Music Making

[Kattefjaes]

Thanks guys- it took me a certain amount of flailing around to get the modular sounding decent. Gain staging inside the instrument is more important than you first realise (feel free to point and laugh, as it's obvious in hindsight). Each module has its quirks and requires familiarity and obviously the permutations get complex quite quickly.

I had a lot of misgivings that pursuing it was a mistake- but eventually it started to to sound the way I wanted. I've been enjoying weird non-linear workflows, which were what I was hoping for at the start- it's more like flying a steampunk zepplin than playing a piano. It's totally possible to build "normal" instruments  with it, but where's the fun in that?

(At least, for me, who isn't a proper musician, and mostly listens to things that aren't proper music..)

Edited November 9, 2020 by Kattefjaes

[Torpedo]

For some reason I don't find this thread when I look for it in "offtopic" or "music"

A short video with good hints and cues to reharmonize tunes. This guy knows his shit but his videos are more entertaining than educative most of the times.

 

 

[Dusty Chalk]

On 11/9/2020 at 9:36 AM, Kattefjaes said:

It's totally possible to build "normal" instruments  with it, but where's the fun in that?

Dude, I’m a serious musician and I totally agree with you.

Tangential story:  I cut my teeth on my high school’s ARP 2600 with a busted keyboard, so I spent my first year finding unorthodox ways to create melodies ... and I did.  When I went to the guy I bought my own ARP 2600 from, in 5 minutes, I was showing him stuff he never even dreamed of.  

[Torpedo]

This time I remembered where we're keeping this thread  

A very enlightening video on how to use a single mode, in this case locrian, to create very different moods. Funnily enough my yesterday's class was about that.

 

[acidbasement]

Oh dang, I love how that sounds.

[ironbut]

Adam Neely, David Bruce and Beato's videos have taught me a lot!

I try to take their ideas and use them, then go back and watch the video again to get it into my thick head!

Unfortunately I just don't take the time to do that every time and I hope that I get the idea by osmosis or sumthin? 

[Dusty Chalk]

So say we all, Steve.

[grawk]

I'm driving to Atlanta tomorrow to pick up a Kawai MP11 for my kid.

 

[luvdunhill]

58 minutes ago, grawk said:

I'm driving to Atlanta tomorrow to pick up a Kawai MP11 for my kid.

 

Cool - I have a ES110 and would like to learn more about the Bluetooth MIDI - but it really is a great keyboard.

[grawk]

[ironbut]

Why isn't there a "drool" emoji?

[ironbut]

Can you say motherlode !

Actually kinda sad in a way. I'll miss seeing all that gear in the background of Tom's videos.

But,.. life goes on

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Hey, @grawk,  was it you who told me that someone (Stevie Wonder?) had a custom 88 key MIDI controller made with polyphonic aftertouch?  I want to say it was during that same discussion as you told me about Fatar.  Do you remember the company?  My Google-fu is providing nothing.  I mean, there's the CS-80, but it's so well known and ancient that it's a non-starter; there's the Kurzweil MIDIBoard (less ancient, less well known, but still enough of a beast that I wouldn't want it shipped).

[acidbasement]

Doesn't the Arturia keylab mkii have poly at? They even make a nice looking 88-key version with screw-in wooden legs.

[Dusty Chalk]

I wish.  No, just on the performance pads.

[acidbasement]

Hydrasynth has it, but maybe only as a synth, not controller.

[Dusty Chalk]

It does!  49 keys.  That's still more keys than the CME XKey (which I have) or the QuNexus.

Looks like the Roli Seaboard has it, as well (also 49 keys).  Or for more than 88 keys, the Linnstrument (128 or 200 keys).  Which, considering my recent (as of several hours ago) discovery of the 17-tone Turkish scale (12-tone with 5 specially placed half-tones) is of particular interest...hmmm...

[VPI]

Was able to put together one of the Mic Kings with the boxes FedEx managed to deliver today. Holy fuck, I am not sure if ramming these with my SUV would knock them over. 

[VPI]

I will say, while it is definitely well built, the function of the Latch Lake is a lot clunkier than the Triad-Orbits they are replacing. 

[ironbut]

On 11/21/2020 at 9:19 PM, Dusty Chalk said:

Looks like the Roli Seaboard has it, as well (also 49 keys). 

I've had the 49 key Seaboard Rise for a couple of years now and in some ways, I'm finally getting some use from it.

I was hoping that MPE support in synths and sampler engines would improve more than it has but when it comes right down to it, I've been the main bottleneck.

There are a couple of Kontakt Libraries that I have that are made for it along with a couple of soft synths (Cypher 2, Strobe 2 and Equator).  They're tons of fun and it would be difficult to create these sounds/expressions any other way (of course, anything can be done if you're determined).

More to the point of your inquiry, it isn't that difficult to adapt many instruments to take advantage of a few MPE gestures.

For example, Glide is applied to Pitch Bend as a default so doing vibrato/slide on an upright bass is pretty easy. The difference between using a Pitch Bend wheel and the Roli is you can bend just one note out of a chord without having to create separate  "pitch bend" and a static tracks.

Same thing goes for Slide. Slide is moving your finger "Up" the key on the Seaboard. You can assign any modulation/cc to slide so if you can assign a high pass/distortion noise level, whatever to Slide, than you can increase/decrease that parameter for any note of a chord.

There are plenty of YT videos to teach you how to do these things but it isn't easy.

It's like learning a new instrument to do these things in real time. 

I find myself going back in a midi editor and adjusting/erasing/redoing these things so I don't spend much time trying to learn how to do it "live".

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Thanks for that, as always, just a wealth of information.

but no, what I would prefer is to be able to apply filters or amplitude to each individual note, so for example, I could play ABCDE, and then reduce the pressure on B and D , and then increase it, to make the chord “breathe” alternately between dissonance and consonance.

[acidbasement]

Hell of a sale on these at thomann.de right now, @Dusty Chalk

Edit, shipping to Canada is kinda pricey, so maybe it's not a great deal. But still. Purple.

Edited November 24, 2020 by acidbasement

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, but it’s Behringer, and I was recently reminded by Behringer why I hate Behringer:

 

[acidbasement]

Holy shit. Those bastards. I didn't know about that.

I was thinking I might get a Crave at some point, but nope. Not now.

[Dusty Chalk]

I know.  The first image is Arturia's official response, LMAO.