Take 5: The Search For Sound is a new audio-driven game that breaks through creative blocks

When you hit a wall in the creative process, taking a break is often the best solution. But what if taking five minutes away from your project was guaranteed to inspire you? That’s where Take 5 comes in. The new Ableton Live-based game is an entirely audio-driven experience, inspiring players to explore a sonic landscape to discover new melodies, synth sounds and MIDI tracks as they progress through the game.

Designed by producer Chuck Sutton, Take 5: The Search For Sound plants users in a totally non-visual landscape, yet it musters a sense of space through sound alone. Movement through vast forests is conveyed through sound alone, with each abstract footstep forward producing the sound of footsteps, or moving you closer to sounds in the ‘distance’. In some cases, you could even come across enemies, which can be beaten by playing a certain tune.

Players can explore the place with a keyboard or controller, moving closer to discover different instrumental sounds and MIDI tracks. But there are also a slew of puzzles throughout the abstract sonic world. Rhythmic call-and-response puzzles are throughout the space, and beating a puzzle will trigger a different, varied melody to play.

The experience puts the power of sound in the driver’s seat for five immersive minutes, reminding players of the full arsenal of sounds and melodies at their disposal. By hearing a certain synth sound when an enemy dies, or discovering an earworm of a four-note melody, the game gets the creative juices flowing. It’s an experience that should leave players inspired to take what they have heard and produce more unique, layered tracks.

“This all started on a red-eye [overnight flight],” Sutton explains. “It was too dark to look at my screen without my eyes hurting. But I wanted to play something anyway, and mostly I wanted to do it with my eyes closed. So I built a game you play by listening.”

“In Take 5, you move through a place and react to what you hear, and it keeps handing you things you would never have thought to make on your own,” he continues. “Do not overthink the five minutes. Get in, move, listen, keep what you love, and get back to your music. If you never read a word past the Quick Start, you are doing it right. Have fun in there!”

Take 5: The Search For Sound is available now for $25.