chj,
Nice minimalist sort of thing you have going. Are you familiar with minimalist music - Reich, Riley, Glass, Feldman....? I think "Electronic" would be a more appropriate genre, and you'd get more interested listeners there.
Pipecleaner is cool. I especially like how the resonant filter sounds lead into the panning wah-wah thing. The beats are nice, but a bit misleading. The piece sounds like its building up to something more epic, then it drops out with just the exiting drum sample. I like the beat, but I don't particularly like sound of that sample. You're using Acid or Fruity Loops, right? When you slow down the loops too much they get that unpleasant cheap reverb quality to them. I recommend pre stretching your loops with a really high quality software like Prosoniq EasyTimeStretch. And maybe also try and filter out that kick bass note that rings out after the first beat. It's sounds a bit too House and doesn't fit IMHO.
I think you should continue to build on this piece. What you have could be a very cool foundation and intro to a more elaborate downtempo electronica song.
Pulse could definitely stand some production improvements. There is an annoying distortion on the keyboard sound that "pulses" with the beat. Also the bass playing is sloppy and I don't like how it drops in and out of the reverb. If I were you I would cut out the best of each of the bass repeats, add a bit of compression, then loop them. Adding naturalness with 'live' parts against looped beats, especially bass since it's part of the rhythm, requires skillful and consistent playing to sound right.
Good stuff
barefoot
