Meph, great vid. I love how dynamic and "do almost anything" control surfaces can be with some programing and ingenuity.
Excellent link Prime! A nice example of how simple but enjoyable music can be. I love to see these little flash sequencers and music games as they're a fun bridge to get folks who might not normally create musically, to experiment and be creative, even if just with one instrument or in a limited space.
It might be fun to do a little non-contest with basic and free music making toys like that. Provide a link to one, everyone records themselves playing on it for 1 or 2 minutes and submits it for the week, then next week another music thing is provided to play with. Not sure we have the interest built up for something like that yet though.
Could that include software for phones? I would love to see what people can do with their iphones and stuff. Also would like to know what's out there for Android.
I have some REALLY good stuff to share with you guys over the course of the next year. Right now I'm ordering the parts to build a replica Roland 303, that will eventually be modded to shit and even have it's own USB port. I am also embarking on a project in the near future where we will be experimenting with different types of control surfaces using open source hardware.
That's not bad. I know there's a lot more out there though.
One thing that scares me a little is when I see a sequencer with squares. It makes me wonder if that limits you. For example, with dubstep it's important for a track to be able to switch from 1/8th and 1/16th notes to triplets and back. Also, almost every time I lay down a drum track I have drums that are slightly offset to give them a more full sound. Does that program allow for triplet grids, and does everything always snap to the grid, or can you turn the snap off to place a note wherever you want?
I don't know if iSequencer can do that. I don't own it myself, I just actually stumbled across it during the course of this thread. Looking at it I imagine it is trapped to the grid. You could be able to do time changes possibly but I don't know. One way of overcoming that is to allow you to lay down separate tracks in different time signatures. But again i don't know if you can with that particular program.
Hm, maybe one of you know. Lately been having some nasty, NASTY delay on my Uno to my system. We're talking on the order of 750ms+ and rather erratic. I checked and triple-checked and quadruple-checked and there's nothing going on in the USB controller that I can find to explain it. Same with the OS. Same behavior when I swap it between systems.
Anyone seen the behavior before? Any ideas what's up?
What programs are you using? A lot of them have a software delay too.
I took the programs out of the loop and looked at raw MIDI input with some debug tools. It's definitely not the software, especially since it occurs in all programs. The delay's bad enough that I can't possibly work with it; a 16th at 80BPM doesn't register until after physical key up.
EDIT: Problem found. My old Roland EP9 (now 22 years old by manufacturing date) had a shorted key switch at D#7+D7. Being as old as it is, it does not fail graciously, and instead abused it's position in the chain to do stupid things.
My brother is hugely into recording. Hes going to school for it.
Hes spent thousands on his equipment over the past couple years.
Here is his setup:
Monitor speakers - M-audio Bx8a's
Mixers - Yamaha MG12/4 FX, Alesis Multimix 8
Interface Controller - Behringer BCF2000
Keyboard - Casio privia PX-310
Main Recording Software - Cubase 5
Other software - Superior drummer, drumagog 5, FL studios 9, Reason 4, SSL plugin suite and lots more plugins.
Along with various other equipment which would take forever to write up.
In his main rig.
Intel i7 930 OC 4ghz
6gb DDR3 GSkill 1600
Geforce gtx 460
1tb 7200 rpm Western digital black.
500gb 5900 rpm western digital green
M-Audio Delta 1010 internal sound card.
Asus 20" dual Monitors.
His rack setup:
Furman PL-plus c
Recording Interface - Focusrite saffire pro 40
Patch bay - Behringer Ultrapatch pro
ADAT - Behringer Ultragain Pro 8 digital
Graphic EQ - Behringer Ultragraph PRO
BBE Sonic Maximizer
Power Amps - QSC Gx3, Mackie FR-2500
And this baby is mine...... With his mics of course:
And these are our speakers. The reason there are so many here is this is all of our bands guitar cabinets. And He also DJ's on the side. So the JBL JRX-125's (dual 15's) and the JBL Soundfactor SF15's (single 15's) are his DJing speakers.
I don't even know what half this crap does. He tries to explain it to me, and I just get lost.
