jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

I forgot how versatile tyrell is, I just don't use it that much since I got the DSI mopho x4. Very similar matrix setup, filter feedback, but less voices. Still, the actual analog synth just sounds bigger and meaner. Everytime I play that thing its like "I'm punching you in the face with sound, bitch!" I have to tame it with compression, a little dimension D and some echo when I want it to be polite:-)

vallhalla should really charge for freq echo, its insanely good at so many things, not just echo

speaking of effects, the iZotope vocal doubler is the bomb too

I just got arturia's EMT plate and it sounds damned good to me

there are a number of oldies but goodies I really like for analog ITB and as long as you don't care about powerful bass (or you're slick enough to doctor up some thick bass) they can go toe to toe with hardware in the mix. here's my go to plugz for fake analog:

blaukraut charlatan... very analog sounding. Bright and tight like my Dave Smith mopho. Sounds more convincing in DCO mode.

TAL U-no (reeware version)and Elektro, a juno6 and bass station respectively. U-no is particularly rolandy and I'll use it over or with my MKS50 rack (which is more of an alpha/106 sound)

All the elektrostudio plugins. They don't sound perfect but they sound good. I particularly like the mellotron and use it all the time. Its even on my muse receptor for live performance. I'm also known to mess with the moog prodigy one, the other ones sound less good to me, but aren't BAD

The couple of free U-hes are great, although they have very limited applications

NI's free reaktor stuff? of course it sounds great. Mikroprizm is the most unique and therefore most useful. The blocks one does stuff that Ic an't get my eurorack and semimodular hardware to do, although its not as much fun to play with. There's a couple of other ones I've enver really used other than to try but they sound good.

everyone should have synth1, its based on a nordlead, it sounds just as odd in its own way, but its loaded with features with a really obvious architechture and if you're new to making your own patches its a good place to learn

Digital Suburban DEXED. DX7, simulator and patch editor if you happen to own a mk1 board (and everyone should, they made enough in the 80s for every musician to get one). Not analog, but DX7es rule. Nuff said.

Fullbucket music. My favorites are his Korg Monopoly and 3300/3200/3100 but all of his stuff is pretty damned solid.

SQ8L is a faithful copy of the ESQ1/SQ80. I have an ESQ1. Its getting unreliable. This gets pretty close. The model of the analog Curtis filter used in the original keyboards isn't quite there but at modest settings its nice. The waveshapes are bang on. Programming is just as nutty as it replicates the whole menu/button system of the original ensoniq synths. May be tricky for guys who never manipulated a real one.

Gluereeds is a physically modelled Wurlitzer electric piano that sounds more convincing than the other big freeware EP, MDA epiano (which along with MDA's piano is licensed by imageline for the fruity piano native plugin). The tradeup is that it has no controls apart from velocity scaling. Its a like it or lump it sound. I think it sounds as good as pay plugins like lounge lizard and have used it over lounge lizard many times.

Superwave. Its a JP8000 VST. Ya want supersaws? bang. Jst as lame sounding as the analog modeler it simulates with a few extra tricks up its sleeve. I don't actually use this one, I don't like the ubiquitous supersaw trance elad, but if I didn't have the ability to do that sound with my prologue now I oulda turned to superwave. It probably does it better than the prologue's supersaw digital oscillator voice anyway, the prologue analog filter soudns too classy! a real JP8000 sounds palsticy and weird. Its a glorified computer with keys so why not let your computer fill in for it.

a lot of freewares are made with synthedit and people just port in other people's filter coding when they need a filter so there is a 'samey-ness' to most freebies that were made that way. None of the analog fakers I put on my list have that homogenous filter sound. Each ahs its own voice, realistically analog or not. Just a headsup, until recently all the imageline/FLstudio synths and effects with resonant filtering suffered from this homogenous filter sound where they added a bunch of fitlers to the sampler module about 20 years ago and then just reused those models in many of their synths and insert plugins with filtering so it gave the whole DAW a really samey and boring sound, but they eventually got it after sytrus and started developing new code for every synth.... I digress

