Synth Jam 4 | 7th Dimension

I’m on a roll. This is my fourth week of making synth jams. This time I tried recording directly to my Tascam recorder from the mixer taking the computer completely out of the loop.

Recording Notes

This is my first attempt at not using any kind of backing track but still keeping things synced to a MIDI clock. To do this, I used a DB-90 whose MIDI IN reads from the Roland Boutique + Digitakt and keeps time with my main MIDI clock. This allowed me to hear a click track acoustically, outside the track, while layring synths and arpeggiator patterns together without sync issues.

Harmonically, I’ve also been experimenting with subtly atonal progressions. This one utilizes a major 7th triad pattern between the JU-06a bass root note and the JP-08 3rd and 7th. Normally, this isn’t very atonal. However, the progression moves counter-clockwise in the circle of fifths from C. Thereby avoiding a tonal center so to speak. Here’s the general gist:

Gear List:

Here’s the full list of gear I used, in case you wanna try this yourself.

arturia microbrute

arturia keystep

roland ju06a

roland jp08

roland d05

elektron digitakt

tc electronics hall of fame

behringer xenyx q802usb

demedash t120 deluxe