makin music thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > makin music thread

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Achmed Jones posted:

my audio interface came today and i made beeps and boops go from animoog into the computer. i hope to be able to have leads and pads/bass/etc all in the same track now

this track is gonna end up costing me more money than is reasonable

I ordered an audio interface a few weeks ago (ExpertSleepers ES-9) so I can finally plug my eurorack monstrosity into my Mac in a somewhat sensible fashion but it's still not arrived, and I've not touched my modular since because it feels wrong somehow

On the other hand my AE modular kit finally arrived. I've only had about an hour to play with it but managed to do this fun little track...it's all the AE, no external fx or anything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5OLoBr-2nw

# ¿ Mar 6, 2020 20:18

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 10:15

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Thanks! Yeah everything is coming from that rack. I'm sort of cheating with the drum sounds because one of the modules gives you 3 lofi drumkits, on my eurorack I find it way more fun to build the drums from scratch but I don't have enough modules on the AE to do that yet. I can explain how that setup above works if you're interested, though.

Modular can look complicated but it's really dead simple, it's just the basic parts of a 'normal' synth except you hook the oscillators/envelopes/filters/amps etc yourself, which gives you way more flexibility because you can plug stuff in however you like and create crazy feedback loops and stuff. If you're sequencing from the modular itself (like in the above vid) you can do all sorts of generative stuff, or just hook stuff up randomly and let it loose. Plus you can buy a small system and just let it grow as your understanding gets better.

Or download VCV Rack for free or spend a few bucks on Reaktor, and mess around with those, it's exactly the same principle!

# ¿ Mar 7, 2020 13:32

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

kaboofa posted:

Whoa, that's rad. Are you doing it DIY style?

Nah, it's just a new-ish modular format that's bear-bones but cheap as hell and still analog - TangibleWaves. They've even got an Arduino module which is on it's way that I'm looking forward to doing some custom DSP stuff on at a glorious 8khz!

quote:

I've been eyeing the ES-9, but ended up with a Zoom instead. Let us know how it goes!

I will once I get it :argh:

But there's no loving way I'm putting my rack on Modular Grid because I don't want to know how much I've spent on it

It's kinda hard to explain what modular is without showing someone. I think of it a bit like programming, each module is just a really simple function that takes a few inputs and produces a few outputs, and you can put pretty much any module into one of three types...
it makes a signal - oscillators, LFOs, envelope/contour generators
it changes or modulates a signal - filters, amplifiers, ring modulators, sample-and-hold
it controls a signal - sequencers, clock dividers/multipliers

Technically you can use anything for anything though, and that's one thing that makes them fun - like, if you trigger an envelope-generator with an audio-rate signal, the output of the EG will sound like a hard-synced oscillator, or use a 4-input mixer and a sequential switch as a 4-step sequencer etc etc. It's all stuff you're used to using in a regular synth, you just get to plug it in different ways yourself.

One good way to get familiar with modular is to recreate stuff you already know - if you're using Reaktor, PD or SuperCollider then maybe try to build emulations of simpler 80s synths - the Roland SH101 or even Korg MS-20s are quite fun to try and build, and then you can break them and make them do stupid things. If you're in hardware land then maybe try and recreate things like drum sounds from old drum machines - find out how they made their snare/kick/cymbal/hi hat sounds and build them yourself, and then find interesting/hacky ways to build sequencers to trigger them.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2020 21:23

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Achmed Jones posted:

how do you play a modular? like I get how you hook a bunch of stuff up, but how do you make a melody? are there sequencer modules and sampler modules? and then you can choose to route a pot or keyboard or whatever into your oscillators frequency input for unsequenced stuff?

is the idea that you can basically make a custom synth at home, but you have to buy everything you want separately? like a sort of middle ground between buying a synth kit and buying something off the shelf?

