making beats
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- mg330
What is the one thing you guys obsess over the most in terms of tones / sonics when recording?
Drums have been my last big thing to really get right. Bass guitar sounds with soft-synths aren't that difficult, and being a guitarist I'm pretty sure of what I want and how it's mixed when recording.
Drums are the one thing I seem to be spending the most time on these days. I probably made it more complicated by picking up Addictive Drums 2 last year, which offers vastly better sounds than Logic does as well as customizations. I do a ton of listening to particular drum sounds I like by certain bands, listening over and over and trying to get a feel for sounds and the reverb and how it all fits. Best part about Addictive Drums was getting a brush kit and customizing the hell out of that so it's always ready to go.
- Try Izotope Trash on your drums. It's an old plugin, but the saturation is so good on acoustic drums. Anything in the "saturate" section is good.section_014
- programming acoustic drums is a fools game. even a shit drummer will get a better sound with a single sm57 above the kick drum than any plugin.kingsteven
- i use the NI abbey rd drums with my electronic kit but honestly single 57 on the garbage kit in my rehearsal room is gonna win out every time.kingsteven
- btw i'm not a drummer guitar mostly (well i occasionally dabbled) but took it up over lockdown out of boredom and wish i'd done it sooner.kingsteven
- https://soundcloud.c…
programmed with
https://www.native-i…imbecile - I wish I were a drummer, but fortunately nothing I'm attempting to do is all that complex. More steady rhythms, no fills, just basic stuff for the most part.mg33
- point was, if you're looking for realistic drums, studio drummer has different samples for different velocities. I built that track in ableton with a mouse.imbecile
- https://www.dropbox.…
https://www.dropbox.…kingsteven - maybe not the best example but before and after of a beat from a track, first is the NI abbey rd drums i was using... second is recorded on one sm57kingsteven
- with just a bit of reverb and compression but its actually simpler, but so much more going on... (incl. squeaky kick pedal)kingsteven
- https://www.dropbox.…
https://www.dropbox.…kingsteven - another example of me doing my best to make it sound like a real drummer (logic drum kit sounds) in the demo vs the drummer in my bandkingsteven
- clumsily trying to make the case for doing stuff out of the box with just yourself with mics. experimenting and collaborating makes the whole process easier.kingsteven
- Thanks for sharing that. Here's a basic example of a working track with Addictive Drums - this is before really digging into all the nuance of how they canmg33
- be customized, compression, reverb, etc. changes I've made this week. https://drive.google…mg33
- I completely love the brush kit in that plugin. It's nice and subtle against instrumental stuff.mg33
- I completely love the brush kit in that plugin. It's nice and subtle against instrumental stuff.mg33
- I love the Addictive Drums brush kit. It's nice and subtle.mg33
- nice! reminds me of the drums on laughing stock by talk talk https://www.youtube.…kingsteven
- Thanks, I'll give that a listen. As a reference, my favorite drum sounds are on these albums:mg33
- Port St. Willow - Holiday
https://www.youtube.…mg33 - The Antlers - Familiars (I can't state how much I love the song Palace)
https://www.youtube.…mg33 - Mogwai - Les Revenants soundtrack
https://www.youtube.…mg33 - I like what your doing, but drums like this are almost textural at those levels.. IMHO they need to be louder in the mixautoflavour
- prophetone2
- yours? a buddy has the grandmother. beyond butteryimbecile
- no no but would love a grandmother, MOOG just released these dark versions so they match the classics like Prodigy, Rogue etc, these look greatprophetone
- ah. agreed, indeed they do.imbecile
- wow! Those are sexy, I’ll take the grandmotherfuturefood
- imbecile3
- why would you post this?!! haha la la la la... not listening, falling into rabbit hole, look at his modular wall! haha geezprophetone
- still upvotedprophetone
- First module ... get an expanded Mutable Clouds clone like Monsoon. Running anything through it is f*cking epic! It's the ONE and ONLY module I have ;)microkorg
- the beat generators and melody makers look aceimbecile
- @prophet, his studio might hurt your feelings. it did mine https://www.youtube.…imbecile
- mort_0
Think I have a bit of an aversion to FM synthesis but this thing just oozes character and grit.
