Do your limitations define your style?

For example, I mostly use the 909 and 808 machines for Buzz because I don't have any drum samples aside from ones I've been using since like '96, crappy 8-bit low-fidelity ones, and I've overused those. As a result most of my tracks use the 808 generator or, more rarely, the 909 emulator because the sounds all "fit" with one another and I can concentrate on composing rather than sample scavening.

Do you have any similar limitations that have embedded themselves into your style?

until just recently i only used free vsts and the renoise demo

  my usernames always really suck said:

Do you have any similar limitations that have embedded themselves into your style?

yes i refuse to use the 808, 909 or 303 or samples of them in my own music

i suck at making/using synths and i rarely do it

95% of the melodic content in my recent tracks is guitar. i guess that's a limitation, right?

nah i can do pretty much anything

or i don't really think about it that way

i have a limited number of tools, but i feel that i can do most everything that i want with them, or at least enough with them that i'll be happy and interested and discovering ways of doing things for a long time

having a limited number of samples isn't really a limitation, so long as you have a means to record and alter samples!

(and any computer with freeware is a means)

I don't know if it does or not. Sometimes limitations are a good thing, in that they force you to be creative with what you have. I only use Reason + Cool Edit too, and a lot of people say that in and of itself is a limitation, but I don't see it that way at all. I can basically do anything I want, which is a lot...

This being said, my main limitation is my sometimes overwhelming lack of motivation. A blank slate can be intimidating at times...

I tend to think my only limitation is time, which I suppose definitely changes the style, but I don't think it's as pronounced as other things that define my style a lot more.

My techniques for using synths and effects have changed over time, but the way I compose is definitely the most noticeable parallel between my tracks, and that defines more than anything else really.

Either way, I think that acknowledging some sort of limitation can create stagnance, which is never good (in my opinion at least). If you realize a limitation that overtakes the style of the music, to me it seems to mean that something needs to change.

This is definitely my opinion only though (I'm not trying to offend anyone here!), as limitations on musical styles is very popular today, a good example being indie rock. You can find 100 bands that all use shit equipment and these limitations to their advantage and on purpose, and people love it even though a lot of it sounds the same, so yeah, whatever floats your boat I guess.

if you have no rules, you will go in every direction at once and get nowhere.

if you always follow rules, you will become narrow and stagnated.

pick some rules and stick with them until they start to feel confining.

  hahathhat said:

if you have no rules, you will go in every direction at once and get nowhere.

if you always follow rules, you will become narrow and stagnated.

pick some rules and stick with them until they start to feel confining.

If you were to compare tracks I've written in Fruity Loops and Logic 8, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

well , I guess it's true what sqp had said.. If you spend a lot of time with any instrument, you start to mutate it.

so limitations are only imaginary imo.

opposite of working with ceartain limitations would be getting lost in thousands of sequencer/vst/machines world and

never really getting into any of them.

Sometimes I force limitations on my setup to achieve certain sounds.

  vodor said:

having a limited number of samples isn't really a limitation, so long as you have a means to record and alter samples!

 

(and any computer with freeware is a means)

I don't actually own a microphone or anything like that, but something I've tried with a little bit of success is extracting percussive-like background sounds from movies and sometimes making them fit into the song.

My ability to actually play instruments is a big limitation, but it keeps a good deal of simplicity to my tracks.

right now im using the excuse of learning a bunch of new host sequencers to limit myself.

I feel like i made some pretty nice tracks in Logic and Ableton while learning the basics

oh and i mostly only use Sound Forge to make my tracks from beginning to end.

yeah I only use audacity's tone generator and effects for 100% of my music. No external sound sources or editing.

I suppose I could say i'm limited by the number of plug-ins my laptop can run and the shortcomings of my sequencer/daw, but I have workarounds to deal with those problems.

most definitely, gotta learn how to work with them as well

i am my only limitation until swine flu hits

my biggest limitation now is having a super crappy computer, which i have to run at 22khz during production to be able to make anything at all.. the end wav result is in 44khz but this usually means my high end suffers somewhat.. i guess that would be part of a style.

also, the low processing power means i have to achieve more with less tools, freeze alot of tracks etc, which has forced me to learn the ins and outs of my most commonly used synths.. also i suppose a finite sample library is a limitation

  Glass Plate said:

yeah I only use audacity's tone generator and effects for 100% of my music. No external sound sources or editing.

Sounds like a fun composition contest waiting to happen.

I'd do it.

  my usernames always really suck said:

  vodor said:

having a limited number of samples isn't really a limitation, so long as you have a means to record and alter samples!

 

(and any computer with freeware is a means)

I don't actually own a microphone or anything like that, but something I've tried with a little bit of success is extracting percussive-like background sounds from movies and sometimes making them fit into the song.

yeah, without a mic, sampling movies works. or other music. i've done that a lot. once i've recorded some interesting stuff, i just work it in soundforge until it sounds like something i want. it's pretty easy to work any sort of short tonal clip into a kick, and any noisy clip into a snare or hat. you mostly just need to shift and bend pitch, maybe do some EQing.

of course, soundforge isn't freeware, but i think something free like audacity can do all of that stuff?

I've done two experiments recently based on limitations. The first one was an album made all with field recording and foley stuff captured on my H2 Zoom. The second was an all synthesized album done on my Virus and Machinedrum.

I think when you limit your direction you get less distracted and have to be more creative working within the limitations you have. It also usually lends itself to a solid workflow.

  Wall Bird said:

  Glass Plate said:

yeah I only use audacity's tone generator and effects for 100% of my music. No external sound sources or editing.

 

Sounds like a fun composition contest waiting to happen.

 

I'd do it.

I know a lot of people who do. (including me)