R2D2 or BB8?

I recently updated my New Music USA Project page with the latest on Neurosonics 2:

You know that thing where people tell you what they really think of contemporary music? A few weeks ago, someone close to me asked if I was “going for R2D2 or BB8” in the excerpts I previously posted.

Star Wars robots in a piece about 3D brain space?? Obviously this is a problem! She was half-kidding and certainly wasn’t trying to be negative, but I found her honest opinion of the sounds I had created refreshing and very helpful. It drove me to make some detailed changes to the throughout the entire electronic track, and to create some new, more distorted sonic materials with my existing methods.

I still consider the sine tones, and many other sounds in the piece, to be crucial material for the concept behind it, but I figured there must be a way to improve the impression they make. Once I had settled on sounds that felt less recognizable, I folded them into the preexisting texture, with the hope that the increased complexity makes it sound less like a cute robot happens to be in the mix.

Here are some updated clips with all of these modifications. Hope you enjoy