Technology-based composition for Component 2: composing with synthesis, sampling and audio manipulation, developing material through production, meeting the set brief, and using technology as the compositional medium.

This is a planning task; Component 2 is marked on the finished composition and the technology used to create it. A strong answer shows a clear creative process.

Start by reading the brief carefully and choosing a direction that fits it (a style, mood or focus the brief specifies). Generate core material using the technology itself: design or choose synthesiser sounds (for example a subtractive bass and pad, an FM lead), select and manipulate samples (loop, slice, time-stretch or pitch-shift them), and program MIDI parts. Build a strong central idea (a riff, hook or texture), then develop it through production techniques: vary the arrangement, layer and process sounds, transform samples, automate filters and effects, and change texture and dynamics across the piece so it grows rather than repeats. Structure the composition with clear sections (for example intro, build, main section, breakdown), and refine the sound design, balance and effects so the production itself carries the music. Keep the piece within the brief and the required duration.

Markers reward responding to the brief, generating material through synthesis/sampling/MIDI, developing a central idea via production (variation, layering, transformation, automation), a clear structure, and technology as the compositional medium.

In a technology-based composition, development can come from production, not only from traditional melodic or harmonic variation, because the way a sound is shaped and transformed is itself compositional. Production techniques let an idea evolve, grow and sustain interest across the piece.

Two specific examples: first, transforming a sampled or synthesised motif, for example pitch-shifting, time-stretching, reversing, slicing and reordering a sample so the same source material returns in new forms; and second, automating effects and synthesis parameters, for example sweeping a filter cutoff to build energy into a drop, increasing reverb or delay to open up a section, or modulating the texture so the arrangement changes over time. (Other valid examples: layering and re-orchestrating a riff, changing the drum production between sections, adding or stripping back processing.)

Markers reward development through production (not just notation), with two genuine techniques (sample transformation, parameter/effect automation, layering/re-orchestration, changing production between sections).