Ever find yourself hitting a creative wall in the studio? Flipspark Elements might be the solution. It’s a card game perfect for any producer in a creative rut – or anyone keen to experiment with new production ideas.
Every deck comes with 64 cards divided into four suits (Element, Instrument, Pattern, and Effects), with each card providing a creative prompt. Element cards represent the key components of a track, like the bridge, bass, or chords, while Instrument cards refer to your sound source. Pattern cards might suggest a melody idea, and Effects cards will knock out engineering ideas like delay, distortion or reverb.
There are no set rules to the game – meaning you could grab a handful of cards and attempt to make a track that with every suggestion, or just select a pair of cards. Whatever your approach, the idea is to challenge and inspire you to try out new approaches in the studio.
Flipspark Elements isn’t only intended to inspire solo creatives. It could even be used in parallel with a collaborator, or treated as a competition; two producers could battle it out to make the best tune, abiding by the guidelines of a selection of cards.
The game is currently available as a digital download, costing just $9. The set also comes with some blank cards, so you can create your own prompt cards to throw into the mix.
Flipspark also has an Inspire card game available, which is more in line with Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s 1975 classic, Oblique Strategies. Rather than specific production and mixing prompts, it’s a lot more writing and ideas focused, prompting users to ask “what if?” There are also some ‘consider; cards thrown in, to get artists to ponder things like their project’s themes.
The company has even released a Kids Contrast kit, if you want to teach your kids about EQ alongside their ABCs. It’s a set of high contrast photos of things like audio cables, vinyls and cassette tapes, intended to get children familiar with music equipment from an early age. Certainly more useful than photo cards depicting farm animals if you want your child to become a virtuoso.
Flipspark Elements is on sale for $9, while the Inspire and Kids Contrast packs are both available for free.
