Today I took the Korg Minilogue XD out of cold storage and found a way to make instant “music for airports” style ambient music with a tortured twist.

It was really easy to do and fun once its established

I forgot that the arpeggiator on the XD has a randomize feature. If you SEQUENCE the arpeggiated notes that are randomized (randomized within the chord you play) it makes nice random changes. Basically, each of the 16 sequence blocks holds 6 notes (two 3 fingered chords). Every time the sequence moves to the next block it plays those notes in that 6 fingered chord randomly.

So the little sequencer light is like: CA-CHUNK, play 6 random notes in the chord, CA CHUNK play 6 random notes in the next chord…. over and over down all 16 CA CUNKS of sequencer blocks. This creates a long random sequence of chord structures.

Once the sequence is set, then you can just diddle the hell out of the knobs while the sequencer loops with random chord structures that you predesignated. It’s really fun to mess with.

There are THREE oscillators (sound makers): Osc1, Osc2 and the Multi/User Osc.

I started with just the first oscillator. It was set as a triangle wave which makes it mellow. Then I slowly mix in osc2 which is a sawtooth which is a brighter sound. Then I slowly mixed in the multi/user oscillator using the “FAT 2” user oscillator setting to add growl.

The first minute is just the mellow osc 1, then there’s a pause. Then it comes back while slowly mixing in each of the other 2 oscillators adding some body and crunch to the sequence. I mess with various reverbs and low frequency oscillation throughout the piece to keep it freaky.

There is a ping pong reverb and chorus in there so it kills in head phones.

It’s like electronic wind chimes for the talentless (pretty much music for airports).