Is it the intersection of thought and passion? Is it a flash of genius or just that silly light bulb perched above your head?

Inspiration isn't easy to define, but we know that we crave it. All of us make music in order to move others emotionally -and in turn we listen to music in order to feel that rush. Without Inspiration there cannot be Art, and without Art.....well, don't even think about it!

The Soundware business is all about providing Inspiration. Producers from all over the world try to cram as much of it as we can on all those shiny platters. Inspiration is the catalyst for Creativity -which is pretty valuable stuff for making good music. Our industry has sometimes been criticized in the past for having the opposite effect of hampering creativity. But here's the thing:

It's really all up to you.

In many ways, we live in the best of times in terms of the tools we now have. This is the 21st century after all! The options available to us are staggering.

For example:

It's now possible to have an entire studio within a moderately-priced computer using inexpensive "virtual" instruments and software samplers like Gigasampler, Unity, Reason or Emagic's EXS24. The instant sound access and total recall features of these systems are a dream come true for production and writing.

Hardware tools have also never been more powerful, stable or affordable. Highly-evolved instruments like Roland's XV-5080, Akai's S-6000, Emu's EOS machines and Yamaha's new crop of instruments are hard to beat for reliability and live performance.

The sonic possibilities of incredible software like Reactor, Metasynth and Hyperprism are just beginning to be explored. Technology like REX files, Acid and our Groove Control™ activated products grant amazing creative powers over rhythm.

We even take for granted that amazing features are now even added to our equipment free of charge over the Internet. Buck Rogers has nothing on us!

And finally....Look at the vast amount of high quality samples on this site!

The possibilities are literally endless........

.........which is part of the problem.

Huh?

Am I saying that this wealth of wonderfulness is bad for us? No, but it is a new kind of challenge.

It's never been easier to create electronic music, but oddly enough, Inspiration -and therefore great Art- often comes from Struggle. If you think about the great music of the past, much of the best music has come from tremendous tension -a Daltry and Townsend fight- or incredible hurdles like multitracking Switched on Bach by hand at half speed on a four track, or making a definitive sampling album like Art of Noise did with an eight bit/30k sampler with less than a megabyte of RAM.

Great music isn't supposed to be an easy process. When we struggle, we focus. When we combine focus with passion and a bit of luck, we can make Art.

Here's how to keep Inspiration alive:

Push the Envelope.
Don't rely on old tricks, get new ones. Explore the edges. Open your mind to new approaches. One of the greatest things that ever happened to me creatively was the day I realized that my Roland D-50 factory sounds were no longer my personal creations, everyone on the planet had them. A revelation came to me:

"Well, I guess I need to make some new sounds."

I found out that there is life after Fantasia.

Don't lose Passion.
Keep it energized by interacting and collaborating with other humanoid lifeforms. There isn't a Passion plug-in.......yet!

Don't lose Focus.
Don't let the endless options get in the way of your musical vision. Use technology and samples to keep you thinking about what's most important: the music.

As electronic musicians in the 21st century, this is our challenge.

Happy Sampling,

Eric Persing
Creative Director
Spectrasonics