music
music-making activity and a minor dilemma...
Gary Ayres
1/16/20251 min read


In addition to workshop-based projects, I like to make music. My output is something of a mix of various mainly electronic forms, drawing upon techno, drum+bass, ethnic influences, ambient soundscapes, experimental genres and musique concrete.
I have been involved in various collaborations and in making albums (self-published as well as commercial releases) on a solo basis and with others.
By way of instrumentation, I use various analogue and digital synthesizers, samplers and grooveboxes as well as a range of acoustic instruments (currently mainly recorders of the woodwind variety from bass through to Garklein) and found objects.
The dilemma? Whether or not to include my sonic productions under the umbrella of solexa along with activities of a more workshop based nature. Is adding music to the mix (which already includes compost boxes, steam engines and various things in between) stretching the point too far? Well, I have thought until now that the answer to that would be 'yes'. But recently I have been revisiting the question. Solexa is - after all - a 'studio + workshop'.
No final decision at this point, but there are some good reasons for inclusion, mainly in terms of my own perception of what I do. I'll sit with the question for now. More on this in due course...