Sort of...you can definitely build something with the architecture of a traditional synth and control it via midi or a keyboard or whatever and use it like that, but IMHO you'd be missing a lot of the potential. With modular you can control *everything*, either deliberately via programming, or relying on chance and serendipity a bit more, just sticking LFOs or whatever into random parameters.

For example, most eurorack sequencers have CV control for transposing notes up and down, CV inputs for choosing the scale notes are quantised to, CV control for the clock rate or even direct control of what step is playing at any time. So you can set up rigs of sequencers all sequencing each other, and turn a 8 step melody into something that is constantly changing but still following rules...and then there's all the tricks you can do to generate accompaniments!

Voltage controlled transposition with a Metropolis sequencer...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psPpKGwU2kI

A PLL module following a wandering LFO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMtNsij8u14

More Metropolis stuff from MylarMelodies, one of the best channels on Youtube for learning about this stuff...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV9-XA5MPwY

# ¿ Mar 10, 2020 01:44

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Achmed Jones posted:

holy poo poo I just looked up the metropolis and it's $585. I was expecting like $200 or maybe $250. it's cool but drat

Yeah sequencers in particular tend to be really expensive. The metropolis is excellent though, I use mine in just about everything I make because you get so many happy accidents out of it. I got an Eloquencer recently and I�m basically done though cos it does *everything* - 8 independent tracks, up to 64 steps, patterns/parts/loops, tons of voltage control and probability based stuff too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPWf8bBOQXk

Luckily unless you�re going for a super boutique artisanal stuff then most of the modules you want lots of are relatively sanely priced, especially the ones from Doepfer.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2020 11:04

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Penisface posted:

sometimes its incredibly difficult to get started because i keep posting on forums or doing some ridiculous bullshit

but usually i start with just random noodling on any instrument until i accidentally end up on a loop that sound nice, then i record it and start building on that.

Same. It's kinda funny that some famous musicians like Brian Eno are totally unapologetic about that being their way of making music, but I wonder how much of a track some artists have in their head before they start, or once they're going how much they need to experiment before they get something that's exactly right.

echinopsis posted:

midi is pretty sick tbf, is there any other standard that’s 30 odd years old and still just works.

It's amazingly good given its age, but kinda lacking if you want to do much automation, because most of it is global to a channel, not to individual notes, and messages like note-on only contain a single parameter (velocity) besides the note#. You can get around it, but it's annoying.

My ES-9 arrived and does exactly what I wanted, which is sort of great but now means I've got no excuses. A million acid tracks incoming.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2020 12:22

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Zaxxon posted:

I got this soundcloud, but it's mostly fuckin around kinda stuff. That's all I really have recorded.

https://soundcloud.com/void-star-1

I like these. How did you build your plate reverb?

AtomD posted:

I don't do a lot of blips and bloops but I use FL for everything I do:
https://soundcloud.com/atomd

I really like these also

Penisface posted:

sequence CCs from your DAW as well as notes

I don't really get how, though? Like, say I'm programming drums and I've got a CC for how open a filter is for the duration of the sample, independent of velocity - if I have a note-on for a long cymbal sample with the filter CC at 80, then a beat later a snare with the filter CC at 100, that opens the filter for both sounds. There's ways round it, but it will always be limited or awkward in ways that it wouldn't be if messages could have multiple parameters.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2020 14:37

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Penisface posted:

ahh right you only can automate one CC for one thing at a time.. I somehow thought you can send CC on different channels to the filters for snare and cymbal. in that case you can just record a loop of snare with one filter automation, then a loop of cymbal with another.

i guess that's one of the restrictions of modular - a lot of stuff is passing through the same modules or influencing each other so you can't really think of "snare track" and "cymbal track" but it's all a mish mash of percussion

yeah you can do it that way, just put your different drums or whatever on different tracks/channels, its just annoying to have to.

modular actually makes it easier because you can just use sample-and-hold on stuff you want to 'stick' to a note. Also now I've got my es9 I can put every individual sound through it's own locally sourced artisanal processing chain in Logic which will mean even more fannying about with fx rather than doing something more productive.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2020 15:40

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

zaxxon posted:

...plate reverb stuff...

