ceephax The classic sounds of synths and drum machines

So, once upon a time, a time where i couldnt stand the sound of 808s,909's,707's,any form of vintage synth patches etc. I associated them with homemade tracks. These were always the sounds that u would hear when someone had just started out making tunes. The cheap sounding jingles that were amatuer. Then RDJ started using a lot more after that period where he was using more unregonisable sounds in track.

Now it seems i cant get enough of them, as long as they are used right, because if theyre not they start sounding like cheap jingles again. If it were not for the artists such as squarepusher, ceephax, afx... etc would they be so popular? This isnt another why do people hate vst's thread but I know that vst's wouldnt get the same stigmas against them if they werent. When DAW's and software began to advance u were quite content using them 4 what they were. But now they have just become a new platform for old sounds.

We have read or remember that the 707 and mc 202 were the cheap mans 303/909 but people are getting hold of these pieces of gear and thats what they have become, the music sounds cheap sometimes, not all of it but, the gear isnt being used in the right way, to make it sound good.

Anyway, why have u got the vintage bug? Is it the RDJ or do u have a cooler reason for it? Do have certain way of making these sounds, sound fresh?

i do a lot of work with audio. often i just load sampled roland noises in and do things with the audio... fades reverses shifts whatever, and i get something that has the sound but dynamics, timing, whatever the original box would never give you (cymbals like the ocean!!).

so that shakes things up a bit.

from what you said, though, sounds psychological -- since we all use laptops it only sounds like old roland if we WANT it to, however back in the day, people would use that sound just because it was just the first step in learning, smacked of amateur...

amateur schmamateur.

good musics is good musics, made by banging a pot lid, or with banks of va nords.

of course, people only use old kit now because of rdj.

Edit: Ta

  hahathhat said:

from what you said, though, sounds psychological --

Yeah definatley a psychological thing going. There are good ways and bad ways of using certain sounds, which is what has got me back into them again.

did you ever try rebirth? it was a standalone softsynth with 2 303's, 808, and a 909. thats how i first heard of the roland gear and i really liked it. on a beastie boys rap song they gave a shout out to 808 so i was like yeah gotta get one of those. roland gear was a big deal used on hip hop and techno etc. aphex twin didnt invent that lol. read the rephlex manifesto, they made a big deal that they dont want to abuse presets so much. there was an article on ceephax by piers martin in NME magazine and after reading that i wanted to check it out. turned out to be wicked stuff, loved it. tried making some threads on jourex.com messageboard and most people said it's shit. later i got into drexciya a bit and that stuff is boss as fuck.

(lol stating the obvious):

there was ppl big on roland before analord

analogue vs digital is a big debate in audio/recording circles since years ago

analord uses digital gear too, which some dont seem to realise (electronics=analogue + digital circuits)

high quality 180gram vinyl, recording on tape, and lush packaging are old skool things there were soul groups with that kind of packaging in a nice box. theres a band called shellac that does beautiful vinyl and spend a lot of time on box packaging. aphex did his box set for analord and people came out saying ripoff and ebay fodder. it's a shame cos i thought aphex is rich so he could have given a cheap priced but lovely packaging and done more of them for people to have a nice case for the analord set. i wish every aphex release came on 180gram and gorgeous box packaging at a reasonable price. it's the biggest two fingers to mp3 downloads possible, and it leaves a great package that you can leave to your grandkids.

aphex influence me a lot hes a legend, but credit where it's due, ceephax was the one doing tape and vinyl only and showing what great music was possible in a real studio, he was pushing things in a wicked direction even though not many cared at the time.

basically the reality was "i.d.m." was the genre of flashbulb and cex on a laptop. softsynths were running music and all the music coming out fo that was shit. ceephax lit a torch like "doodz, heres the escape tunnel of this bullshits" and a few years later aphex decided to pick up his torch too cos he was in a different cave with a lot more trapped ppl trapped in the "I.D.M bullshit laptop flashbulb cave" :-D

so yea its a good thing, dont be ashamed of following analord cos the whole point is music to go back to electronics, real studios, tapes, high quality vinyl, dance music, also "i.d.m" must die because it is evil shit name. aphex is good but who wants to rely on 1 or 2 people to make all the good music, it time for others to work hard and make fun choonz with a great methodology as well

I love the stuff RDJ and Ceephax have done with classic vintage sounds however I feel they can't go on with this sound forever as the hardware used is very limited however Autechre still have miles to go with the kit they use.

