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[Teknopathetic]

I didn't recommend any of the Spectrasonics stuff because I wouldn't call their interfaces very easy for a beginner to learn synthesis with compared to the other plugins that have the basic one page "traditional" synthesizer layout. Of course, the Spectrasonics stuff is mad powerful and sounds great, but yeah.

As far as hardware, there's the Mopho that was mentioned. There's the MFB Nanozwerg, assorted older used kit like Novation Bass Station. Also the Korg MS2000 should be around that price used.

Also, if you think you could save up another 100-250$ you could look at getting a second hand Access Virus A or B.

 

[Fusebox]

Fair enough, but I'd add for the OP that Massive isn't easy to learn or traditional either.

MS-20 from the Legacy pack is probably my fave real style synth for leaning on, they sell it seperately from the pack these days too:

http://www.korg.com/Product.aspx?pd=588

In fact I love it so much I even got the matching USB controller!

 

[Teknopathetic]

"Fair enough, but I'd add for the OP that Massive isn't easy to learn or traditional either."

Yeah, I was hesitant to add Massive, but without touching all the modulation routing stuff it's a pretty straight forward UI.

 

[ijed]

Anyone got a meeblip yet? do want!

http://meeblip.noisepages.com/

 

[Teknopathetic]

"Anyone got a meeblip yet? do want!"

I really want a Shruthi-1, but I cba to solder and shit. I'll probably get a Meeblip at some point instead (or both, probably both).

 

[Fusebox]

Yeah, I was hesitant to add Massive, but without touching all the modulation routing stuff it's a pretty straight forward UI.

Same applies to Trilian, it has standard ADSR etc on its main screen...

..but I'd say that's enough nit-picking from both of us, they're all awesome choices for him to start making tunes with.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Agreed.

 

[ijed]

I really want a Shruthi-1, but I cba to solder and shit.

Woah cool - I want one of them now as well!

 

[Fusebox]

What B&M musical instrument franchises in the USA are likely to carry the Mopho as shelf stock? I'm considering buying one when I'm there next week.

 

[out0v0rder]

maybe guitar center ?


unrelated but i fucked around for a lil bit and thought this sounded not horrible, live recording
http://soundcloud.com/ovodood/onepointsix

 

[Fusebox]

Nice one! They have a San Francisco store and that's my first stop, cheers man.

 

[BobDylan]

I didn't recommend any of the Spectrasonics stuff because I wouldn't call their interfaces very easy for a beginner to learn synthesis with compared to the other plugins that have the basic one page "traditional" synthesizer layout. Of course, the Spectrasonics stuff is mad powerful and sounds great, but yeah.

As far as hardware, there's the Mopho that was mentioned. There's the MFB Nanozwerg, assorted older used kit like Novation Bass Station. Also the Korg MS2000 should be around that price used.

Also, if you think you could save up another 100-250$ you could look at getting a second hand Access Virus A or B.

I guess I wouldnt say I am a beginner seeing as I have taken a few classes on this and its what im getting my degree in but im just starting to build a home studio so trying to get a feel for the basics that you would recommend. im not real big on everything thats on the market yet

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Purchased a pair of mics a little while ago from someone who makes them on another forum.

They sound pretty fantastic.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10205331
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9795132
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10176440

 

[out0v0rder]

the wood on those mics make it look like they sound very "warm" if that makes any sense. i like that.

 

[Xrenity]

Greetings has a great momentum to it... really blowing me away. are those sitars? sampled?

Yes they are sampled sitars Glad you like it.

i think very deeply about what i am doing, hopefully that doesn't mean that i am not gifted, lol.

I usually just try stuff again and again until it feels right. I can't work on it like a math problem for example.

 

[HappyBivouac]

How much did you drop on those mics? As soon as I get a real job lined up I'll be in the market for one or two good instrument mics.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Those are $300 a piece.

The same guy who makes those makes these. Which happen to be very well known in certain circles. They also cost a fraction of what the 4 capsule wood mics I just posted cost. $105 as of last May or so.

