My new instrument (I shall fulfill my dream)

[TheWhat]

Playing around today with a Henry Mancini sample. The string part has been used in a lot of movies. It turned out pretty neat I think. Still chipping away every day at trying to learn audio engineering. Heh.

[Alter-Fox]

Like those little drum patterns. Somewhat intricate yet unobtrusive.

Whole thing feels kinda underwater, like, dreamy.
Well... at least, I'd have to assume that's dreamy. For anyone who doesn't usually dream about killing antelope with his bare teeth and claws.

[TheWhat]

After sleeping on it and driving about 40 miles listening to it a few times in the car it definitely sounds better on headphones than the car stereo. It’s probably the sub bass but it seems to be missing hi-mids (I think) - still trying to learn that jargon - but in the car it lacked definition. Oh well. It’s a lot better than I have been doing. Progress!

[Tunnelcat]

Gads. I have a few old Mancini vinyl records. I need to digitize them because there's some pretty good music on those records. What's old is new again.

[TheWhat]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lujon
I actually sampled the strings from this YouTube version. I do music as hobby (with occasional pay days) but you “technically” don’t want to sample from YouTube because of the compression applied - if I were to get fancy I could find a vinyl version, borrow a turntable, use Logic to time and pitch correct to line up the sample to this mix. It would have to be a significant pay day which would require permission from a publisher and the Mancini estate. Lol - I guess what I’m saying is it’s close enough for rock n roll.

[TheWhat]

Drone out test with Acustica Cream2 plugin that I got for free from Adam Audio (also Focusrite) - it’s from 2018 but it’s kinda neat (and free!). Computo sample extraction from an acoustic guitar part. I EQ'd out the notes the strings were making and isolated the sound of the body being struck, ran that through Cream2 tube preamp, compressed the ★■◆● out of it with the Cream2 compressor and looped it. Copied it (doubled), ran the copy through a Waves Scheps 1073 and used the drive preamps again as a parallel drive effect with automated volume, added a hi hat, reversed a female RnB vocal sample and slowed it down to 1/8 speed with a octave pedal, added a synth and an electric piano slapped delay and reverb on it and called it: "Aahhhrrrrtttt". ; }

https://www.acustica-audio.com/store/products/cream

[vision]

Neat, but I'm not convinced this is the best mix of this song.

[TheWhat]

Thank you for being constructive in a world full of people who just say: “That sucks.” or whatever.
The whole thingy came about as I was comparing and contrasting some different EQs and compressors I have. I loaded an Apple loop of an acoustic guitar looped it forever and started comparing the Logic stock EQ, the SSL Native channel, the Waves CLA MixHub SSL channel, the Waves Scheps 73 (1073), and the Acustica Cream2 - starting with the Scheps 1073 because it has fixed cutoff points. All of them with the exception of the Acustica you can type in an exact frequency and gain to do a non-scientific, ear comparison: turn one on, turn it off. Turn the next one on, turn it off... etc.

My girlfriend walks in and is like: “Whatcha doin’?” I explain, she’s like yawn.

It’s interesting how they all do have different flavors. The Waves CLA SSL has a neat solo function that solos the frequency knob that you click. I’ve been using it as ear training to learn a channel. The classic way I watched people 30 years ago was: pick the frequency knob, crank the gain to hear what’s being affected, find the unpleasant frequency and cut it - but its with other frequencies playing. With that solo function you don’t have to do that, it’s isolated.

Blah, blah, blah they all have different colors and I noticed a rhythm in the guitar sample I liked and cut out everything else with the Logic Lowpass filter, then the Acustica Cream2 channel (preamp-EQ-compressor) with the preamp set on a tape machine Tube cranked. Loaded that into the Logic sampler played at a lower pitch to make like a tribal type rhythm and looped it forever.

So yeah, it wasn’t really a mix so much as an experiment gone into Lala land and why did I just type all of this on an iPhone? But yeah, I’ve got a lot to learn but I’m getting better and it’s still holding my interest and maybe after I can see my friends again we can get some collaborations going so I don’t keep getting lost in my own brains.


**edit
Oh yeah. Here’s some more porno music for Neo, it’s called: “I’ll make moist revolting slapping sounds (not unlike stuffing a turkey), with you gurl”. It’s full on Adam doing his standard black idol worship rnb complete with overuse of a pitched up female vocal sample. I think the bass line is neat and the whistling is actually a telecaster through a pitch whammy pedal in Logic set 2 octaves above through the Neural DSP Cory Wong. Lately I’ve been muting the recorded bass and that’s how I warm up my digits for 10 minutes every day on bass.

