Gruber

Pico-8 Music Tutorial #55 – Feedback Series #4

Added 2020-03-16 14:00:04 +0000 UTC

Hey everyone!

This tutorial/feedback video features a hilarious cart on the forms called “Can’t Win With Cats.” It also reflects some fresh ideas I’ve been having about composition (which may eventually form a new tutorial series).

I still need to iron out the language, but I believe every action while composing, in Pico-8 or otherwise, is a process involving these five areas:

Playing with sound/parts (melody, bass line, percussion, sound design)
Playing with relations between parts (foreground, background, rhythmic relations, harmony, mixing)
Playing with relations between larger sections (form, pacing, ratios, unity)
Preparing and managing project assets & interfaces
Taking breaks

All five of these actions are guided by some kind of “playback-reaction” feedback loop. These loops are dependent on both the composer’s disposition, and the way they interact with their tools. This is why with many software instruments and DAWs (including Pico-8), it’s important to learn hotkeys - to maintain fluid feedback loops.

In this tutorial, I talk specifically about the first three: Playing with individual parts, playing with their relations to other parts, and creating form by playing with relations between larger sections. Because framing composition in this way is a work-in-progress for me, feedback is welcome!

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