My new instrument (I shall fulfill my dream)

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:46 pm

This is my new instrument, a birthday/Christmas gift. I shall now fulfill my life dream of getting a piece of audio on the descent community Christmas album. I also hope to impress Neo with my “rock music” and my gosh darn funky Prince inspired jazzercise music loops. To be honest it’s a bit above my skill set (pay grade) but I have nothing else to do but play guitars and complain about my girlfriend’s children when they aren’t here.

Ain’t it pretty?

vision · Post by **vision** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 12:28 am

Sweet! I've been itching to play bass, but mine has just sat in the closet for the past several years. What a waste. I was really good at that instrument. Looking forward to hearing some music from you.

Alter-Fox · Post by **Alter-Fox** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 8:59 pm

TheWhat wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:46 pm This is my new instrument, a birthday/Christmas gift. I shall now fulfill my life dream of getting a piece of audio on the descent community Christmas album.

WHAAAAT?!!? I have to do another one now?
I didn't realize that was a three-year contract...

Heheh. She is a beauty though. I'm only two years into guitar so if I ever start bass it won't be anytime soon, but I have found out that finding an instrument you really really like is absolutely key. Sounds like this one fits that bill.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 11:49 pm

Alter-Fox wrote: Mon Dec 09, 2019 8:59 pm WHAAAAT?!!? I have to do another one now?
I didn't realize that was a three-year contract...

Heheh. She is a beauty though. I'm only two years into guitar so if I ever start bass it won't be anytime soon, but I have found out that finding an instrument you really really like is absolutely key. Sounds like this one fits that bill.

After I finished shoveling snow today I made some coffee and whipped out this soft core music. I wrote it for Neo, it’s called “I’ll take you to McDonalds, Gurl”. I’m an old bag now but in a previous life I was quite dedicated to bands. I’ve been playing guitar for 36 years and am trying to avoid the biggest mistake a guitar player makes with a bass: playing it like a guitar.

Even on playback of this porn music for Neo I think there are too many fills when I should have locked down the bottom and kept it simple. Also, the tone is a challenge as I’m used to tracking guitars in home recording. It sounds pretty nice even with GarageBand DI Clean Bass modeler. I’m used to Cubase and am stuck with GB at this time. It’s really not that bad for sketching ideas and the sounds are alright (not mind blowing, but very useable). What sucks most about it is no conductor track so you can change time signatures for turn arounds etc. You’re just kinda like... stuck with it.
I’m glad to be knocking the rust off my hobby and finally have real low end strings. Sometimes keyboard bass is fine, but definitely not all the time.

vision · Post by **vision** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:37 pm

Sounds amazing. Gonna listen to Al Green now.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:03 pm

I did this one today for Neo, it’s called: “There’s a war on American Christianity (even though the stock market shuts down twice a year, you can’t buy liquor on Sundays, and we get to tell you where to put your peepee all for our belief system)”

It’s a Prince one chord wonder (C9) with Michael Jackson plucky Telecaster, obligatory music box intro, and Santana lead.

vision · Post by **vision** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 7:13 pm

Tell me about your drum programming. Is it a plugin?

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:24 pm

The first track is a virtual drummer loop “RnB Chorus” at 134 bpm. The next 2 tracks I programmed a drum machine to support the loop. The fourth track is a fill done with a arturia 4 octave midi controller, they kinda blow but I was sick of messing with it. The virtual drummer was what I put up just to jam to get some chops with the bass but I ended up getting lost in it and having a good ole time.

So the answer is no, I’m not a genius drum programmer and would much prefer a real drummer but then that sucks because you gotta mic it properly and have to hear about The Packers and his snot nosed kids. Lol

vision · Post by **vision** » Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:10 pm

Cool, thanks for sharing. Drums are hard. Seems like most of the time we are presented with a choice; great sounding drums that are a loop and limited in flexibility or full drum programming with sounds that are "good" but lack character. I used to spend time cutting up live drum recordings so I can put them in a sampler and program them but I've gotten really lazy, even with all the nice drum slicing tools out there.

Keep up the good work, I'll be happy to hear more.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Wed Dec 11, 2019 11:34 pm

Yup, drums ARE hard. The reason that jam tune turned out well was because I literally was playing to the loop to practice to so I adjusted to it. The hard part with programming is fitting the drums to a written songs backbeat. It seems simple enough but people always screw it up and put some rehashed version of “Funky Drummer” on everything and put up a YouTube “look ma I’m a prodoofer” channel.

“Ah dood, that doesn’t really fit the song but thanks for playing the same 4 beats over everything and walking around calling yourself a geenus”

The skill in programming is fitting ANY song - not just making it bump with a limited palette. The best guys I’ve worked at it with are actually drummers with either vdrums or physical triggers with drum sticks. Not DJ dickweed.