[vision]

Oh yeah. Here’s some more porno music for Neo...

Aaaaah yeah that's some good ★■◆●. Whenever I listen to your tracks I remember that I never got around to setting up a good workflow for "rock" music. I mostly write electronic music and I'm obsessed with vintage drum machines, though recently I downloaded a decent acoustic drum kit VST. What I need to do is set up a template with the kit and a couple channels for bass and guitar, which will get me to drag them out of the closet more than once a year. I have an unfinished song sketch on my desktop right now, so maybe it will be a rock song?

[TheWhat]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_ ... 5_4578.jpg

That’s the first drum machine I messed with when I was a kid. My friend bought that and a Kawai K3 with a midi cable - new. Heh. Considering I’ve been using synths and midi since the 1980’s I should be a lot better at it. I had to re-do my Pacer guitar midi setup because I had programmed it to turn effects on and off for the Neural DSP guitar rig with the Pacer setup for global instead of simply choosing a different midi channel and it was triggering preset midi functions in Logic. Now, I friggin’ KNOW better than that after all these years - but like duh.

I’m curious what multitrack is best in Linux. There has to be some competent software for basic tracking in 48/24bit - that’s what I use because any higher doesn’t really make sense for home recording without a lot of acoustic instruments. The interfaces I have can do 192 but I have 1 cheap condenser mic and no acoustic treatment, a string quartet, or a jazz trio - so why record that high res?

Surely Linux has some nice suite for media by now?

[vision]

That’s the first drum machine I messed with when I was a kid.

Nice. I've had a couple opportunities to buy a 505, but in each case the condition was a little too poor for the price. Besides, I prefer the 707, and there are a lot better drum machines than the 505 for cheaper, like the Alesis HR-16. Anyway, I don't miss the days of MIDI cables and trying to keep my synths dust-free. These days my gear sits in the closet until I need it for specific cases.

Surely Linux has some nice suite for media by now?

Eh, you'd think they'd be further along by now considering there are almost as many Linux desktop users as Mac, but basically the only thing that can compare to the top DAWs on Win/Mac is Ardour (also runs on Win/Mac). There are a couple decent audio projects for Linux, but few plugins. Luckily, it's becoming more common for developers to support Linux and I recently switched to Reaper, which is great for the price.

[TheWhat]

I didn’t realize Reaper could run on Linux. A lot of people like Reaper and it seems to be excellent. I’ve never really understood the fanboy Ford vs Chevy, Mac vs PC, Logic vs 10 other DAWs - they’re all essentially the same - it’s just navigating that you have to adjust to.

Before this current phase of my music interest I built a PC and ran Cubase and Reason for years - and the phase before that it was Mac with Digital Performer, I’ve used Cakewalk, old versions of FruityLoops, even Ableton for second there.

The ★■◆● is all the same pretty much. And if you don’t have a well written piece of music (not even a song per se) it’s just a bunch of bull★■◆● going through fancy equipment.

Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” is like not that great of a recording on a guitar that is not intonated or setup and I’ll take that any day over some YouTube “10 steps to better Metal” dickweed or some jackwipe with 98 stereo channels bragging about some benchmarks that don’t make my pickle wiggle. Lol

[vision]

Yeah, I agree. I just started using Reaper. For me the big selling point is that the license is cheap. Before that I used Energy XT for the same reason: good and cheap. I regularly use multiple tools, in fact, the last two things I wrote were done in LMMS, which is free but lacking some features. Also, lately I've been into recording my electronic music live in one take and just living with the finished product instead of endlessly tweaking compressors and EQs...

[TheWhat]

https://vcvrack.com/

It has a Linux download. I’m curious about it but I’m afraid to get sucked into it! This guy named Omri Cohen has some tutorials on how to use it. Free!

[vision]

...I’m afraid to get sucked into it!

Yes, be afraid. I stopped using it because I noticed I was spending hours on patches only to realize I had just "a pretty good" sound, nothing mind-blowing. There is a reason most modular "music" sounds like bleep bleep bloop. I kind of lends itself to that, just a bunch of oscillators hooked together. However, if you know what you are doing you can create some truly unique synth sounds (and of course play them with a MIDI keyboard) -- if you have the time to waste.

