sunwarper

What's your travel beatmaking setup?

Do you bring a sampler, laptop, just an iPad, or leave everything at home for a bit?

I almost packed a sampler for this trip, but ended up keeping things simple and just bringing the iPad. It was interesting getting away from the hardware, and I even tried using only field recordings from the trip to make a beat... even the melodic sounds.

Getting outside the studio and comfort zone always seems to spark new ideas.

I'll share how it turned out this weekend

5 days ago | [YT] | 55

sunwarper

The votes are in for tomorrow’s livestream and the SP404 won by a landslide! I’m looking forward to getting back to the SP for some beatmaking after spending the last few weeks exploring other samplers.

I’ll be going live tomorrow at 10am Pacific to build a track from scratch, answer questions, and hang out.

You can get a notification when I go live here:
youtube.com/live/XHmm1BW8k80?feature=share

See you tomorrow :)

1 week ago | [YT] | 78

sunwarper

I'm bringing livestreams back this Saturday at 10am Pacific.

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about arrangement, workflow, and how tracks actually come together, so I thought it'd be fun to hang out and build a beat from scratch live.

Which piece of gear should I use?

If you have any questions about either one, leave them below and I'll try to answer them during the stream.

I'll share the livestream link later this week once the winner is decided.

1 week ago | [YT] | 14

sunwarper

Sampling has become my main instrument over the last few years, but guitar was the first instrument I ever learned. Lately I’ve been combining both by thinking of the guitar less as an instrument and more as a sound canvas.

A chord becomes a pad. A single note becomes a bass. A melody becomes something almost unrecognizable from the original guitar recording.

I explored that idea in my latest video:
https://youtu.be/8Y0L2rwbDl0

When you sample live instruments, do you prefer to preserve their original character, or transform them into something completely different?

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 72

sunwarper

What’s your main way of making music right now?

I find each workflow has its pros and cons depending on genre, available time and goals.

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time with samplers because they help me commit to audio and finish tracks quickly. As a parent, having a workflow that gets ideas out fast has become really important.

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 14

sunwarper

After looking into the rise of portable samplers for the last video, I’ve been thinking a lot more about limitations and how they can actually fuel creativity.

So now I’m curious: what kills your motivation to make music most often? If I missed it in the poll, let me know in the comments.

I ended up building a whole new video around this idea. See you Saturday :)

1 month ago | [YT] | 20

sunwarper

I’ve made more music on limited gear than on the most powerful setups I’ve owned.

It seems counterintuitive, but it’s not because one piece of gear is better. For me, it’s because limitations force decisions.

Less options. Less tweaking. More finished tracks instead of getting lost in the workflow.

I went down a rabbit hole looking into why portable samplers are having such a moment right now, and it ended up becoming a more introspective look at music creation and the beauty of limitations.

Thanks to everyone who left comments about why you set these limitations in your own process, and to those who sent footage of vintage samplers for this video.

Do limitations help your creativity, or do you feel more productive with unlimited options?

Check out the video here: https://youtu.be/neG5sTBe_Vk

1 month ago | [YT] | 126