They're absolutely amazing. You couldn't buy a mic half as good for quadruple the price.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9111381

If you're interested send me a PM and I'll give you his contact info.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I've been taking Logic lessons the last couple of weeks. There's just so much I knew I was doing wrong, so much I didn't know how to do, and so many things I wanted to know how to do that I decided I needed a teacher. There's really only so much you can get from the internet and manuals.

Frankly, I wish I had done this way sooner. I'm learning at 10x the pace I was trying to self-teach. There's so much to know that I know it'll take months, but thing are starting to look a lot simpler.

Plus I'm learning a lot about mixing, which was easily my weakest area. I had everything at like +5 db all the time and then ended up squashing it all with limiters to get it to bounce right. Even on the last G.A.M.E. release I was still doing that.

 

[Fusebox]

Moog Slim Phatty vs DSI Tetra.

Thoughts?

Basically it's 1 voice Moog awesomeness vs 4 voices of DSI nearly-as-awesomeness, both around $800.

DSI seems the go on paper, but MOOG! So I dunno at this stage...

 

[Teknopathetic]

I'm almost in a similar boat as you, Fusebox, except I'm weighing the Moog against some VA stuff like the Virus and the Nord Lead.

Between those two, I suppose the question is how important is the Moog sound for you? Also, controls. I'd probably go with the Moog, personally, because I'm a fanboy for that sound and I want a Moog in my studio one day. Non-fanboyishly, I don't want to have to dig in a software editor to tap into the potential of a hardware synth. The sound is what's most important, though, I'd give both a thorough listening (in real life, if possible. I can't imagine both wouldn't be available for demoing at any respectable music shop).

 

[Fusebox]

I don't specifically need the Moog sound any more than any other sound, but I've always wanted a Moog and they're such a great starting point for mono bass and leads. Also I really like the fact the Slim Phatty has a VST editor plug-in, because most of the time I'll be controlling it through Ableton with a bit of external controller.

Even though the SP has only 4 knobs it seems to be more tweakable than the 8 knob Tetra as well and I expect it to be ballsier because all the power is going to a single voice instead of being shared, but they both look so great...

I think I'll probably go with the Slim Phatty and just multitrack it if I need polyphony.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"Even though the SP has only 4 knobs it seems to be more tweakable than the 8 knob Tetra as well and I expect it to be ballsier because all the power is going to a single voice instead of being shared, but they both look so great..."

I don't think it works like that. In fact, I do recall that the Dave Smith stuff (At least the Mopho/Evolver/Tetra) can get really aggressive sounds.

 

[Fusebox]

It does to an extent, with multiple voices you need to lower the gain slightly so they don't overdrive the VCA when they're all playing at once, whereas a single voice can have more gain because there's no summing. It doesn't limit the ability to create aggressive sounds, it's more about the output level of the voice before it hits other stages.

 

[dyls]

Anyone know of any free or cheap noise reduction plugins that will work with DP (or a built in plugin I'm not seeing)? I'm editing a friend's recital and there is a nasty hum that really covers a pretty broad spectrum. Trying to pull it out with only EQ is really thinning the vocals. I dont do a lot of audio editing so I'm not that experienced at this sort of thng. The simpler the plugin the better.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I'm almost in a similar boat as you, Fusebox, except I'm weighing the Moog against some VA stuff like the Virus and the Nord Lead.

As an Axiom Pro owner I can tell you the Virus is probably amazing if you're looking for a new MIDI controller, but the synth itself doesn't seem to do anything special (they keep talking about all these unique edgy sounds but it doesn't seem like anything I can't get out of the EXS2). Nord gear is supersexy but pricey.

While we're on the topic of Moog, anybody got any advice on recreating a Polymoog patch called Vox Humana? It's the classic one Gary Numan used in Cars. The ES-E is supposed to be able to approximate it but I've never seen any settings posted. I can come closer to it in Ultra Analog which is pretty good with portamento but the Polymoog used this weird custom triple filter thing that's hard to duplicate exactly.

Anyone know of any free or cheap noise reduction plugins that will work with DP (or a built in plugin I'm not seeing)? I'm editing a friend's recital and there is a nasty hum that really covers a pretty broad spectrum. Trying to pull it out with only EQ is really thinning the vocals. I dont do a lot of audio editing so I'm not that experienced at this sort of thng. The simpler the plugin the better.

