And, I've started the second track, called "Tape 2" for the moment. A riff on "take 2", lol. Lame I know, I won't be booked in the Catskills for my comedy act anytime soon.
Basically, I have 6 lyric ideas for Retro Grade, and only two of them are wedded to melodies at the moment. Tape 2 may or may not be paired with one of those lyric ideas later, because, it started kind of by accident this evening.
Unlike I See You, which relied completely on "period" instruments I owned in the 80s, Tape 2 (so far) uses only modern instruments that sound (intentionally or otherwise) like early 80s instruments.
I'd been programming a rhythm and melodic loop on a Korg Monotribe. However, having not yet modded it to accept Midi in, I was very unhappy with the melody part. Incidentally, if you've ever wanted an analog monosynth, you owe it to yourself to check the Monotribe out. I was really looking forward to the Arturia Minibrute, but $500 for a single oscillator seems ridiculous and I reconsidered the humble Monotribe, which seems to do much of the same, plus it has a 16 step sequencer with three drum sounds. The midi mod is super easy, making it a "real" analog synth module for a tiny price.
All that is academic, what's interesting about the Monotribe is that it sounds so much like an early 80s drum machine if you use the drums sounds and the step sequencer. Like the Echo of Echo and the Bunnymen fame (okay maybe that one sounds more expensive), it totally has that vibe to it.
Fast forward. Tonight, I was playing around on the Micron, in my continuing effort to know my synths better. Going over the preset sounds again, I started to tweak a few, thinking about which ones might be useful on Retro Grade. In doing so, I was playing little riffs on the key board. When I got to a certain sound (I think it was "closet bass" whatever that means), I really liked the phrase I was playing and knew I had to record it before I forgot it (I'm still unable to write my ideas down in standard musical notation). But I needed a drum track to go with the bass line, and thought of the rhythm track I'd been working on using the Monotribe. I turned that on, got it going and played the bassline. A marriage made in heaven. They complimented each other so perfectly, and sounded so 80s, despite the fact that the instruments were decades too late for the party. With only a little effort, I laid down the rhythm track for Tape 2 and felt like the project was really on it's way, the sophomore effort having been launched and sounding really good so far. IMHO.
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