Honestly, I can't sing the praises of my M-Audio Studiophile AV20 speakers enough, and I could see myself going with more M-Audio products because of their cost value. I don't get paid for this shit yet.
I have Behringer 15" self-powered speakers. They are meh. Definitely no Alesis.
Wrong model. Like all monitors, very specific models sound very different, even though they shouldn't. The Behringer TRUTH B3031A's sound COMPLETELY different, courtesy the ribbon tweeters. (They're also $250+/ea.) You couldn't pay me to try and work on 2031P's by the same token, I don't care what you drive 'em with. Frankly, they're bog standard passive monitors I can build better at half the price.
Alesis, same deal. M1Actives, meh. However, the Monitor 1 MkII's aren't that bad; rather good when you consider the typical price.
Given any choice, I'd go Genelec. But seriously? Only if I hit three lotteries and build a proper soundproofed studio and pay them to set things up. :P
I just haven't seen anything of quality come from Behringer. Most of their products are usually a mock of something else that's available at a higher price and quality. I didn't even know that monitors was something they were known for, but admittedly I'm an amateur when it comes to this stuff.
I just haven't seen anything of quality come from Behringer. Most of their products are usually a mock of something else that's available at a higher price and quality. I didn't even know that monitors was something they were known for, but admittedly I'm an amateur when it comes to this stuff.
There are three parts that make up a monitor: the box, the components, and the amps in an active monitor. Most manufacturers make a wide range of all three, then occasionally mishmash them together or cross-breed to save costs. The end result is that sometimes, you get some brilliant designs and some complete crap. Why? Because building crap is (surprise!) "cost effective."
For example, Ribbon Tweeter + Paper Cone versus Silk Tweeter + Paper Cone in the same box produce completely different sound. (In part because you don't need to worry about air chambers w/ribbons or electrostatics.) A lot of the stuff you find in Guitar Center and such? Is "cost effective."
Really with monitors, the goal is flat consistent response and reproduction. You don't want monitors to color the sound; you want them to give flat predictable response, so you can adjust your levels based on a common denominator.
That's what I look for in speakers, I want them to have no sound conditioning and maybe a basic set of EQs. I don't believe there is any sound conditioning in M-Audio monitors, they just aren't as good at reproducing a full range of sound.
I'm actually surprised; why'd he go BX8a's over say, BX5a's? Though I'll admit a personal preference for Behringer and Alesis.
Actually he was going to buy the red version of the BX5a's. But it was black friday weekend. and Guitar Center had the BX8a's on sale for the same price as the BX5a's normally are, and seeing how the 8a's had better stats he settled for those.
And they don't have any sound conditioning or add any EQ. Which is why he bought them.
In my personal opinion his M-audios do a great job at reproducing the true frequencies recorded. He was gonna buy JBL's but the price and sound quality of the M-Audio, you can't go wrong.
He loves Behringer and Alesis.
I myself have an Alesis dm5 drum mod, which I used to use on my old drum set, when I would use triggers. Great product. Though I quit using triggers when I finally got a better set.
You guys have an amazing setup. Tell me more about what you do, any good projects that you can share with us?
Thanks, Well like 90% of that is his. Other than my drum set, and our friends (bands) guitar amps.
After he graduated, he decided that he wanted to go to school for recording and audio engineer.
He was going to go the Chicago Art Institute. They have a pretty big recording program. But he couldn't get the student loans.
So he now goes to The Recording Institute of Detroit. And he plans on still attending Chicago Art Institute when hes done here, and can finally afford loans.
He has recorded a bunch of stuff over the past couple of years. Mostly just of us or himself as practice along with a few other people. He has just now started to get a lot of people wanting to record with him.
And he also has a ton of DJing equipment. And DJ's graduation parties and stuff every summer.
Im actually working on a little website and business cards for him. Hes still got friends in school, that pass out the business cards to get seniors interested in his DJ'ing services for their grad parties.
Im sure he has some stuff that I could share. But ill have to wait for him to get home, because I have no idea where he saves all his work.
