Music Apps

NicolA.exe · Post by **NicolA.exe** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:42 am

Avi, nothing to blame about using presets. I too for example use effect-patches from Reasons effect-devices such Scream, Mastering suite (since Reason 3.0) & combinator patches from others. I also use samples from Instruments such Reason Pianos, Hans Zimmer Guitars, Steve Stevens Guitars & many more sample-libaries, which come in handy when i need real accoustic pleasure for the whole or half of the song.

I also like to use Fl-studio, Project5 (as Vsti-host in rewire mode with Reason) but i fail to leave Reason alone.

The next reason why i use Reason even alone without any Vsti-host is, that i want to study deeper into synthesis & u are right...there are alot of vsti such from Arturia that rock but if i all use them in Fl-studio i get Cpu-problems. U know Fl-studio realy needs an freeze track-feature very soon. Of course i could use as workarround Fx-freeze too (an external tool from Fx-Max) but it's not the same workflow...in order to freeze a channel i need always to play the whole song from A-Z before it's done & froozen while when it would be enabled a single click would work. Project 5 has it but i miss plenty features in Project 5 that Fl-studio would offer me. Besides the effect plugins from Cakewalk suck. They ain't that good as from Imageline (Fl-studio makers).

And in Reason everything would be perfekt to me but if there would ne Rewire i couldn't use Reason along with Vsti. When i have a new computer (planned for somewhen during 2008), i will using mostly Arturia synths as i want to master for example the Cs-80 as good as Vangelis did. Or i want to get out complex sequences from the Arp-2600 & Moog Modular like Jean Michel Jarre did for Oxygen & a few other albums during his carear but they cost so much cpu & u know u need more channels & there longer the duriation of the track get's the more it eat's up Cpu. And what i so love on Reason is not only the Cpu-efficency. Nooo,.... it's synths & devices give a easy learn-curve too.

Fl-studio is a good choice anways & totaly recommend aswell not only for it's price & lifetime-updates when u order the online-version (boxed version doesn't give u free lifetime updates!). I don't know how it's with Acid. All i heard that Sony bought the rights for Acid too as they did with Soundforge that i like to use too. I would never like Steinberg Wavelab & i hate people that are so confident only with Cubase or Protools. Both are soo complex & if u don't know 100s shortcuts u end up with a slow workflow. If i ever buy a Mac too i will be sure to get Reason & Logic Audio for Mac as Fl-studio has no Mac-support yet or even never in our live. I don't know buy maybe Live has a Mac-support too as i think of Ableton Live too to be one of my alternatives. Hmmm...there are many other sequencers too for Pc available but none of them is worth enough for me to be in my memory.

Ps: My offer with the water-patch is for ur whole life.

As the lowest Version u need to get Reason 3.0 as for the combinator device. Sorry for my long romans but when i read about music production threads i get very excited.

Post by **Avi** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:43 am

I use Sound Forge also. I have a copy of Wavelab that comes in handy now and then, and another copy of Pro Tools that just collects dust. After evaluating Pro Tools for a few weeks, I decided that it's not worth the time to learn to use it. I would actually have to work MORE to compose in Pro Tools using my writing methods. I have a ton of programs that I don't even use. After a few years of figuring out what I like, I have weeded out the unnecessary apps to make room for the stuff that I do find useful.

For those that don't know, Rebirth is now freeware. It's a cool little drum/synth machine that can create some retro sounds (the Roland 303 and 909, mainly...but you can find add-ons that offer completely original sounds). It has enough knobs and buttons to satisfy any synth addict, and can be a lot of fun just to mess with. To download it, register at the Rebirth Museum site:

http://www.rebirthmuseum.com/

NicolA.exe · Post by **NicolA.exe** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 2:58 pm

Yes that is true...the Rebirth is a death one (i guess since almost 2 years) but it still has an activ fan-community surrounded & it was Propellerheads very first step into the vsti/sequener-sector. The hardware manufactor liked & then honored Propellerhead for their detailed emulation of their legendary bass & drumsynths. Steinberg only managed & puplished it back then in 1997. So all the honor belongs to guys from Sweden & Germany. Rebirth still is a useful one. U can rewire it with Reason (Rebirth Input-machine). Rebirth then turns to rewire-master & Reason to slave. However the workflow with Rebirth might be troublesome when u don't like much the basic of pattern-sequence. It's similar to Fl-studio & every knob & button can be emulated.