Sure, it gets easier the more familiar you are with modular synthesis. Omri Cohen makes it look easy because he does it every day. But when you are first starting out you can get hung up on things like signal paths and voltage. Sometimes modular is more electrical engineering than music.

[TheWhat]

Heh. Thanks for the warning!

[TheWhat]

I like the Spitfire company. I was introduced to them by their free BBC orchestra instrument (the full version is expensive and used for film composers) and LABS instruments. Their sample instruments sound really neat and you can really warp them using midi controllers. So I'm going to cough up the 30 bux for this instrument because of the organ @ the 9:54 mark. Gotta have it!

https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/ ... =Homepage1


lol after messing around. It's Machine Gun by Band of Gypsys ;p

[vision]

Wow. I've seen some of Hainbach's videos over the years, but I was not aware of this project. I would love to have that plugin, too bad there is no Linux version.

[TheWhat]

This Portisheady/Tricky 90's kinda music was a fun trip to go on last night. I was having real trouble with the bass guitar and doubled organs because they were taking up the same space in parts. I tried to high pass the organs so they wouldn't mask the bass but they sound so groovy on the low end I hate to do it. Any suggestions? I just kinda messed with it this morning to get a sorta mix.

[vision]

Any suggestions?

Yeah, grab your copy of Electric Ladyland and listen to Voodoo Chile (track 4, not Slight Return). The bass on that is booming way under the organ, which is actually competing more with the guitar than bass. Unless the organ is going to play the bass line, I think the only option is to nudge it up over the bass and push the bass lower. Organs are interesting because they are harmonically rich, simultaneously sounding higher and lower at the same time. I think this lets you get away with rolling off the low end because psychoanalytically you still perceive those frequencies. Listening to Boston's "Foreplay / Long Time" the organ doesn't sound thin even though it's got a really bright presence. Again, it sits above the bass frequencies. The organ sound you use is really great and I don't think it would lose anything if you rolled off some of the low and boosted the mids.

[TheWhat]

So I’ve been trying out the Match EQ plugin that comes with Logic. As a test I placed it on the stereo out: ‘Current’ previous mix, ‘Reference’ Glory Box - Portishead, ‘EQ Curve Match’ I think is the difference (maybe)? between the 2 ehhh don’t know. This mp3 is the applied Curve - I think it cleared it up pretty nice. The curve of the original was a big blob on the low and low mids enough to cover up the overuse of compression on the bass



One technique some use the Match EQ for is to either identify or clear up masking or muddy frequencies. You put it on say a bass guitar and load another instrument into the reference as ‘I think’ a side chain and the curve will show you where they are overlapping. I’m not sure though, it’s another tool I’m learning about with Logic. Heh.
https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpr ... edc5c5/mac

[vision]

This is better. Sounds like you adjusted the compression on the bass a little? The attack sounds different when it comes back in around the 1:30 mark.

[TheWhat]

All I did was apply (at 35%) the EQ match. This is all very new to me but it seemed like a good situation to try out the plugin because the music I was rolling with kinda sounded like Portishead. When you press the EQ Match “learn” button it applies it at 100% which has drastic results in your speakers, you then lower it to taste - according to some YouTube audio people over 10% is extreme use. I used 35% which leads me to believe I’m still a newbie at mixing


I really see the value of Match EQ from a learning perspective because it maps out both EQ curves so you can see the difference. The problem is crutch-ing. I’ve also used izotope Ozone to do “AI” type mastering - it CAN sound good - but if you’re not careful you don’t really learn anything. Dummy press button, button make sound good. And it’s another crutch!

So yeah, I just used the Logic plugin to adjust the EQ and lowered the bass compression from 8:1 to 4:1

[TheWhat]

New superlaserlights from Home Depot

irish boy names list

14 bux a piece. I had read that some manufacturers make some that emit noise - not so far with these. I don’t know how long they last (says 5 years). Anyway, should be cool to change the mood with voice command or an iPhone. Now all I need is a Grateful Dead poster and some hippie blankets and I’m all set.

[vision]

Heh, something about changing the lighting really helps with creativity. I have a few bulbs I switch out in my desk lamp where my music gear it (R,G,& B). It's weird how it makes you focus more. I felt the same way about drugs back when that was a part of my life. I always explained to people that, for me, drugs were like changing the lighting in your brain and it wasn't about "getting high." (In fact, I kind of always hated the high part of it.) That seemed to help people who never did drugs understand better.

