JAMUARY 2025 -- post your jams here!

[Ben Asaro]

Jamuary is upon us! I missed out on it last year but really want to try and do it this time!

I'll be using this thread to document Jamuary 2025. All are welcome to post whatever jams they do during the month - every jam counts, even if you post one!

Here's the "final" iteration of my setup for Jamuary:



I put final in inverted commas because I expect to swap out Function for Amnesia.

I ended up putting the Subharmonicon back into service for Jamuary, it's just packs so much performance bang for the buck!

I was originally going to focus on drones and ambient drones but have been digging into the polyphrase quite a bit and have been working on something between drones and sound-on-sound performances.

The setup is quite simple, it's really the polyphrase that's doing the heavy lifting. Any spoken word is recorded onto the RC-5 and each jam is 1-2 layers of the Subharmonicon/Eudemonia through polyphrase and Blackhole.

Here's a teaser of the type of thing I have in mind:

https://audio.com/don-music/audio/jamuary-teaser-2

[Eddy Deegan]

My plan is to use everything in the studio at least once during the coming month. It's a great motivation to delve into lesser-used bits of equipment so I doubt any day I post something will involve the same rig as any that came before or will follow!

Recently I've added dozens of random earbugs, hummed/whistled/mumbled, ad-hoc into the voice recorder on my phone in preparation for the month to come. I've also started a list of somewhat bizarre track titles for whatever emerges as a result

[Ben Asaro]

HA, sounds awesome! My jams will have very inventive names like "Jam 1".

[Ben Asaro]

It's Jamuary Eve; system is set up, workflow has been tested and retested; atomic batteries to power and turbines to speed; let's do this!

[Eddy Deegan]

[Ben Asaro]

Jam 1

https://audio.com/don-music/audio/jam-1

[Eddy Deegan]

Jam 1

https://audio.com/don-music/audio/jam-1

That's a great start to the month, I'm getting Blade Runner vibes

I've not done mine yet, it'll be interesting to find out what emerges during the day!

[Ben Asaro]

Looking forward to it!

[RichardT]

Here's an entry from me.

It features soft synths BLEASS Megalit, Kontakt/Ashlight and Kontakt/Lores.

https://soundcloud.com/samplehound/jamu ... al_sharing

[Eddy Deegan]

Nice work there Richard, I've gone slightly piano-y to get started too

I shall be giving all my Jamuary tracks silly names and my effort for today is "Mr Puckle's Changeling", recorded using a Nord Stage 4, Prophet 6 and Arturia PolyBrute.

https://www.deegan.org/jamuary2025/

[MarkSinister]

Happy New Year to all. I am unsure if I will complete the whole of JAMuary this year (2025) but following the prompt "Make the soundtrack for a walk through snowy wilderness" from HardWareJams and the PetitrVictoryCollective here is my first jam of 2025. This Eurorack based jam was created with a single oscillator (Verbos Harmonic Oscillator) coupled with a sub-oscillator sequenced by Omni-tone Melodi. https://youtu.be/xkoWm6WR4D4?si=pKI8imi9LhWJbPjl

[Ben Asaro]

Nice work there Richard, I've gone slightly piano-y to get started too

I shall be giving all my Jamuary tracks silly names and my effort for today is "Mr Puckle's Changeling", recorded using a Nord Stage 4, Prophet 6 and Arturia PolyBrute.

https://www.deegan.org/jamuary2025/

Sounds fantastic!

[Ben Asaro]

Happy New Year to all. I am unsure if I will complete the whole of JAMuary this year (2025) but following the prompt "Make the soundtrack for a walk through snowy wilderness" from HardWareJams and the PetitrVictoryCollective here is my first jam of 2025. This Eurorack based jam was created with a single oscillator (Verbos Harmonic Oscillator) coupled with a sub-oscillator sequenced by Omni-tone Melodi. https://youtu.be/xkoWm6WR4D4?si=pKI8imi9LhWJbPjl

Love it! Love the blank panel, too!

[Ben Asaro]

Here's an entry from me.

It features soft synths BLEASS Megalit, Kontakt/Ashlight and Kontakt/Lores.

https://soundcloud.com/samplehound/jamu ... al_sharing

Very cool! Love the warped delay sounds!

[Eddy Deegan]

Thanks Ben. I dabbled my toes in Jamuary a year or two back but only ended up doing four of them at the time due to work commitments and various other things, which was a shame as I like the concept a lot.

This year I am determined to put something out every day even if it's a cop-out piano improv for days I don't have time.

This first one is interesting to me because I started out with an idea that was completely different, tried it out, junked it and then sat in the garden wondering if I'd lost my mojo.

I was thinking about going for a nap but figured I'd only be up all night if I did so just got on with the idea that ended up being today's piece. I'm so glad I did, as it seems I just need to oil my wheels a bit and it "only" took 2 hours from concept to finish. Tomorrow's piece is sketched out in my voice recorder already, I'm aiming for a session of 90 minutes or less but I'm sticking to the rule that I don't record anything before the day in question!

I've stickied this topic as it would be good for others to get involved even if only on a day here or there. It's good to see four of us involved on day 1

[Ben Asaro]

I totally agree! Even if you cannot contribute every day, it’s a great way to chase down ideas. I don’t think my jam was particularly good. Interesting atmosphere, but not much else. Getting to grips with polyphrase and then exploiting what it can do will take more than a jam or two!

[Ben Asaro]

Oh, I meant to comment on jamming for each day. My schedule is way to chaotic for that, so I pile up as many jams as my muse will handle so that I can release consistently. It means piling up when I do have the time, but ensures that I will have something for each day.

[Eddy Deegan]

I don’t think my jam was particularly good. Interesting atmosphere, but not much else.

I really liked it and so did Mrs. D.

The combination of the epic building drone and the vocal samples worked for us.

Oh, I meant to comment on jamming for each day. My schedule is way to chaotic for that, so I pile up as many jams as my muse will handle so that I can release consistently. It means piling up when I do have the time, but ensures that I will have something for each day.

I'm humming and whistling into my phone anytime but when it comes to actual recording I'm going to do each day as it comes. That said, anything that works, works. It's quite a challenge!

[Ben Asaro]

Jam 2, https://audio.com/don-music/audio/jam-2

[Eddy Deegan]

There's a mighty bass going on there and the samples hint at an ongoing story arc (even if there isn't). Nice ominous tension in the drone!

[Ben Asaro]

There's a mighty bass going on there and the samples hint at an ongoing story arc (even if there isn't). Nice ominous tension in the drone!

Thanks! It's getting there ...

And you are correct! The first four jams are four connected phone conversations known in paranormal circles as The Sudbrink Calls. Weird stuff!

[Martin Walker]

Jam 2, https://audio.com/don-music/audio/jam-2

ooh - that's really menacing and spooky Ben!

[Ben Asaro]

Thanks, Martin!

[Ben Asaro]

Jam 3

https://audio.com/don-music/audio/jam-3

[Eddy Deegan]

Jam 3

https://audio.com/don-music/audio/jam-3

Another lovely drone there. You're a day ahead of us all!

Jam 2 for me: "The Embers of Wayfield" on the same page I'll be using for all tracks, https://www.deegan.org/jamuary2025/

Done using a Clavia Nord Stage 4, Korg Trinity and Roland Jupiter X.

There is a slightly annoying glitch (for anyone who notices these things) on two of the long-held bass notes. I'm aware of it but haven't got time to track it down for now. I think it's possibly a bug in the Jupiter X firmware but could be something else MIDI related and I have a workaround which I'll do when I revisit the track after Jamuary.