Hi all...  just finished my second original track for the year.   Back to my comfort zone this generally falls into prog world, with maybe a little fusion added for spice.
 
The usual suspects like AD2 along with live guitar and bass are present, as are last-minute newbie additions Ultra Analog Session and TH3 CW.  Also along for the ride: GR5, MJUC, Lounge Lizard, Z3TA+2, Loom, Rapture Session and GPO5.  Oh, and two instances of Eventide's Black Hole for effect after the middle section and at the end.
 
But the big change for me was taking advantage of the new tempo mapping feature:
- I recorded the main guitar lines without any click trick 
- Tempo mapped the project to those audio files
- Simplified the tempos and bit and made a few minor adjustments where needed
- Muted the original guitar track and re-recorded with the new tempo-mapped click track
 
The end result, I think, is a nice push-pull effect that I personally couldn't have accomplished using a fixed tempo, and including MIDI parts that I probably wouldn't have attempted manually.
 
Thanks for listening!
 
https://soundcloud.com/steve-cocchi/sol-glaciem
 

Beyond impressive, Steve.  Not only is this wonderfully composed and played but the mix is well put together and very pleasing.  I'm not a super big prog guy -- Yes is about it for me and one of my favorite groups (it's their ability to not only be great musicians but to write wonderful poppy songs and sing great) and of course Crimson -- but I always enjoy something this well done.  This is the most impressive instrumental piece I've heard on this site in a long while -- Bravo!  
 
-- Allan

This made me think of a band that I haven't thought of in years - Todd Rundgren's Utopia.  I had to listen twice just to wrap my head around this because it has enough elements and changes to keep one busy.  This is very cerebral music, and you pulled it off very well, because pieces like this can go South fast.  You created a sophisticated arrangement that showcases your talent, yet it is different from what I've heard of you in the past.  All in all, WOW!

Hi steve, this is an impressive piece of work, lots of different elements brought together in an interesting piece.
 
Rik

Very nice, reminds me of old Dixie Dregs.. Great stuff, keep up the good work.
 
gabo

reminds me of happy the man,
with a touch of zappa, 
and yes.
 
very cool idea, to just play, and then tempo map it to add the spice
 
begs for a vocal.

ah, the very end , sounded like the end of a UK tune.....
 

amazing Steve and what a great way to be able to write it - it has a live feel to it. How easy was the tempo mapping? 

O my gosh, incredible. II was just watching old concert footage of *Kansas*  the first section had some similarity.  The song constantly evolves,  sort of like watching a film of a flower growing and opening up. Like a lotus if you dig the little baby Buddha.

Steve!
 
Man, what a great way to get some human feel into a track. Very cool song and the mix is very well done. There were a couple of very minor spots where I could hear the hi hats sort of stutter where a change in the tempo map occurred. Might be those could be cleaned up, but that's just minor. Well done sir!
 
Regards,
Dan