Oh poo poo, I didn�t realise it was real! That�s really cool.

I�ve built a few reverbs in Reaktor that sounds pretty nice but it�s nothing like something physical you can flick with your fingers.

I�ve got a couple spring reverbs I want to take apart though, I want to attach the transducers to parts of a piano because the tuned/harmonic reverb from that would be lush. Technically you could sample an IR and use it in a convolution reverb but it�s not as fun.

toiletbrush fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Mar 16, 2020

# ¿ Mar 16, 2020 19:14

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

^^^ highly approve

I'm starting second week of mandatory WFH and don't really have much work to do, challenging myself to post at least a little sketch every day might keep me sane.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2020 20:20

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

is it sample based or physically modelled? I mucked around with a demo of a physically modelled piano years ago and it was absolutely nuts how realistic it was. Pianos aren't very forgiving if you can't right good tunes though so I steer clear of them.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2020 15:55

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Gave the drum machine a workout, going through a reverb I built in Reaktor...
https://soundcloud.com/dj-fire-extinguisher/conference-call

this was done on laptop with laptop speakers so be careful, it may shred eardrums/speakers

# ¿ Mar 30, 2020 21:59

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

relative_q posted:

ableton is the poo poo and has been my weapon of choice for many moons now

what is it you like about it? I've only ever really used Logic, which I really like, but kinda like the idea of using something different

# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 11:26

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Penisface posted:

for me the session view combined with ableton push is what makes it an insanely good jamming tool - i record loops, layer loops, fade them out, mess around with my hardware (but record the MIDI in clips/arrangement)

and later when i finish the session i come back to it and edit and cut and mix everything into what resembles an actual track, not 30 minutes of the same loop that got recorded because i got sidetracked in yospos

gahhh push looks perfect for modular jams but I know I'll just end up with a bunch of stuff 'trapped' on the push that I'll never get off of it. Is Ableton by itself decent enough for the same thing? Or are you kinda stuck with just recording an hour of multitrack audio you have to chop up later (which is exactly what I do in logic)

fwiw I don't do anything with midi on the modular but the ES-9 I got lets you send 16 gates/CVs from your DAW or whatever, not tried it yet though.

toiletbrush fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Apr 4, 2020

# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 11:55

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Penisface posted:

push is just a specialized controller for Live. there is nothing "on" the push. basically a fancy keyboard

everything is kept in the Live project. when i am cutting and editing a finished jam the push usually is not even switched on - i use it only to be able to trigger and record clips without staring at a laptop screen

Oh right, I just watched the vid on the Ableton site and it looked like the Push was also doing all the sampling and like a little mini-DAW

I may as well give it a go if it's free!

# ¿ Apr 4, 2020 12:23

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

I guess if you search YouTube for eurorack you will get a lot of beep boop doodling but thats because making music solely with a modular is quite challenging, but there's plenty of people like lightbath, Alan Dear, Emily Sprague, r beny and even Richard Devine who put out vids that sound like regular music.

It's just another instrument though, really. An absolute ton of electronic music uses modular in some capacity, I guess if it's *not* random arpeggiated doodles and beep boops then you just didn't recognise it as modular? Like, I'm going through all the more mainstream electronic artists I like and trying to think of one who doesn't use some sort of modular rig and mostly failing.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2020 23:38

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

echinopsis posted:

some people seem to think that idea of input setup -> auto song is the purpose of them

I definitely use mine a bit like this, building experiments with bits modulating and sequencing each other with unfathomable feedback loops, just to see what happens. Sometimes you end up with poop, sometimes you end up with gorgeous sounds or wierd organically evolving loops that I couldn't begin to create any other way, not even in software like max/pd/reaktor.

