"When I first bought my Roland XP-30 back in 2002 I wrote 3 songs right in a row. The first, of course, was Transmission 2 6 01. Concurrently, though, a few other ideas were making their way to the keyboard. One was called 'Adrenaline,' which currently remains unfinished, and another was called 'Synthergy.' My song writing at the time was very immature as most novices would be. Basically, I would take a pattern or melody and write about 10 different variations on the theme and then stream them together to try and make a song. What resulted, though, was more like a flight of ideas than a coherent song. It would be similar to trying to read a paragraph consisting only of topic sentences. There are a lot of great beginnings but in context none of them make any sense!

The original version of 'Synthergy' was like that in a lot of ways. The initial idea was cool. I wanted to have a bunch of different synthesizers playing this hi nrg dance song. I think I achieved the nrg aspect of the track, but then the flight of ideas occurred. I had big dance pads on top of square wave melody synth lines on top of big saw wave synth improvised solos and on and on. I even get lost in the track when I listen to it! In frustration, I put the track aside and moved on to a little tune called Rave me (pure analog mix).

From Rave me to sonophobia a real transformation occurred in my music. I figured out how to take the flight of ideas and extract the best variations of melodies and rhythms to create a singly coherent song. I also was able to get more experience and feedback on my mixing and mastering process in addition to composition experience in the dance genre. After sonophobia I started getting the itch to revive 'Synthergy' with the new tools I had in my belt and make it the song I originally intended it to be. This, however, would prove easier said than done.

At the start of the track, you'll here a very trancy intro with a compounding introduction of instruments and many transition sound fx. The sounds you hear keep to my method of making my own original sound fx. I stumbled upon a great TB-303 sound that kicks in for the first time at 00:50-00:51. I then tried to bring in my synth melodies slowly using the original square wave synth and saw wave synth from the first version of the track. All of this is played on top of the original track's baseline and dance stack rhythm synth holding a monotone bounce until 01:42 when the chord transition comes into effect, which is the heart of the track. The quiet breakdown that follows introduces the full square wave melody of the track and then we're immersed in the tracks full force at 03:05.

This sequence is really where I heard this song being from day one but until that time I didn't have the knowledge to make it happen. Being quite satisfied with my work, I decided to post it online to review sites including generoproject.com and dancetech.com. Much to my surprise, the reviews were pretty awful! When I listened to it, I heard a revived track that I had loved for years finally come to life, but when others listened to it they would say things like, 'We see where you're trying to go with this track, but your not quite there yet.' Specifically, producers commented on the synthesizer sounds and the percussion that I used. They didn't think the synths worked well together. Some even said out right that they are just disparate sounds. Others said about the percussion, 'We really need to work on your percussion!'

The reviews, of course, weren't all bad. Everyone loved the chord transition and some of them really liked the melody to the track. Still, I stayed focused on the constructive criticism since I knew working on those aspects would make me better. I contemplated going back and trying to fix the song, but I really wasn't hearing what other producers were talking about. Feverently, I decided to come up with an answer to all of the feedback I'd been given. It would be a track to put all of the advice I had received to good use. That track, of course, is appropriately entitled, the answer (remastered) and it received great reviews. Break the Dance followed and received similar praise, but despite the positive feedback my failure with 'Synthergy' stayed with me and has to this day.

Listening to the track now several years after its initial inception, I have to say I TOTALLY agree with the previous reviews! In a way it sort of breaks my heart since this song has meant so much to me since I began seriously composing. On the other hand, it is quite exciting because deep down I know my synthesizer hasn't seen the last of the pulsing melody of synthergy. Some day, and hopefully some day soon, I'm going to revive this track for a third time and hopefully be able to show all of you the wonder of 'Synthergy' that exists in my head."

e-effect, 12-31-07 (1st edit 06/18/10)