By connecting with Reason not only the loudness can be enhanced. I could name many advantages why it's useful to use Rebirth together with Reason but it might be too boring to read for the general stuff.

I suppose Avi will love to use the bright skins from Rebirth. The community was very busy & kept doing skinmods that not only contained a repainted skin as also a new soundpreset aswell. Rebirth will come handy for all those DrumNBass, Tekkno, Ambient, Dance & Electro bastards. Meanwhile there are several Vsti-alternatives such http://www.audiorealism.se/abl/abl2_announcement.htm & http://www.d16.pl/index.php?menu=10

That might be good news for those who don't want Rebirth together with Reason instead inside any other Daw (Vsti/host).

Post by **Avi** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 3:43 pm

Yeah, I'm drooling over that screenshot...all of those different looking interfaces! I love the look of Reason, and if I keep talking about it I'll end caving in and getting it sooner than later. Even if I use it only to supplement my current setup, it might open a few doors that I didn't notice before.

NicolA.exe · Post by **NicolA.exe** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:49 am

Yes allthough it's a screen about Reason 3.0, u should get Reason 4 as for the Regroove-mixer i explaint, Thor (which also has a sequencer inside himselves, comes also handy for drumsynth sounds to be triggered/played) & the sequencer of Reason now is a "real" sequencer from the very first time in the History of Propellerhead Software. I just say maaany improvemets but why don't u discover it by urself.

For u Reason could be interesting too & i know it looks so hard to learn but in real it's easier as u think. When i first took Reason 1.0 i thought kinda what the heck do they want me to go thru. U know i even didn't had much expierence with studio devices & all of sudden i got confrontated with it virtually. Over 5 years have passed & i didn't regreat to have touched this software rather more i praise myself i haven't got too impressed by the complex look of the devices which made me first very dizzy u know. As i said before u don't need to go away from Acid if this is indeed THE workflow meaning for u but it couldn't hurt to rewire with Reason. I'm sure Acid is a rewire partner with Propellerhead too.

Okeyyyy TronFaq will put handson Fl-studio 7, Xistence for sure keeps his Ableton Live Fethismn. What about the others ? What musicprogramm are u gonna to pick or have studied/used sofar ?

Post by **Avi** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:10 am

Unfortunately, the majority of my musical knowledge lies in music theory and composition. I'm not as technically proficient as I would like to be when it comes to programming software, but I'm at a level that I'm comfortable with and I'm able to express myself properly through my music. I know more about minor chord progressions than MIDI, more about harmonic theory than low frequency oscillators.

I agree, we need more people involved in this dialogue. How about a Tron open source music project involving everyone available in the community?

When Daddyo announced the Tron Music Contest on Tron-Sector, I wrote to Wendy Carlos to see if she would mind either judging the contest (since all of the works submitted will be influenced by her work with the movie in some way), or at least drop by the forum and wish good luck to everyone involved. I got a reply e-mail saying that she was just too busy to participate in such a thing. Bah humbug. Unfortunately, no one at Tron-Sector cared about the contest or the different submissins. Daddyo had a hilarious one that combined Tron with Little Shop Of Horrors. It had me rolling on the floor.

Post by **xistence** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:53 am

...Xistence for sure keeps his Ableton Live Fethismn...

I definitely have no fetishism about Ableton tho it is a cool app. I used several programs if i got time to make music. But i didn't had time for that for a long time so i'm completely out of date about that.

NicolA.exe · Post by **NicolA.exe** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:20 am

@Xistence:

Yes i know u spend alot of time into a different path as for example me or Avi but we all have the similar desire as we have much creativty inside us & so therefore it has to be released as positiv engergy which at the end will transform into a product such graphic, a game or music

the inner world of an artist.

