Artists from all walks of life shared their tips for creating music on the go, without needing to plug into an outlet. Check them here.
If you make music, either professionally or as a hobby, surely you have happened to walk into a place and a melody or chord progression comes to mind.
This idea keeps repeating itself in your mind, to the point that you want to go home as soon as possible to make it happen in a instrument or in the recording software you have on your computer.
Such a scene is common, and you can often make it through it unscathed. The problem is when the journeys are long and the ambient noises – especially in the city – interfere with said musical thought, which makes it difficult to concentrate.
The music industry and constant advancements in technology have given you a wide variety of options today to deal with this situation.
Unlike the first synthesizers—which were enormous in size (some were the size of a house wall) and had prices that were inaccessible to the vast majority of people—there are today equipment and applications that allow you to play or even register ideas in the space in which you find yourself.
Indeed, producer and member of The Internet, Steve Lacy, who in 2022 spent three weeks at the top of the list Billboard Hot 100 with his single “bad habit ”, stood out for resorting to the application GarageBand from his iPhone to work on several of his hits.
Even the cell phone he started composing songs with was put on display late last year at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, USA.
So where do you turn to create and record music when you’re without a computer or far from an outlet?
Below are the recommendations of specialists in this field, both from perspectives close to pop and electronic to others within the framework of the urban genre.
Portable synthesizers and apps to make music anywhere
As in other fields, there are different options to meet the needs of each musician or producer, whether in software or hardware.
by Richie tuna tail Group of dream pop and electronic music which has been on the national circuit since 2009 and which presented its new album this Friday All is ceremony in the wild garden (2023), has used several synthesizers of different types to develop compositions throughout his career.
Regarding the applications that you can download on your mobile phone, make sure The third who is using it Ableton Rating a mobile version of Ableton Live a DAW (“digital audio workstation”, for its acronym in Spanish) that allows a wide variety of functions to record, play live or use virtual instruments that enter the same program.
“The beauty, beyond the fact that you can program beats, bass lines, do chords, use an arpeggiator, note repeater or sequencer (…) is that you can save a set then open it in Ableton Live on your computer”, explain.
“Not only does it allow you to use it easily, but it also allows you to continue debugging. I really had a lot of fun with this one, it’s great”.
At the moment, Ableton Note is only available for iPhone and iPad systems, while it has a value of 6,500 Chilean pesos.
About portable synthesizers in hardware format, the musician from Tunacola specifies that “there are pocket operator which are super entertaining and cheap” in the catalog of teenage engineering Swedish brand that offers products for a wide range of budgets.
These are characterized – mainly – by the fact that they have a built-in speaker, are battery operated and are similar in size to a calculator.
They also sport a small display with artwork that moves based on what you touch. These digital drawings, depending on the specific model, include everything from boxer fights to renderings of arcade games that interact based on sounds.
Each of the specimens performs different functions and their values range from $60,000 to $120,000 Chilean pesos, approximately.
In case you want to opt for items from the same company with more advantages, there is the OP-Z worth nearly $700,000 and the OP-1 from $1,300,000.
A nationwide band that stands out for using a variety of synthesizers – live and in the studio – is chicarica a group that brings together multiple musical influences and has works such as burns slowly (2021) who positioned themselves on the stage India and alternatives.
in conversation with The third its members —Lore, Felipe and Martín— shared which wearables they liked the most to have or try.
“I think it depends a bit on the budget, because for example the OP-Z and the OP-1 are expensive supports and are on another level, despite being cool. Before we used to play with Santiago and he has the latter, so we used it a lot. It’s beautiful, it’s a great instrument, but the price can be a limit,” says Martín.
Along with this, Lore points out that “the battery lasts a long time” (about 16 hours) and that its good construction allowed it to “survive many situations” during the band’s musical activity.
Regarding Pocket Operators, he points out that “they are more accessible” and “in the pocket” if you want to develop ideas in different contexts, without factors such as space, weight or the need to connect to a socket does not interfere with the process.
Develop ideas in transit or outdoors
In addition to Teenage Engineering products, which have grown in popularity to meet these characteristics, there are Volca synthesizers from Korg that follow this line.
Like the Pocket Operator, these meet various needs depending on the model. Its values currently fluctuate between approximately $80,000 and $220,000.
“Personally, I really like Volca Keys . I had it for a while, liked it a lot and used it a lot. It works on batteries, it has a speaker and if not, you can connect with headphones,” says Martín.
“And they can be plugged together,” adds Lore, “the Volcas are versatile, they’re not that expensive, and they’re great fun, they’re for creating.”
Felipe agrees with his teammates, although he also points out the abilities of the Korg Monotribe : “With this one, I never played at the microphone, doing Beats sitting with my headphones. Now it’s stopped, but it’s still there.”
To create ideas on his mobile phone, Martín uses Ableton Note and previously had Figure by Reason Studios which is free and says “this is to be stuck playing for a long time”.
Coming from the field of urban genre, the producer Joy Mati —who always works directly with Young Cister and shares tips from his region on his YouTube channel, Maximum joy – underline The third that at present it is not strictly necessary to invest large sums of money if one seeks to develop creations in transit.
“If it’s to start with a melodic line or find a progression, you can do it without problems in GarageBand or other similar ones, the quality of virtual instruments in general is super well achieved. To this is added that in this application, you can export a chord sequence in MIDI format and then transfer it to your computer in the studio, so you can open it, for example, in Ableton and you’re ready to go”.
There are other portable options like the Akai MPC Live II — which lets you play and record as if you were in front of a computer, with included speakers — and the synthesizer ASM Hydrasynth Explorer —recommended by Tunacola—, although these have a greater weight and size than the others, which would imply that you are in a more stable position if your goal is to make music while moving in different places .
Even so, as an example, if you wanted to hang out with them outside to seek inspiration in nature or in the middle of town, you could. Both with those and with Volca and Teenage Engineering.
Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
