God said, 'Let there be hardware synthesizers,' and saw that it was good. On the next day, humans played the first DAWless jam and were promptly kicked out of paradise.
These posts go into some detail about how the jams were made and my thoughts about them. If you just want to listen to the music without clicking around a bunch of pages, then see the last dropdown below.
The so-called “DAWless jam” has been my primary form of musical expression ever since I took delivery of my first hardware synthesizer.
I put that term in quotes because it is a little ridiculous. Modern electronic music has become so closely associated to Digital Audio Workstations that their removal from the process apparently bears mention. But there’s nothing that could stop you from calling a solo piano jazz piece a “DAWless jam,” or a live orchestra performance.
They are only variations of the same thing: Live music.
What’s more, jams that do use a DAW are virtually nonexistent, and at minimum still require external hardware controllers. The reason is simple and known by all who have played an instrument of any kind: Hardware is far more conducive to live music performance than a keyboard and mouse.
So while I recorded my first “DAWless jam” on October 23, 2023, I had technically been jamming my little heart out, free of the DAW, since at least 1999, when I first discovered my love of the piano and improvisation.
I try to give jams a little mastering polish and processing. But as a general rule, I leave them very faithful to how they were performed with only minimal embellishments. If I start putting a lot of energy into making them better, my perfectionism tends to rear up and interfere with finishing and moving on.
I fully concede that labeling something as a “jam” has the convenient effect of lowering the bar for quality. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing. I can be a perfectionist, or I can get things done in a timely manner. If you’ve figured out how to do both, let’s be friends.