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Posted

... for instance being at work and knowing you can't work on tracks for another 7 hours :o

Guest taxman
Posted

or being at home but not making anything good all week

 

or being on a trip for a week and getting all kinds of ideas but when you finally get home you have nothing

Posted
or being on a trip for a week and getting all kinds of ideas but when you finally get home you have nothing

 

totally i'll have the idea in my head and the SECOND i get infront of the computer and open my sequencer i'll lose it

 

sometimes i'll hear a melody in my dreams right before i wake up, or dream about a song i haven't written then when i stumble to the computer I'll lose it also

Posted

Yeah, I find it much easier to be creative in front of the piano... You can just sit there and play for hours - ideas come pouring out...

 

I've done another week now and about all I've managed in the computer is tweaking a few drum samples...

 

Fucking frustrating...

 

I could do with a switch on my piano which would hook me up to my sound modules and synths - and maybe a record button...

Guest blicero
Posted
Yeah, I find it much easier to be creative in front of the piano... You can just sit there and play for hours - ideas come pouring out...

 

I've done another week now and about all I've managed in the computer is tweaking a few drum samples...

 

Fucking frustrating...

 

I could do with a switch on my piano which would hook me up to my sound modules and synths - and maybe a record button...

 

 

you need a fender rhodes with a midi kit installed. :wub:

Posted
Yeah, I find it much easier to be creative in front of the piano... You can just sit there and play for hours - ideas come pouring out...

 

I've done another week now and about all I've managed in the computer is tweaking a few drum samples...

 

Fucking frustrating...

 

I could do with a switch on my piano which would hook me up to my sound modules and synths - and maybe a record button...

 

you don't use a synth??

 

why not get a 100 midi controller and hook it up to a vst with a piano type preset?

 

i hate it when i'm trying to make a song and listen to aphex or squarepusher by accident

Guest Salient
Posted

having MONTHS pass without making a single piece :(((((((((((

Posted

I use synths, but I think turning on the computer, powering up the synths, etc... kills my mood sometimes...

 

You sit in front of a laptop and a tonne of synth gear and you're in certain state of mind straight away...

 

Maybe I need an MPC???

Posted

been feeling this way all day. i wanna be home. been listening to this track i started all day, i want to work on it badd. all i've been thinking about, really.

Posted

i'm with walnuts.

 

the piano/eectric piano lends itself to a melodic creativity that you lose the minute tweaking becomes an option.

Posted

i always keep my roland v-synth up and running, i'm not sure it kills the mood or makes it easier to write music tho

Posted

Yeah, my Z1's always on - but I always end up fiddling with sounds and textures - never write melodies on it...

 

I do like the look of the Korg Oasys - I think that's the kind of synth I could treat like a big electric piano, and actually write and produce a whole track with it... Way too pricey...

Posted
having MONTHS pass without making a single piece :(((((((((((
Posted

i'm not falling asleep tonight till i finish something

Posted

starting playing guitar was the best thing ever to start make music. i was in a writer block for like 8 months til i started playing and composing on it.

just putting your fingers on anything, any instrument - that´s the way imho.

 

the korg oasys is a bit wanky - you can probably buy a good laptop with a great controller, and then some software and it will almost the same thing.

 

i like my stuff rough and dirty anyways..

Posted

I think the best way to ward off writer's block is to just keep writing music. Have a process that you go through. Even if it's terrible, keep it, keep recording, and soon enough you'll start doing really creative things with your process.

Posted
the korg oasys is a bit wanky - you can probably buy a good laptop with a great controller, and then some software and it will almost the same thing.

 

i like my stuff rough and dirty anyways..

 

that's my main problem... you can sit down at a piano any time of day and start playing - i do this maybe 5 or 6 times a day...

 

how often do i power up my computer, synths, fx unit, desk, amp, etc..?

 

at least once or twice a day at the moment, but it's not the same - by the time i've set everything up it's like i've put on my overalls and started work on the conveyer belt...

 

i like the idea of having everything you need integrated, automated, recalled, etc... one button away

Posted

the korg oasys is a bit wanky - you can probably buy a good laptop with a great controller, and then some software and it will almost the same thing.

 

i like my stuff rough and dirty anyways..

 

that's my main problem... you can sit down at a piano any time of day and start playing - i do this maybe 5 or 6 times a day...

 

how often do i power up my computer, synths, fx unit, desk, amp, etc..?

 

at least once or twice a day at the moment, but it's not the same - by the time i've set everything up it's like i've put on my overalls and started work on the conveyer belt...

 

i like the idea of having everything you need integrated, automated, recalled, etc... one button away

 

i try to leave my gear on at all times.

Posted (edited)
i like the idea of having everything you need integrated, automated, recalled, etc... one button away

 

exactly.

 

this is why I just use software. Logic, and plug-ins.

 

Takes about 20 seconds to load, and I'm ready to go. Need a new synth? plugin, loaded immediately, ready to go.

 

Come back later, load logic in 20 seconds, open file, ready to go.

 

edit: and I leave my audio interface on, and my speakers on, all the time. so I dont have to start them up. and my controllers are all bus powered, so they are on as soon as the computers on.