I admire ur skills as graphic designer. I too could draw well but u know...Chris Huelsbeck & Jean Michel Jarre (to name just a few examples of musicans that always inspired me) initialized in me the music virus which is the reason why my path went differently as my parents & friends thought from the beginning. My brother still is angry at me for the reason he doesn't have skills for drawing while i do have but i don't use it anymore. Or at least for little bit Webdesign & Cover work sometimes.

@Avi

Do u too have a homepage or an account with a list of some music u composed ? Mine can be found within my profil but don't expect to hear music u would like nor finished works. I have too many unfinished material on my harddisc that need my attention but my reallife is like a rollercoaster atm plus i lost some data due a harddisc crash for an ambient album that i wanted to finish this year. I didn't lost everything but i need to redo alot of tracks again from the most i only have older backups. I know my bad but what happend did happen. To endlessly angry about misfortune doesn't help.

Well let's see what Jademz decided to use. He told me he would love to spend some time as hobby musican too but he still couldn't decide for the right music programm. Maybe he will record evreything by hardware ? From 9volt i know he likes Reason too. Maybe he still uses Reason when he has time for music again. Finaly...i remember a guy named Soze who also was into Acid like u Avi. But this is long time ago....somewhen in 2004.

Post by **Avi** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:27 am

I have some unfinished songs on Acidplanet still (dating from 2004 to late 2005, I think) that represent what I was doing back in that time frame. Most of it is in the demo stages, and before I finished any of them, I'd find something else to get involved with and not look back. The next wave of songs will be completely different and not rooted as deeply in Drum and Bass.

Here's the link:
www.acidplanet.com/nounverber

Here's some orchestral stuff that I was doing earlier this year:
www.myspace.com/dsnola

NicolA.exe · Post by **NicolA.exe** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 3:14 am

@Avi

By having browsed thru almost all songs in both musical catalogs i must admit that i got surprised because i didn't expected someone within the tron-community to have such composing skills & a taste for a wide range of facets that music offers us. Usually most musicans tend to be strict with one style & even don't dare to develop & merge with other styles to get something unique in combination. For example u love to merge electronic with classic elements which reminds me to Jean Michel Jarres Metamorphoses, Chronologie & Rendezvous. I think if u haven't been singed sofar with a bigger label (what i don't know right now) then i'm sure it will happen one day when u keep ur desire for music as done sofar. No doubt.

I also was visiting Anna Rice Website & again i was pleased that we have more female composers on this planet as already we might know. The problem is that female writers always get lesser credit & media echos as males. This is why we know a $h!t about them. About the drumNbass of u...i was satisfied there too as u know to keep up attention with variety of effects & patterns which is hard to accomplish on minimalistic fields. For real minimal fans it shouldn't be too much while for spoiled listerns to bring some variation in style is indeed very risky. But in other hand we all artists can't satisfy everyone. That is impossible. So for my sake i have decided to satisfy ME first. Because when i think of ME first i think of God & Life & if believe so then the music turns into positiv energy that at the end hopefully recieves to alot of humans. This my main focus how do handle this & i guess u think similar like me allthough i know we used to be opponents on the gamegrid.

Well sometimes things turn out as wrong illussions & therefore surprises may happen after a deeper investigation.

My question...for all ur songs...such for the DrumNBass & the Classic Musican in u...u have used Acid thru all these periods sofar ? If yes then it realy must be a flexible software allthough the interface doesn't give a BIG hit impression if u know what i mean. To be honest i was lucky sofar as i always tend to eat with the eyes before i'm sure if the programm is realy something for me. So it was with Fl-studio. Even in the old skook Fruity Loops (which looked like a military drummachine) i was impressed by it's funny but well-sorted Gui. With Reason i got an orgasmic alike feelin due the devices that look pretty realistic. Back then i didn't knew they sound as sexy as they look too what i of course know it NOW after all these years.

And Project 5 as also Live have a more simple look but both programs look pretty in their own too. I think one day i will give Ableton Live a real chance aswell. Maybe then i will forget about Cakewalk's Project 5. Let's see what the future holds to me.