When I'm working alone I will a lot of times go for these plugins to create 'draft' sequences in the box and then replace stuff with analog synths from my collection as the song gets completed. If hardware doesn't sound any better or if I'm looking to use hardware to do soemthing exciting and unpredictble but the gear doesn't blow my mind? I use the plugin. Sometimes I double up very simialr patches with a peice of hardware and a VST and pan 'em out too. I have a huge affection for freeware. It end to think the VA

as toyour original statement? can't configure convincing soudns with the stock plugs from your DAW? Spend more time with them. The stock stuff in Ableton and FL can sound amazing. I'm an imageline guy, been with FL since it was fruity loops in the late 90s and the standout included plugins are SYtrus, Harmor and Harmless. But they're complicated with huge GUIs. Sytrus for all its graphical help is like an extra complicated DX7 with filters and effects (SY99ish) and you need to spend awhile learning FM. Even the stuff I just gave you won't kill you out of the gate, the hardware emualtions? you need to know that old gear a little. THe presets are generally crap :-)

sorry for the lack of links, use google

I'm thinking electro voice, but its not one of the stereotypical couple of handheld models from the era... they made a lot of mics though

those are just whatever was on stage, saying he 'used them' like, BY CHOICE? the venue just put them out. He showed up and performed

"But you already have a guitar!"

I know all of those words but they make absolutely no sense to me when arranged in that order...

make sure its actually made of formica, that's the true dano sound! ajunk guitar made from a kithen counter. Be prepared to replace the stock lipsticks with aftermarkets. That is all. The mdoern chinese danos aren't really built any worse than the original Neptune NJ made ones. Personally I would sooner buy an original one or a 90s Korean reissue. In fact I had some original ones. If you get a winner they have a certain soemthing....most need to be renecked LOL

when's your birthday?

yeah, no... I don't think that even when my wife was alive she woulda gifted me a top of the line VCO based polysynth for Christmas

y'know, its been so long since I touched a juno 6 or 60 I can't remember what the both buttons mode is supposed to sound like.

I had trouble finding a june60 to try and wound up getting a waza dimension C for my sequential circuits (which ahs no oboard effects in true sequential fashion). How's the juno chrus as a standalone effect?

I'll start:

Is trance still a thing in Argentina? It kinda disappeared from the USA 19 or 20 years ago...

feels like DJing is only 10 to 25 percent MAKING music depending on your approach and if you maybe have a little smapler or your own drum machine thrown into your rig and the rest is more like curating.

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2019/11/30/physical-modeling-in-kurzweils-v-a-s-t/

free HQ samples

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/category/computer-music/free-sample-library-computer-music/

https://www.polyphone-soundfonts.com/en/files/27-instrument-sets/417-saint-james-orchestra

or

https://www.flstudiomusic.com/2010/04/saint-james-orchestral-soundfonts.html

spitfire rules for ensemble strings... I've heard guys do some really nice physically modelled soloed strings with Kurzweil K series synths with the VAST engine. Still pricey used though. I've had some luck making very decent solo, legato strings with FM synthesis, but you really need to be patient and have some DX7 experience. Its not a beginner FM patch. In software FM synths imageline Sytrus is better at it than NI FM8. My sytrus string patches trumped anything I could make on a DX7 de to the variable operator shapes and filters.

it needs the vocal, the vocal was covering some of the weaker sounds, pulling them in the background. Just try dipping the upper mids of the vocal gently. About 3dB centered at maybe 3k. Then goose the detail range to balance them. above sibilance, 12 to 14k, very steep shelving EQ or the 'air' region on the MAAG EQ If the vocal is compressed heavily you could also try some pre-comp EQ as well as post comp. HPF pre comp, do a mid dip pre comp then any boosts post comp. Its another way to handle things.

Also, the piano sound? You were going for that early house bad 80s/90s sampled piano or like the ensoniq perfectpiano thatw as not so perfect? its not quite there. For that weak emu piano in software try downloading plogue sforzando vst and then google search for emu emulator preset packs as soundfonts, you'll find that piano if you DL every emu preset on the web. I have it on a drive somewhere in SF2. For the ensoniq additive/wave-table type piano download SQ8L vst and build one from the piano oscillators... does a good impression of an ESQ1. Its not 'perfect piano' from the alter all digital synths, but its got that quintessential synthesized house piano thing going if you build a good patch.

spend some more time getting to know that jdxi you have. Its a limited synth but its 2 engines have a good sound in general and it can be made to do some cool stuff. You could probably use something better for bass. Even a little volca would do you.

