1 Hour+ Generative Ambient Eurorack Modular Synth Music // Meditative // Grieg

"Life's Circles: Unexpected Returns"


The Story Behind the Original Idea:
For a while now, I’ve wanted to create a long-form, pseudo-generative music video—something you could leave playing in the background while you focus on other activities or just relax, free from any jarring sounds. But even though I wanted it to be abstract, I also aimed to subtly develop an underlying idea.

When planning for a video that would exceed 1 hour and 30 minutes, I knew that something purely generative or random could end up being too "random," lacking any recognizable patterns, and therefore, less appealing to our simple minds that naturally seek to identify sequences. So, I decided to create a journey, where memory, the passage of time, and return would be central themes.

My mind had already latched onto the concept: "The things we think we've left behind often find their way back to us." The choices, experiences, and unresolved issues we believe are in the past resurface unexpectedly, influencing our present and shaping our future. In other words: “Life's Circles: Unexpected Returns.”

As we approach the end of our journey, I feel these memories and experiences intensify, as if reminding us of where we started. It’s as though life comes full circle, bringing us face-to-face with our origins, forcing us to reflect on the paths we’ve taken and the cycles we’ve repeated.

With this concept in mind, I needed something to serve as the "development" of this idea. That’s when I thought of Edvard Grieg and his beautiful piece "Morning Mood" (or "Morgenstemning" in Norwegian). It’s one of his most famous works, part of the "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46."

The piece evokes a sense of dawn in a natural landscape and is known for its serene and peaceful atmosphere. While many people associate this music with a sunrise in Norway, Grieg actually wrote it for a scene set in North Africa, where the character Peer Gynt awakens in the desert.

What better symbol of life’s cycles than a sunrise? Each day marks a new beginning but is also part of a daily cycle that repeats, just like the events and emotions in life.

Just as the experiences and decisions of the past reappear in our lives, influencing our present and future, the sunrise is a new beginning that also reminds us of the previous day, always lingering in the background, with the day’s cycle destined to repeat.

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Development of the Idea:
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So, I obtained the original sheet music and prepared several arrangements of the fundamental melodic structure, keeping in mind my goal to create something calm and transitional within the Eurorack.
I modified it enough to blur, fade, and slow it down—but without losing the original magic. I then prepared these stems and fed them into the Eurorack as MIDI, where Mannequins Just Friends would be the main player.

As in my recent videos, there’s modulation, but I also incorporated new elements, like the latest version of Mnemonic Devices Juniper, which features Lorenz Attractor waveforms—often used in chaos theory. These waves modify the sound in a "chaotic" way, but under the influence of a clock, they could achieve my goal of blurring without disappearing. BelaGliss continuously modulates, and overall, there’s a gradual global effect interacting with this idea. Intellijel Sealegs with delay and reverb, Mutable Beads and DXG. Expert Sleepers ES-9 allows me to record everything directly to iPad and prepare the mix on it.

The first part of the plan ended there, and to complete it, I slowed down the entire stem exactly by half, extending time and letting the nuances speak longer. This was meant to represent the progression of life in the present.

The third idea was that at a certain point, I would reverse everything, with the video and music playing backward—suggesting a return to the essential and the origin, just like the sunrise.
Playing with the concept of life brings us back to our beginnings, sometimes in the form of inevitable cycles… and the way the past, always present, influences our present and the outcome of our lives.

Chapters:
00:00 Part 1: Dawn's Path: The Journey Begins
45:55 Part 2: Echoes of Dawn: The Return to Origins


Thanks so much for listening. If this resonated with you, consider hitting like or subscribing for more journeys like this one. Your support helps me keep exploring these ideas!


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