Songs for Sunsets: full album with Drambo (with AUDIO4c and macOS VST libraries)
I just released this album, which was written entirely in Drambo. You guys helped me to set up the workflow to use the iConnectivity AUDIO4c interface, back in December 2024, so I could use Drambo not only to control macOS Kontrol libraries -- but so that they would stay in sync, when I would export the mixdown (iOS and macOS) from within Drambo.
This let me use VST plugins while using Drambo -- what a dream. My mind simply doesn't work with the non-step based composing modes of all these great other DAWs. So now I could use Stratos, Repro-5, Olafur Arnalds libraries, Tympo, Spitfire's Abbey Road Two, and more. The CC editing is always a little cumbersome, but hey -- that makes it even more hand-crafted.
I wanted to write down these technicalities first, but actually this music is about emotions :) Here's what I wrote:
Listen to this as the sun lowers – whether the sundowning happens geographically, mentally or emotionally. This music carries you into (and beyond) the in-between spaces, and lets you feel this day, this experience turn into memory.
This is about standing in front of water and waves, watching another sunset. And then another the next day. And another. Shades and colors without end. The slow drift of clouds.
This is about standing in front of your own life, living another moment.
This is about the feelings a day stirs in you. About the appreciation, sometimes hard won, for whatever you managed to survive today. About knowing that whatever happened is already leaving – and forever more is yet to come.
Light, darkness, and the spaces between them: you.
These are songs for your sunsets.
Here are couple Bandcamp codes, which you can redeem at https://cbh69.bandcamp.com/yum
- 7dfh-krwp
- lh5s-gll2
- qe7p-3m5c
- frwb-c62w
- wlh5-wy44
- ceef-h3ja
- s77x-es9b
- plwh-usgx
- rcpp-el2q
- jx9r-wlxa
ENJOY! And once more: thanks to everyone who makes and supports Drambo (@giku!)
Comments
😍 What a gift!
Thank you!
btw. took the first code
I took the second one, thanks a lot Chris!
Wow, I like your workflow. And the music.
I've only started using iOS sequencers with MacOS sound engines and I love it!
It still feels weird to use an iOS app to control macOS libraries -- but the Drambo step sequencer simply captures my melodies perfectly, and non-step based DAWs don't.
So I have my workflow :)
Awesome! Thank you for sharing your work (I snagged the next code) @chrisb78
I'd be interested in hearing more about your workflow, as I totally agree; Drambo is a composer's paradise.
i simply start out with any instrument that resonates strongly with me; in this case, it was a piano (PurePiano) with optional delay. I fiddle around until there's a melody that feels like something -- and then i play from there. the music that i've been composing the last couple of years is always built on one melody, which often stays on repeat throughout the entire track -- most often, there's no part variation (part a, part b, chorus etc) -- instead, i add and remove melodic and rhythmic layers.
in this specific case, i had probably 5-10 instruments within ios, and another 10 on macos. the macos instruments were the more exciting ones at the time of writing, as i realized i really could use vsts, finally. i'm used to that now, 1.5y later, but around xmas 2024, that was so magical. being able to write string arrangements. ouf.
i was in marocco for ten days, on my own, rather lonely and a bit heartbroken, and tried to get back to living. i wrote the first 6 tracks there, and very little changed. sometimes it just flows, and this album was like that. every evening i went down to the beach, to stand in front of the sunset -- and would listen to that day's composition. i didn't have the export syncing figured out, so ios and macos instruments didn't rhythmically align -- and i didn't understand why. but it still felt so magical to me. songs for sunsets -- the title was there right from that time.
i'll post photos from my shabby arturia keystep setup, and some sunset shots when i'm back on my phone! <3
Hi, and thanks for sharing your work (I got the fourth code), I'll wait until sunset to listen to it.
From the banner on Bandcamp, I see you also have hardware synths. Is that an Analog Four?
Thanks again.
yes indeed, a black and a grey one. The Elektron worfklow and sequencer is what eventually got me to Drambo. I released one A4 album, and another one that's entirely done on Syntakt -- I love these devices, but I haven't been using them since getting into Drambo.