I generally like to publish my ambient style relaxing and comforting sounds.  This is the reason why I built a studio and started composing music in the first place.  But I think the expression of music is a language that expresses the whole spectrum of human experience.  I am a multi-genre listener and enjoy the works from many cultures and moods.  So here is a challenge.
How would I express the experience of a real living nightmare?  With the power of electronic synthesis and some knowledge of psychoacoustics I will give it a try.  THIS PIECE IS NOT FULLY DEVELOPED YET ... but I will bring my listeners with me in experiencing a nightmare.  And be sure to listen to my next upcoming track "Escape from a Nightmare" ... your means of escape ;).
Thanks for listening (KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON !!!)

Night of Broken Dreams

This track is part of the 'Holding Our World Together' album as the title track as part of a mini-rock-concert under this title. On the album this is the second track 'Escape From a Nightmare' is the introductory and feature track. As the last part of the mini-rock-concert that I composed, performed, and produced in my studio this track could be considered as soft or ambient rock performed on a synthesizer or including acoustical instruments. Perhaps this could be a suggested idea  or theme for a live concert for those artists who do live performances.  Enjoy and Peace!

Holding Our World Together

I am sure during the present world situation we all miss a good rock or classical concert.  To fill in the missing space in our lives I have produced by the art of studio synthesis a mini-rock-concert that expresses a world held together by hope and brotherly and sisterly love.  And of course this expression in music has always had a part in bringing us together.  With the best of my studio resources I have produced this first track of the 'Holding Our World Together' album.  For those who do live music may this give you help and ideas in what you will do on stage as we return to the theaters.  May you play your sounds to once again "hold the world together"!  Peace my friends!

Escape from a Nightmare

Waves of Suspense is the first and intro track of my 'Waves of Suspense' theme album.  While composing and playing this piece using a orchestral synth setup ... I was imagining those classical old black and white, deep light and shade contrast suspense films with a subtle blend of suspense, romance, and adventure with that 'Hollywood touch'.  Yes they had a way of giving the audience  a contemplative environment that was more like reading a story novel.  I will play this in a casual pace that seems to fit this idea. In the album more to follow on this interesting and entertaining  theme of suspense.

Waves of Suspense

A heartfelt semi-classical blues piece for those who yearn to find peace amid extraordinary challenges in life. This is my intention to share this with all who know what I mean by this.  I have enjoyed experimenting with many forms of sound and I feel that this semi-classical blues format fits the best intention of this theme.  Out of my modest studio yet extensive array of synth-based sounds is my Moog Voyager based backing performance, and some classy brass sounds.  I played these sounds in two layers where I accompanied my synth backing as a solo brass and also with some occasional lower scale brass bursts of 'I am with you'.  I hope what I am sharing with you meets my goal of wiping the tears with that blues way of bringing hope back to the hearts of my faithful listeners who could use a musical lift. To those who play real acoustical brass may this inspire you to do the real thing with the wind from you soul ;).

Peace In Blues

From the time of the ancient Greek culture to the present, the story of an odyssey often has the song of a great challenge, distant lands, and interestingly a return home. In the 60s such a story had a cinematic presentation.  The bards of early times to the present have told the stories of the odysseys of their times with a song. Such stories sometimes tell of a a cosmic visitor who gives humanity a nudge to a greater understanding of the fragile existence we have facing the forces of nature and the wars we bring to our lands and ourselves.  And of a return home to bring the knowledge gained to solve the problems we face.  The cinematic space odyssey of the 60s was accompanied with the inspiring classical music of Strauss, Khachaturian, and Ligeti. Being inspired by the the space odyssey of the 60s  I will now bring to you my latest synth instrumental to once again express the challenges, tragedies, and the hope that has been envisioned  for our times that can perhaps encourage and  inspire the odysseys of the generations of humanity to come.

Cosmic Chorus

Got on my orchestral synth and performed the foundation of this instrumental. And pulled out my faithful old Mellotron chorus to sing ethereals on this track ... and performed my synth studio version of a classic steel guitar (you may ask how I did it ;) and here it is.  This piece does have a very powerful and emotional meaning for me and very likely for a few good friends that I know.       I hope this conveys such a message to all my welcome listeners.
Thanks for those who inspired and encouraged me on in producing
 Looking Over The Horizon!

Looking Over The Horizon

I have tried many things in my music adventures, and I just could not resist doing this piece.  Nature sounds, night trains, banjos, a country inspired sound that rings across the land.  And here I have the feel of being with townsfolk coming together to make and enjoy music that have turned this normally quiet little synth studio into a new adventure that I really enjoyed in creating this piece.  It wasn't easy and is certainly not perfect, but it has the feel of that keeps me playing it through.  ALL ABOARD!  Next destination, the land of country sounds both natural and musical.

Country Trains

For my next music adventure I wanted to do something rock.  So, let's imagine a music festival setting in doing 60s and 70s rock with the theme of friendship and brotherhood. How about 2 acoustical guitars, 2 electric guitars, 3 60s organs with Leslie rotating speakers. a Steinway grand piano, a flute, a Solina ensemble string synth, and a PPG 2 synth. and 2 acoustical bass instruments.  I am having a really enjoyable time composing and performing the sounds.  of all the instruments (maybe some of it could resemble something familiar, just wanted to get into the spirit of the early sounds I grew up with). Let's add a human chorus! And I will bond it all together as if we are playing together at a live music festival. Hope you all get into the spirit of the theme and the sound.  Maybe you can pull out your favorite instruments and join in the fun and friendship of making some of those wonderful cool sounds!