What i realy would do more is to work with Soundtrackers again. On this sector i would recommend

www.skale.org (if u guyz are experienced Fast Tracker users) & those who have been tracking on Amiga

www.renoise.com. Meanwhile u can also record live performances with trackers. Back in time it was too hard due latency issues. U know it means fun to go back to the roots by revisting good old basics & as my very first tryings happend with Soundtrackers it would be nice to do the one or the other song with a tracker software again. Unfortunately Renoise doesn't support Freeze nor Rewire. This is why i can't use for example Renoise. If at least it would contain a freeze feature i could use some of my fav vsti with no troubles by lack of CPU power but if it would contain rewire too it would be extremly perfect for me.

Post by **Avi** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 7:25 am

Thanks for taking the time to listen to my music, Nicola. My classical influences come from playing those types of instruments since I was very young, and I try to combine it with the styles of music that I discovered along the way. Unfortunately, a really big influence of mine (avant garde jazz) isn't represented anywhere on those websites, but I'm currently working on that project and I should start posting the results of my work early next year.

I pretty much used Acid in all of those songs. I first start off with coming up with an idea on the guitar or bass, then write it in FL Studio using the Piano Roll feature. Then, I figure out the harmonies and incidental pieces that I want to incorporate into the song. As I work, I am continuously exporting pieces as WAV files into a folder reserved for all of the parts of that particular project. Then, I open ACID and start composing. I figure out an appropriate intro and lead it into the first main section. As I'm doing this, I'll begin to "hear" other parts in my head that I want to put in the song, so I go back to FL and write them out. I keep FL and ACID open so I can just ALT+TAB between them. It makes getting the ideas down a lot more intuitive to just bounce back and forth between both interfaces.

And as a note to anyone reading that is interested in getting FL Studio: Don't rely on the samples that come with the program. The drums are pretty generic, and as soon as you post a song up using them people will say "Oh, you use FL Studio?". That's how bad they are. There are tons of sites out there that offer free high quality samples. Don't let the program dictate your sound. Personally, I like to take a song that has great drums and use programs like Sound Forge or Wavelab to snip the hits out that I want. Some of my craziest beats include samples by the Beatles and Stevie Wonder!

NicolA.exe · Post by **NicolA.exe** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:45 pm

Well i have lesser influcience from the 70s allthough i like that blind guy very much as also alot others such Pink Floyd, Beegees, Queen, Jimi Hendrix etc... The most inspiritions i feel from the corner JMJ, Vangelis, Steve Roach & Chris Huelsbeck. I have plenty other artists to mention but i only named the most important for the electro/ambient/synthesizer & rock corner. For Jazz i love to listen to Charly Parker, Nina Simone, Prince & many more. So this is why i also would have some Electrojazz tracks in my sleeves. Then after Jazz it ends for me with Classic. I have so many composers from the 18th century i admire fore their master pieces. It's not only Strauss, Schubert, Hadyn or Mozart if u thought i only would name famous artists from Austria.

I also like Beethoven, Smetana & Vivaldi. So as u see my taste of music is completely weird....it's like i would be a half grandma & half young girl. I of course like flim & modern videogamemusic aswell allthough the good old retro sound is waht i miss & enjoyed on Amiga, Sega & Snes back in time (80s).

Of course i like to discover uknown work by talented artists. U too know very well that famous artists mostly even not have the same skills or at least freedom like us. So i no more listening to mainstream music / charts since i guess before millenium (2000). There is no more real quality on the mainstream stations to catch. So u could find me hunting for new sounds thru shoutcast via winamp. For example...Steve Roach is not well known for the general folks because they don't know where to discover the true treasers. And thanks to some ambient station i could find Steve Roach too & i'm so pleased with his work. I have collected then his entire work beginning from Structure of Silence (early 80s). He is the only one i know to handle that perfectly with organic ambient/shaman music. I so would love to meet him personaly to contribute on one of his future projects.

