Either path is Forward was composed in the evening on 2/15/2012. It was the result of troubleshooting I was doing using the Karma software in the Korg M3 (version 1.2). I was trying to figure out how to use one of the four Karma engines to effect two different sounds. The tune is 85 measures long in 4/4 time. The tempo is 115BPM and the duration is 2:57.
Track 1 uses IB004 Jazz/Brush kit. The drum pattern is pretty basic and was created by hand. No internal preset patterns were used.
Track 2 IB111 Calm Bell Synth is paired with Track 3 IA076 Paddylicious on MIDI channel 2. Karma engine A is used to effect these two tracks with Arp Model 13 Down. Both the sustained notes as played on the keyboard as well as the arpeggiated notes from the Karma engine can be heard.
Track 4 ID039 VPM Syn Bass provides the baseline and counter-melody.
Track 5 IA013 Huggy Lead provides the monophonic lead.
The M3’s internal sampler was used to create a stereo wave file. The wave file was loaded into Audacity and fade-in and fade-out envelopes were applied to the beginning and end of the tune.
The title was inspired by Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