Hes recording somebody right now who is doing an acoustic song for the troops. He wants to release it on, or the weekend of Memorial Day. Its sounding pretty good so far. When hes done ill post it here.
There are some very slight timing issues with the snare drum at the end of the song.... The Snare drum track should have been laid down first with a metronome... and then the other tracks following. But they weren't going to do the snare originally, so it got added after the rest was recorded.... I played the snare part for it, and did the best I could to stay on timing...
Seriously, I'm in tears. The lyrics are so powerful. You guys did a great job. I can understand when you make music and you want to get it to sound exactly a certain way, and specific details need to be changed, but overall the song and production are amazing.
Seriously, I'm in tears. The lyrics are so powerful. You guys did a great job. I can understand when you make music and you want to get it to sound exactly a certain way, and specific details need to be changed, but overall the song and production are amazing.
Thanks a lot man,
I agree, the artist (Nate) did a great job on the lyrics.
He was also very happy with the results, and he is talking with my brother on recording a full album, which is exciting.
I can't take any credit for it, the song was all his and the recording was all my brother.... I just played the snare drum part. But I was impressed with both of them, and how easily they worked together on it.
I have been very intrigued by some of the demos I have seen lately for using Max with Ableton Live. I always wondered what "Export Audio/Video" meant and now I guess you can use Vizzie to create your own live VJ sets with Ableton.
Comments
I know, I was saying I wanted to be able to clear the whole screen easily (without reloading the page). :P
Excellent link Prime! A nice example of how simple but enjoyable music can be. I love to see these little flash sequencers and music games as they're a fun bridge to get folks who might not normally create musically, to experiment and be creative, even if just with one instrument or in a limited space.
It might be fun to do a little non-contest with basic and free music making toys like that. Provide a link to one, everyone records themselves playing on it for 1 or 2 minutes and submits it for the week, then next week another music thing is provided to play with. Not sure we have the interest built up for something like that yet though.
I have some REALLY good stuff to share with you guys over the course of the next year. Right now I'm ordering the parts to build a replica Roland 303, that will eventually be modded to shit and even have it's own USB port. I am also embarking on a project in the near future where we will be experimenting with different types of control surfaces using open source hardware.
http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/
One thing that scares me a little is when I see a sequencer with squares. It makes me wonder if that limits you. For example, with dubstep it's important for a track to be able to switch from 1/8th and 1/16th notes to triplets and back. Also, almost every time I lay down a drum track I have drums that are slightly offset to give them a more full sound. Does that program allow for triplet grids, and does everything always snap to the grid, or can you turn the snap off to place a note wherever you want?
Anyone seen the behavior before? Any ideas what's up?
I took the programs out of the loop and looked at raw MIDI input with some debug tools. It's definitely not the software, especially since it occurs in all programs. The delay's bad enough that I can't possibly work with it; a 16th at 80BPM doesn't register until after physical key up.
EDIT: Problem found. My old Roland EP9 (now 22 years old by manufacturing date) had a shorted key switch at D#7+D7. Being as old as it is, it does not fail graciously, and instead abused it's position in the chain to do stupid things.
Hes spent thousands on his equipment over the past couple years.
Here is his setup:
Monitor speakers - M-audio Bx8a's
Mixers - Yamaha MG12/4 FX, Alesis Multimix 8
Interface Controller - Behringer BCF2000
Keyboard - Casio privia PX-310
Main Recording Software - Cubase 5
Other software - Superior drummer, drumagog 5, FL studios 9, Reason 4, SSL plugin suite and lots more plugins.
Along with various other equipment which would take forever to write up.
In his main rig.
Intel i7 930 OC 4ghz
6gb DDR3 GSkill 1600
Geforce gtx 460
1tb 7200 rpm Western digital black.
500gb 5900 rpm western digital green
M-Audio Delta 1010 internal sound card.
Asus 20" dual Monitors.
