Darren Harper’s Generation Ship

Darren Harper’s second most recent track on his SoundCloud account dates back a year, so the one that popped up today may be the first in a long time — or he has deleted some others to make room. Either way, “Generative.01~Spring” is a welcome arrival. The 18-minute piece marks a new direction for Harper, who explains, “I’m embarking on a new project series that will focus on long-form generative eurorack pieces.” Powering his pursuit is a relatively new piece of equipment called Generations, which is a generative MID controller. The creator of Generations, who goes by Innesti, has explained that the device “creates the patterns autonomously once the user has configured the starting conditions.” Harper’s track is a slowly evolving collection of tones, such as hushed piano and picked guitar, as well as orchestral swells and deep drones. There are also gentle processes applied to these sounds, resulting in a lovely and cohesive suite.

You can watch an overview of the Generations tool in the following video. The device, currently sold out, first became available at the start of February 2024.