hardware is so passé

yup. but that's the thing with academic music... you can put so much thought, research, and work into something, and after all of that, it is hard to be objective about the output. I've seen it a lot...

Everyone did it, you can only be serialist for so long. I'm doing a load of experiments at the moment in taking all the composition out of my hands, but I know I'll always go back to actually sitting there making everything sound good to me.

  On 5/6/2011 at 12:43 AM, Kcinsu said:

but I like what he said, and its something I keep in mind as I write. I like to write using my own rules that I create... and I follow them... UNTIL I come to a point that it just doesn't work for me, and I break my rules.

Good advice.

I think most of my best work came from doing this and not really realizing it. Sometimes I'll even fight it for a while and then just roll with it.

nice to know im not the only one that struggles with setups and inspiration. Guitar people can noodle around for hours in total joy. Is it cause of the ease of using a guitar? The way it wraps around your body?

  On 5/8/2011 at 11:52 AM, Jonas said:

I think you made a mistake going Mac instead of Pc, you could be stepsequencing in Fl studio with gazillion of cracks ;-)

i'm more than catered for for all my step sequencing needs with five12 numerology which is mac only

seriously, it's truly awesome. i'm a big FL fan as you know, but i think numerology tops it for analogue style sequencing and all the goodness that comes from working in that way.

  On 5/8/2011 at 8:58 AM, marf said:

nice to know im not the only one that struggles with setups and inspiration. Guitar people can noodle around for hours in total joy. Is it cause of the ease of using a guitar? The way it wraps around your body?

I think it's a combination of a lot of things, among them the nice feeling of strings / wood reverberating on your body as you play (on acoustic anyway), the way you can endlessly play the same chord progression and make slight changes to your melodies/picking, the fact that the guitar on its own can act as a good self-sufficient instrument to write entire songs on (at any stage of the songwriting process)...etc... on an electric guitar there are different options, but it's still a nice closed environment if you want it to be, and you can get pretty involved in the playing for long stretches of time. In fact, it might the way that playing guitar immerses you into the act (by keeping both hands quite busy, concentrating on movement, often singing at the same time) that lets guitar players get into it like that. The computer, in all it's full glory, often lets us sit back and just passively listen to what we've created instead of making us play it over and over and over with our own hands. i dunno.

I don't have any room for hardware.

Besides my Korg ESX and SP-202. Those are pretty small.

  On 5/5/2011 at 8:43 PM, yek said:

use both!

Fo'sho! Adding in my Tetr4 gives me a way to mess around w/o staring at the screen. Just record everything for later, even the shitty parts, you can always destroy them or whatever to get something interesting :sup:

If a change is what you need, then I say enjoy those VST's and softsynths!

  On 5/6/2011 at 12:34 AM, hahathhat said:

  On 5/5/2011 at 10:31 PM, acidphakist said:

Why you would choose such a rigid dogma in either direction is beyond me.

  Quote

If you have no rules, you will go in every direction at once, and get nowhere. If you have too many rules, you will tie yourself down, and also get nowhere. Create rules that direct your energies toward something you want, then doggedly stick to them. When you reach your goal, and/or a rule starts to feel confining, get rid of it. Make a new rule based on how well previous ones have worked, and where you want to go next. Don’t change the rules too often, lest you wind up going in circles.

http://www.electronicmusing.com/blog/2009/08/why-rules-shouldnt-have-such-a-bad-reputation/

 

i suppose that also means BCM should probably sit down and figure out which software he intends to use and how before diving in.

I could gather from his post that his rule is "don't be so rigidly dogmatic."

i spent the weekend fucking off making a jungle choon in an mpc 1000

and i have to say i forgot how fucking great /fun/easy /musical and deeper sounding it is compared to software

the samples just have more depth -especially drums

i think a mix of both is the deal

  On 5/5/2011 at 8:43 PM, Gocab said:

It's true, after I went all software everything went to shits. Haven't made music in ages.

edit: I also got a kid, a girlfriend, a house and a full time job, but I'm sure that's got nothing to do with it.

It might :D

HAHAA you use software !

your point being?

HAHAA you think I have a point and that I'm not trolling

  On 5/6/2011 at 12:34 AM, hahathhat said:

http://www.electronicmusing.com/blog/2009/08/why-rules-shouldnt-have-such-a-bad-reputation/

this is a cool blog thanks for posting

  On 5/9/2011 at 1:17 PM, schlucharski said:

HAHAA you think I have a point and that I'm not trolling

smart move, dumbass.

  On 5/9/2011 at 1:17 PM, schlucharski said:

HAHAA you think I have a point and that I'm not trolling

Oooh, I get it. You're trolling.

Please don't :)

*boxxy.gif*

General soft- vs hard-ware point:

Hardware is far from dead. Go find a Eurorack modular somewhere and use it for a few minutes... your bank account might not appreciate it but your artistic spirit certainly will.

Software can still kick ass though. Using both in tandem kills.

i'm not saying hardware is dead, thread title is just a joke really....i like hardware! just that i've found i can do more with less by using software (and a controller keyboard) at the moment...i've not got the space for any more gear in any case - i've only got a one bed flat lol. to be honest i think i just like the change of approach and it's inspiring me more than my hardware was.

Yeah totally, I was just making a general kind of point really. Modulars are way too fun and also, used correctly, a very very versatile tool. I definitely have phases of leaping from software-based to hardware-based set-ups though, yet I couldn't live with strictly one or the other. And yeah, space is definitely an issue with hardware.

This might sound stupid given whatever set-up you had/have, but have you had a look at different stands/racks for hardware in order to save space? I've found a few things recently which save desk real-estate so well hehe.

you're right, definitely need to get some racks sorted out - all my rackmount stuff was just sitting on top of each other, i could do with a decent desk too.

  On 5/9/2011 at 10:09 PM, futureimage said:

I've found a few things recently which save desk real-estate so well hehe.

interesting. what's that?

my desk is always so untidy. pisses me right off, and sometimes having to pirch on the end. grrrrrrrrrrr

  On 5/9/2011 at 10:27 PM, sirch said:

  On 5/9/2011 at 10:09 PM, futureimage said:

I've found a few things recently which save desk real-estate so well hehe.

interesting. what's that?

my desk is always so untidy. pisses me right off, and sometimes having to pirch on the end. grrrrrrrrrrr

Finally getting into rack gear meant I was able to rack a lot of stuff up. Built a stand similar to this for my Elektron boxes which saved quite a lot of room too.