Tunes, jams & noodles

*taps microphone* It's been a few years since I posted music actively. I've dallied with different setups and it's starting to come together, but having the right inspiration is probably a bigger deal. Some difference in workflow and my focus is on a more H/W-centric jammy process (looks like I'm not alone in that shift). The dream of going DAWless is alive but multitracking is so handy. The loudness war was apparently won (hooray) and dynamic range is a good thing. I try to refrain from excessive fiddling. Other than that, just having fun and laying grooves down. Expect a varied output as usual! 

Immediately dig, the opening pad on the first one is lushh. Love those fluffy cloud-like pads. It turns into a real farkin groove

Second one is minimal beauty

I kind of feel you on the whole DAW thing, I'm trying to move away from it but I end up using one again and again just because it is so fucking useful that it feels stupid not to.

Bell Workout is fucking nice once it gets going. Glad I stuck with it because the beginning did put me off. Fucking lush. 

I love the atmosphere of Bell Workout !! My ears say thank you for your sound

Thanks for the comments & likes y'all!

Live jam that ended up as an ominous drone right out of 70's Sci fi. Maybe someone's cup of tea.

This wistful little tune has been laying around for a while as I sorted my setup out and it was time to wrap it up.

  On 7/6/2020 at 11:27 AM, Stickfigger said:

Crystal Rain is a nice track man; do you post to any hardware facebook groups?

Thanks! No, should I? Any one you can recommend? I talk shop on gearslutz on occasion but gear-obsessed crowds and their studios can be intimidating. 

bell workout wow

New track

Love the part around 35 secs of Bell Workout. Pure funk

New shit! Working on longer Digitakt compositions typically nets you weird little patterns from late-night experimentation, that take completely different directions from the parent project. They usually don't survive the various clean-up purges a DT is subjected to, but I managed to breathe life into this lazy dub jam.

Funky joint!

  On 11/27/2020 at 12:44 PM, chim said:

Funky joint!

 

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Yeah definitely funky, very laid back. It feels like it properly starts around the 1 minute mark, I really like the rubbery bass that comes in around then. I feel like it maybe takes a bit too long to get there, and overall it's perhaps a little longer than it needs to be. At the same time, music like this lends itself well to longer, hypnotic grooves so it's a tricky balance to strike...

This turned into quite the whopper! Not a lot of free time so it took months to finish. The song structure grew at an early stage and rather than kill any darlings, I took it as a challenge... Very happy with how it turned out. 

I'm pro big-long-song. The parts feel like they lead to the next nicely, almost like a dj set but spinning your own material. Liking the section around 10:00

One thing to maybe consider, it'd be nice to have a bit more atmosphere in the track, it's good you didnt go overboard with reverb but you could also go a little more wet. 

Good job 

In the middle of a move, sold a bunch of gear, no time to make music due to work, yadayada. I was thinking up song ideas based on an old riff and remembered a delay-heavy house organ patch I played around with on a microkorg way back, probably 15 years ago, with a vocoder line. I also stole the idea from Kavinsky to combine a whisper with the vocoder patch, but the execution turned out different... Beefing up cheesetastic CR78 drums with a 1176 was really fun.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane. Figured I could consolidate some old releases, thia is my thread after all.

If there's one track I've made that's worth listening to, this is the one. This SC link is just a repost, the track was made in 2014 and was loved by a lot of people, from label owners to 4chan: 

Made this collab with another WATMMer:

Another WATMMer remix:

My contribution to a MSF charity comp of my making. 

In the 2000's, Drill was an acronym for Drill & Bass, not for aggressive UK drug dealer music. We're far enough into the future so that's switched, but here are two releases from that period, my most prolific one. 

https://idiotisterecords.bandcamp.com/album/xenocrates-fat-guys-with-cigarettes

I'm especially proud of this, part of the Project 168 challenge (make an EP in one week):

https://idiotisterecords.bandcamp.com/album/xenocrates-idiotiste

In the period afterwards, I made this dubstep-centric album. 

https://sharee.bandcamp.com/album/life-macro

My favorite track from that album: 

https://sharee.bandcamp.com/track/same-ol-halfstep

A live set from 2008:

As part of the 432hz challenge on WATMM, I made this track. It was made using only FM8 and tuning every instrument to my own just intonation tuning.

