I wrote a String Quartet (but used synthesizers instead)

What if we wrote electronic music the same way we'd write a string quartet? This video attempts to answer this question which no one asked.
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[@JamesonNathanJones]

Oh and here's the video that started this whole mess: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aGmVkpmebKuAlaMsi=tEKq5nKtw8Ct0Uto

[@JayM928]

It’s really amazing to me how much crap on “music production” there is on KZbin, and yet, as far as I can tell, you are doing something great that no one else is doing. Really awesome stuff! I can’t express how much your videos educate and inspire me - that is, when I’m not falling into the depressing trap of comparing my novice abilities to yours... Thank you so much for what you do, sir!

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thanks Jay! Means a lot 🙏

[@henrikfisch]

I totally agree! 🙂👍

[@SpikesStudio3]

Yep. Totally.

[@TactfulWaggle]

I can't agree more, i nearly quit music from how much utter trash there is as "music tutorials", and you know it's bad when i can't even give you an example because that example would not fit the rest, every single one of them is uniquely trash, with very few gems in between it was starting to become genuinely tiring, when i switched to trying to learn music theory instead, that was way better cause i found many many teachers and good folk making educational theory content, kind of like these videos, it has a direction, has an actual useful bit of information, no "shortcuts", no garbage that harms more than it helps, and no freaking advertisements of the REAL educational content hidden behind a paywall, meanwhile trying to teach you garbage instead usually i don't like to be this kind of person that goes like "ugh youtubers shouldn't make a living, no ads, no sponsorships!" but i think this is way different, teaching people the bare minimum, and some harmful "shortcuts", in order not to give them the actual good advice, to make money, is kind of an extremely horrible practice

[@Wolfbabypuppylove]

could not agree more.............Venus theory too.

[@wendelynmusic]

When I was in college I wrote a string quartet for an assignment. it wasn't bad for a minimalist style piece that was ultimately played a jazz sax quartet because we had no string players to use. It sounded pretty good. But after I graduated college I knew I would never have a string quartet because I'm not interested in pre 20th century classical music (Satie maybe was he in the 1800's?) and played jazz, Free Jazz, Free Improv and Experimental Electronic Music, so I recorded a synth version and it was my favorite version of the song that I played. years later I did a combo synth and folk instrument ( Hurdy Gurdy and some middle ages lute like instrument that I no longer remember what it was) that was a lot of fun also.

[@primewavesmusic]

I asked my heart if it wanted to comment on this video. And it said, “yes.”

[@JamesonNathanJones]

The heart wants what the heart wants

[@caydilemma3309]

As both a synth and woodwind quintet enthusiast, I can’t believe I’ve never tried this before. Headed to the DAW now!

[@rafaeldemiranda8107]

It sounds more like an choir for 4 synths (string quartets includes string techniques on their own) but it is spot on for an choir as for any JS Bach choir setting will do. We'll have more synth techniques to include for (as for subs for string techniques) in the future for sure and you're taking one great step for a choir setting ahead of us all. Great video and inspiration for us composers!

[@celticviolaandfiddle]

Nathan I appreciate all your content as a string player learning about DAWs and making music with hardware synths ‘later in life’ and personally, this kind of topic related to composition I find especially exciting. Please post more in the future, showing your process(es). Thanks, Ben

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thank you Ben!

[@Nicenigel14]

The final peace is really beautiful

[@Musikkeller-Innsider]

Looking forward to your first full orchestral synthphony with tangential chord progressions and the 96h video documenting the creative process ;-) Joke aside, very nice work!

[@JoanieAdamms]

Oh, how I missed your composing zeal! - There is my wee note of appreciation!

[@JumpingCow]

The sounds are awesome, I must say. I like the piece, as far as you went with it. So interesting to watch you put things together.

[@andreasoberg2021]

Always interesting to see your new topics

[@ELEMENTSGenerativeMusic]

Your channel is the source of inspiration for me! Thanks a lot!

[@WaveDashMagazine]

Nice to hear more music from you, I really enjoyed this video! Lots of great moments in the piece and a great composition prompt. I would love to hear this style more fleshed out in the future, and am planning on trying my own hand at it on one of my next couple livestreams. This inspires me!

