Feedback and a VCV Rack

Okay, so picture this... You're 4 weeks into a semester of your studies and in the first class you have for the week, your lecturer wants to see the project that you are working on; but you just made the decision to scrap your current project and start again!

This happened to me and let me tell you something, it's a very stressful feeling to have. The project that was assigned to do was to create a remix for Joy Divisions classic song, Love Will Tear Us Apart. Our group had to present to our lecturers (and class) what we had come up with so far. Because I wasn't happy with my work so far, I decided to not present anything. Luckily one member of my group (Caelan) had already begun creating his version of the song, so we presented that instead. I feel as though my contribution to the team is crucial for the total marking for the group project. Due to the fact that each member of the group has been assigned to produce their own version of the song, we all have to contribute fairly. If I fail or fall behind in my work it will only affect my mark because every aspect of the song has to be done by myself, it will affect the teams grade because in our plan it states that there will be X amount of versions produced. If my version is not finished then the groups plan has to be changed and all of the required submissions will not be there.

Even though I have chosen to start my project again, I showed what I had made to my lecturer (Pete), who explained to me possible solutions for the issue I was facing. I reflect on and talk about the problem and the solution in a previous post about Creative Process. I chose to continue working on my original idea after I had some help from my peers and teachers. For now I will continue to work on the synth patches that I am designing for the track.

sheesh... All of that on the first day of the week?!

Throughout the rest of the week I chose to focus on the production issue I was facing on my track. I found out that Sooky is trying to get in contact with a design student to help make a logo for our project "EVO SHO". I trust that she will approach this situation very professionally and ensure that the vision we have in mind for the theme of the image will be communicated well to the designer.

Bring on Friday with a 6 hour lecture on Synthesis! How perfect, right? Probably my favourite topic to learn is synthesis, in particular modular synthesis; and that is exactly what we learnt today. Even though modular synthesis exists in both the physical and virtual worlds, we were shown the basics of this art form using a virtual synthesiser called, VCV Rack. This program is completely patchable and acts as a euro rack does, meaning you are able to add what ever modules it is that you are after. We learnt how to create a virtual Moog synth using this program! I definitely learnt a lot in this session and it has only fuelled my passion for music.