But yeah, it’s generally a mix of techniques. Start with a scratch acoustic guitar to a click THEN start programming to the feel of the guitar NOT just play to a loop every time - it becomes samey hell. Hehe. I really should start working on more songs dedicated to Neo, the all knowing video game master!

Like this Sprockets ass thing is not what I enjoy really, I just wanted an android thing to play tight bass to. With keyboard bass and all the quantize this and attack that and compressor this and edit that it’s just quicker and sounds better to play the bass direct to DI. Now if people ask me about home recording equipment I will definitely say “Do you have a bass guitar that is properly setup and intonated?” Because that beats sample libraries all to hell - but you’ll have practice - chop chop!

vision · Post by **vision** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:37 pm

Yeah, I can't write without my bass. I make a lot of electronic music but most of the melodies are written on the guitar and bass before recording them with a MIDI controller. Listening to my contribution on the last Descent Community Album it's pretty obvious those are guitar riffs, heh. (Written using my mini Marshall combo, lol.)

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:12 pm

I liked it. I remember it from when I listened to the descent albums you guys put together. You actually composed - like a medley- 6 sections or something. You also used panning. I never do that because I hate mixing.

Do you have a version with guitars?

vision · Post by **vision** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:46 pm

TheWhat wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2019 9:12 pmDo you have a version with guitars?

Sadly, I do not have a version of that song with guitars. I wrote it on the fly while jamming to a click track. The process was almost completely linear, which is not my usual method. As I came up with cool parts on my guitar I immediately recorded them as MIDI. After putting down a few minutes of material I moved on to drums/bass/harmonies/transitions, then, the hardest (and longest part), finding the right "Descent" sounds for the different sections. I finished off the mix with little delay then uploaded it. The whole thing only took one evening.

Alter-Fox · Post by **Alter-Fox** » Fri Dec 13, 2019 1:37 pm

Yeah, I've added it to one of our levels (#6) for Descent 1 & a half now and I can tell you it's going to work REALLY well. The combination of that level's geometry and the music track feels kinda like Solrazor's old missions.
I may try and get it into one of the later ones as well if I can find a good fit.

I've found some tricks with velocity and compression to make programmed drum tracks sound more "alive", and there's ways to write the song as a whole to make the whole rhythm sound better... changing time signatures now and then even for just a few bars at a time can do a lot to make music feel dynamic, but you said you haven't really got a way to do that right now. Descent 2's music actually did that a lot, both on the midi and the CD tracks.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Sat Dec 14, 2019 2:06 am

I spent several days composing this for Neo, it’s called: “I’m a 14th Level Keldorian Warrior (with LaserSwords)”

vision · Post by **vision** » Sat Dec 14, 2019 12:59 pm

Groovy.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Mon Jan 06, 2020 7:48 pm

I don’t know if this is interesting or not, but here are my electric guitars. Now I need a computer to run a real DAW. At this point I’ve been looking at Mac mini with 16 GB Ram and Logic Pro. It’ll take a minute to get the funds together but I’m leaning that way. GarageBand really is remarkable free software but I’m kind of tired of the limitations and workarounds. You can use it with Logic which is neat because I have a lot of rough idea GB projects that can be imported. Anyways my babies...

vision · Post by **vision** » Mon Jan 06, 2020 9:31 pm

Nice. I wanted a Telecaster for years, but I've basically stopped playing electric guitar (sadly).

The stuff you've been posting sounds good! It's Garage Band? A friend of mine did a whole album on Garage Band and you wouldn't know the difference. It's just as much a "real" DAW as anything else, IMO.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Tue Jan 07, 2020 12:08 am

My Telecaster is my baby. Just got it Plekked this summer. GHS Boomer 11’s for that tone.

GarageBand is really good for free software, downright excellent for free software. I’m used to Cubase, some Ableton, and before that Digital Performer. Some of the limitations I can live with but there are some big ones I can’t stand. I’m sure that’s why it’s free.

You can’t play or record an instrument (midi or line) without it being in screen. Everything else since like 1989 is just a track you arm - the whole track layout isn’t blocked visually like with GB.

You can’t change time signatures or tempo (on Mac version you can change tempo, NOT IOS). Also related to counting beats, the smallest increment of time in an arrangement is 1 measure. That eliminates 1 beat pickups that are one of the most common occurrences in music. That’s the BIG one for me. You can’t like actually write music, the software won’t LET you make turn arounds that aren’t dance or basic pop arrangement templates - it’s ridiculous.

