Weeklybeats is a 52 week long music project in which artists compose and publicly release 1 song a week for the entire year.
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Wargames

By jemmons on March 29, 2026 6:00 pm

I’ve been away from samples and samplers for a while now. But the impending 404 day had me dust of my trusty mkII and it was like meeting up for lunch with an old friend! I know people give it crap for all the doubled up key combinations it requires to use the (vastly expanded!) functionality that’s been added over the years (functionality these same people demanded, by the way). But at its heart it’s still just a bunch of pads you can record anything to and simply touch to play back. I love that immediacy. And as to all the extras? Well, I’m happy to look up how to do those things when and if I need them.

All the one shots here came from one or two of Polyend’s “Palette” libraries, which I love for their organization and very manageable size. The harmonica riff is courtesy of the Library of Congress and the public domain archive they have going. It kind of reminded me of the ending credits of the (very excellent!) movie WarGames, hence the title.

The only winning move is not to play.

Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Noncommercial (BY-NC)

Ooo the snare slaps.

That harmonica riff is a total find.

I'm imagining one of those 80's shows where the troubled anti hero shows up, saves the day, but then has to move on to the next place.

The credits roll as he slings his backpack and walks off into the sunset as the harmonica plays.

Those drums snap! Agree with Nick that the harmonica is a fantastic part of the beat, sad but hopeful. Bass is clean and warm and feels like it's trying to comfort the harmonica. And it's really cool how a spare arrangement like this means the high piano solo can feel like a big mood shift. Nice work

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