the vocal doesn't sit well in the mix and I find the upper mid in it to be kinda piercing.... otherwise? very cool, does exactly what this type f house track is supposed to do

if I recall its a full depth es330 (aka epi casino)... close relative of the full-depth trini lopez model that you'll soemtimes see pat smear playing. Only practical difference is the cutaway style. Fully hollow.

what's this YouTube channels name?

m.twitch.tv/partyheadquarters/videos/all

not sure when we're streaming again... we did one last saturday that was pretty scrappy, but had good parts here and there. We might do a short one thursday if I can get out of work on time, then I'm tied up for a few weeks so if the rest of the guys jam I won't be involved. I just can't fit it in. 2 of the guys are movers so their schedule's erratic and weeknight oriented whereas I'm a dad and a healthcare professional so I'm better off with weekends. The weeknights are contingent on me leaving work on time and having a sitter for my son who ca handle him on a school night. As it gets colder the movers will be doing more Saturdays so out output will hopefully go up to 1 or more streams per week. But I don't have a lot of say. I'm not exactly a member of the band, I'm more of a guest musician for the project. I think I've done 4 streams so far since the summer as I build up my setup at party HQ (our modest studio)... there's been a lot of trial and error with my live setup and its still got ergonomic problems. It keeps sprawling out and its hard for me to really play keys and do things with the sequenced synths at the same time.... I was definitely struggling last week and I feel like I need to tear the whole setup down and rebuild it in a more logical way

and this is my old rock band from 10 years ago... maybe 15 years, gettng hazy

i liked the 1 st 2 minute groove of karenina alot.

I'm really proud of the soundscape on that one... its not as well written as a lot of what I do, I let the hardware sequecer and some arpeggiators dictate a lot of the musical elements, but tonally I had something in mind and got all the machines to do exactly what I wanted for once. I didn't have a big draft sequence with plugins or anything where I took piano and guitar ideas and mapped it all out, I just let thigns occur musically and focused on great patches. A lot of times I'll get like 75% of what I had in my head and then the rest is happy accidents as far as sound design. The song will sound cool, but the lack of premeditation kinda bothers me as a total control freak. That's one of the things that gets to me about trying to do this live performance stuff lately... not only do I not know what I want to play but I find myself patching haphazardly while playing and it can be frustrating. The results are allover the map ad its a lucky live stream where I have more than 4 bars where I like my performance as well as my soundscape in context of the rest of the band. It gives one a new respect for Brian Eno in Roxy. And working with all step sequencers is a bit of a pain to change up live, although using the computer live would be worse I guess....

Think they'd do something like Overbridge ala Elecktron- they build all that crazy shit into their 106 "clone" so clearly they're thinkin bout that kinda implememtation

I have weird feelings towards behringer... the synths are legitimately well made and sound great but I feel kinda dirty buying the clones (the arp has me especially freaked since korg and one of the arp guys alread reissued the odyssey at a reasonable price point! and so does the ms20 clone) but I've been eyeballing the sh101 and pro1 that's coming out because you can't find those little monos so easily.... the neutron is a legit original design with curtis parts and all sorts of odds and sods. If it had 1 more oscillaotor it would be like if sequential circuits had made their own arp 2600. Its infinitely useful, though its not my favorite synth ever by any stretch. It definitely creeps its way into a lot of stuff because its such a chameleon

I think everyone missed the point of trying to make a really 80s, early eurhythmics type bedroom production with mediocre soudns doing neat stuff? I tend to create all my sounds ground up, in this case I think I sued my old dr55 for drums and I pumped up the kick (essentially an 808 kick) but purposely didn't shape the snare sound, leaving that pitiful burst of noise a la sweet dreams. I can do other thigns like this:

punchy and more modern with just a little 80s

or this older one

and newbies to equipboard will be unfamiliar with any of the work I did when writing the EB review of the novation peak:

and the thing I'm proudest of in my electronic meanderings:

and then at one point I made this:

keep in mind I'm almost 40, my reference for music is different then everyone but xaqary!

and I can't spell opinions when I'm drinking

the live rig keeps growing....

very garagey

the korg is HIGHLY limited, great tool for certain things... but if I could only have one hardware sequencer? not the sq1. The novation circuit line is my current favorite for live performance. I love the monostation. The synth engine is a stripped down bass station and the triple mono-sequencer is fantastic and easy to use on the fly. The regular circuit is great too, thinking of getting one to add to my live rig. Bang for buck.

there's some neutron that replaced a softsynth that was a place holder. The neutron really needs extra gear to interface with to fulfill its full potential. Analog sequencer's a must for doing anything really interesting.