Thats some first class posting rite there. Im not daft enough to say only rdj used these machines, and the only one to use them lots obviously. Nor is it his music that brought them to my attention. All though a lover of electronic music for many years i never got in to aphex props untill about 5 years ago.When i first heard drukqs i thought he was a producer that loved to use the sounds of fruity loops and rebirth. I really didnt know anything about him or what he used to make music (a much better thing i reckon). When the analord series started i couldnt take it seriously because i thought he was just using FL and rebirth. I couldnt understand what the fuss was about, im thinking this guy is doing everything i hated at that time. But a few years later i changed my mind, i listened to it and looked in to what it was all about, and it completely changed my opinion about certain sounds as ive said.

Technonica is a genre that often focuses on the technology where as hip hop (crunk baby) uses all these sounds alot but no body really cares because the focus is on the messages which is why im not really into it.

And i wont disagree about ceephax, i love him playing live, the essence and joy he brings out of the machines is truly inspiring. And he clearly was doing it all pre analord.

But yeah (to sound wave) the sounds cant go on forever, but if people give them time to relax, leave the sounds they will be revived in a few years again and suddenly sound fresh again. And that is what aphex has done for them at least for me.Its been like a history lesson (self investigated).

it's definitely a popularity thing with analog. ever since boards of canada became popular (on the forum) i remember analog being discussed

most people think that hardware has a nicer sound but you don't need a 202 or 303 to do great stuff. you can just get a cheap keyboard, or something not so trendy and make music with that and it will sound good if done right.

there is truth to the argument that some software packages sound thin

i think that's silly, i never use sounds because they're popular. if anything this thread is making me rethink using 808/909 sounds (thanks... i think)!

really now, i listen to all the new releases from afx ceephax whatever, i hear all these roland noises. i sit down to write a track myself, roland noises are still going around the ol' donut and so i load some up. it's not even something i'm conscious of, or was.

now, i'm thinking i should make all my percussion using fragments of smashed up Clark CDs. pop pop crunch as they snap! whumpa as they shake in a box. crunchYEOOWWW as i record myself walking across them

  David R James said:

If it were not for the artists such as squarepusher, ceephax, afx... etc would they be so popular?

*buries head in hands*

Do yourself a favour and watch this great documentary called "Pump Up The Volume" which is all about the origins of house, techno, the origins of all the stuff we listen to nowadays really. The 303, 808, 909 etc were already made popular years before the above artists started using them. The 909 and 707 were *the* sound of Chi Town house. The 808 was on almost every old school New York hip-hop track made between 84 - 90. Another popular one you missed out was the Yamaha DX7, Derrick May and co used this one all over the place too.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8...87716&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=43...15514&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8...12417&hl=en

  skkatter said:

  David R James said:

If it were not for the artists such as squarepusher, ceephax, afx... etc would they be so popular?

 

*buries head in hands*

 

Do yourself a favour and watch this great documentary called "Pump Up The Volume" which is all about the origins of house, techno, the origins of all the stuff we listen to nowadays really. The 303, 808, 909 etc were already made popular years before the above artists started using them. The 909 and 707 were *the* sound of Chi Town house. The 808 was on almost every old school New York hip-hop track made between 84 - 90. Another popular one you missed out was the Yamaha DX7, Derrick May and co used this one all over the place too.

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8...87716&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=43...15514&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8...12417&hl=en

Please leave ur head buried thanks. It is in context with this forum, and some people got into these things because of certain artists. U cant tell me that people would of loved to own these machines if it wast for some of these artist i have said. I have stated that it wasnt squarepusher, ceephax, afx that brought them to my attention, ive have been buying records since the early 90's with theses machines but then i didnt care about the machines because i was into music not production. But from then on most artist moved away from them and made something new and so did my taste. Thus when people started using them in 'technonica' in recent years i couldnt understand it, didnt like it, but slowley i developed a new found love 4 them.

It doesn't matter what "context" you try to place your question in. The Roland machines mentioned have been popular since the dawn of house and techno, have continued to be popular since then and are still popular, and would still be just as popular even if the artists you mention never existed. Perhaps not as popular with you personally though.

u are naive if u think that what i have said doesnt have any truth in it. Some people wouldnt care less about them or know alot about them if they werent in to these artist, and from there they have got in to other artist perhaps like drexciya, juan, or LFO. it is a fact. Yeah there will be people who will want these machines because of other artists or historical reasons, but they arent who im talking, thats what u are talking about, which is why there is a 'context'.

If someone posted that they loved the 808 since they got one in the 80's and loved it ever since then that would be fine, but u are just trying pick away at things because u think u know everything about the history if techno and u clearly do.