You can do an okay job of it in Garage Band, which is decent for editing podcasts & such.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Does anyone have a line on an old Apogee Mini-Me by any chance? Perhaps someone has one they'd like to sell?

I'm looking at an ART Tube mic preamp on amazon that's going for $30.

Are these things absolute shit? I'd imagine the tube would get thrown away right away and replaced with a nice NOS or JJ tube. Still... does anyone know if these are any good?

 

[Fusebox]

I've heard the Art has a fairly noticable noise floor so I bought the Presonus Tubepre instead. I haven't heard the Art though, and I haven't read any impressions of it after a tube swap either sorry.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

How would I use the Presonus Tubepre with a USB interface. I've got a shitty Lexicon Lambda.

Eventually I want to upgrade to an RME Babyface or an Apogee Mini-Me. Can't find either one. Until then I figure purchasing an outboard pre-amp would be a good way to go.

The problem I'm having is that the interface doesn't have enough gain to drive the mics I want to use. I can crank the gain in the recording program I use but it's really noisy when I do. I've heard using an external pre-amp will allow me to drive the mics harder with less noise.

 

[Fusebox]

Same way you'd use the Art, unless I've missed a big difference between the two, so it'd go...

Mic/Guitar -> Tube Preamp -> Line input on your USB soundcard

 

[pirahna1]

Anyone know of any free or cheap noise reduction plugins that will work with DP (or a built in plugin I'm not seeing)? I'm editing a friend's recital and there is a nasty hum that really covers a pretty broad spectrum. Trying to pull it out with only EQ is really thinning the vocals. I dont do a lot of audio editing so I'm not that experienced at this sort of thng. The simpler the plugin the better.

Audacity will do this for you in like, 3 clicks.
Here's a tutorial on the Audacity wiki, it's stupid easy.

 

[VariantX04]

So here's my last orchestral on GarageBand. I wrote it in a few hours for a friend's podcast only to then heavily edit it after it was published. Here's the final take. I think. I'm switching to Logic Pro next week, what should I expect? Any migration tips would be great.

Labyrinthine

AgentWhiskersX: It sounds really good. Really cool that you got Bear McCreary to check your stuff out, too.

Thanks! Yeah, Bear's an awesome, awesome guy.

 

[Truant]

My band just dropped a new song.

http://www.facebook.com/marathonno

It's a mix of pop, prog and candy. It's pretty fresh!

Check it out and "like" it if you like it

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I'm almost in a similar boat as you, Fusebox, except I'm weighing the Moog against some VA stuff like the Virus and the Nord Lead.

Incidentally, my last reply to this was about the M-Audio Venom, which I got crossed up in my head with the Virus. I have no experience with that.

I've been listening to the demos of the Venom on M-Audio's website and I'm coming around to it. At $500 it's almost impulse-purchase level, though it seems a bit light on knobs. Does anybody have any experience with it yet?

I don't think it works like that. In fact, I do recall that the Dave Smith stuff (At least the Mopho/Evolver/Tetra) can get really aggressive sounds.

I can 100% confirm this, I'm becoming DSI fan, though I have heard some say that the Moog stuff has a bit more drive to it (though the conversation was mainly about Prophet vs Voyager). I haven't messed around with a Tetra in particular, but I have demoed a Mopho and HOLY SHIT that thing is intense. I thought it was just a toy based on its looks. The thing it does where it routs the signal back through the filter again is insane, the whole room was shaking like it was an earthquake. I can only imagine that a whole bunch of them stacked in a Tetra or two would be capable of life-altering experiences. The Mopho module is dirt cheap, I might pick one of those up in the near future. (EDIT: Scratch that, the module doesn't have the feedback control. It's keyboard version, Tetra or bust).

I know Monchi-Kun has a Mopho, he can probably contribute more to the conversation.

 

[Chasteleth]

It's been a while since I've posted any music on GAF so here is a big orchestral battle track for a recent game project:

http://soundcloud.com/matthewchastney/the-final-battle

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

It's been a while since I've posted any music on GAF so here is a big orchestral battle track for a recent game project:

http://soundcloud.com/matthewchastney/the-final-battle

Wow, that is really impressive. If you don't mind me asking, what sound library did you use?

