It happened again. 
finally sequenced this shit
composing in 1-bar loops is actually super liberating but when I have to sit down and actually lay out a track I get super lazy
I also wish I had a way to figure out whether my legs are in the shot or not because I put on pants to record this and I totally didn’t have to
(I think this is the right place to post about this)
if anyone reading this is in or near the SF Bay Area, I’m playing this chipmusic festival on Thursday: https://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2016/08-11d.html
it’s a 2 day affair so if you can’t make it Thursday definitely make it Friday! it’s full of good people!
o yea i released this a few days ago
Request for people who make the musics here:
I almost started trying to start to make music again but somehow felt that everything significantly harder than it was “supposed” to be and thus stopped due to feeling overwhelmed or something. WHAT I’M ASKING IS: please post a picture (w/labels) or list of the equipment you use, and describe it to me like I’m 5.
Computer (with Garageband (lol))
Headphones (Sennheiser HD 202
Keyboard 1 (M-Audio Oxygen8)
Keyboard 2 (Casio LK-230)
okay this is definitely a “bad worker blames their tools” sort of kick up the arse that I need now and again
Computer (mainly use Propellerhead Reason and Cockos Reaper)
Headphones (Sony MDR-7506)
Audio Interface (Avid Fast Track Duo)
Microphone (Electro Voice RE20)
MIDI Controller (Roland A-500PRO)
Don’t worry about the interface + microphone, all you really need is a DAW (Reaper is great and has an unlimited trial period) and ideally a MIDI controller. It’s pretty approachable these days, and there are a ton of great free VST instruments out there.
Surface Pro 1, Computer
Steinberg UR22, Audio Interface
Ableton Push 1, Control + Pads
Novation Xiosynth 25, Analog Modelling Synth + Audio Interface
M-Audio Keystation Pro 88, Midi Keys + Faders / Knobs
M-Audio Studiophile AV 40, Monitors
Gretsch Electromatic G5422TDC, Geetar
Fender Standard Telecaster, Unpictured Geetar
Fender Pro Tube Pro Reverb, Geetar Speaker Box
Vox AC4TV, Baby Geetar Speaker Box
MXL V-77 Tube, Mic
Haven’t recorded anything in like a year. Was more productive as youth with iBook G3 + Reason.
I don’t have a picture but my default setup is:
surface pro 3 running ableton 9
komplete audio 6 as my audio interface for anything I want to run into ableton
arturia microbrute for lead parts and because I haven’t found good mappings for any of my midi controllers for my VST synths (of which I have like 2)
I used to run 2 gameboys into the komplete audio 6 but now I just use BGB to emulate LSDJ and record the parts on my computer. it’s easier and the time in which I felt comfortable holding two gameboys simultaneously, one to each ear, has long passed
I will say that my microbrute is my music MVP taking the last couple of years into consideration – it’s an analog monosynth that’s super basic and easy to use but can also get some big big sounds, which is perfect for me because I don’t like using VSTs very much. I basically have it routed into this cool recreation of a multi-tap delay effect I found on a kaoss pad and it makes anything that goes through it sound BEAUTIFUL
I’ve also posted videos here with music made by my electribe 2 and microbrute paired through MIDI but that’s more of a side project thing
don’t know if this advice is unwarranted but I always find I work best when I’m giving myself some sort of limitation like only using a specific synth to create a song or HAVING to use a technique I heard in another song or something like that. when I first started using ableton I got super overwhelmed and stopped. picked up a gameboy and a copy of LSDJ and had much more success! it helps to set up a workflow that kind of creates your boundaries for you so you don’t have to define them every time you start a new track or something. what I didn’t realize was that I was totally doing that by making chiptune at the beginning
A mixer or two
Variable speed tape deck and Walkman
Sci-fi books on tape, bird calls, and whale song cassettes
2 Mattel u-create toy effects units
Casio sk-1
All three models of korg monotron
A cheapo loop pedal
An even cheaper digital delay pedal
A bunch of cables, wires, and adapters
An underpowered but affordable amp
Multiple cellphones on the floor near the amps for recording
I just got a new mixer with an effects loop and eq on every channel, so I’ll probably look more organized in the future.
Ban this sick filth.
man you don’t need literally any of that stuff
from 2004-2009 i used:
pentium 3 450MHz dell xps desktop with the gpu taken out
windows 98se w/ a pirated copy of fl studio 4
cheap-ass speakers
pirated copy of cool edit pro 2
literally nothing else
from 2009-2011 i used:
cheap-ass 1GHz single-core dell gateway from walmart whose fans sounded like a jet engine
windows xp sp2 w/ a pirated copy of fl studio 7
ipod shuffle earbuds
same cheap-ass speakers
pirated copy of cool edit pro 2
from 2011-2012 i used:
1.2GHz single-core HP laptop given to me by an ex-girlfiend because it couldn’t play youtube videos without overheating
pirated copy of windows 7 w/ a pirated copy of fl studio 8
Sony MDR ZX310 headphones ($30 at walmart)
same cheap-ass speakers
audacity
from 2012-2015 i used:
2.8GHz Phenom II X4 925
pirated copy of windows 7 w/ a pirated copy of fl studio 10
never used any headphones at all during this period
same cheap-ass speakers
audacity
i now have a good asus laptop and a couple cheap midi controllers. got sennheiser HD 550s at the end of 2015. my music is arguably not as good as when i was using the shittiest stuff though.
gonna mention quickly: for those who would like to listen to the freq.fest SF music but are not in the SF bay area, DNA Lounge runs audio streams of all the shows INCLUDING OURS I THINK: https://www.dnalounge.com/webcast/
you’ll want the Live B stream because we’re playing in the above DNA venue
(supposedly I go on around 8:30pm pst we’ll seeeeee)
It’s coming from a very personal place but I don’t understand how people make music on any consistent basis with so much EQ/software. I’d just feel overwhelmed and never get anything done
I don’t know if you watched that recentish documentary about analog synthesizers, but towards the end of it, one of the experts is being interviewed about the resurgence of interest of boutique modular analog synths, and says in an annoyed tone (paraphrasing): “great, you have a lot of cool stuff…now, you know…make something with it”, which I thought was the greatest thing ever and I’m surprised it was left in the edit.
I basically just doodle with Caustic, Figure, beloved Fruity and a rotating set of the easiest EQ, comp/transient shaping and limiting plugins I can steal
I want the Acustica Acqua ones, but no-one’s managed to crack 'em
Of greater practical use to me is good metering - swear by Ian Shepherd’s Dynameter, Voxengo SPAN, something that tells me my LUFS, something that tells me I haven’t fucked the image when summed to mono
Looking for something that visualises live frequency clashes well because Melda’s MultiAnalyzer is hopelessly unstable thus far
I chop up other peoples’ work for instruments before I synth but Serum and Sylenth seem well regarded
Through Senn HD800Ss because I can’t afford monitoring of equiv quality
Technique > gear, though I do still fancy a dedicated outboard low-end generator for some reason
there’s a running joke about how the more a person spends on their modular synth the less music they actually release
there’s a producer’s group/club at my old college and they’ve had some success in getting big-ish electronic musicians to share their process and looking at their ableton sets it’s like
how do you even use that many synths/effects/plugins
A worthy one-stop-pilfer is just all the FabFilter stuff, powerful and friendly