Thread for discussing music theory, production setups, etc…
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I almost posted this earlier anyway:
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I won’t add to the derail. I just started a musician’s thread (named after an Aphex Twin track).
Just ordered this and I"m getting excited:
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Drummer and sometimes guitarist here. No formal musical knowledge other than the french horn between 4th and 8th grade.
I have an old Tascam 4-track in my basement. The same one that I used to record me and my mates in my parents’ basement back in the 90s. I wonder if that thing still works.
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I had one of those 4-track units. The thing was great.
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Just finished listening to the full Fair Warning , R.I.P. Edward
I think the solo on Push Comes to Shove maybe G.O.A.T.
Seemingly effortless technique, speed and melody.
Self taught guitar player here.
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My friend has some of my only raps ever recorded on one of those around the time Sublime was using one. LOL.
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To answer your question, I don’t know exactly what the various analog clones are doing. I assume there are a lot of different techniques in play, but I still haven’t heard a digital one that I think sounds exactly like pure analog coming out of the box, yet I’m not sure why and there are too many confounders involved. They definitely scope different if only in a minor way. I remember reading in a Kurzweil manual once that some technical spec of a Moog filter just couldn’t be cloned digitally but I don’t remember what the exact argument was.
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OK I actually think this thread might be useful for me. I currently have the following:
Akai MPK49
Focusrite Saffire Pro 14
Abelton 10 Lite
Plenty of guitars
Maple Leaf Rag partially memorized on piano from 4th grade
I have meant to go back and take the main Abelton tutorials but have been so lazy about doing so. Feel free to recommend other materials for me or yell at me to stop being lazy.
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looks like $300+ on ebay.
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I’d say that if you have a good ear you can definitely do a side by side between a vintage synth and it’s digital replica but digital has come a long way and once it’s in the mix I don’t know if anyone else with normal ears will notice. Digital synths also usually have presets whereas with an analog you don’t so getting your sound back exactly is really hard. I have a bunch of analog stuff now and haven’t used Ableton except for reverbs/delays, etc and routing for a bit now because I enjoy turning knobs more than mouse shit I guess? A ton of edm is made with digital synths in Ableton or FL or other DAWs though.
ETA: Nunnehi asked me about the Arturia V collection which is digital remakes and that is very very good sounding.
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Free:
DJ Vespers on Youtube and ill.gates have a bunch of free stuff. Vespers is outdated I’m sure, I went through that stuff in like 2010 or something.
I bought the noiselab.io lifetime access to their Ableton courses for like $29.99 from a FB ad or something a few years ago and for me it was a great refresher with some more advanced courses in it also. They have added several courses available with my lifetime membership since then I see too.
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Luckily I have an awesome vintage synth sampling keyboard. (Ensoniq ASR-10)
I have no plans to work inside the box until I get to a finished work and then maybe in post production.
Current setup:
Ensoniq ASR-10 w SCSI
Polyend Seq Sequencer (on tha way)
Technics 1200-mk2
Technics 1210-m5g
Rane ttm-54 mixer
JBL LSR-305 monitors (yes I’m poor) Boston VR2 towers
Sony MDVR-900 headphones
Only thing I really wanna add is an MPC drum pad.
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Most important question: what are you trying to make?
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I’m tempted to buy a turntable but then I’d go down the record buying rabbit hole. Eurorack is a gaping money pit as it is.
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Some of my favorite synth sounds of all time are from digital synths from 80s to 00s. Turning knobs is definitely > mousing >>> menu diving which is the drawback of a lot of the digital hardware. Like, I don’t own a Yamaha FS1r because the prices are insane now, and I’d love to have one, but I can’t imagine how many hours I’d lose in sound design before getting anything I liked. I’d bet the people hoarding them and jacking up prices couldn’t do shit with them.
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Bro, don’t even get me started on the age of the repress and OST’s.
They just issued the first vinyl press ever of “Spirited Away.” Fucking $70+. Thx alot tech bros.
I’m actually getting ready to sell most of my hip hop collection and start going backwards. OG breaks compilations, sound libraries, audiophile jazz reissues, etc…
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You sound like a much better keyboard player than me. I played growing up because my relatives played and I played other instruments and took lessons from my mom on the side and then enough in college to pass our piano proficiency which for a non-performance major wasn’t terribly difficult (4 part harmony sight reading and all the scales mostly). I’m all into eurorack shit though the last few years because of VCV Rack software.
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One thing I’ve noticed in EDM/IDM is that the vast majority of the people doing it seem to be coming from a DJ perspective which is totally lost on me. I really don’t even understand what it is to be honest. Like what does a DJ do that is actual value over replacement over another DJ? I’ve been composing original music from scratch for a long time and can’t even fathom another approach to making music.
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