Unless you're incredibly talented or wealthy, building whole pieces of music that aren't either quite minimal or clearly beep-boop noodling is very difficult. I'm not talented or wealthy so the main use for mine is jamming and stumbling across neat sounds or loops that I sample and use to build a proper track in Logic.

Penisface posted:

i have been to several modular events and always without fail the best live sets are when a guy with just a couple of modules plays a nice set, followed by increasingly badass racks that devolve into noise, noise and more bespoke noise.

Same. It's basically a bunch of men with their train sets, except there's a horrible cacophony going on in the background. Less is definitely more.

quote:

anyhow here is something rare: modular MUSIC https://soundcloud.com/djmag/fresh-kicks-74-ann-annie-live-modular-set

Ann Annie is awesome.

there's a ton of good modular music out there
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uojFtozPynE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltBBMl6tArc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVP5eto4fxs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9utwDDG8aHc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWe_7okVXhM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFa2JjPxzdM
(4:34 onwards is funky as heck)

# ¿ Apr 13, 2020 13:06

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

the thing I liked most about reason was the dangly cable physics

# ¿ Apr 14, 2020 20:19

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

CMYK BLYAT! posted:

reaktor blocks has cables and they're the first thing i disable. goddamn things are annoying

I don't get what blocks are for in Reaktor. Is it basically just a nicer ui over a macro?

I wish you could put corners/bends in connections.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2020 14:31

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B40AizE6i2g

mylarmelodies explaining 'try to emulate things you like' modular fun much better than I did, should be doable in vcvrack too

# ¿ Apr 19, 2020 19:20

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

your stuff sounds like proper music

# ¿ Apr 25, 2020 19:59

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

This might have already been posted, but VCVRack is available on iOS !!

Penisface posted:

i have an akai mpk mini2 that i got for having something small to play gigs with and carry around in a backpack and i like that it has a built in arpeggiatior. that is extremely fun and a good creative tool

Have one for travelling/backpacking and can confirm it's awesome.

I've saved a bunch of �� after not buying a train ticket for two months due to mandatory WFH, and just splurged it all on a new eurorack case and a bunch of modules. I just wish the weather would be poo poo enough that I didn't feel bad being indoors to play with it.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2020 14:21

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

This theory chat is really useful, I've literally just given up writing music for my lockdown produced iPhone game. It started off sounding retro computer-gamey but sounded totally inappropriate so I just turned it into a regular track. I'm quite chuffed tho as it actually has a proper tune!

https://soundcloud.com/djfireextinguisher/s3a-0

# ¿ May 27, 2020 21:24

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

another penisface banger. Really nice!

about two weeks into lockdown I moved all my gear down into my front room, the reason being I live by myself and was going stir-crazy looking over my rapidly overgrowing garden all the time and wanted to be by a window where I could see actual humans going by and feel less isolated. The trouble is now I haven't touched any of it (including a bunch of new modules I bought) since cos I don't want to attract any attention to anything potentially theft-worthy in my house

So I've got a room where I can't use my stuff because I'm paranoid it will get stolen, one where I get depressed being in there, or one that's probably the nicest but it adjoins the room my neighbour sleeps in when he's had a row with his wife so three hour modular acid jams would be a strict no-no.

anyone got any tips on making your music room nice to be in for someone who rapidly gets anxious/depressed if they can't see other people?

# ¿ Jun 7, 2020 14:43

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

you don't realise how totally rad I look playing it!

it's just that the modular bit is tall and wide and really conspicuous looking particularly with all the blinkin and cable dangling going on.

you're probably right, though.