[TigerRaptor]

I never thought day I would see a light bulb using Wi-FI. What's next, a light switch that runs on a FreeBSD.

[TheWhat]

very unique boy names

They’re pretty neat for one room. I’ve found some of the presets to be pretty gaudy (Christmas blinks red green etc) - but some themes have the speed control so the (6 in my case) lights fade into a different hue separately. Also, each light can be controlled separately (or grouped) but that’s a lot of fidgeting - you can save lighting “scenes” you like.

Just like with most things having the brightness turned down to subtle helps the feel and it really does change the mood - you never realize how much different your room looks until everything is emerald green for 15 minutes

[Terminal]

Someone should make a 6dof port of your living room complete with colored lighting. Dogfighting pros will be leveraging the edges in the ceiling.

[TheWhat]

https://ampeg.com/svt-suite/
I bought this plugin for $99 clams and filling out a survey (offer goes until 7/31). It’s pretty freaking cool if you ask me. You can get a wide variety of tones but I’ve been into oldish rock lately and Ampeg is known for that.

3 different heads, 8 different cabinets, 6 mics + 3 room mics, a DI blend with saturation, and effects pedals. It’s an “official” Ampeg product whatever that means because they are sister companies with Line-6 and Yamaha owns both of them.

So between that and the Neural DSP Darkglass Ultra I have a lot of bass covered and I’m actually beginning to understand how to gain stage properly so everything doesn’t sound like a dog’s dinner. It’s probably overkill for doing Jazzercise/Porno Music for Neo but it’s good to have hobbies.



Check out the room mic recording of “Eruption” at Sunset Sound - holy buckets I say. No plugin will ever do that for you, that’s fingers.

[vision]

Neat video, was shocking to hear that the classic guitar look is really ripped off the guy from The Dills. I've listened to that band a bunch of times in my life but never seen a picture of them.

I'll have to look into that Ampeg plugin. I've kind been looking for some amp modeling stuff. Usually when I record bass I use hardware and run the signal though an Alesis Bitrman for light compression and distortion when I want a kind of "amp" sound. Lately I've been using this other kinda crude amp plugin, but it's mostly for guitar and a little unwieldy to use.

[TheWhat]

I made a HUGE $110 dollar investment in a trigger pad, sick of finger drumming (waiting for hi hat kick drum trigger shipment). I sure suck colossal donkey balls at drumming but it’s gotten better over the course of 4 days.


Also! Purchased Neural DSP Archetype: Gojira during the Black Friday sale. The pitch whammy sold me, it really does have a lot of versatility considering it’s being pushed as “metal”.



So, I guess I’m not a “moral person” because the pos trigger pad I bought is made in Chiner by dim der commies.

[vision]

The drum test is nice and minimal. Sounds good. Coincidentally, a few weeks ago I discovered the local library has a "creative space" you can reserve and in that space (among other things) is... an electronic drum kit? I couldn't believe it so I went over there and sure enough I was able to play the drums in the library for about an hour. I like the juxtaposition of playing something that's supposed to be loud in a place that's traditionally quiet.

Never heard of the Gojira plugin, even after all these years I've still never used guitar plugins. Been using a little Marshall combo amp for the last decade since I don't do a lot of electric guitar work these days.

[TheWhat]

I got this Yamaha kick trigger on eBay for 38 bux. It came with a drum pedal. It’s new, no scratches on the frame and the pad is fine. I also got a Yamaha hi hat trigger on eBay but it’s NOT universal, and it’s not compatible with the KAT trigger pad. I was so mad at myself because even in my normal jackass way I never screw up and buy something that literally will not work because of compatibility issues. When the kick drum showed up today in such excellent condition I forgave myself. ;0

That is actually kind of awesome your library has that access. So easy to bring midi recordings anywhere so you can track and leave. Someone’s thinking at that branch.

[Alter-Fox]

I think the main library branch here in Winnipeg has something similar, though I haven't been there since it was announced (right before Covid hit)

Also! Purchased Neural DSP Archetype: Gojira during the Black Friday sale. The pitch whammy sold me, it really does have a lot of versatility considering it’s being pushed as “metal”.

I does, doesn't it? That was the part that really sold me on going digital and staying that way -- at least until I can afford the sort of gear that will at least match it.
You can probably hear it paired with the seven-string at some mix level on any track I've recorded since then. Definitely in that D2X-XL set I put out.