My enormous bossa nova track for the CHATMM space age bachelor pad comp: 

I was commissioned for a video game soundtrack in 2014: 

James Brown meets Autechre! Lots of FFT madness & skirting the sample detecting bots! 

Love Comeback! James Brown somehow works so well as an IDM sample. I think there is something inherently funky about Autechre (and all IDM in general, especially more beat-based tunes...)

  On 11/22/2022 at 9:27 PM, willochill said:

Love Comeback! James Brown somehow works so well as an IDM sample. I think there is something inherently funky about Autechre (and all IDM in general, especially more beat-based tunes...)

Thank you! I agree, it's so easy to make the funk work in an IDM context, It's as if they're inextricably connected. 

  On 6/11/2020 at 5:55 PM, chim said:

*taps microphone* It's been a few years since I posted music actively. I've dallied with different setups and it's starting to come together, but having the right inspiration is probably a bigger deal. Some difference in workflow and my focus is on a more H/W-centric jammy process (looks like I'm not alone in that shift). The dream of going DAWless is alive but multitracking is so handy. The loudness war was apparently won (hooray) and dynamic range is a good thing. I try to refrain from excessive fiddling. Other than that, just having fun and laying grooves down. Expect a varied output as usual! 

 

 

 

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Bell Workout
Thoughts While Listening :

Positive Feedback :

Subjective Criticism :

  On 11/28/2022 at 7:01 PM, End Quote said:

Bell Workout
Thoughts While Listening :

  Reveal hidden contents

START - 0:17 -> oh I very much like this stutter sound
0:20 - 0:34 -> that's a nice way of bringing in the beat
0:45 - 1:10 -> ah, this is why it is called Bell workout ? Very nice detuned sound
1:11 - 1:44 -> nice bassline, the track seems to be progressing quite well
1:45 - 2:09 -> I like the subtle changes to the bass melody here
2:20 - 3:11 -> the delayed plucks I hear sound extremely nice, they mix well with the vibe the bass brings.
3:50 - 4:00-> the snare/perc with some attack I hear sounds nice, I wish I would have heard it earlier in the track as a 'teaser' for this part
4:20 - END -> testing out some new melodies/drum patterns here? They sound nice ; I like the final pluck

Positive Feedback :

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This was a very enjoyable track. There was a decent deal of progression in the track, which is always a good thing. There were clear sections to the track (e.g., the initial play with the stutter sound, followed by the bell sounds, followed by the bass introduction, etc.) which were all 'connected' in a nice way. The track doesn't incline on trying to be too complex, but achieves a similar feel by keeping a simple practice of elements (if that makes any sense.) Each element of the track has its purpose and they appear clear in the 'melodic' spectrum.

Subjective Criticism :

  Reveal hidden contents

If we could turn our attention to mixing, I think this track lacks a little. Each element clearly wants to sit in its own position in the frequency spectrum, but they all seem to overlap in some areas (I should mention I'm listening on some crappy headphones.) Of course if this is just an 'exercise' track, then this comment can be ignored (i.e., it hasn't reached the mixing/mastering stage.) I really really wanted this track to experiment with some FXs (especially delays) on the melodies and bassline. I can hear an improvement in in section-to-section transitions by adding delays, and bringing their wetness from 0 to whatever number sounds good, on the bassline. Going back on mixing, try maybe panning a few things, giving us a clearer space to hear everything! Also, what I would do personally is to increase the Delay/Release on many of the instruments to find a different feel in the track somewhere in the middle. The drums are fine but I think they could experiment a little more in the 'off-beat'. I usually align my kick patterns with the bassline and hi-hats with the other melodies.

 

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Thanks for the sincere listen. Personally feel it's kinda meh, but it was my first track done with the Digitakt, a device which I didn't really connect with. 

FM heaven with my new TX7. Fairly raw single patch, ran into LA-2A, Pultec EQ and Telefunken reel tape. 

  On 1/15/2023 at 5:55 AM, chim said:

FM heaven with my new TX7. Fairly raw single patch, ran into LA-2A, Pultec EQ and Telefunken reel tape. 

 

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Like a real pultec / telefunk ? it sounds nice

  On 1/15/2023 at 8:37 PM, Wunderbar said:

Like a real pultec / telefunk ? it sounds nice

Yes, through the magic of cloud processing! Pultec EQP-1 is pretty amazing at treble boosting...