I got 2 ;-) got a pittsburgh modular microvolt recently but haven't spent much time with it.... the time I did spend learning it was fun as hell, so weird, the internal arpeggiator/sequencer makes it a really fun toy. You don't need much of a patch going to get started with it, just play a chord on a keyboard with hold engaged and then start exploring. Its kinda like the 0 coast, but for some reason it appealed to me more.

from the vaults:

thanks for feedback

TOP MENU BAR NEXT TO THE SEARCH

1st option is explore, 2nd options is submit. Click submit. The dropdown has 2 options, you want the 1st one, 'MUSIC ARTIST OR BAND'

argh, is it anywhere but spotify. I hate spotify.

solid state rickenbacher transonics (already on pagey's equipboard)... the mics are nicknamed salt shaker mics but I can't for the life of me remember the make and model. Probably altec... the mic on page's cab looks like a geffel but its blurry and could be anything

update: derp, a 5 second google search revealed the salt shaker is an altec 633A and they look the part

I like audio technicas. For closed back cans thy're my favorites. I always used the 40s but I got a paur of 50s last week and they killit as dj headphones.

anyone cna add gear... go to the top menu bar where the search is and next to 'explore' you'll find 'submit'. Click it... it has a drop down with 2 options. Guess what option 2 is? music gear. Make sure you have a good picture.

Anyway, about me. I'm the Mediocre Musician. The Just Good Guitarist. Ever-So-Slightly better than the douche on the quad playing Wonderwall trying to get laid. You all know the guy. Yeah, him? I'm better than. The guy under the tree playing John Friggin' Mayer? Yeah, no, him? I'm NOT better than.

hahaha, welcome

okay, not my type of music, the modern hip-hop R&B sound, but I'm old. Its very well written and arranged and the vocals are pretty wel performed. Everything is what its supposed to be in this genre.

You could work on your mixing. I can hear everything, but tis muddy and lacks punch. Not everything has all the frequency range it should and even though the music is sparse there are elements fighting for space and attention. Its not BAD, but if you're going to focus on one skill set, let it be mixing. It should be easy to get a handle on in-the-box using only software and the one live source, the vocal. Good mixes are a lifelong chore though. Look into compression. Time cosntants, parallel, peak versus RMS, insert use versus group processing. And really lsiten when you're equalizing something. Its generally wiser to take away than to add, go big and back off its too extreme... and if you're not sure, do nothing.

good work, stick with it, read as much as you can.... have you seen Pensado's place on youtube? He has a lot of great tips for mixing music like this ITB. Watch as many 'into the lair' segments as you can stomach (he's a bit annoying, but wise in the ways of hip hop)

edit:

and get a free subscription to tape-op! they don't cover your type of music as much as they should but there's rarely an article that's uninformative.... and they're starting to have more balanced coverage of urban music and electronic genres the last 2 years :-)

I was always an audio technica guy for clsoed abcks and I recently got a pair of the M50Xes in metallic blue for use with the lvie electronic band I'm in (can't always hear myself) and I am really liking them. A distinct improvement over my old AT dj headphones! Very comfortable.

in short? novation circuit or circuit monostation...

in long:

the heart of my live rig is a monostation sequencing its internal synth (a stripped down BS2) as well as a neutron semimodular and clocking an sq1, all the lfos and arpeggiators on my mopho x4, neutron and pittsburgh modular microvolt as well as sending tempo to a delay strapped across my personal submixer's aux send and return. It works really well. With this rig i have all my analog bases covered and I just turn on and get patching/composing and perform the minute the rest of the band shows up. No hassle now that its all set up... and the set up didn't event ake very long. Even moving peices in and out the past few weeks it just keeps on working. Last night I added in an oldemu proteus to try out for digital sounds and it integrated right in. Iw as able to play one of its engines freehand and then use another as a spare oscilator for my semimodular setup sharing the midi channel I have one of the circuit's sequencer's sending on. Shabang, the neutron has 3 oscillators like an ARP 2600.

