Sunday Synth Jam: Reader Gil Assayas shared this finger-twisting live performance of his song Excuses, an entry for the NPR ‘Tiny Desk’ contest.

The arrangement showcases his interest in exploring new territory in finger independence, and fluidly mixing influences ranging from jazz to prog to hip hop.  

Here’s what he has to say about the technical details:

I shot a live video of a new song titled “Excuses” for the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. Like in my previous videos, I played all the instruments live with no overdubs or sequences.

I used the controller that Moldover built for me (still haven’t decided on a name, yeah I know it’s long overdue) for left hand drum+bass, and this time, I decided to experiment with an iPad running GeoShred (Jordan Rudess’ app) as well. I was happy to discover that it’s an incredibly playable and expressive software instrument.

The drum samples come from Battery 4, bass from Omnisphere 2, piano from Keyscape, flute/pads from the Nord Stage 2. The lead synth is the Boomstar 4705 running through the MWFX Judder pedal (controlled by a Korg Microkey 2), and the vocal mic is a Shure SM57.

Oh, and the carpet is NOT made by Nord. 😀