I improvised this thread

[Alter-Fox]

I've been working this year on my spontaneity, musically. Occasionally challenging myself to come out and record a full song on the spot, without any lyrics or music written out beforehand, and see what I can come up with.
I managed to come up with three full songs (plus pieces of some bigger pre-planned tracks) this way since January, and I think I'm going to try and do this a bit more often from now on. I feel like I came up with ideas this way that I wouldn't have come up with otherwise.
And since I'm not the only one in this small group on this small site here who seems to have been working on their music in new ways this year, I thought it might be fun to share at least those three songs.

My guitar playing still isn't exactly great, but.... I had so much fun that that makes up for it?

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Encompass is a track from way back in January. Likely only the third or fourth time I tried to write this way. certainly the first time I started to think of this improvisational process as a serious way to write songs, and not just something I was playing around with. It probably sounds a little different from the other two 'cause it was finished just before I started processing my drum tracks a little bit differently.

Storm Engine was recorded in... June or July? either way, it was pretty much right after I'd finally found myself with a really nice 7-string guitar and I was too excited to write something on it to wait until I'd actually... you know... written something on it. I think it was somewhat inspired by a mini Doom level I was testing for someone around the same time.

and GateRunner was just recorded and produced this month. May end up being my last track completed in 2020. ...I think in this case I cheated a bit by writing down two or three lines of lyric a day ahead, and then improvising a track around those ideas, so it's only almost from scratch. But that got me thinking about how this sort of writing can be worked in alongside the other sorts of songwriting I usually do, and how I really should practice this type of writing more.
That's probably also what made me think that these three tracks would be interesting to share.

Maybe I'll add more, in the new year, if and when I do more stuff like this.

[Isaac]

I'm having trouble downloading or playing any of these.

[Alter-Fox]

That's really weird...
I can try linking to the individual files instead of the folder, and see if that helps

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1K9GD7W ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gaI609 ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Jb-JO ... sp=sharing

EDIT: sharing settings must be okay, 'cause I can still access the folder from that link if I sign out of google... will see if I can try with another computer.

[TheWhat]

That’s pretty neat stuff. The second one had pretty hard sounding guitar with like mid1980’s Miles Davis “Tutu” keyboards balancing there. I’m REALLY curious to hear your guitar with some of those Neural DSP plugins. Maybe this one?
https://neuraldsp.com/plugins/archetype-nolly

I’ll give the others a listen. Good work, creative!

[Alter-Fox]

Thanks! I might give that a look if I can come up with something for it.
Normally I just use a physical amp and mic though, it's not the best out there, but it's 'cause I seem to get a lot of latency when I feed it right through my audio interface and the delay between playing and hearing the sound can seriously mess me up. Guess I'm just too distractible

As far as I remember I didn't have that latency problem on my laptop... so if I decided to work from there instead of my main PC... hmm...

[TheWhat]

No. Latency blows for sure. I’m not sure of your recording setup but Protools and Logic have low latency modes. Freezing tracks, bouncing down to reduce real-time effects and software instruments. I’m sure you know these things it sounds like you know how to mix better than I.

But yeah, that’s the game with software - LAG
https://support.neuraldsp.com/help

[Alter-Fox]

Yeah, that's how it goes.
I have a mode that reduces latency to near-zero but it comes with other problems that seem to be something specific about this system. Probably tied to some piece of hardware, but I haven't figured out which one. On the laptop it works just fine. Maybe if I got an external sound card the problem would go away, but making the investment just for that without actually knowing if it'll even work is... eurgh.
It's very strange though, 'cause when I'm not using the audio interface the lag's a lot more manageable, and I can still play parts in with a keyboard and such. ...whatever the solution is, it's probably as tangled as the wires under this desk XD

Which is, of course, the other problem with software. So many zeroes, so many ones... which one of them isn't where it's supposed to be?

Anyway, keeping that site bookmarked for now. After watching the demo video I'd certainly really like to give the sim a try if I get the chance.

