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exitonly

Knob Twiddlers
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Posts posted by exitonly

    Using Max MSP in Bitwig

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    1 minute ago, ignatius said:

    you can probably get virtual midi ports to show up in max/bitwig but i've never tried. might need blackhole also for routing audio. 

    what you trying to do with bitwig/max?  max is pretty great all by itself. so is bitwig w/the grid. 

    i was inclined to say the same thing. as someone who wasted a lot of time trying to sync max with logic pro using rewire/midi sync etc, i’d recommend going all in one one environment. i did a lot better when i did everything in max and then just recorded the output in logic using some kind of multichannel inter app audio driver like blackhole or previously soundflower. these days i’m using uaudio virtual channels but it’s all the same idea

    • Like 2

    The watmm Anti-GAS thread

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    1 minute ago, dcom said:

    If your comment was a general one, you didn't have to quote my previous comment at all, let alone in full - but as you did quote my comment, a long one,  in full, it's difficult not to interpret that you're replying directly to me. Yes, I overreacted, and I apologize I flash-banged at your vagueness.

    i mean, it was directed at you but i'd give the same advice to anyone. it wasnt intended to be personal. all good on my end 👍

     

    • Thanks 1

    The watmm Anti-GAS thread

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    ok so its the morning now and I'm going to try to address this a little better, though my initial reaction still stands.

    14 hours ago, dcom said:

    Do you mean that I compensate a lack of skill and creativity with equipment quantity?

    I posted my general opinion. It has to come from you. That's all I said about it. I don't know you and I don't know if you are creative, skilled or anything else. I haven't heard your music.

     

    14 hours ago, dcom said:

    You completely missed the point of my previous message and made what seemed to me a direct effort to show smug superiority by indirectly classifying me as musically unskilled because I have a lot of gear. I hope it made you happy.

    I made a general anti-gas statement in a thread about being anti-gas and you're attacking me personally for it. I didn't intend to offend you but just giving my general opinion/advice.  You seem like a decent person in general and I don't have any problem with you but I think you need to calm down a little. I also think if you keep posting about all the gear you're buying all the time, don't freak out when someone comes along and gives you the advice of "hey maybe you dont need to do that". I wish you the best in whatever you're trying to accomplish.

    The watmm Anti-GAS thread

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, dcom said:

    Do you mean that I compensate a lack of skill and creativity with equipment quantity? Or that I'm one of those poor people who suffer from GAS in the way that they think that if I just get that one more piece of kit I'll be able to do what I want? If you answer yes  to either or both of my questions, you'd be wrong, and flaunting theoretical superiority in the vein of "it's not how big it is, it's how you use it." But it's also a skill to know how to choose the right tool for the job.

    I'm not deluding myself that owning a large number of instruments and other equipment makes me a better musician; I'm simply testing both the equipment itself and what it can do for me. None of it is magical in a GAS context, I just need to actually, physically try the instruments and other equipment out. I'm also teaching myself the ins and outs of different kinds of synths, different approaches to synthesis, different workflows and ways of controlling different aspects of the electronic music making process. I have a classical musical education, I play several traditional instruments, but electronic hardware instruments and other paraphernalia are still relatively new to me, but yeah, I could do a lot with just a Volca Drum, it's amazingly versatile for a box that small, and I love it, but I also love what the Hydrasynth has to offer.

    I've been working as a computer programmer for 30+ years, and I'm also a tech enthusiast. I make music with the equipment I have, but I also love delving into the depths of mod matrices, CC and NRPN tables and how to peruse them, how I can patch, sequence, and program the devices to do things that I find interesting. I'm also neurodivergent, so spending hours and hours tinkering is my idea of a really good time.

    You completely missed the point of my previous message and made what seemed to me a direct effort to show smug superiority by indirectly classifying me as musically unskilled because I have a lot of gear. I hope it made you happy.

    sure

    The watmm Anti-GAS thread

    in EKT General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by exitonly

    56 minutes ago, dcom said:

    As many of you have noted, I've spent an inordinate amount of time and money researching and acquiring hardware for reasons I've already explained in the GAS thread. It's actually very hard to make an informed decision about any piece of kit without getting your hands on them, trying them out for haptics and affordances, things that are impossible to deduce from tutorial and review videos, which can give you the nuts and bolts, basic sounds, workflow, and other more abstract things. I need to get the unit in my hands, feel my way around the layout, see, hear, and feel the interactivity between me and the technology - how I gel with it and what it provides.