Most often use it to pitch down at low- to medium levels so I can get that fuller, deeper sound but still hear the strings clearly. Sometimes I find an excuse to put it on full, though, and just jam on the bottom string
At that point you can't even really play power chords anymore, and you sound like you're not so much playing a guitar as making music out of blood magic.

[TheWhat]

The whole guitar plugin thing is fairly interesting to me because people get so precious about guitar gear. Until 4 years ago I had gone most of my life as an apartment dweller - modeling technology was interesting by necessity. Some of these purists type that have $4 Gs worth of guitar rigs use a piano sampled instrument without thinking twice! Sure, I’d love to have a Fender Twin and a Mesa Boogie 4x10 blasting in a sound proof room - but I don’t. ;-/

Neural DSP quality and price point is the best I’ve used. At first I was less than impressed with the clean tones but learned from a Neural DSP video addressing the subject that the input level of the gain stage on purpose affects what would be the “pre” tubes of the plugin. The Gojira can get dripping whacked out with distortion but I’ve also got some good clean sounds (not as good as the Cory Wong, but not bad).

As far as the pitch section of the Gojira it seems to track great on a single note, really good with 2, and good with 3 - after that there are artifacts for sure. $70 bux for the Black Friday sale!

That was supposed to make sense but it turned out to be a whole lotta blah blah blah

[Alter-Fox]

Yeah, should have clarified -- having to jam single notes when the pitch-changer is set to full is only for low notes on the seventh string. If I start from the sixth string or higher I can still play power chords clearly.
And if I've got the mix level on the "pedal" anywhere below three-quarters, I can play anything like I normally would with heavy distortion.

If I do try to play a group of notes that includes the seventh string while the pitching is on full, I don't notice artifacting so much as the pitch of the notes just getting lost in the effect. Same thing as might happen when you try to play full chords through a lot of distortion.
Usually when I record clean tones into a mix it's from the fifth string up, so that I have a little bit more room for fuller bass instruments. I think I've only used the pitch shifting on cleans once or twice since I got the plugin -- meaning everything I say about it might only apply to distorted tones for all I know.

[TheWhat]

I purchased this virtual instrument - Arturia Buchla Easel for $149 clams. It turns out I missed the holiday promotion for the entire V Collection 8 (28 instruments including Buchla) for $299 by less than 24 hours. Ehhh, that sucks. The one thing that really pisses me off actually is that the collection includes a Version 2 of the Stage-73 electric/suitcase piano instrument. I own the Stage-73 updated to 1.6.2.3882 and the version 2 is re-vamped with new modeling. I have a ticket submitted to Arturia to see if they'll do me a solid and upgrade the electric pianos since they can see I bought the Buchla yesterday and I'm not lying. Seriously, $149 for 1 instrument or $299 for 28 instruments and I missed the cutoff by 12 hours (first world problems)
https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... v/overview

Here are my first 2 tests. I like the pretty one.

Not pretty.


**SideChainSally lol
This thing is a barrel of monkeys. Can't wait to overdub dentist drill Neural DSP Gojira Pitch shifter to it...

[vision]

Huh. Arturia is really catching up to the major players in the synth world it seems. I'm about to put them on the same level as Korg. I've considered buying at least one of their hardware synths. A virtual Buchla though? That's one thing I'm missing in my arsenal. If I can get it working on Linux it seems like a great price.

That "pretty" sample is really great.

[Alter-Fox]

I have trouble getting Arturia plugins to work properly with FL, but I do have one of their physical synths that I put in absolutely everything.

[TheWhat]

I've noticed that the last updates have mentioned FL bugfixes in the notes. Maybe that will help you?
I'm trying to untangle this mess I helped make. The Arturia sales person offered me the Collection V 8 for $199 because I guess I missed a promo for legacy customers. The problem is is that I purchased the Buchla Easel through Sweetwater on a gift card and activated the software and after emailed Arturia to see if I could upgrade the Stage 73 pianos. So the only way (which I doubt) is if my Sweetwater rep can somehow pricematch the Arturia offer and I pay another $50 bux. Seriously, it's a bit nitpicky and annoying but I would REALLY like to have 28 instruments for $50 more. lol. I know these companies always do this cheap upgrade and then 3 months later bring out a brand new version. Pricks.