[Alter-Fox]

I downloaded the Archetype so I can maybe make a track next week to give it a test-run. I'll just have to let the annoying stuff annoy me.
In the meantime, to stress-test a couple of the presets and see how they would handle my... ahem... technique... after a few false starts I threw together this totally unrefined, lonely little ambient texture:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1voVswV ... sp=sharing

The distorted chords and harmonics were recorded in 3/4 to a sort-of metronome and then reversed, flanger, eq, and delay added in, then the clean parts were added with the same effects but no time reference.

[Alter-Fox]

So I took some time on Monday to improvise a real... well, something... using the amp sim. I managed a workaround for the latency (which requires me to manually reset the audio buffer every two or three minutes, so not exactly ideal...) It still felt appreciably different from playing it through a real amp, or even through any other computer I've tried, but it was at least workable.
The main guitar bit was done using my same seven-string from the two songs above, but since I wanted to get the most out of the 14-day trial, I recorded some secondary parts on my SG, where I tried processing the signal in odd ways like bandpass filtering and ring modulation pre-sim, to see how it handles strangeness.

Anyway it's called Monstrous Means, it's mostly a chaotic midtempo 6/8, and it exists now, I guess?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/154LHYR ... sp=sharing

[TheWhat]

Which Neural DSP did you try? The Nolly? I’m not sure but I think you can try all of the plugins for 14 days. I guess the trick is is to wait until the one runs out and download the next one.

When you say different than other amp sims how do you mean? The thing that convinced me was the response while playing. It’s never going to be like an amp, but the Neural ones seem to be “goopier” on the fingers - if that makes any sense.

It sounds like you are composing and not just jamming. Cool.

[Alter-Fox]

Well, a mix of composing and jamming for the tracks in here. It's trying to be a jam, but old instincts die hard
And that's probably okay. I doubt I could live without at least ten time signatures at this point

I didn't mean it was different from other amp sims, I meant that playing guitar through my laptop tends to feel more responsive than playing it through my desktop here, even with the lowest latency that annoying "trick" can manage.

Yeah I used Nolly. I'll keep the other trials in mind in case I decide to go through all this headache again sometime -- or figure out what the actual problems are with these ASIO drivers.

[Alter-Fox]

I decided to go ahead and buy the Archetype 'cause even if I don't use it often it's still the best-sounding digital amp I've heard.
Have been working on a new track with it today... so maybe I'll put that up here when it's done.

[TheWhat]

Oh Neat! If you haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet I know they just introduced 2 new Archetypes - I’m not sure of the artist of the one released a month ago but it has an octave pedal (which I really like) and the one I got an email notification for this week is a dedicated Soldano model which a lot of rock people consider a classic.

I use either the Darkglass Ultra and the Cory Wong almost everyday, so I think they are totally worth the money. I know amp snobs complain about modeling technology (of course it’s not the same) but the advantages of not driving the people in your house nuts and the ability to shape tones after the performance can’t be argued. Fun fun!

[Alter-Fox]

Yeah it's certainly not the same as playing through an amp but my amp's a pretty cheap crappy one anyway
I'm saving for some better gear but in the meantime this lets me get some much nicer tone when I want it, and the $200 CAD price is more than covered by some extra pay I got for doing an interview a few weeks back.

I bought Nolly 'cause when I tried it before it made my still not-quite-competent playing actually sound pretty good XD

Gonna try and get some more recording with it later this week after I get my first covid shot... as long as the side effects don't leave me feeling too yucky.

[TheWhat]

That’s great. I ‘think’ Nolly is the guy that does the actual IR captures for all the Neural DSP plugins amp sim (which sound excellent). After getting things ironed out with the midi and differences between the tone of it from stand alone as compared to when it’s loaded in Logic I’ve been experimenting with blending 3rd party IRs with the loaded IRs with pretty good results. Especially with the bass plugin (Ampeg and Orange amp IR) to get some filth in the tone.

I don’t know if Nolly has the bug but when you use the Cory Wong stand alone it actually sounds better than when loaded in Logic. It’s a known bug and the fix is to lower the output volume on the plugin and make some tweaks in the upper middle of the graphic EQ in the plugin prefader. Hopefully that will save you some time because it was a bit frustrating that the presets I made were sounding different.

