Today is a very exciting day. I’m thrilled to announce Endlesss.fm — a new platform for music-making inspired by my most enjoyable experiences as a producer, performer and improvisor.
Over the last couple of years I’ve been working with some talented friends researching and prototyping a fresh approach to music creation. We’re getting close to something really special. We’ll be talking more about what we’re building and why as we gear up to launch our first products. Right now it’s time to step out of our lab, say “hello world” and invite you to join us on our journey. We want your help to make this yours!
If you love to get lost in making music head to endlesss.fm and request an invite to be part of our limited first wave of users when we start to roll out.
As a musician and technologist I’m fascinated by the potential of musical creativity to bring joy whether we experience it alone or with friends, as a beginner or an expert. Moments like these bring us into closer connection with ourselves and our fellow humans. They can be the peak experiences of our lives. They’re what Endlesss is all about.
My musical journey has touched on many kinds of experience: learning the violin as a kid, teaching myself to DJ as a teen, making records in the studio or playing live on stage. The peak moments of all these experiences have been characterised by the flow state. When I get caught up thinking about the results of what I’m doing I get distracted and doubtful and the results get worse. But when I’m in the flow state all this disappears, I feel weightlessly immersed in creativity and forget about the results while the results magically improve. This is what Endlesss is all about. We’re taking an enjoyment-first approach to instrument-building.
15 years ago my quest for the flow state inspired me to build the Flow Machine, an instrument for improvising electronic music. What I learned from building and performing with the Flow Machine and the conversations it sparked about other people’s musical experiences have been the main inspiration behind Endlesss.
The history of the Flow Machine
When I conceived of the Flow Machine I was frustrated with the process of making records in the studio. I loved playing around with ideas but felt none of them were worth anything until they’d been arranged, mixed and mastered to perfection — the standard the music industry expected. It seemed 95% of my studio time was musical bureaucracy while I only wanted to express myself immediately and freely. As a violinist from an early age my first musical experiences all happened in the moment as live performances. I was used to getting my hands on and playing live but I wasn’t getting that experience with the electronic music I so loved to make.
I built the first Flow Machine in 2003 (it was called the Keymasher at the time). It was a glorified DJing tool that did a lot of the cool stuff that today’s DJing tools now allow you to do such as perform physically and mash tracks up.
Bit by bit I added new features that gave me power to do more. I only added features that were quick to use, needed no thought and were easily committed to muscle memory. Eventually it became a fully-fledged improvisation instrument for electronic music. I was intensely energised by the possibility of creating 5 minutes of music in 5 minutes. It was way more enjoyable than making a record which took days to make the same amount of music. And because it was a performance tool it was great on stage. I could make up previously unheard music in front of a live audience and adapt it to the acoustics, atmosphere and energy of the environment. Over the next few years the live shows I did with the Flow Machine would take me to perform in every continent and make connections with inspiring people in wonderful places.
After time my Flow Machine performances and the technology I was building to improve them became way more interesting to me than making records. I’d found a new role for music in my life, a new way of doing things. The next question to answer was “how can I share this experience?”. That’s where the story of Endlesss begins.
I’m incredibly excited to share more with you as we finish building our first products. Be sure to request an invite at endlesss.fm to be the first to get it and hear news as it breaks.
We’d also love to hear from you. Last year we started a Facebook group called ‘Project Rockpoool’ which is a haven for connecting and talking in-depth with fellow creators about our musical lives. Come and join the conversation and help us shape Endlesss.
More soon!
Tim & the Endlesss team
