Music for Piano Drone 3

Mr Sandbags

I got stuck on a silly little musical phrase, noodling around with it on the piano, unable to let go of it and unable to really develop it into something more.

I recorded myself playing a number of variations as I searched in vain for a deeper “song” underlying the phrase. This track is a little granular rendition of those meanderings recreated by my Reaktor instrument Tukuramu*.

The piano I used was the SoundDust Ships Piano which has a great sound in the middle range but not much in the top and practically no bass at all. What bass it has is also rather dissonant.

The recording captures that and, if anything, running it through Tukuramu seems to have accentuated it a little. I made the resulting track deliberately quiet, aiming at a threshold where it is audible, but not insistent, and can drift a little.

I find the result pleasing but I suspect opinions will vary.

• Tukuramu is a granular resampler that slices audio and plays back slices in a (randomisable) pattern with - among other things - control over speed, grain length, and grain density.