When you (in my case) pad trigger finger drum a drumset you can’t split the individual set instruments to seperate tracks automatically. You have to duplicate the instrument, copy the whole take as many times as you want to separate (basic set: kick, snare, closed hat, open hat, toms, crash). You have to paste that 5 times, go into each pasted part, edit OUT the other parts to leave the single instrument you want to control the level, eq, reverb, delay, compression on. It’s tedious because a lot of times I play the whole way through as to avoid the drum machine feel.

Also as it relates to drums you can’t make a bus channel.

It’s a great program for songwriting and has been excellent for pulling up a quick drum loop to get better at bass but it’s got limitations. BUT! I can track right into my iPhone and save it to iCloud, which is just Tits. And my old man buddies have iPads so we can share projects.

That’s why I want to go the Logic Pro X route because you can still incorporate GB and use iOS devices as recorders. Patience for now!

** Also, you can’t set loop points to punch in. You can only loop a specific section (The whole song or section A, B, C separately. Not A-B or C-D. Tiny violins

for me. There’s also a bug with the amp modeling that brings you back to guitar amps when you audition bass sounds - it goes back through the selection menu from guitar amps. First world problems. Also, you can’t do edited versions of projects, you can only duplicate a whole project meaning if it’s 250 mb you have to duplicate it to make “TheWhat’sComplaints v2” for another 250 mb. Other DAW programs have a wav host file folder that use the original wav to edit from so you are not taking up way more space just to add a vocal part that goes: “If only I could please the video game master Neo who casts his stones from behind his monitor in his spiderman boxer shorts as he is attaining the rank of Gold laser commander so he can put it on his resume”

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:05 am

Well, I think I made the right decision. I ordered a 2018 Mac mini I5 6 core with 8gb ram 256 ssd, 1 Terabyte thunderbolt ssd external. 2 reasons; 1) My girlfriend got it for 20% off ($897 total) using Amex corporate points 2) The ram is user upgradable to 64gb. Now, I’m not like a Krom tech master or anything but Apple charges $1,000 to upgrade to 64gb from 8gb of ram, you can buy the ram for $330 for paired 32gb - that’s like $670 bux. Umm! I built my last PC so I’m not completely inexperienced, just not a technical geenuff, I’m sure I can do it in a half hour or so. Not even sure if I really need 64, 32 should be excellent. This video is pretty clear, just don’t eat mushrooms before attempting to install the ram I guess...

So, I guess I’ll be rocking Logic Pro X once I get through days of configuration. Here’s a neat one with 2 bass parts doing harmony in what hopefully is the last of GarageBand dependency. ;p

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 9:11 am

Mac mini is here! Logic Pro X (the GarageBand for Mac is a lot different from the iOS version. Way better but still ;p ). Waiting on 64gb of memory, an external thunderbolt ssd drive, and cable management

. The Samsung is a tv my girlfriend’s son is lending me - it works wonderfully - the Mac mini has bare bones video so you can’t game with it.

We shall see if I can drum up some music now, no excuses, can’t blame the equipment anymore.

oh! And Logic opens up GarageBand Files perfectly so the ideas I’ve had for the months I was using the iPad are not lost.

Stoked.

vision · Post by **vision** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 12:56 pm

Very cool. I already thought your recording were good. Interested to hear your new stuff.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:54 pm

The synths are REALLY neat in Logic and the B3 organ alone is worth $200 bux - outstanding. It’s too bad I’m such an impatient person, from an audio engineering perspective it’s pretty vast. Guess it’s time to sharpen up on signal flow and all that happy ★■◆●.
The ram went in pretty easy but thems screws are tiny. Remarkable technology really, the computer makes like NO noise, I’m used to hearing a fan of some sort. Quiet as my prom night.

Here’s an experiment.

vision · Post by **vision** » Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:45 pm

TheWhat wrote: Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:54 pmQuiet as my prom night.

LoL, nice.

Yeah that organ sounds great. Nice mellow thing you did there. However, given your avatar, I keep expecting to hear something that sounds "sampladelic".

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:23 am

The bass is a slopfest but the organ sounds good.

vision · Post by **vision** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:25 pm

Heh, I think you have a career in stock music ahead of you.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Sun Jan 26, 2020 6:20 pm

I actually made $1,200 for a half hour worth of work for one of the worst drumloops of all time. 20 years ago. My friend in New York is an audio professional and threw me a bone when he got behind on a project. You CAN make money from time to time but it's not steady, and that was before anybody with a sample library could call themselves "a producer". I still don't know what that means.

I do this as a fun (serious) hobby, if it's not fun I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 2:41 pm

Holy buckets check out this piano sample. It’s a UVI Grand Piano Model D, it came bundled with the Arturia 49 key controller that I got with the bass. I hadn’t had a chance to really unlock any capabilities because I was using iOS. All the transport functions for Logic are mapped to the controller including a scrub knob. It also came with Analog Lab 4 that’s like classic synth patches - not bad for $150 bux. It’s not top of the line hardware, I’m used to weighted keys, but it was a gift.