[@andrewharris2521]

Wait... you can make music with all this stuff?

[@carstenlambrecht828]

perfect String - sorry Synth Quartet for a wedding scene in the next SciFy Blockbuster, instead of using "the classic piece" you probably know ;)

[@frankwalders]

Thank you again, I always like to watch/listen to your videos, so inspiring. And your Respirate EP is just awesome, I listen to it when I make a walk through the city, it's magic. I'm starting to know it, there is just so much in it, brilliant.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thank you Frank!

[@michaelkonomos]

I love this so much more than any gear video. This is fantastic. I want to make music and this really helps me do that.

[@Drotz]

That's really cool! I always love to try new ways to make music or watch others do it.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Such a cool video man! Well done!

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thanks man!

[@EricRaymondSF]

Such a helpful video. Regardless of how you feel about the final product, this really felt alive and surprising. Thanks for sharing your insights beyond the chord block!

[@domejunky]

Loving this little mini-series. Finding it completely validating. I thought I was the only person thinking like this. I've been discovering the beauty in just two or three voices coupled with some Arvo Pärt style processes

[@aronlampin2444]

Thanks for this video, most of ur videos. Amazing job

[@byleew]

love it. great work!

[@LP6_yt]

Wonderful delicate through lines. I do like this method of composition. Takes me back to my music class days at school. It's a different way of thinking compared to what I've been doing of late. Thanks very much for sharing this.

[@MayzMatthiasYzebaert]

If only your KZbin video thumbnails were as pretty as your musical productions. Hey! Thank you for your videos. Watching all of them.

[@Lemontree1423]

I spent a lot of time with your EP "respirate" over the last week while drawing. Loved it. Love this too! The more you can talk through your decision making, the more I learn to love your work and maybe even how to music a little better.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thanks so much Jeremy!

[@bricelory9534]

This is the perfect compositional style for the Osmose. Mine came in a bit more than a month ago, and its expressive quality makes my classical cellist brain go crazy in glee. It is perfect for expressive quality and movement. I love your work and have been contemplating a similar compositional technique for sybth voices for some time. I really like what you've created! Absolutely lovely! I also appreciate how you've spaced the voices so they feel like individual instruments arranged like a quartet...the subtle stereo feel it gives a piece of music is also really important for the feel od a quartet.

[@LizardEatsFlies]

When ive done stuff like this before, I actually recorded a video of myself conducting and then played along to that in order to get more of that push and pull while still staying in time. Its odd but it sort of worked

[@amphonix_blue]

This was a fascinating video. Thanks for sharing this approach. I rather think this piece is more of a chamber piece than a quartet, given the weight of the voices. It has size and depth. Great stuff!

[@jantuitman]

This was a very interesting watch, definitely will be trying this out for myself.

[@MikkelGrumBovin]

Youre such a fine player, Nathan ! 😉👍

[@CoolDougLove]

This is really cool. Thanks for this

[@cloud_noises]

Good stuff, it would be interesting to compare the same piece with a single synth with slightly different patch and expression on each track, and then doing it all again with another synth and see how different they come out.

[@irradix213]

Thanks again, I learn more from your experience and outlook than from anyone I watch who's closer to my genre(horror synth)

[@stinkypete9070]

the vermona perfourmer feels like it'd be a good fit for this sort of thing

[@Zuijderhoudt]

Love this. Vangelis being channeled, never mind that, of course, surely you're in a league of your own here.

[@lcpumpkin]

Lovely. Thank you

[@davidmcgirr]

I was wracking my brain trying to learn traditional four part harmony a few months ago and I "gave up" by playing in lines in precisely this way, editing spicier dissonances if they weren't what i was going for. So glad to see the intentional version of that. If it's a technique, I am no longer doing it "wrong."

[@oldunclemick]

A fascinating idea I must explore.