    Most people would have maxed out already - I have about 70 pieces of kit, from eurorack modules to bulky analog drum machines and desktop synths - and I think I'm very close to my saturation point, too; I think I'll start culling the superfluous soon, but there are some that I know I won't get rid of unless absolutely necessary. Up until now, I've been a maximalist, because my target environment is DAWless and I even record to a dedicated hardware device, currently 1010music's Bluebox - if I need three different monosynth sounds, I need to use three different monosynths.

    I'm addicted to sequencers, and I have more than I'll ever need, but one has risen above the lot: OXI One, with the addition of OXI Split (giving me 3x16 channels of MIDI) and OXI Pipe (eurorack extension that uses HDMI to get the CV/gate out/ins directly into the rack) - it's an amazing sequencer with features up the wazoo, and it's regularly updated with new bells and whistles. In Second place is Squarp Pyramid combined with Hermod, which can be connected with a simple USB cable to use Hermod as an eurorack extension w/ 8x gate/CV outputs and 4x CV inputs to Pyramid and everything done from there (although Hermod is a brilliant eurorack sequencer even without being subservient to Pyramid). I recently got my hands on a pre-built Westlicht Per|former, an open-source (both hardware and firmware) eurorack sequencer with layers of unique features in a combination that's rarely found in similar gear - but as I got it yesterday, they jury's still out.

    IDGAF about analog vs. digital, OG vs. clone, I'm looking for sound, feel, applicability, and fun. Sometimes the simplest pieces of kit are the most fun, because what you see is what you get - like a Vermona DRM MK3, or Behringer TD-3. Sometimes I want to get lost in the minutiae of absolute control, with an ASM Hydrasynth or Novation Peak - or even with something that's a combination of both hands-on and menu diving like Behringer's Deepmind 12D.

    I've sat in front of my computer fudging with DAWs, mainly FL Studio, and compared to dedicated hardware it just seems lacklustre - I think the experience could be heightened with a stack of AKAI Fire controllers or Novation's FLKey 37/48/61 - but currently I prefer the company of non-DAW pieces of kit.

    I think I should start to move from my (many) small pieces loosely joined philosophy towards (few) big things tightly coupled, meaning I should dump Volcas, Roland compacts, 1010music Nanoboxes, most Sonicwares etc. and replace them with things like Access Virus TI2 desktop, Vermona Perfourmer, and SOMA Pulsar 23 - to make less more. Recently I've been working with my modular setup, and having everything right there in front of you at hand's reach is just... right. The biggest hindrance to me culling the hoard is that having got to know all of the pieces I know each and every one has (sometimes unique within the set of what I have) potential, and letting go of that potential is hard.

    I know restricting yourself to a strict subset of equipment can spark creativity easier than going to a state of analysis paralysis via the paradox of choice (too many choices make people default to what they know or what is familiar to them) when the mood or need to extract music from the mind arises, so it's usually beneficial to have a defined subset of equipment that responds to most of the requirements of the things you want to accomplish. I'm still looking for that subset, and it's personally advantageous that I have enough discretionary funds to feed my personal test programn with regular infusions of new kit to try out. It could go towards worse things, like recreational drugs, but I currently prefer it that way.

    Sooner or later, something's got to give, and I'll let go of most of the things I know I won't use. But that time is not now, and I'll try to restrain myself and not overload the GAS thread with on-fire enthusiasm about new boxes that go plonk, thunk, bleep, whirr, or eki eki eki ta pang (unless I want a shrubbery).

    thinking you are going to find the thing that will give you the thing is the disease. it has to come from you. if you are skilled, the equipment doesn’t matter much. find the beauty in a piece if kit, and let that shape what you do. that’s all

    • Like 2

    Satori Rotors - Sacred Geometry

    in Your Latest Creations

    Posted

    I totally agree on the hard rules. I definitely don't want to come across as saying I think you should have to do follow any of my suggestions at all. At the end of the day it is up to you how you write your music and it's totally fine the way it is. I was under the impression you were looking for some constructive criticism so I just said what I would do to change those songs to fit my impression of what I would want those songs to sound like if I were working on them.