I can’t believe how good this piano sounds though... yeeesh

vision · Post by **vision** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:05 pm

Wow, sounds like it has amazing response. You're using a sustain pedal, right?

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:43 pm

Still kickin from 1991

I don’t understand how people can play keyboards without them, but they do. I had a bit of trouble with registering the controller, kept getting errors at Arturia’s website and you have to register to get the bundled software sounds (Analog Lab 4 and UVI Grand Piano Model D) but their customer service was right on it. It’s intro music production controller but it works. I used to have a Fatar 88 weighted piano key controller I had to give up in a move. I miss it.

I have this Axiom weighted key controller I think I’m going to use for drum programming, the pad triggers are nice - I just have to sit down and make custom maps and a Logic Template so I can fire it up and make mid 1980’s Jazzercise music.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Thu Jan 30, 2020 11:04 pm

oh Noes, he found the vocoder and thinks he’s George Clinton today. Get him a doctor.

vision · Post by **vision** » Fri Jan 31, 2020 12:25 pm

Ok, so that's a bit more like Dee-Lite, heh. Is the vocoder software or hardware? I own an Alesis Metavox vocoder and I like that I have full control of which carrier/modulator I use. Fun stuff.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Sat Feb 22, 2020 12:42 am

Ok. This is NOT like “artwork”. I did 3 one minute what I call industrial video music - like clip art for client presentations - it happens to be for a trucking company, so that’s why it’s kinda Great America Morning Sunshine acoustic rock. Ehhh, the moral of the story: The Mac mini, the ram, and the Logic Pro X investment is now paid for. In the black as it were.

vision · Post by **vision** » Sat Feb 22, 2020 1:17 am

That's beautifully inoffensive!

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Sat Feb 22, 2020 9:42 am

It's actually harder than you think to get into the proper mindset to do "no inspiration music" and make it sound like you care. ;p

Here's a real one. It's my favorite one I've done with Logic so far. I'm having trouble mixing it - bass is either too low or too loud. Headphone mixing has major limitations. My friend is going to help me when he has the time, he knows how to mix and has 3 sets of reference monitors and likes the tune. ;p

vision · Post by **vision** » Sat Feb 22, 2020 12:09 pm

Very smooth, and equally inoffensive! Makes me wish I had more time for making music.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Wed Apr 29, 2020 9:09 pm

So, I’m still muddling through learning Logic Pro X and audio engineering (For some reason my brain has a hard time using compressors in a transparent manner). My new trip is live-streams to my Facebook people using black hole audio channels and OBS. It’s sorta like live DJ’ing except that I just produce a piece of audio pretty much from the ground up. It’s cool because on the screen is Logic X and the various windows within it that is being broadcast (no, not a camera on me

) I leave it streaming for like 4 hours and just keep tracking and editing until I’m sufficiently done with whatever. To my music friends they get a kick out of it and to the non musicians things get demystified a bit. This one I walked outside the house with my Zoom H6 with x/y stereo mics on for about 3 and a half minutes - I imported that into Logic and started building over it on livestream. I like it a lot, turned out neat. And those windchimes are handed down to my girlfriend from her parents and they all just tits, super good sounding - I’m definitely going to make a sample set out of them. Anywho, long ass mood music.

TheWhat · Post by **TheWhat** » Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:18 pm

More Toy :]

I purchased a bundle with the SSL and 2 Adam audio T5Vs and 2 10 ft cables for $585. The monitors will be delivered in 2 weeks. :]
This is the first test - direct bass and guitar. Preamps are really clear and the latency is way lower than I’ve been dealing with.

vision · Post by **vision** » Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:17 pm

TheWhat wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 9:18 pmI purchased a bundle with the SSL and 2 Adam audio T5Vs and 2 10 ft cables for $585. The monitors will be delivered in 2 weeks. :]

That's an incredible deal you got for $585. Where?

You're gonna love the Adam T5Vs. My friend has a pair of Adam AX7s and they are unbelievable, easily the best high-end definition I've ever heard. I imagine the T series is probably amazing. I actually considered getting a pair of T5Vs a couple weeks ago but decided to stick with my current monitors for a little while longer. I'm envious of your SSL interface. I usually use USB mics when I record, but occasionally I cry when I'm forced to use a dynamic mic with my Lexicon interface. Not that it's horrible, but definitely not "clean." Still better than my old M-Audio interface, sheesh.

Alter-Fox · Post by **Alter-Fox** » Tue Jun 30, 2020 10:24 pm

Hey I really liked that last one... I know it's not got anything to do with the audio setup, but the drums sound very good.

I got myself a new instrument a week and a half ago but I'ma try and not steal your thread

hard as that will be