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zkom

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    Coronavirus COVID-19

    in General Banter

    Posted

    The bars, restaurants, museums, libraries, etc opened on Monday here with some limitations like they need to stop serving alcohol at 10pm and only half the usual amount of customers are allowed in indoor premises. A few weeks ago I was thinking that I'll probably be one of the first ones in the bars once they reopen, but to be honest, once I took a look at the crowded bar terraces I thought fuck that. Not going to go there risk getting corona just to drink overpriced beer. I can drink overpriced beer at my own home in safety just as well.

    TBH, and this is a bit stupid I know, it was kind of exciting traveling and going to places when the sort of mini-lockdown was happening here. Sitting in the empty train cars, people eyeing each other suspiciously. Empty malls with most of the shops closed. Having to walk to the airport because no public transport going there and having your papers checked multiple times and asked about your destination. Eating outside because only take-away was available. A kind of adventure right? Now everything is crowded with half the people seemingly drunk and it feels fucking annoying.

    It's a bit mind-boggling that now everything is supposedly safe all of sudden while the virus is still on the loose? And people are acting like things are back to normal. Second wave coming..

    Anyway, I'll go to the office for the next week and the following week I'll hole up in the countryside alone.

    • Like 1

    rraAste tracks

    in Your Latest Creations

    Posted

    I think I'll just set up this thread to post my various non-ambient tracks. More like IDM/techno/electro stuff mostly under the rraAste alias. Not going to be updated super often I think.. This one I started over a year ago in Cambodia.

     

    • Like 6

    I think I changed my mind

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, modey said:

    What? There are still tons of artists doing super precise, clean digital stuff. Ryoji Ikeda and Mark Fell, for example..

    Thanks, would you recommend some particular releases to check?

    Actually, I also think probably Frank Bretschneider's releases and Cylob's Ambient News project kind of fit this category.

    I'm getting curious now what kind of stuff I can find that is pure digital and doesn't even try to sound analog.

    I think I changed my mind

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, rhmilo said:

    Isn't that just called "IDM"? ?

    "IDM" always struck me as "synthesizer music - but not as boring". Lots of detail and trickery to maintain interest. 

    It could be simply to add movement to sound so it doesn't sound static and feels more organic. What the non-linear analog components and things like distortion do is basically change the harmonic content of the sound based on the amplitude of the waveform. DSP effects like low/band/hi-pass filters, amplifiers, delays etc have linear response and the harmonic content does not change based on the amplitude of the waveform. So the digital delay can sound more boring than the tape-delay because it's just adding sounds linearly and does not saturate on higher amplitudes which would create new harmonics and it also doesn't have the frequency filtering when the signal is fed back. Now what if we created completely new ways of creating harmonic changes digitally and not just try to model the analog components?

    Just thinking while writing.. Sorry for derailing the thread.

    • Farnsworth 1

    I think I changed my mind

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    Just now, rhmilo said:

    I might be wrong, but I think that is the reason why Max and Pure Data sound as bland as they do by default: because they use mathematically pure wave forms and white noise. Reaktor is much better in that regard because they strove to implement sound generation that mimicks what happens in hardware.

    Going for an ultra clean, mathematically precise aesthetic is not a new rabbit hole to explore, it's something that has been tried and found lacking.

    Unless, of course, you're Autechre and your music is so complex and detailed it doesn't matter that the basic sound generation is bland.

    I agree it's not a new avenue but I think there might be something there because people gave up too early. Generatively add lots of tiny details for example? Or adding a ton of minor parameter automatization to create movement? Complex sidechaining hierarchies or cyclic sidechaining graphs? Doing some frequency domain fuckery that is not possible with realtime plugins. It would probably sound alien as fuck but maybe also really cool.

    • Like 1

    I think I changed my mind

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    23 hours ago, dingformung said:
    On 5/19/2020 at 9:15 AM, chim said:

    All algos aren't equal, plus DAC's and transformers play a part in the sound. Goes for the old ROMplers (wavestation, d-50, JV) vs reissues/VST's as well. 

    Sure, even the most miniscule rounding error can change the sound audibly when it comes to FM but you tweak the sounds to your liking anyway, so that isn't really important. If you do it with software you have full control over the algorithm, make your own algorithm etc. There really are no advantages in having a digital hardware FM synth. If you like touching knobs (hrhr) just use a MIDI controller to control the software. But what do I know

    Yes, well basically if the sound is colored by hardware imperfections I see the point. Porting the algos to run on a PC shouldn't be much of a problem with modern PCs. You could probably even do them with some high precision 128-bit floating point arithmetic to get an ultra-clean and precise sound. But if the point is to add some grit then I can see the point of using hardware.

    Anyway, the clean and mathematically accurate way of making music would be an interesting aesthetic to try sometime. Usually it comes out as sounding very dry and jarring, but I think this is because not many people have really explored the possibilities and how far that particular rabbit hole goes. Just use pure waveforms, white noise, FM and additive synths, and things like that, with no distortion, compression or analog modeling. Get it sounding interesting some other way than adding analog sounding imperfections.

    • Like 1

    stupid first world problems you're dealing with

    in General Banter

    Posted

    When I was young our family cat used to bring in animals all the time. One time the cat woke up my sister by dropping a living mouse in her bed, lol. Another time the cat woke me up playing with a bottom half of a squirrel by the side of my bed. When the cat got the half-a-squirrel in his mouth I picked him up and threw him out the door and yelled something like "don't come back until you have finished that".

     

    • Like 1
    • Farnsworth 1

    Funny Pictures Part IV - Funny Harder

    in General Banter

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, Rubin Farr said:

    IMG_4606.JPG

    I actually live in a .. city area that has lots of ero.. exotic massage parlors. And they are mostly still open despite the pandemic. So I've been thinking lately that are the masseuses actually wearing masks and rubber gloves during the .. massages. I see them sometimes hanging outside for smoke breaks but at least then they don't wear masks. Well, obviously not when they are smoking.

    Also probably masks and rubber gloves are somebody's fetish.

    Coronavirus COVID-19

    in General Banter

    Posted

    13 hours ago, Taupe Beats said:

    Silver lining:  This will likely kill off most corporate-sponsored music festivals.

    One would be so lucky that this would kill off the superstar DJ culture but most likely won't. The big festivals will be on hiatus this summer and probably back next year or at latest 2022.

    I'm not sure how I would feel if the local underground forest party scene gets revitalized this summer due to the pandemic, lol.

    • Like 1
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