Polygonia, aka Lindsey Wang, is expanding techno into imaginative blossoms of percussion and pattern. But she’s also doing some terrific tutorials. Where to start? A terrific breakdown of constructing high hats from scratch in Ableton’s Operator might inspire you.
Operator is often overlooked as one of the old-timers of the Ableton Live instrument set, but it remains a versatile and intuitive instrument. And as Polygonia puts it, building from scratch is a way to “craft exquisite overtones.”
There are lots of other guides to sound design with hats – if you love this, you’ll also love Gordon Reid’s legendary drum synth series for Sound on Sound, including practical cymbals and metallic percussion episodes; for hats, you might start with the bells bit. That, in turn, inspired a Web audio tutorial for some code.
But Polygonia’s approach and explanation are uniquely lucid, and they’re a perfect fit for Operator. (It also answers some long-running prayers, apparently.)
Now that we’ve got your attention do check out Polygonia’s amazing music. The Munich based artist deserves her own review/profile, honestly, but let’s just go. You can get lost in the trance states of listening to the ever-whirling melodies and percussion, in a state of constant motion through stereo space inspired by a cartoon (in turn based on a Ming Dynasty legend), from January’s Da Nao Tian Gong (on Midgar Records – see RA review):
She’s also the refined, excellent opener on this VA of scorchers Tbilisi’s Bassiani Records just put out:
Though here’s my pick, this remix of Len Faki just sounds like an instahit (plus – that title, ha):
And on the theme of percussion, she talked about her sampling on an earlier release on her own QEONE label, adding organic qualities with samples of wood:
And in this age of generative AI and too many sound libraries, that originality seriously comes across in that release, too – so practice and sound art are deeply connected to the musical expressive product. It’s great to see someone open up about that process, and in a way that is so clear to others as pedagogy, too. So here’s that track and an entire VA dedicated to the topic of wood, as well (great idea):
On the DJ side, here’s Polygonia on The Lot Radio:
Also, we should all organize our linkt.ree as well as this (cough, sorry):
Plus her site which features some of her visual/graphic work, as well:
https://www.polygonia-creations.com/
Enjoy! Have a great hi-hat-filled day.