Yadda yadda you won’t regret it!

[Alter-Fox]

I haven't noticed a difference the few times I was able to compare but I also can't really use the standalone because of my ASIO problems.
I need to have the driver settings open in order to reset the buffer when it falls apart, and I can only do that from within my DAW

Already sounds good -- so I'll try lowering the output gain to see if it'll sound even better

[Alter-Fox]

Turns out I did feel pretty terrible on Thursday, but I had just barely enough time Friday to get some recording in before my weekend shifts.
Here's "Mind Strike"
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1idd0d6 ... sp=sharing

The atmosphere, if not the story, is based a little bit on a series of flight-dreams I've been having for the last few weeks. Which are more like borderline flight-nightmares. Flightmares. Anyway, the vocal parts were mostly written before I started, but everything else here is a little bit freeform. To get the right feeling I needed some more chaos than usual.
To get there I listened to some of the soundtrack from Red Faction Armageddon, to try and get into a headspace more like a percussionist, rather than the keyboardist I actually am

[TheWhat]

Hey, I don’t know if this would be helpful to you but this developer is making these plugins for free (actually it’s kinda donate to my patreon if you like them kinda thing). Anyway I’ve been using the Brit channel on drums/drum loops and you can really get some awesome tones - the snares really crack. They’re “free”.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/britbundle-47018376

[Alter-Fox]

I'll take a look.
I usually use OTT for drum-bus compression (also free), but that doesn't mean there's no room for more.

[TheWhat]

I’m sorry to ask if you already stated it but what you using to track your stuff with? That’s a pretty neat piece, I would have no clue how to do that. There seems to be 2 sections and 5 bridges (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Pretty weird

[Alter-Fox]

That's... one way to look at it I guess
The thinking that went into it was more like two verses, three choruses, and one bridge, with a bunch of little solos sprinkled in between and also in mid-verse. I guess that is a little bit weird now that I say it out loud XD

I use FL studio 20 for pretty much everything, along with a lot of practice in using it.

[vision]

Hey, I don’t know if this would be helpful to you but this developer is making these plugins for free...

Thanks for the link. Too bad there is no Linux version, the compressor sounds interesting. One thing I'm missing in my setup is a compressor that has a good saturation color.

[TheWhat]

It doesn’t look like the programmer makes them for protools either, which is surprising (maybe). What plugins can Linux use for audio, isn’t that a pretty big limitation if you wanted to do audio? (Ignorance)

[vision]

What plugins can Linux use for audio, isn’t that a pretty big limitation if you wanted to do audio? (Ignorance)

Yes, Linux audio in general is limited compared to commercial products, but there are wrappers available for developers to package their plugins as Linux VSTs if they are inclined. TAL Audio has always done a good job about making their plugins multi-platform (including iOS!).

[Alter-Fox]

So I picked up Archetype Gojira (the new one with the octave pedals) on sale, and it sounds pretty neat. This track was a bit challenging to mix, 'cause out of the six or seven instruments I used there's only one that I'd ever used before. For the guitar, I used both of the plugin's distortion flavours mixed together, and mixed the two octave pedals together in different ways on different sections of the track. It doesn't go all the way to the lowest parts of the 7-string + effects range, but it gets pretty close.
And with a little bit of advice from Discord I did manage to get the mix into a place that I'm at least generally happy with.

https://soundcloud.com/snowfoxden/pda
(or drive)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QZ6EQk ... sp=sharing

In this case, PDA stands for Personal Disaster Area Because the character is a literal walking disaster area.

[TheWhat]

Hey! That guitar sounded pretty excellent. Wouldn’t you know it Neural DSP Plugins (except the SLO 100) are 50% off until the 19th. I like that chugchug stuff because my hands are incapable of it, I find it rather satisfying.

[Alter-Fox]

Hey! That guitar sounded pretty excellent.

Well, you're the one who convinced me these plugins would sound good