 

[Fusebox]

I can 100% confirm this, I'm becoming DSI fan, though I have heard some say that the Moog stuff has a bit more drive to it (though the conversation was mainly about Prophet vs Voyager). I haven't messed around with a Tetra in particular, but I have demoed a Mopho and HOLY SHIT that thing is intense.

The conversation was mainly about monophonic vs polyphonic, and the Mopho is monophonic so would have the same increased headroom as the Moog, only the Tetra is poly and that's the one I was comparing it with.

Its a simple difference to fix by equalizing the gain, but fact is monophonic synths do have the ability to push their 1 voice harder than a poly synth can because it doesn't get summed with 3 other parts at the output stage.

 

[Chasteleth]

Wow, that is really impressive. If you don't mind me asking, what sound library did you use?

Thanks, other than VSL epic horns it is all from the east west symphonic orchestra gold play edition. The library is quite old now but you can get decent results from it. I would really like some newer libraries like LA Scoring Strings of Hollywood Strings but I'm a student with no money

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

The conversation was mainly about monophonic vs polyphonic, and the Mopho is monophonic so would have the same increased headroom as the Moog, only the Tetra is poly and that's the one I was comparing it with.

Its a simple difference to fix by equalizing the gain, but fact is monophonic synths do have the ability to push their 1 voice harder than a poly synth can because it doesn't get summed with 3 other parts at the output stage.

Sure, but you can also set the Tetra to only play one voice, can't you? But if you're really into Moog gear, then just spring for the Moog. It's the kind of stuff people keep forever, it'll be worth it.

Thanks, other than VSL epic horns it is all from the east west symphonic orchestra gold play edition. The library is quite old now but you can get decent results from it. I would really like some newer libraries like LA Scoring Strings of Hollywood Strings but I'm a student with no money

Well keep at it, it's obvious you've got some talent and know how to maintain a decent mix.

 

[Thoraxes]

Anyone know of any free or cheap noise reduction plugins that will work with DP (or a built in plugin I'm not seeing)? I'm editing a friend's recital and there is a nasty hum that really covers a pretty broad spectrum. Trying to pull it out with only EQ is really thinning the vocals. I dont do a lot of audio editing so I'm not that experienced at this sort of thng. The simpler the plugin the better.

I'd assume if you could figure out the frequency of the hum, you could probably make a filter to take it out in DP. I had to take a class last semester making musique concrete using DP6 and Peak Pro, and I remember both being able to filter out the sound, because the room we recorded in had a B-flat that was 18 cents sharp that was a really low hum.

I'm at work right now, so I can't post the audio example, but the question should still be fine.

When working with EQ, anyone have any tips on how to get each voice to speak clearly in each of their ranges without getting too muddy when the volume gets turned up? I can get everything to have the right presence, but it ends up much too muddy sounding and i'm just not satisfied with it at all. Working with Reason 4.0.

I was thinking maybe a low-pass filter on my bass, and a high-pass filter on more of my treble sounds. Right now i'm just working on trying to lighten up the bass but still have it maintain its timbre and sonority.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Really curious for a third opinion.

One group of people says these clips sound like shit. Another group of people says they sound fairly fantastic.

Do these clips sound like shit?

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9111381
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9795132
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10205331
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10228424

Admit, shitty signal chain. The only good things are the guitar and the microphones. I think the mics sound pretty sweet though. What are your thoughts?

 

[out0v0rder]

Does anyone have any links or even books that explain EQ theory or something like that. I'm trying to learn up on what fiddling with these knobs does.

I know that you can apply a high pass filter to reduce bass tones and stuff but thats about it.

 

[ijed]

Does anyone have any links or even books that explain EQ theory or something like that. I'm trying to learn up on what fiddling with these knobs does.

http://www.digitalprosound.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/mixing_excerpt1.htm

http://www.recordingwebsite.com/articles/eqprimer.php

This is a pretty good breakdown of frequency ranges for instruments:
http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

 

[out0v0rder]

oh lordy thanks broseph, or brosephine!