- imbecile1
the way he explains the basics helps understand how to build complexity. it's one of the best modular explanations i've seen. If anyone has similar, please share.- This guy is a meme'd out annoying Youtuber to the extreme. But, his videos are good.section_014
- God forbid he market himself successfully while providing useful concise information.imbecile
- prophetone1
- it's like everything you can do with a launchpad without needing a computerimbecile
- good for a portable live rigprophetone
- its awesome. like I've said in a few posts now, I want to be free from a computer. standalone hardware like this is aceimbecile
- (psst!... theres a tiny little computer hiding inside it)microkorg
- does it depend on windows or mac and ableton? no? great.imbecile
- imbecile0
Does anyone know if there is a technical term for the red / orange light that usually accompanies a record player and some older "hi-fi" equipment? I don't mind testing out a red or orange bulb in a small desk lamp, but if anyone knew of a product that was made, I'd like to know. Looking for less contrast / white light while turning knobs.
- kinda like this https://www.sweetwat…imbecile
- https://en.wikipedia…
glow discharge.uan - marketing for the led technology calls them 'LED Edison bulb'uan
- I picked up a red 4 watt LED Edison bulb. It definitely does what I want. Seems excessive. Thinking I may build something with small LED panel lights.imbecile
- are you talking about the strobe? would have been a neon tube in old technics (bit more of an orange glow), now its just a red LEDkingsteven
- yes, orange light, no strobe effect. i'm looking for something similar to the orange ambient lighting on a bmw dome light. tiny, faintimbecile
- i'm sure i could buy a roll of those color changing leds and use two or three bulbs to build something. i thought there would be a product, so i'm searching.imbecile
- you cant see the strobe it'll run at 100 or 120Hz its for calibration of the speed of the turntable using the dots on the side of the platter or a special diskkingsteven
- but i guess whatever the light source it's effectively half dimmed which may add to the effect of diffusion in some way.kingsteven
- good point on the strobe, gives me a place to start looking for parts, thanks againimbecile
- there is a turntable "target light" or "target lamp" that seems to be very close to what I'm looking for.imbecile
- imbecile0
Recommendation request...
Best effects pedals? Probably a multi effects pedal as long as it costs significantly less than an MPC. I notice single use pedals are inexpensive, but I wonder what I would use other than reverb and delay.
I want to use up to two as sends on my mixer. I can add and control wetness of per channel, two mono, three stereo. I used the filters on my kaossilator for this, but I sold that a long time ago.
I know I can add effects via eurorack modules. I've decided to use my mixer to its maximum potential leaving the eurorack purchases (if any) to oscillators and sequencers.
So far, I'm looking at a few inexpensive options...
Zoom Multistomp
NUX MG-100
Behringer FX600- multistomp is one stereo signal path + all internal effects run in series. i have 2 and use one on a mono aux with stereo return... great for the price but notkingsteven
- comparable to the strymons etc. that it aims to emulate in quality for reverbs but actually has some charm to it.kingsteven
- no idea about the NUX but the fx600 has been around for donkeys and is a one effect at a time unit where the zoom will let you have a couple of reverbs, a delaykingsteven
- and a graphic running simultaneously... my main unit for live is a Line 6 HX that I switched out my entire pedal board for a few years ago and never looked backkingsteven
- that's useful information, thank youimbecile
- starting to see them second hand at around the £250 mark.kingsteven
- shapesalad-6
(Having to log back in to post this... v annoying... keep up guys).
- should have stayed logged out.imbecile
- Oh Teenage Engineering! Your OP-1 users thought that this announcement was going to be an OP-2. Your OP-Z users thought it was going to be a new model...microkorg
- ...that addressed all the faults with the OP-Z. Then you release a speaker! The same kind of looking speaker that you designed with and sell through IKEA.microkorg
- Hold on, but there's more to it than just a speaker. There's some cool features like creating drones and ambiences from live radio snippets automatically...microkorg
- ..thats pretty fucking cool for music makers or new age hippies but not a mainstream feature. Rewind the radio? Not sure how useful this is other than replayingmicrokorg
- your favourite song again. It says you can remix the radio - looking forward to hearing more on this though. £600-650 though! ooft!microkorg
- TE is definitely a cool company, a cool company to work for (i know someone who used to work for them), a self indulgent company who do cool music/art shitmicrokorg
- that they want to do. Totally fair do's. I wish I had that company, wish I had the supercars the bosses have. Loved/Hated the OP-1 and wish I never sold it.microkorg
- Not really sure I know where I'm going with this other than ranting.microkorg
- WTF is this bullshit?section_014
- I love TE. Yet I own nothing they make.inteliboy
- prophetone1
- That Electronic Beats series is great. Thanks! Fact mag too. Always interesting content.mort_
- imbecile0
- this guy is great loved his speaker vids. got 6 big rockwool panels in my studio but planning to do some work on the ceiling soon.kingsteven
- imbecile1
https://soundcloud.com/jgum/take…
i think i have a proof of concept figured out, not that it was difficult. i still don't understand so much about the signal flow, though.
