Music Making

[Kattefjaes]

Another loud noise. It's an attempt to reconstruct some music from that hypnagogic netherworld before proper sleep. Makes a change from nearly dropping off and starting to dream before all the motor functions are locked out- then waking myself up with a mighty twitch

 

The voice sample was a preacher with a backpack PA ranting in a shopping street and giving me a headache, recorded on my phone. Turnabout is fair play!

Edited February 26, 2023 by Kattefjaes

[Dusty Chalk]

Very Jungle

[acidbasement]

This is what my living room looks like when Eleanor leaves home for 9 weeks to work.

I got the K&M Omega 3-tier keyboard stand and it has improved my quality of life a lot. It's rock solid, very adjustable, and it stops me from buying more synths because I can't fit anything else on it. 😂 There's not much that a person can't do with this combination of synths and samplers.

The Matriarch is a beast and I love it. I was able to get it last year after my cover band had a string of lucrative gigs.

[acidbasement]

Oh, and I've been slowly making stuff like this: 

 

[Torpedo]

I've found it a fun listening. Heavily influenced by the Police. I missed a bass  

[Sherwood]

How do you like the 1.5 firmware update for the Digitakt?  BTW, I'm very jealous of that Digitone Keys.

[acidbasement]

1 hour ago, Sherwood said:

How do you like the 1.5 firmware update for the Digitakt?  BTW, I'm very jealous of that Digitone Keys.

I'm having a hard time with figuring out where the Digitakt fits in my setup, honestly. I got it on a trade for an MPC. I love how it sounds, but the Elektron sequencer isn't coming easy to me, especially since the Deluge is perfect for composing the music that I do. It's tough to convince myself to put in the hours of practice that I need to. I also seem to have a lot more fun with synthesis than sampling. The Deluge doesn't sound as good as the Elektron gear though, so I'm generally programming all my beats and melodies into Deluge, and having it control all the other gear, which I then either tweak as the sequences play, or play live on the keyboards. I love the Digitone Keys - the 4-part multitimbrality, individual outputs, audio input, and chorus/delay/reverb - it's great. The keyboard feels nice too, and has aftertouch.  

I'm getting the OLED upgrade for the Deluge next month, which should be neat.

[Sherwood]

I've never used a Deluge, too intimidated, but I'm all-in on Digitakt sequencing.  It's a fun puzzle, though admittedly a big perk for me is running it through Overbridge to Ableton.  It looks like you're composing entirely out of the box.

Also you're consistently putting out awesome music and I do this purely for my enjoyment, so your workflow is infinitely more productive.

Edited March 18, 2023 by Sherwood

[acidbasement]

I haven't released anything in way too long but thank you! I'm working on something that I like right now, and I hope I can crank it out soon, but time is difficult to find. 

The Deluge sequencer is a piano roll, which works really well for my brain. I definitely don't use every capability it has though - I don't think many people do.

I want to learn the Elektron way because I know it's better for spontaneous performance, so I'm not going to sell the Digitakt anytime soon unless it's to trade up to an Octatrack.

[acidbasement]

Anyone enjoying new gear?

I've been starting to jam techno type stuff with the Elektron boxes sequencing, and it's pretty great. And with the Digitone Keys controlling the Moog Matriarch, I've got 7 octaves of keyboard. Currently have it going through my Zoom multi-pedal for shimmer reverb, and it's sounding so good. I recently got the Drumbrute Impact, which I'm sequencing with the Digitakt. Pretty fun. I really need to practice more with this setup.

I want to get some more effects, but I'm also trying not to shop much anymore, because that becomes its own hobby and distracts from creation.

[Dusty Chalk]

7 hours ago, acidbasement said:

Anyone enjoying new gear?

I've been starting to jam techno type stuff with the Elektron boxes sequencing, and it's pretty great. And with the Digitone Keys controlling the Moog Matriarch, I've got 7 octaves of keyboard. Currently have it going through my Zoom multi-pedal for shimmer reverb, and it's sounding so good. I recently got the Drumbrute Impact, which I'm sequencing with the Digitakt. Pretty fun. I really need to practice more with this setup.

I want to get some more effects, but I'm also trying not to shop much anymore, because that becomes its own hobby and distracts from creation.

I got an email from Brian Wampler apologizing to me -- personally! -- for selling out his new Germanium Tumnus before he even had a chance to advertise it to me.  Does that count?

No, seriously, I damaged my hearing a couple weeks ago, and now I just want to throw everything in the river.  I went to a (someone else's) gig tonight, and half the time it sounded like there was a ring modulator over the whole mix.  Grating.  If I could cry, I would.  As it is, I mourn.

On 3/12/2023 at 4:43 PM, acidbasement said:

Oh, and I've been slowly making stuff like this: 

 

This is groovy as the aging hippie chick I saw dancing earlier tonight.  Great stuff.