So the main sequencer, defaulted to the internal synth, can play I think 16 step sequnces ina row and for each one you can record knob moves and save them etc or create preset sounds and use different ones for different patterns. Any sequencer will loop around eventually. Its what they do. Some will have more patterns available, sure, but the ease of use and price point make novation's products stand out to me. You also get an 8 step B sequencer that can sequence the itnernal synth duophonically or drive another peice of gear via midi and it has a 3rd 'modulation' sequencer that can be assigned to the itnernal synth's parameters via a little matrix or to the CV out to control something on another analog synth.... the regular circuit is even more powerful being polyphonic and having I think 4 sequencer tracks but its just a VA synth engine under the hood, a stripped down mininova (which scools the microkorg at tis own game). Doesn't sound as good as the analogy goodness of the monostation evne though its way more flexible. I'm really fussy though. I have a nice synth collection. YMMV and its not like you need to use the synth engine, you can setup your midi channels and just sequence other gear with circuit. And the original circuit is cheaper than the monostation. Considerably cheaper used.

I am very biased towards novation products. I think they're real bang for buck and I'm also really friendly with the company. They're great people to deal with. Modern step sequencers are way more powerful than old ones and they're way easier to use and change on the fly than sequencers like the HR16's sibling the mmt-8. The circuit step sequencers are great, affordable and have enough power for most live situations. Anything more complex costs more and is harder to program.

I did the industrial thing many years ago and what we learned at the time was that backing tracks on adat (yes adat, I said it was a long time ago) were more reliable than a laptop and even more reliable than squencers and gear, but modern equipment is really getting there. I haven't had a single issue with my live rig and the clocking is rock solid between pieces of gear (and some of my gear is cv/gate and 'volca clock' and some of it is midi or both and I get my clook timing from the drummer who plays an electronic kit and uses a squarp pyramid to keep time and manipulate his main beat so he can play over himself and that gadget sends me my master clock through the monostation)... but I still wouldn't trust a laptop live not even running lynux. Not even a powerbook.... don't do it unless you like being embarrassed on stage by a computer. I know people take their laptops out now running ableton, but I still don't believe its rock solid.... and it doesn't look as cool as a bunch of gear with lights blinking.

look, I was an engineer for YEARS. It requires so much hustle. You will be exhausted, you will be tempted to take uppers to keep at it, your health will definitely suffer. But it'll also be fun and you'll learn a lot as long as you follow the first rule of music which is to always try to be the worst guy (gal, person, muppet, etc) in the room at whatever you're doing so you will get better by absorbing the wisdom of more experienced people.

I still say do it part time and have a day job you don't mind. I've worked in ehalth care fo ages, and if I weren't a single dad I would be making music every night and weekend. My day job allows me to work on music I want to rather than stuff I have to. I can choose who I want to work with and do things that won't won't make me much because I draw a good enough salary to support my child and myself and occassionally fund a new gear purchase (I've gotten some really cool synths lately :-) The only thing I can say for doing music full time is that when its time to file taxes you can write gear purchases off as business expenses.... but you're usually self-employed these days so you're already taking a hit. Either that or you're making SO little you don't have to file which puts you below the poverty line.

They say that if you put your mind to it you can accomplish ANYTHING. And that's 100% true of musical skills in every area from recording to theory to songwriting.... but success in any business is less force of will and more timing, which is often just catching the zeitgeist and having all your other ducks in a row when you do. No one can teach you that. You can't do much more than have your shit together and hope you can coast on up the slippery slope of success when you catch the right wind to boost you along. It may not happen. As a dad and someone who didn't have a plan B and just got lucky to fall into a 2nd career when I couldn't do it fulltime anymore, I say.... make a plan B. Your parents are secretly thanking me for telling you this right now. You're not going to listen, but remember that someone who worked in the business and didn't do more than making a living for 10 years just told you this.

additionally everyone else gave you good advice.... also, if you're anywhere near Philadelphia look at Drexel University's music business program. I don't know how much they teach those kids, but most of them seem to get jobs in the industry after graduating which is more than I can say of most of the programs that have sprung up. They also teach you about the actual business end which is essential whereas other programs are more production which you can learn on the job. I was already done school when the program started but a few of my former guitar students and their friends have had nice little careers after graduating from Drexel.

be smart, work hard, best of luck... I'll check out your stuff this weekend

I saw this awhile ago, Evil, but I've been too tired to listen to any music. Totally willg et back to you this weekend.

and don't discount doing live sound a few nights a week at your local venues to pay the bills... when I did this for a living soemtimes those cash payments from the venues were my grocery money when studio bookings were lean!