[@the_glove]

I suspect this is close to how the bbc thought about synth arrangements because groove production wasn’t really a standard practice. Most musicians who composed commercially had some sort of classical background

[@gon9684]

I love to see things like these. I think there is a lot of potential, it's just really hard to do really well... Next time I'd suggest as an interesting idea, a more orchestral type of writing, where there are a lot more patches that harmonize and join together and all the stuff you'd expect from orchestral parts, having variety of sounds through the change of texture... It's something I'd love to do myself but it takes a bit of time, and I'm particularly busy in this moment of time. I think that idea has a ton of potential, but not only it's hard to write for orchestra, it's hard to make interesting patches that can function well in that manner and then after all that mixing and mastering the track...

[@darrenhirst9900]

So you're the one Bananarama sings about. Loved watching thanks.

[@DerekPower]

To reiterate, the obsession with chord sequences was carried from rock, which carried from folk music, which used guitars and guitars use chords. Because of this simple arrangement, the compositional burden was to have chords to carry the song. I actually did think about doing a kind of Carlos/Tomita approach where I would do a synth arrangement of some classic work or do an original work that's like a classical composition but arranged using synths. (I kinda do that with my own music, but I wanted to make something formal and explicit in that way). In that sense, I would think about the timbral character of the part, which would mean it could lend to more "simple synth patches". But like what you can do with an instrument, the expression of playing can really play a role. This is why I was surprised you put aside things like polyphonic aftertouch and MPE as those are avenues for the performer to give a part expressive character beyond just velocity or automation. But then again, you were just laying down something and perhaps you need your own synth ensemble to pull it off. (By the way, I would not mind at all being a performer in such an ensemble =] ).

[@StepanTrnka]

Autechre made a similar piece VLetrmx in 1995. One of the strongest electronic pieces to date for me.

[@allenholmankus8880]

Another excellent video! Admittedly off topic, but could you please let us classically trained (and still amateur) pianists know what 88 key midi controller you use when not playing the piano or a 61key synthesizer for your recordings, and any likes or dislikes regarding the controller? In one of your earlier videos it looks like you're using a Studiologic board of some type but I can't be sure from the viewing angle of the keyboard while watching the video. Thank you.

[@PattyCFG]

Thanks. That was epic

[@blkrbbt]

You are so happy when youre composing. And you really are getting a lot of mileage out of this piece. Reminds me of some film scores of the early 80's. Got the rub from Anthony Maronelli?

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Not familiar with him but will check it out :)

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Ah actually I am familiar with him just didn’t catch the name at first lol

[@N4505]

Yeap, this is so good stuff

[@helioileh]

Love it

[@brianlespoir6287]

Nice, a synthesizer quartet, I got to try that at least one.

[@sibbyeskie]

Very cool. Reminds me of a thing I’ve stumbled on lately where I record first without a click or without midi (usually lazy or “test run”), then the “real” version. And then I mix in the rough one with the more thought out. Usually results in dissonant overlaps or sort of like delayed or foreshadowed structure. Pretty cool sound but the caviar is you have to truly suck just a little bit for it to work. Can’t pull it off with fake suck, at least I doubt it.

[@garygimmestad4272]

Nice! I’m on a similar path writing a synth passacaglia starting with a SATB chorale and then composing independent lines.

[@garygimmestad4272]

Back in the 80s in grad school Bach counterpoint class, I recorded my original fugues on my Korg M1 using its onboard 8-track sequencer. It was obviously Wendy Carlos inspired. Some classmates were appalled. The prof loved it. I need to dig out the cassette and have a listen. I’m apparently coming full circle.

[@paulmakl6282]

love the composition diary style video. how is your eurorack setup these days? you made any changes?

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Not many changes lately. Added the Intellijel Morgasmatron because I love the MS20 filters so much and I’ve mostly been using the modular to process other sound sources recently.

[@joshuaworden4974]

This is really nice, man. Very pretty.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thanks!

[@Aedhon]

Great video, thanks! Tried this with my eurorack voices but at the time I was using eurorack sequencers and that didn't work for me. Time to try again with my DAW I guess!

[@Luap-ls3ix]

when you said 'Synth Quartet' I immediately thought how cool it would be to have an entire orchestra but everyone is playing a synth that emulates each instrument. Is a Synth Quartet or Synth Orchestra something we could potentially see in the future? 🤔

[@haroldfinch1900]

dig in, enjoy your meal :) thanks for the inspirations

[@nanocyde_artist]

Pretty cool! Do you have a MIDI organ pedalboard, or have you at least considered using one with your setup?