# ¿ Jun 7, 2020 15:37

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

that second link doesn't work for me

# ¿ Jun 16, 2020 16:40

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Ultimate nostalgia - Usborne Introduction to Keyboards and Computer Music

for real tho those books were excellent, the programming ones are what got me into computers and started my career as a terrible programmer (ie they should never have been written)

# ¿ Jul 16, 2020 00:24

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Tayter Swift posted:

got some singing bowls coming this week as a bday gift from me to me, gonna make me some drones

dont imagine they're all in tune or anything tho, but maybe i can experiment with each one individually

like what if i fill one with water, or put a marble in. can i turn one into a hosed up plate reverb?

what if i record at 192khz and change the sample rate to 48k to lower the tone two octaves

edit: oh, and what if i put one bowl in another, will there be any sympathetic resonance?

Tap them with a stick, record the the output (preferably with a contact mic!) and then use that as an impulse response for crazy sort of harmonic reverbs!

(if you use Logic Pro, it comes with a tool for doing this more accurately with sine-sweeps and stuff)

# ¿ Aug 25, 2020 18:54

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

I wish scratching was still a thing, and q-bert wasn't a big bellend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdBH62_peZg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IhNIb-ywW8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEGjA1qyraw

(self promotion - a semi famous dj used one of my loops in one of his practice vids)

toiletbrush fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Sep 16, 2020

# ¿ Sep 16, 2020 20:08

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Penisface posted:

i also did a stream with a jamming mate couple of days ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTVvJCk3iGY

That's all awesome, proper music.

Here's my latest effort, mucking around with reaktor, there's a bit too much bass perhaps
https://soundcloud.com/djfireextinguisher/swgjkr

# ¿ Nov 19, 2020 21:44

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

For xmas my bro and his wife got me a Eurorack module in kit form, and my parents got me a soldering iron lol. I haven't soldered anything since Design & Technology classes at secondary school when I was 13, so I watched a bunch of YouTubes about soldering and whatnot and...

holy crap this thing actually works! Was so cool to turn on the power and see it flicker into life, and it's a really neat module too. Was so much fun to build, and way easier than I thought it would be, I'm definitely gonna be getting kits a lot more from now on. Might even save some money if I don't kill too many.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2020 01:02

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Jonny 290 posted:

Wow, you did a really good job. welcome to solderhead gang

Thanks! I botched a few joints a bit early on and had to redo them, and partially melted the plastic on one of those white capacitors cos I wasn't looking where the upper bit of the iron was resting when I was doing a really awkward spot, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Once you go DIY route its soooo much cheaper, and there's some way more wacky stuff out there too.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2020 17:23

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

made a chilled out track while eating pizza
I played the chords but the other notes are ~*algorithmic*~

# ¿ Jan 23, 2021 21:35

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

short ambient track
I think I'm able to come up with decent tunes, I've not really mastered the art of stretching them into whole tracks yet, though

# ¿ Jan 29, 2021 21:35

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

anti ambient https://soundcloud.com/djfireextinguisher/leghrsu

# ¿ Jan 30, 2021 21:22

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

Yay, the Metasynth guy has finally gotten over his tantrum about Apple dropping Carbon like 9 years ago and re-written it as a proper modern application, it even runs on M1 processors. Looking forward to hearing what images of dickbutt sound like.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2021 16:43

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

baroque beets https://soundcloud.com/djfireextinguisher/kughrse
once again I get started but then don't know where to go

# ¿ Feb 7, 2021 22:34

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

doodle https://soundcloud.com/djfireextinguisher/dodle

# ¿ Feb 11, 2021 19:19

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

ive not really given Ableton much of a chance but been watching a ton of Limmy streams where he does fake adverts and stuff and I really like the way it lays stuff out. I wanna give it a go but worry I'll miss some of the synths and fx from Logic too much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huzIvcOEPvc&t=1491s

toiletbrush fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Feb 11, 2021

# ¿ Feb 11, 2021 23:15

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 10:15

toiletbrush: May 17, 2010

delay lines are really fun to mess about with, like putting reverbs in the feedback loop so each echo is smearier than the last, or pitch shifting up an octave and then down an octave so the pitch doesn't change but each loop through the audio gets more and more grotted up by the pitch shift algo.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2021 19:20

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