Friendship Bridge

The fish teach us to swim, the birds teach us to fly, and the mountains and sky teaches us to Stand Tall.  I have explored many forms and genres of music and have been inspired to build a composition that builds on confidence, strength and the process of dreams that is a source of creativity and living expression. 
Not quite an orchestra in the acoustical sense.  The sound of this piece is based on additive synthesis though I have put together the elements of sound that allows me to express the musical meaning of Standing Tall.  It gives me great pleasure and joy to share this sound and meaning with a world that needs the examples of nature to live our days.

Standing Tall

This piece is especially for my listeners and followers who have been with me for many years ;)

Greetings All,
Today I will present a song that explores how we can become friends just by listening to the music of others.  When I first started creating this song I was thinking about exploring a waltz sound, a dancing waltz sound.  But as I always experience, every new song has a life of it's own. So this song became a For My Friends song.  If we listen to a new song from some one often enough we can learn more about them then we could by just listening to their words. That is what the universal language of music can accomplish for us. We can learn what they think, how they feel, what they love, who they love. So friends we can become.
Those who listen to my sounds have come to expect my characteristic use of a chorus.  The boys chorus in this song wanted to voice their hearts out so I let them.
A simple song but it says much about our friendship, a genuine friendship.
And now ... For My Friends



So can we hear the waltz in this song?  "da da da". The waltz is certainly in there somewhere. Create a waltz? Well maybe I will give it another go. To all my listeners, thanks for visiting and may God Bless ;)

For My Friends

I am exploring a new sound. I have combined warm ambience with a dance beat. This is especially for someone who has inspired me for many years. After so many years of creating ambient music, this has been one of my most enjoyable sounds yet. May this song bring peace, comfort and a sense of hope and happiness ;)
 

Echos in the Wind

Mark Kostora

This is my first track to be released and shared on Soundcloud for 2025. And this is the first in a series of Upbeat instrumentals or songs that I will share here. The songs in this series are using non-commercial loops in a hybrid fashion with my own studio instruments though but I really enjoy sharing these pieces with my Soundcloud listeners. 'Let's Sail Together' is a good beginning for this series and represents well this spirit of the many new songs that I will bring to this series. And for this coming year I will say to you, have a happy new year and may I continue to bring peace and comfort to all my good listeners! ;)

Let's Sail Together

This is another track in my series of songs that have non-commercial loops as part of a hybrid composition that also are created in my studio to be shared with Soundcloud listeners. May this piece brighten your day!!!

Warmth and Sunshine

I love those classics and the influence of Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Hitchcock motivated the cover art and composition. You may also detect a subtle saturation effect with typical sound chain effects and noise characteristic of the film tracks of the era that I was wanting to bring in here. And I added a touch of electronic musique concrete characteristic of the 50s and 60s that was the precursor to the synth sounds that followed. That explains the little intro at the beginning of the track. Hope this gives you the sense of the old mystery music of the 50s and 60s with all those discordant chords with the shrieking violins 
... minus the screams! 

I wanted the synth voices to be only hardware generated. The studio Ensoniq SQ-1, a Moog Mother 32, and the Timbre Wolf (great for the musique concrete part with all those analog knobs to turn) are the stars of the show here. I performed on the Ensoniq SQ-1 keyboard and got a little accompaniment from the Korg SQ1 sequencer. A little film track vintage emulation and spicing up of the sound being produced by the studio sound post processing section.

Mystery NOVEL

This is my first collaboration with another artist.  I would like to welcome Ayenzie to the "band" ;).  This ambient arpeggio based track is accompanied with Ayenzie's recital of his contributed lyrics:
"There's so many feelings that can be felt", "I can help you find light, you're a gift worth giving. Every soul on this earth has a life worth living"
This track is included on my "Soulful Season" album.
These sounds and the words are a soulful contribution to the Christmas and Holiday season.

Soulful Season

Soulful Expression

I composed "Soulful Season" for the Christmas Holidays with the rich sound of multiple synths, analog and wavetable.  The accompanying chorus is produced using original Mellotron chorus samples from the "Squids Tron Collection".
Of course I gave the piece a touch of my soundspace special recipe for the holidays!
This track is included in the "Soulful Season" album that has been released.

What is complex yet soft?  To my listeners who have experienced this theme of expression this is your song!  Someone who we know may fit this description ;), and there is a technical side.  This piece which is part of my Mindful Journeys theme also has a technical complexity using FM synthesis on an excellent modeled DX7 emulated synth that will fill the air with complex yet mindfully soft expression.  At the keyboard I managed to reach the very high notes in this piece so be ready for them.  I had a similar studio setup to my Humanity's Compass piece and you might give that one a listen if you like this style.

Mindful Journeys

Soft Complexity

This piece is part of my Mindful Journeys theme, that gives a soundscape expression of mindful thought and experience.  It has a very ambient theme and a gentle pace.  Another thing to note is that am using a lot of low ethereals that is a little out of the ordinary, but it gave a uniqueness that seems to add to the mindful expression. The timeline is filled with sound from many corners of my studio. Perhaps there may also be a cinematic sense to it.     Relax and experience the spectrum of mindful thought and enjoy!

MY FREE PRINTABLE MUSICAL SCORES ON LINKS BELOW ***********
It has been over seven years since now that I have been sharing my music here on Soundcloud.  I thank all my listeners for your following and encouragement of my works. My little studio is primarily a collection of vintage and emulated vintage instruments and of my adventures in making music and soundscapes   that have a signature and character that comes from my musical soul.  You are all very welcome to visit and comment ;)

Mark K

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