this is a Korg SQ-1 sending sequences via three cv paths for pitch and modulation control to a Behringer Model D while providing sync for a Pocket Operator PO-12, which produces the drum patterns. i'm impressed with the PO-12's quantization capabilities.
this is an open air recording made with apple voice memos from my studio speakers, so it's missing some of the low end and you can hear the clicks of the SQ-1 knob being turned.
speaking of the SQ-1 mode selector knob, It does not keep time during mode switch. there does not appear to be legato where it retains the beat, but restarts on mode switch. i'm so used to midi keeping track of everything, not being able to set the bpm perfectly is new as well.
- mort_5
Dave Smith remaking Prophet 5!
- oh dearhans_glib
- And a 10-voice version. $3500 and $4300, respectively.section_014
- imbecile0
One of you bought an Elektron Digitakt. Are you loving it? I haven't seen a video reviewing it that doesn't look intuitive. Quite feature rich.
- Mono samples, limited sample editing and not a great performance tool by the looks of it. I think the sequencer is the appealing aspect.mort_
- Have not used it though so that's from looking at reviews.mort_
- Own one, super fun little box. Nice and fast for making things. If you aren’t fussed about actually sampling and are just happy to load samples, get the modelautoflavour
- Samples tho.. same thing just without the midi channels and the sampling.. realistically digitakt is nothing ableton can’t, but for a quick out of the box beatautoflavour
- It’s super fun. Don’t expect it to be the only thing u need tho.. but for ease of use and immediacy it’s fucking brilliantautoflavour
- someone suggested an mpc to add to my analog setup, trying to go computer free, found this as i was looking at options. i like it for sequencer / my samplesimbecile
- This comparison shows the strengths and weaknesses of each pretty well. https://youtu.be/vWT…mort_
- The MPC looks like more of a DAW replacement. But the Digitakt is more immediate because of its limitations.mort_
- Well despite my reservations I just pulled the trigger on a used Digitakt. Will let you know how it goes imbecile.mort_
- ha, no way! please do :Dimbecile
- Had a similar dilemma for a while. I figure the Elektron gear holds it’s value so give it a go. Plus, limitations are often where the magic happens. We’ll see!mort_
- Had one, it is super fun and a great sounding box. Found it more useful for electronic beats rather than breaks. It doesnt have slice to pad.microkorg
- when i look at the MPC capabilities, it's like my PC problems again, option overload. sampling / midi of the digitakt may fit my music style. mpc has good valueimbecile
- Theres a lot of options out there for a sampler. If you are simply wanting to playback samples from libraries you have the the Model Samples is a great choice.microkorg
- Digitakt is the Samples but with sampling capability. New MPC Lives are basically a DAW in a box. The older the MPC the more convoluted the processes are....microkorg
- ..now done much easier in modern samplers. The 1010 Music Blackbox is a sampler and playback box with a couple of in's and four outs. Petite! love mine!microkorg
- i like the idea of sampling my analog synths for sounds but also being able to use my sample catalog as time passesimbecile
- Bit of a steep learning curve so far. Lots of menus and modes. I’ll need to methodically go through the manual. Reminds me of 90s studio gear.mort_
- Ok the Digitakt is a lot of fun. I was cursing it earlier and then a few things fell into place. Still loads to learn but I think it's a keeper.mort_
- let me rephrase: two of you bought an elektron...imbecile
- microkorg1
TimeTosser
https://www.alter.audio/- Looks like this would be quality for breaks. Rather than pre-chopping or doing clever things with random/trigs inside sampler, just play...microkorg
- ...straight samples through this and randomly chop/retrig as playing. Looks like their kickstarter & indiegogo has now ended though.microkorg
- There's only so much repeating of a bar or note you can do before it gets...repetitive.shapesalad