 

[Fusebox]

Sure, but you can also set the Tetra to only play one voice, can't you?

Yep, but unless they do some kind of gain compensation in the box when it switches to monophonic then that one voice still has slightly reduced gain compared to the single voice of the Mopho.

I just spent the last hour going between the Mopho and little phatty at Sam Ash, I definitely want the phatty now but they didn't have the slim in stock.

Edit: just went to Rogues music on 30th and they were sold out too, and the harder it is to find something the more I want it!!

Went back to Sam Ash and bought an analogue synth, ended up choosing a

Spoiler

Korg Monotron!! Lol, best $50 synth ever...

 

[Tr4nce]

So GAF, I was just wondering how the lot of you deal with placing pads and/or strings in your mix, especially when you produce music which has a high BPM, like Trance music or something. With let's say 138 BPM things tend to get drowned easily, because the music is flowing so fast. I'm a sucker for big lushy and spacious pads.

I know a couple of methods, but can't decide which is the best for me. To just have them mono, or double them up, and pan them slightly different to the sides and EQ them differently or treat them differently with FX.

 

[Yasae]

Anyone know of any free or cheap noise reduction plugins that will work with DP (or a built in plugin I'm not seeing)? I'm editing a friend's recital and there is a nasty hum that really covers a pretty broad spectrum. Trying to pull it out with only EQ is really thinning the vocals. I dont do a lot of audio editing so I'm not that experienced at this sort of thng. The simpler the plugin the better.

I would try finding the fundamental, dipping it enough so there's attenuation but not a lot of thinning on the vocals, then feather octaves from there. So if the funamental is at 80 Hz, cut 3dB there (with whatever bandwidth sounds right - probably something narrow) and 2dB at 160, 1 dB at 320 etc.

If there are many fundamentals over a broad range that's hall resonance and sympathetic vibrations. You'll never get rid of them.

 

[Yasae]

So GAF, I was just wondering how the lot of you deal with placing pads and/or strings in your mix, especially when you produce music which has a high BPM, like Trance music or something. With let's say 138 BPM things tend to get drowned easily, because the music is flowing so fast. I'm a sucker for big lushy and spacious pads.

I know a couple of methods, but can't decide which is the best for me. To just have them mono, or double them up, and pan them slightly different to the sides and EQ them differently or treat them differently with FX.

Flanged with a high enough depth setting to disguise the high end cancellation you'd get with a low delay setting (a high delay setting sounds too chorusy/slapback-esque and thin.) That's essentially a bunch of time-modulated delays creating cancellations all over the stereo image, so it helps widen and create movement at the same time.

For strings I'd just automate like crazy and create middle, left, and right mono verbs to mimic a Decca Tree configuration.

 

[Fusebox]

Went back and played with the Mopho and the Phatty some more today, still thought the Phatty sounded better, decided to give the Tetra a spin, added the second voice, detuned a little - holy shit! Fat bass, rich pads, universal power supply. Bought it! Can't wait to run it through the Monotron I picked up yesterday.

Btw Trance, I'd sidechain the pads really mildly so they duck a bit on the kick, that's another good way to create more space in the mix for them.

 

[Tr4nce]

Thanks for the answers GAF.

So GAF, can anyone answer this?


So, after a hard day of work in Logic Pro today, I noticed that I had inserted a limiter on the master output. So it's not clipping. However, when I 'bypass' the limiter, my master output clips about 5/6 DBFS, although the loudest thing in my mix is -6DBFS, and everything around is mixed to the kick, so the other channels are even LOWER than -6DBFS. What the hell? Do I have to mix all over again? Even quiter? I won't be able to hear it that way. Or can I just lower my master fader by 6DBFS? Thanks for the help!

 

[Apenheul]

It's been almost a year since I've produced any digital music, when I was in a music store last week for some guitar strings I stumbled across the Novation Remote SL Zero MKII which looked incredibly useful so I bought it. I'm still trying to get all the features to work with Propellerhead Record 1.5 (pads won't trigger Kong drums for some reason) so I might have to program the MIDI mappings manually but that's okay.

Btw, here's the first song I made with my cousin in Propellerhead Record: Nosebleed.