     

    I totally agree with what you are saying about not needing things to change too much. My tracks are probably way too busy so I'm coming from the opposite angle. I do enjoy long ambient pieces though, including AE stuff like perlance range tracks. Totally subjective and I might even have a different opinion while listening to your track in a different mood etc. I was just thinking about it from a perspective that if I was working on it, I'd probably trim it a bit or add more variety. 

     

    In any case keep up writing stuff and posting it here. Those tracks are nice as they are ?

    • Like 1

    Satori Rotors - Sacred Geometry

    in Your Latest Creations

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, Satori Rotors said:

    Thanks, kind of you to respond in such detail. I admit I'm no musician and can't read music, so mostly draw the notes in rather than play on a keyboard. Will bear in mind what you said.

    I briefly checked your bandcamp page, pretty good what I heard, will listen more later.

    Thanks! I'm open to feedback as well ? There is a thread for that album over here -

     

    There's a lot of ways to define "musician". You're writing music, so I'd call you a musician. Lots of musicians can't read music. With regards to writing melodies,I'm no expert either. However there are some basic guidelines of repetition and variation that work well. You can build melodies with structure such as a simple ABABACAB format or something like that. So, make an initial melodic line (A), then one that responds to it somehow (B).  Then repeat that AB format at least once to make familiar, then you can introduce a secondary responding melody (C). Then when you return back to the AB format, it feels familiar to the listener.

    Variations can be either through pitch, rhythm, loudness or texture (which encompasses so much). If you have an initial phrase that starts out slow, using maybe quarter notes and then speeds up using 8th or 16th notes, just experiment with altering that so it starts out fast and then ends slow. Same with notes rising or failing in pitch etc. Then its just a matter of copying/pasting copies and making variations and then picking the best ones.

    To me, one of the quintessential examples of this in modern electronic music is this - 

     

    The structure of that melody is so crystal clear, you can hear all the variations and the feeling of "returning home" so well. Then it just drills that melody into and used all the textural/rhythmic elements for variation and interest.  The B part with the bassline is not quite as strong of an idea but still follows similar rules. I look to this song for inspiration a lot.

     

    Anywho, probably overtalked this one ?

    • Like 1

    Satori Rotors - Sacred Geometry

    in Your Latest Creations

    Posted

    Definitely hearing the BOC influnce on Metatron. Sounds more like old school BOC-tapes BOC which is cool. I'm digging the drums quite a bit and the over aesthetic My feedback on that one is that I don't think there are enough ideas in it to last 4 minutes. I'd recommend either shaving it a bit or introduce a bit more variety. Also, I think there is a lack of phrasing in your melodic composition. The melodies just kind of meander. Sometimes that can be good but at least in this case I feel like that want to be coherent, but just aren't.

     

    Vector Equilibrium - This one reminds me of a mix between Dayvan Cowboy and some older boc material. From a compositional standpoint, I think this one is more developed. It sounds nice! I don't have too much feedback on this one, other than the melodies do wander a bit in this one as well. There is an overall feel to them, but they arent something I'm going to remember later.  Outside of that, sounds to me like it is delivering on what it's trying to accomplish. The mid section switches up the track quite a bit and keeps it interesting, while still maintaining enough familiarity and consistency. Nice job on this one.

     

     

    • Like 1

    Favourite YouTube Videos

    in General Banter

    Posted

    12 hours ago, Hail Sagan said:

    This will probably won’t go over well but I’ve been doing this at least a few times a week for the past year and really enjoy it. If you feel pretty adhd, anxious or driven by impulse I think this is a a great way to enter the meditative state:

     

     

    not watching manbun guru for a fucking second

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1
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