Wednesday night, a flock of people gathered in the Hunt Library lobby, quickly demolishing a tower of delivery pizza. They were eagerly awaiting the arrival of electronic music producer Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso and Made of Oak.

The event was the finale to a day packed with performances and interactive workshops. Ableton, a company that produces music hardware and software, is currently making appearances across North American college campuses for its Ableton University Tour. The tour features free presentations, workshops and performances with the intention of educating and inspiring musicians of all proficiency — from novices to professionals.

Ableton’s Serafin Sanchez, a multi-instrumentalist and electronic music producer and composer, kicked off the event with a tutorial for Ableton Live and Push. Ableton Live offers an ambitious range of sounds, instruments and effects that allows the user to experiment and eventually craft a song. Moreover, Push is a pad that accompanies the software, allowing the user to program beats, melodies and harmonies.

“The goal for tonight isn’t to make anyone an expert at Ableton Live or Push,” Sanchez said. “The goal is to inspire you to make more music on your own; whether you’re making music with a computer, saxophone, or you’re the most furious tabletop drummer on your block, hopefully you’ll come out inspired and maybe form a collaboration with someone in the room.

After Sanchez ended his presentation, Sanborn introduced himself, in awe of his surroundings.

“This library is amazing,” Sanborn said. “I can’t believe this exists.”

Sylvan Esso, formed in 2013, is a folk-pop due originating from Durham. Sanborn curates the synth sounds on the record while bandmate Amelia Meath provides the vocals.

Facing technical difficulties with his computer at the start of the demonstration, he told an anecdote about how the situation was nothing in comparison to his experience while performing at Austin City Limits.

“Have you guys ever had one of those dreams when you showed up to school or work and then realize you’re nude? It was like that. We get on stage, and the minute we start playing our sound engineer, Rusty, gets in front of the monitors and says, ‘Guys, just stop playing,’ It was blindingly hot; the sun cooked the computers that ran the main sound system, and everything was fried – there was nothing coming out of the mains. So we were awkwardly standing in front of 35,000 people waiting for someone to tell us to leave or start again. I’m sweating; because it’s like I’m living that dream. So we started again, and everybody was like ‘yeah!’ and the minute the first bass drop happens in our set, my computer cooks and just stops in one of the most horrible moments of my life.”

Drawing the story to a close, he showcased spacey, warped sounds and some of his favorite chord progressions in an improvisation. Sanborn said he had a fondness for futuristic sounds that spark feelings of nostalgia.

Sanborn expressed an appreciation in the ability to provide parameters for himself while creating songs.

“I love hiking, too, and there’s kind of a rule in backpacking that the size of your backpack dictates how much stuff you’re going to bring,” Sanborn said. “If you bring a big backpack, you’re going to fill it all the way up and weight it down, if you get a small backpack, you’ll only put what you need on your back.”

The audience, scattered throughout the Hunt Library auditorium, watched Sanborn breakdown the musical elements in songs like “Dress” and “Hey Mami” that he used with synth patches in Ableton Live.

“One thing I particularly like about Ableton’s set up tools is that it helps me do my favorite thing when writing; finding a sound, lyric, pattern, or melody,” Sanborn said. “We’ve all had this moment when you found a tiny thing, and you know that there’s a whole song in that thing. It’s trying to tell you something, and you’re just trying to listen and figure out what else needs to happen.”

Sanborn discussed his creative process, ideologies about performing live and how he utilized tools from Ableton to bring his ideas to life. The audience laughed as Sanborn occasionally went on one of his characteristic tangents.

The event faded out with an audience Q&A session.