I can't stand 909, after a full decade of techno I've had enough with that shit.

Thats how i felt for years. But im enjoying it now. I will fucking hate it again tho.

  David R James said:

So, once upon a time, a time where i couldnt stand the sound of 808s,909's,707's,any form of vintage synth patches etc. I associated them with homemade tracks. These were always the sounds that u would hear when someone had just started out making tunes. The cheap sounding jingles that were amatuer. Then RDJ started using a lot more after that period where he was using more unregonisable sounds in track.

Now it seems i cant get enough of them, as long as they are used right, because if theyre not they start sounding like cheap jingles again. If it were not for the artists such as squarepusher, ceephax, afx... etc would they be so popular? This isnt another why do people hate vst's thread but I know that vst's wouldnt get the same stigmas against them if they werent. When DAW's and software began to advance u were quite content using them 4 what they were. But now they have just become a new platform for old sounds.

We have read or remember that the 707 and mc 202 were the cheap mans 303/909 but people are getting hold of these pieces of gear and thats what they have become, the music sounds cheap sometimes, not all of it but, the gear isnt being used in the right way, to make it sound good.

Anyway, why have u got the vintage bug? Is it the RDJ or do u have a cooler reason for it? Do have certain way of making these sounds, sound fresh?

haha you are talking total shit in this entire post

it's as if you know... completely nothing about the history of electronic music

brilliant!!!!

congratulations, funniest post i've read since i joined here, although some of the replies in this thread are priceless

Love the roland vintage drum machine sounds but I don't like that repetitive detroit techno crap tbh, probably because I'm not old enough

  emef said:

  David R James said:

So, once upon a time, a time where i couldnt stand the sound of 808s,909's,707's,any form of vintage synth patches etc. I associated them with homemade tracks. These were always the sounds that u would hear when someone had just started out making tunes. The cheap sounding jingles that were amatuer. Then RDJ started using a lot more after that period where he was using more unregonisable sounds in track.

Now it seems i cant get enough of them, as long as they are used right, because if theyre not they start sounding like cheap jingles again. If it were not for the artists such as squarepusher, ceephax, afx... etc would they be so popular? This isnt another why do people hate vst's thread but I know that vst's wouldnt get the same stigmas against them if they werent. When DAW's and software began to advance u were quite content using them 4 what they were. But now they have just become a new platform for old sounds.

We have read or remember that the 707 and mc 202 were the cheap mans 303/909 but people are getting hold of these pieces of gear and thats what they have become, the music sounds cheap sometimes, not all of it but, the gear isnt being used in the right way, to make it sound good.

Anyway, why have u got the vintage bug? Is it the RDJ or do u have a cooler reason for it? Do have certain way of making these sounds, sound fresh?

 

haha you are talking total shit in this entire post

it's as if you know... completely nothing about the history of electronic music

brilliant!!!!

congratulations, funniest post i've read since i joined here, although some of the replies in this thread are priceless

I wouldnt of written this if i didnt know what i was talking about, i probably know alot more than you. please feel free to fuck off, as u obviously dont understand my point. The gx1 is a prime example of something that alot of people on this forum would not know about for the reasons i have said, and as i have said many other machine have been brought to the attention of other people because of certain artists. I would like u to tell me what u think i dont know? Bye now

ok ya caught me out, you know what you're talkin about (probly)

i just got some basic proplarr reason knowledge and it went to me head

you're the yammy doo daaah and no mistake innit

i dont understand your point

but i guess you could explain it more

before i fuck off

at your request :wink2:

Ok i will explain it more.

Before anyone else has a go this is basically what i mean again. So many people get hold of a copy of fruity wotsits or reasonable or what ever, and make tracks with bad preset synth patches with 808 samples in, it happens more often than not. That is what i mean by tracks sounding shit and amateur its almost like a prototype for early tracks, and alot of people have started using these sound because of certain artist, and then carry on using them so tracks never sound that great. lets look into the name of this forum shall we? My post is context with this forum, we are all fans of the artists on this forum, we are influenced etc, and it is a fact. Thats why i didnt rite oh what 80s or 90s dance act got u into the 808 or 909, or 303.

Anyway, i went of the 808,909, 303 etc in the mid 90's because they were always being used in tracks and as artist moved away from theses things so did i. When i started getting into rdj he made these sound work for me again as ive said. I never cared about the machines b4 then, but in the last few years i did and started looking up the history of the machines. Im sure im not the only one. To back this up ive said the gx1, and if alot of people are honest they would of never heard of one i know i didnt b4 gx1 solo.

shapoopie!

great thread. Rare one of substance.