The way i record is all by ears. I can't read notes. My sharp ears just became in their way they are today thanks to alot of praxis & trying. Ok i admit to have some talent from the birth on but i wasn't born as a genius fromt he beginning such Mozart if u know what i mean. I too create first a certain pattern. Depending on style...when i would write a classical score i would start with strings or the piano while on the ambient sector i first seek for the noises to help the listener easily getting imagations. It's like i would want to tell the listener a story about a certain place & he/she would be free to imagine what they want. So therefore our workstyle might be similar. The only difference is that i even don't care what people say because i don't make music for profit. I make music because i see in me like music monk. And if need samples from singers or such....for example the Reason Drumkits...then i use it with no hesitation when it feets too perfectly for the song. My song is my child & i'm the mother & father of my creations. Besides there are so many options to reuse old loops, drumsounds that are comercial & wellknown such from Propellerhead or Zero G, Ni etc... thanks to effect devices u anyways get the individuality.

Ok i should stop writing before it gets too long.

Post by **Avi** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 2:50 pm

I listened to a few of your tracks also...the Piano Suite and the first Amiga track so far. I might take a stab at taking some of your songs and splicing them together to make a sort of remix of the different textures that you have on your site. I did it before with this producer called Dshoka (it's on my Acidplanet site), and it came out pretty good. If I give it a try, it wouldn't be until after the holidays. It may seem pretty bold of me to assume that you would allow me to alter your songs in the first place, but something tells me you won't mind at all.

NicolA.exe · Post by **NicolA.exe** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:26 am

Normaly i would be open-minded for such an idea u came up already but there are 2 important things that make me sound such a prudish one when i explain them in that matter. The first problem is that some tracks such pianosuite aren't finished yet & u never know when a basic construct might come useful for a future project. Of course in that case i better shouldn't have released them on my homepage but my statements within the website are hopefully clear enough to the people who had or will have similar ideas like u.

It's kind of a honor when other artists, who like to remix, ask me if they may use certain parts of my songs for a remix but i won't to risk because there is too much losing or damage of the quality & mp3 brings some limiation for certain frequencies/sonics, therefore the overall quality of the sound get's such tread down. Plus it alot depends when u bring together parts that came from an equal technical place. For example pianosuite was recorded almost 3 years ago with the standard technology from today as 16bit, 44khz & more channels while my Amiga-tracks came to life when we had 8bit, 22khz & just 4 channels "basicaly". Even some samples of mine such voice singing phrases (male & female parts) were done a little bit too clumbsy & overmodulated (Crazy Flair & Cool Days). U know when u start the first time u make alot of more misstakes. By time u improve thanks to ur errors & if u accept the nature then u also know there is no perfect song or quality possible.

But in that case i don't want to risk to melt old with new elements. I hope u don't missunderstand me. I realy wouldn't care & agree to remix ideas. If we would speak about equal soundquality plus finished tracks that have been released on an album & so therefore belong "fix" to a certain soundproject then i realy wouldn't have any problems with it, when people grab at my tracks to remix one or even to melt them together to a new soundscape aslong as they don't make profit form it & respect the credit u know. I'm sure u understand my concern about the complete matter. If u are patient....2008 (this time i will buy more harddiscs to prevent a big lose of soundmaterial

) will the year of my first album. And as the skyline from DM-03 calls me to dig into a weird "ambient" soundscape i might decide soon to start the work of an album that could be interesting for Tron Fans too but won't contain the title "tron" in any aspect. That's not just a clever idea to prevent me for legal problems with BVG. I also think about people who love abstract....surreal soundscapes but wouldn't know Tron at all....therefore i would prefer to make something universal that would suit for both sides... Tronfans & Non-Tron-knowers. Guyz from this community shouldn't fear....the content of each track won't belong to the gamegrid drama nor about the movie or a certain programm or even myself. It will just reflect how i would feel or hear the soundcurrent inside a computer....a world of digitized pieces, structures of data floating everywhere within this digital system or however u would name it.

Post by **Avi** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:06 am

That's all cool with me. We'll talk about it sometime next year then. It might be better for me to clear my current projects and get them out of the way before I start a new one.