It’s hard to describe how much I enjoy this music.

Escape Philoosphy is Matthew Davidson, otherwise known as Stretta on his blogsite.

I sit here in front of my equipment with current projects open, new sounds and tools, and precious (though small) windows of opportunity to work on projects.

And I got nothin’. The old projects sound flat, new ideas are not forthcoming, and the new tools seem self indulgent. I am at a real creative nadir. This feels deeper than “writer’s block.” It feels…different. It’s a little scary to be honest.

Usually when I hit a creative roadblock, I turn my attention to the task of learning something. I’ll complete instrument tutorials, practice a piano piece, read up on my DAW, blog, etc. This time, not so much.

Could be that I’m just plain tired. In the last couple of weeks the stress levels in my day job have shot up quite a bit and I have not been getting much sleep. At the same time my “creative window” has lessened somewhat as our son’s sleep habits are changing as he approaches his 1st birthday. (I get up each day around 5:00 am to snatch a few hours of quiet time / creative time before the family rises. I used to be able to count on our son sleeping in on the weekends until 9 ish if we let him.

A few things that I have run across or picked up lately that I think are well worth checking out.

Braunschweig Upright Piano from imperfectsamples.com – Ohmigod I love this piano. It is not without its “flaws”, but these flaws introduce character and help to make the instrument inspirational for me. (I’ll provide more detail in a follow up.)

apulSoft apEQ

apulSoft’s apEQ – This has been around for a while, but it is very versatile and allows extreme almost surgical sound shaping via EQ. A great interface. Demos available at the website.

NI Acoustic Refractions

NI Kore2 Acoustic Refractions – If you are into Absynth, this gives you some very cool sounds. The strength of the programming really comes through when morphing between the sound variations.

SampleLogic’s WaterHarp – This is one helluva deal at $49.95. 300 instruments, 1.8GB of samples for some “film ready” waterharp sounds, ambiences, stings, transitions. If anything, it’s a bit TOO film ready IMHO. Seems like an entire episode of CSI in a box. Still, there’s a lot here that can be worked with. And did I mention it’s only 50 bucks?

Tonehammer’s WaterPhone – Not as many instruments as SampleLogic’s and more expensive at $99.