’s not bad now that I’m getting accustomed to it. On a side note, it always cracks me up...