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Would love to set something like that up eventually

[@jonprudhomme7694]

Interesting. This is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy doing with my own synthesizers and part writing. I shouldn't be surprised to be the only person doing this sort of thing.. And to think that my guitar tutor tried to dissuade me from learning counterpoint...

[@RaquelFoster]

So much suspense waiting to see what that 4th synth was gonna be. I thought for sure it was gonna be an E-Mu Turbo Phatt. Then I noticed the Iridium was doing two parts. Heartbreaking. But maybe next video.

[@sirnigelcogs]

Very interesting sounds. By the way, you mentioned you're part of a church choir. Is there someway I can contact you privately to talk about church stuff?

[@swanofnutella4734]

Very cool as always. I think I'm happy to report that I was already kinda thinking in terms of "horizontal chords". I give credit to death metal for that.

[@GizzyDillespee]

For me, arpeggios, and monophonic synths, taught me "horizontal chords". I still play them vertically more often than not.

[@Arkansya]

Ars nova and renaisance polyphony, but with synth :)

[@BubbleFilms]

This is quite interesting! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if this technique could be extended to looping parts, where each loop layer could be faded in and out at intervals to create new chord harmonies, or perhaps a giant mess. **grabs his hip waders** Sounds fun!

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Happy experimenting :)

[@KosmoDeuz]

wow, real music on a synths ;)

[@DavidLilja]

Why not releasing? It's a great song. I'd listen to it again. And I really like your Signals album.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

I would probably re-track some of the parts as I’m not sure I’m 100% happy with some of the patches I used in the video. I think the bones are good though, so I might circle back around to this one down the road.

[@Fedor_Tkachev_Music]

I didn't get what you said about mpe. I love playing with a modwheel, too, but on Linnstrument I can do vibrato (or pitch intonation), open the filter with pressure, and have a little something on a vertical axis - it's a lot more expression than a keypress with a modwheel. Either way, this was very inspiring and I feel like I owe myself to try writing music like that.

[@JamesonNathanJones]

I meant in terms of tracking one part at a time rather than playing multiple parts at once even with mpe.

[@Fedor_Tkachev_Music]

@@JamesonNathanJones ah I see! Yes, focusing on one voice at the time simply allows allocating more brain power to it, regardless of the mode of input or instrument

[@JamesonNathanJones]

@@Fedor_Tkachev_Music and more flexibility in the mixing/production process :)

[@ErwinSchrodinger64]

I just realized you got an Iridium Keys. You got rid of your Iridium... bought it again... and now you have a 3rd Iridium! Do you still have the desktop. There are a lot of KZbinr's, like State Azure and Martin Strutzer that have both the Keys and desktop. Personally, I think it's the most synthesizer on the market. How do you feel about it now?

[@ZachSprowls]

You're a reglar ol' Wendy Carlos! 🤘🏻😎

[@wardtrucking8402]

Do you still have the polybrute?

[@daveabrams1797]

very nice, reminds me of Plantasia

[@DavidBoura]

BerlinSchool ❤

[@MarcoPolux]

interestier episode 🤓

[@Dave-nm8uk]

Interesting, but this approach doesn't seem to lend itself to very fast music, or strongly rhythmic music. For examples some movements of Beethoven's Rasumovsky quartets, or Op 131 - though I did produce a version of at least one of those using synthesised instruments - even synthesised voices. Here you seem to be using more synth pad type sounds, and as you mention in the video, you had to squash out the synths from "doing their own thing" - which can also be interesting with modular or semi-modular synths. Great to see you try, though.

[@Gainn]

Pretty much how John Carpenter wrote most of his stuff. Nice.

[@pascoebrock5877]

[@tsunamimae1965]

happy to be second viewer! :D

[@chambre466]

:)

[@violistanton]

With all respect.. where is STRING quartet?..

[@wiredbassclarinet]

The thumbnail showed a p12 - I feel lied to! (Jk)

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Check the first minute it’s in there somewhere 😅

[@politicum8113]

Boring and annoying parts. Its the problem, not synths

[@JamesonNathanJones]

Thank you