We often hear music makers and other artists talk of ‘happy accidents’: those moments where inspiration presents itself unintentionally, and to the excitement of its own creator. By definition they can’t really be conjured on demand, but there are some approaches that can make them more likely. Take a look at the ‘Write drunk; edit sober’ chapter in Dennis DeSantis’ Creative Strategies book for instance, in which he advocates a willful recklessness with the record button on: “Aim for speed and quantity, judge nothing, and be prepared to make lots of mistakes”.
Musician and programmer collective Sonic Faction share this willingness to contrive happy accidents. Their new Pack Tricky Traps is a toolkit that’s designed to make them that bit less accidental. The set of 16 Max for Live devices offers fresh ways of working with MIDI and modulations; quirky contraptions that are designed to be chained together to create unexpected rhythmic and melodic patterns – those sought-after accidents.