[acidbasement]

1 minute ago, Dusty Chalk said:

I got an email from Brian Wampler apologizing to me -- personally! -- for selling out his new Germanium Tumnus before he even had a chance to advertise it to me.  Does that count?

No, seriously, I damaged my hearing a couple weeks ago, and now I just want to throw everything in the river.  I went to a (someone else's) gig tonight, and half the time it sounded like there was a ring modulator over the whole mix.  Grating.  If I could cry, I would.  As it is, I mourn.

Oh no, that is really shitty! Sorry you're dealing with that Dusty

[Torpedo]

Dusty, you need your hearing checked asap if you haven't done that yet. I'm sorry for this condition, protect your hearing from loud sounds. >90 dB(A) is too loud.

[Dusty Chalk]

4 hours ago, Torpedo said:

Dusty, you need your hearing checked asap if you haven't done that yet. I'm sorry for this condition, protect your hearing from loud sounds. >90 dB(A) is too loud.

Yes, I know that, but the earliest appointment I could get was March and when I found that out, it just depressed me and I shut down.  Monday is going to be spent calling around to every single ENT / Audiologist available to me, and take the earliest appointment I can find. 

Everyone (including my GP!) wants to victim blame because it happened while at the range, but I do care about my hearing and use protection all the time while shooting (and still do), and used hearing protection at EVERY SINGLE poprock CONCERT I ever went to except the first one in 1978 because I didn't know.

I was using hearing protection that day, but I was the only one using my lane and I was trying to hear my instructor so I took out my (Etymotic triple flange) earplugs (which were perfectly adequate for shooting -- the 22TCM/TCM9R is a loud cartridge) for a second, and someone fired a large caliber rifle in the next lane (outdoor range -- even though it was on the other side of a barn/garage, it still carried because of the acoustics of the way things were setup).  I think that's how it happened.  Either that or the action of removing the earplugs did something because there was a seal and a "thwok" when I pulled it out, but I've already had my ears looked at by two different people and they said it looks a little red but that's it -- I still have an eardrum, I guess.

On top of getting an appointment, I will be looking into programmable hearing aids and certain therapies and figuring it out myself, because I have to keep interviewing.

[Torpedo]

Hearing loss after a defined acoustic trauma requires urgent study and if confirmed, it has a treatment (which may work or not) that seems to be more effective the earliest it's implemented. I wouldn't get any hearing aid until the hearing loss is confirmed and more or less stable and permanent.

Forgive me but I can't understand what kind of a big POS you have for health care. Some conditions require assessment at the earliest. Sudden hearing loss is one of them, no matter the suspected cause.

[Dusty Chalk]

6 hours ago, Torpedo said:

Hearing loss after a defined acoustic trauma requires urgent study and if confirmed, it has a treatment (which may work or not) that seems to be more effective the earliest it's implemented. I wouldn't get any hearing aid until the hearing loss is confirmed and more or less stable and permanent.

Forgive me but I can't understand what kind of a big POS you have for health care. Some conditions require assessment at the earliest. Sudden hearing loss is one of them, no matter the suspected cause.

Thank you so much for your input, Antonio.  You have never steered any of us wrong, so I will heed and continue calling around until I can get on a waitlist.

And I apologize for my cranky tone earlier, to both of you.  I would prefer this thread be reserved for celebrating original music by our members, so I will see if I can move these messages to another thread, or at least split it off from this one.

POS health care == medicaid + no income/savings left to spend on myself.  Just arranged to sell off some stock and transfer it to myself, because I agree with you -- it needs to be taken care of ASAP, even if it needs to be at my own cost.

[Torpedo]

 

[cutestory]

Haven't posted in this thread for a while, but the JAMuary challenge of recording a piece of music every day for the month got me inspired (so far). Listen to my tunes linked above—there's some fun stuff in there!

Latest setup pics (yes, I know I need wall treatment):

[Voltron]

Ground control to Major Tom... That is an impressive control center. I didn't know you were working on SpaceX!

[acidbasement]

Cool, I'll check out your Jamuary stuff this afternoon @cutestory! I've been doing lots of jamming but haven't posted anything yet.

How do you like the Soma Terra? I love the idea of it.

[cutestory]

It's fantastic! I'll make a jam with it this month for sure. The Terra is immensely playable, and I don't play keys for shit.

Check out my Jamuary jams! I've posted 7 days in a row so far...I like a couple of them quite a bit.

 

[cutestory]

On 1/5/2024 at 11:15 AM, acidbasement said:

How do you like the Soma Terra? I love the idea of it.

As promised...

 

[acidbasement]

That thing looks and sounds so cool. Great jam

[Torpedo]

I'm not sure if this would fit in here or whether belongs to guitar case. Anyhow

 

[acidbasement]

A practice session for a gig I've got coming up in 5 days.

I drove it a bit too hard and it gets muddy at times, but you get the point.