Hi all! I've really enjoyed composing in an instrumental style that mixes retro soundfonts and modern synth patches. Soundfonts are quite rigid, unless you've got lots of plugins to modify them, so mastering is always a battle.

This song I call "Despite"
It's a little bit allegorical, and I'll explain what I was thinking here.

In the opening of the song, there is only a drum fill. Drums lack tone and therefore emotion- It's a blank emotionless starting point for the song.

But then the song starts. It might not be what you were expecting or what you would have chosen/imagined/predicted, but you can tell everything's alright and that you'll be okay.

As more instruments pile on, you start to realize that things aren't going to stay so simple forever, and you even start to feel uncertain. Eventually the complexity overtakes the way things once were and momentarily becomes the focus of the music.

But then the instruments seem to come back into agreement. Uncertainty passes, and there's always more good times on the other side. Except now you've learned how to have good times that aren't so simple. You can handle a bit of complexity and are still thriving. It's like growing up.

But eventually you lose your innocence, you're not naive anymore. You realize that things are fundamentally broken and imperfect. What are you going to do? A part of you is very sad and mourns the loss of your old perception, one which is largely optimistic and based on a sheltered view of the world- on the other hand, you know that you can't stop being a force for good. You have to embody the same purity that you admire. Despite how you feel, despite how emotionally chaotic the world is, despite the changes that will come your way trying to throw you off track.

The motif the song has carried from beginning to end is persistent. It's not going to give up.

I challenge you not to either.
Be a force for good.

Tags: week 2 2026, View by:0ctothorpe