Now that I’ve been using the Play more and creating larger song structures, I’ve uncovered a workflow problem I’d like to ask for advice on.
I start by selecting some samples and create an initial pattern. Then I move on to subsequent patterns as musical ideas grow and build.
My music usually has longer form structures than just four bars, with harmonic shifts and melodic lines that carry over from one pattern to another.
Then I listen to the first pattern and start adjusting the sound parameters with the knobs, maybe change samples to ones that sound better now that I know where the music is going.
At this point, the first pattern sounds different from the subsequent ones.
I would have to scrutinize the changes I made throughout the first pattern, and individually apply those changes to all the other sounds in all the other patterns, one by one, so that the larger phrases maintain consistency. This is tedious and not ideal.
I can see the benefit of really nailing down the ‘sound’ of the instruments within the first pattern before moving on to the others, but that’s often not how things play out creatively.
Would anyone have some alternative suggestions to get around this issue?
Would it make sense to propose a feature request of saving ‘instruments’ with preset knob adjustments, or does that go against the philosophy of the Play. It could be that I’m just using the wrong tool for what I like to accomplish.