I'm going to paraphrase a YouTube comment I once read suggesting that Techno is not a genre of music, but a kind of ethereal destination. Most Techno tracks have the potential to get you there, but each one takes their own route.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, and many I know struggle to tell the difference between any two songs as all they can hear is the "same" driving beat.

There can be subtlety to that driving beat tho, or it can act as a framework to hold together a delicate and constantly changing landscape that poetic YouTuber once called Techno.

Either way tho, these gradual shifts and slow progressions are intended not only to keep you in Techno, but to draw you deeper in. You might think you've noticed a subtle shift, but beware of the slight of hand. Your ear is often drawn in one direction to prevent you from hearing something in the other.

Anyway, this track isn't anywhere near as good as some of the tracks I've been listening to lately, but I think I'm getting... somewhere... Take a look: gr0k #007: Tomorrow's Tomorrow.

As always, created-mixed-recorded in the Zynthian. Stock footage from archive.org and fairly random, any assocations are in your head.

A couple of friends get wind of my experiments and send me a random recording to use. They're having a few beers and a laugh playing Star Wars Racer on the Nintendo 64. The recording is fairly low quality, and the bit they really want me to sample is terribly muffled, but I get the idea.

I wanted to get something back to them quickly so rather than wasting time searching for a higher quality version of their sample request, I chopped up what they had sent and got to work. Including the time it took to slice and dice the samples, this was put together in less than two hours total.

It gets a bit silly when I try to reference the Cantina tune so I cut it a bit short. I wasn't intending to make frog music haha. Once again aside from a kick and a hi-hat from a 909, every single sound comes from the original sample. The bass-line is the pitched and filter laugh of one of my friends.

Mostly a silly experiment, just here to log my progress, but who knows you might enjoy it: gr0k #006: JJ Cantina. As always, created-mixed-recorded in the Zynthian, although I sliced and diced the samples on my computer. Stock footage from archive.org and fairly random, any assocations are in your head.

Once again, not sure of exact date of this, but it was another early Zynthian experiment. This was a sample challenge, and my friend chose a dark one. When I submitted my entry (to what is a private group) I had this to say:

"I have to say tho, I wouldn't want anyone thinking we're taking light of Beth's tragic past, and I was conscious of that as I made this, but I hope I've treated it with some delicacy. I hope it comes across as intended."

With that said, and in the spirit of the exercise and meaning no harm: gr0k #005: I Don't Know Where They Are.

This is 100% samples from the YouTube clip, except for a 909 which provided the bass kick. As always, created-mixed-recorded in the Zynthian, although I sliced the samples on my computer. Stock footage from archive.org, although slightly less random this time as the original sample refers to a specific person and I really didn't want to cause offense.

How's this, I'm doing these batch mode, and I'm pretty sure this should have been 003, but whatever. Another early Zynthian experiment. I remember being overwhelmed and only being able to keep up with things if I concentrated on one thing at a time, but I learned a lot about efficient mapping, and logical organisation of tracks.

I hope you like resonance and high pitched sounds, because I obviously hadn't figured out a favourite equaliser plugin when I recorded this. If you like acid sounds, you may be able to put up with it.

It is what it is, and here it is: gr0k #004: One Thing at a Time. As with previously, mostly TAL NoiseMaker from memory, created-mixed-recorded in the Zynthian. Stock footage from archive.org and more or less random. Any associations are probably in your head.

Ugh, way too muddy and way too heavy on the bottom end, and just an experiment. It sounded great when I was playing it tho, and it taught me a lesson: I need to listen on a few different sets of speakers before putting anything out, and I think it was this song reminded me about compression and why I need to use it.

It's up online anyway, because I had a great time making it, because I learned a lot in the process, and because it was the first time I'd been comfortable enough with my setup to improvise a little, which backfired obviously, but it's all a part of the process.

Created primarily with TAL NoiseMaker from memory, I haven't saved this song, I was just play around one night after dinner and recorded something I liked.

I know I haven't sold it very well, but whatever. Here is gr0k #003: Loose Translation. As with previously, created-mixed-recorded in the Zynthian. Stock footage from archive.org and more or less random. Any associations are probably your head.

Funny how the world works. You're struggling because, due to circumstances outside of your control your usual creative outlet has been snuffed out. You're working too hard trying to keep up the bare necessities, and after a few years you think fuck it all, splash out and buy a new toy, and the next day find out half your friends have done more-or-less the same thing.

And what do you do when you find out that your friends have also purchased noise making devices and are likewise getting to grips with operating them? Challenge them to make a song out of a stupid sample of course!

So out comes Firefox focus with a clean history, YouTube is loaded, and the first recommended video was random enough to be used. To challenge myself further, aside from a kick from a drum machine, I decided to only use sounds chopped from this video. The synthy sounds you hear are filtered zero point loop cycles.

And here is the result: gr0k #002: Five Generations. As with last time, created-mixed-recorded in the Zynthian. Stock footage from archive.org and more or less random. Any associations are probably in your head.

Be kind, this is the first music I've ever shared outside of those directly involved or my m0m, and it only happened under duress.

It was my first attempt at creating something that resembled a 'song' in over a decade, and although I never intended to release any music for a very long time, I'm kind of glad the peeps over at the Zynthian Forum insisted, as it has lead to my being less precious about what I'm making.

After 'breaking the ice' so to speak, a series of sample challenges and other experiments have help encourage me to produce 'tracks' instead of just a series of random sounds, and also prompted this section of the site.

I'm not sure I'll name every track, but for the purposes of logging my process, open and honest disclosure, and sharing my love the for Zynthian, I intend to upload my creations regularly, even if they are bad.

And so if you missed it the first time, behold! gr0k #001: The Monocled Frown. Stock footage from archive.org and more or less random. Any associations are probably in your head.