A question about workflow spanning multiple patterns

Play
1

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.

1 Like
2

I would personally use the first pattern and make variations. When you have finally molded all sounds and created different sections etc using variations, I would then copy the pattern over into the amount of pads you wanted for the entire song.

From there I would set each copy to the variations you wanted in order to flesh out the song sections.

I would not proceed to that stage until I created everything I wanted in the song, and until all of the sounds are exactly what I wanted without any more changes.

In my videos I show a “palette” workflow where I can reuse sounds - this can fix a lot of those issues because you can copy it over and reuse.

I think that you might be looking for a more conventional means of sequencing - polyend play is sort of geared to making happy mistakes often, and a more experimental way to create. It is possible on the play I would try my method to see if that helps.

2 Likes