 

edit 2: and I leave my computer on all the time (well, it goes to sleep if Im not using it, but it comes back on quickly)

Edited by Kcinsu
Posted

it depends how you work. I'm at my job at the moment, butright now at home i have my keyboard on, laptop on, my sequencer up and running with a song in it (audio device turned off) and a midi controlled hooked up to one of my vsts and reaktor. its all just sitting there and thats how i keep it every day. and my electric bills are only 40 dollars a month so throw that arguement out the window..

 

i personally find keyboard work stations restraining, but i tend to use lots of vsts and max msp and reaktor and my synth and everything per track I do. this is just me.

 

I agree with Braintree, but i'd also like to add that sometimes to help with creativity i'll go thru lapses where I'll tell myself for months that no one will hear the songs i'm working on and just finish them no matter how terrible they are. Sometimes people end up loving those tracks more then the ones I spend months on.

 

I do hate this tho... when your working on a track and you hit that 1:30 mark... this is usually where something new has to happen thats much cooler then the 1:30 before it ... hate that....

 

got a song at home right now thats at the point where something cool has to happen

Posted
I do hate this tho... when your working on a track and you hit that 1:30 mark... this is usually where something new has to happen thats much cooler then the 1:30 before it ... hate that....

 

got a song at home right now thats at the point where something cool has to happen

 

why work beggining to end?

 

fast forward in your sequencer, write the main idea, then go back to the beggining, and write to where you are, further in the track.

Posted

i like the idea of having everything you need integrated, automated, recalled, etc... one button away

 

exactly.

 

this is why I just use software. Logic, and plug-ins.

 

Takes about 20 seconds to load, and I'm ready to go. Need a new synth? plugin, loaded immediately, ready to go.

 

Come back later, load logic in 20 seconds, open file, ready to go.

 

edit: and I leave my audio interface on, and my speakers on, all the time. so I dont have to start them up. and my controllers are all bus powered, so they are on as soon as the computers on.

 

edit 2: and I leave my computer on all the time (well, it goes to sleep if Im not using it, but it comes back on quickly)

 

Yeah, this is something I like a lot about mixing in the 21st century... I really like having projects saved all as one, where I can have maybe a tonne of Q-Clone settings (<- amazing plug-in), loads of wierd distortion plug-ins, etc... esp. with SX3's freeze function and the way Renoise integrates sampling and sequencing so flawlessly - it would be difficult for me to get away from that now... It's the one thing that stops me buying a h/w sequencer - almost bidded for a QY700 on ebay today ([]pusher's sequencer).

 

But then when it comes to mixing I like to fiddle endlessly...

 

With music and composition I feel too separated from software instruments... I also find I use a lot of chords and arpeggios with really long releases in my music, and I mean, there's really quite simple Albino and Reaktor patches which use up over 100% of my CPU if I play more than 5 notes at once...

 

I much prefer composing with things like the XV-3080, where you've got 700 or so genuinelly useful waves - industry standard sounds really - and 128-voice polyphony with no danger of audio drop outs or stuttering... I feel a direct connection with an instrument like that - just like I do with the piano... Right now I could press power on; Patch button; Wave button; give me 2 seconds to twist the dial and I've got a metallic wind effect... It's just 2nd nature... I can't imagine having that with a piece of software... Even Renoise which is practically encoded in my DNA.

Posted

 

I do hate this tho... when your working on a track and you hit that 1:30 mark... this is usually where something new has to happen thats much cooler then the 1:30 before it ... hate that....

 

got a song at home right now thats at the point where something cool has to happen

 

why work beggining to end?

 

fast forward in your sequencer, write the main idea, then go back to the beggining, and write to where you are, further in the track.

 

Yeah, I always work from the middle out when I'm doing loop based music... Build up the tune as a single loop, then go about deconstructing it and reconstructing it into something that spreads out over 5 or 6 minutes...

 

 

Really good technique for programmed music is to make your loop - then double it up - add a variation to the second section - then double them up - add another variation or two - over and over until you've exhausted all the ideas... Then you're left with maybe a 3-6 minute evolving loop based thing, so you just tack an intro and outro on it... Whatever sounds right... This was how Modus Operandi was programmed.

 

 

What I really like about h/w sequencers is it sort of gets you in song writing mode - you maybe start off writing a Verse (sort of a main loop or section) - then you think about writing a Chorus (like an alternative section, maybe a key change) - then bridges, intro's, etc... and then when you've got all these different patterns you can either playlist them or select them live and record into a CDR or DAT recorder or something...

Posted

I dont have that problem. To me, either hardware or software is just a means to putting whats in my head, into reality. twisting a know on a box or clicking a parameter on a softsynth, is completely equal to me. Either it gives me what im looking for or it doesnt, and a lot of that is just knowing how to get what you want. If anything, software may have more of a connection, I guess, because I feel like its capturing my thoughts. I have much more control over minute details, I can automate it exactly how I want it, and when I come back to it later, its EXACTLY the same, making it feel more personal... like my thoughts are imprinted in it... there is no ambiguity, or getting a close as possible... so it feels closer to me.

 

if that makes any sense.

 

but yeah, in the end, its the sound that comes out, now how I got it to come out

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