His rack setup:
Furman PL-plus c
Recording Interface - Focusrite saffire pro 40
Patch bay - Behringer Ultrapatch pro
ADAT - Behringer Ultragain Pro 8 digital
Graphic EQ - Behringer Ultragraph PRO
BBE Sonic Maximizer
Power Amps - QSC Gx3, Mackie FR-2500
And this baby is mine...... With his mics of course:
And these are our speakers. The reason there are so many here is this is all of our bands guitar cabinets. And He also DJ's on the side. So the JBL JRX-125's (dual 15's) and the JBL Soundfactor SF15's (single 15's) are his DJing speakers.
I don't even know what half this crap does. He tries to explain it to me, and I just get lost.
Wrong model. Like all monitors, very specific models sound very different, even though they shouldn't. The Behringer TRUTH B3031A's sound COMPLETELY different, courtesy the ribbon tweeters. (They're also $250+/ea.) You couldn't pay me to try and work on 2031P's by the same token, I don't care what you drive 'em with. Frankly, they're bog standard passive monitors I can build better at half the price.
Alesis, same deal. M1Actives, meh. However, the Monitor 1 MkII's aren't that bad; rather good when you consider the typical price.
Given any choice, I'd go Genelec. But seriously? Only if I hit three lotteries and build a proper soundproofed studio and pay them to set things up. :P
There are three parts that make up a monitor: the box, the components, and the amps in an active monitor. Most manufacturers make a wide range of all three, then occasionally mishmash them together or cross-breed to save costs. The end result is that sometimes, you get some brilliant designs and some complete crap. Why? Because building crap is (surprise!) "cost effective."
For example, Ribbon Tweeter + Paper Cone versus Silk Tweeter + Paper Cone in the same box produce completely different sound. (In part because you don't need to worry about air chambers w/ribbons or electrostatics.) A lot of the stuff you find in Guitar Center and such? Is "cost effective."
Really with monitors, the goal is flat consistent response and reproduction. You don't want monitors to color the sound; you want them to give flat predictable response, so you can adjust your levels based on a common denominator.
Actually he was going to buy the red version of the BX5a's. But it was black friday weekend. and Guitar Center had the BX8a's on sale for the same price as the BX5a's normally are, and seeing how the 8a's had better stats he settled for those.
And they don't have any sound conditioning or add any EQ. Which is why he bought them.
In my personal opinion his M-audios do a great job at reproducing the true frequencies recorded. He was gonna buy JBL's but the price and sound quality of the M-Audio, you can't go wrong.
He loves Behringer and Alesis.
I myself have an Alesis dm5 drum mod, which I used to use on my old drum set, when I would use triggers. Great product. Though I quit using triggers when I finally got a better set.
Thanks, Well like 90% of that is his. Other than my drum set, and our friends (bands) guitar amps.
After he graduated, he decided that he wanted to go to school for recording and audio engineer.
He was going to go the Chicago Art Institute. They have a pretty big recording program. But he couldn't get the student loans.
So he now goes to The Recording Institute of Detroit. And he plans on still attending Chicago Art Institute when hes done here, and can finally afford loans.
He has recorded a bunch of stuff over the past couple of years. Mostly just of us or himself as practice along with a few other people. He has just now started to get a lot of people wanting to record with him.
And he also has a ton of DJing equipment. And DJ's graduation parties and stuff every summer.
Im actually working on a little website and business cards for him. Hes still got friends in school, that pass out the business cards to get seniors interested in his DJ'ing services for their grad parties.
Im sure he has some stuff that I could share. But ill have to wait for him to get home, because I have no idea where he saves all his work.
Hes recording somebody right now who is doing an acoustic song for the troops. He wants to release it on, or the weekend of Memorial Day. Its sounding pretty good so far. When hes done ill post it here.
He did finish the acoustic song he was recording.
The Artist is requesting a few changes in the final mix down though (Louder vocals)
I just uploaded the .mp3 file, instead of the full .wav file. The .wav file was pretty big in file size.
http://www.aionprovisions.com/recordings/natejones.mp3
There are some very slight timing issues with the snare drum at the end of the song.... The Snare drum track should have been laid down first with a metronome... and then the other tracks following. But they weren't going to do the snare originally, so it got added after the rest was recorded.... I played the snare part for it, and did the best I could to stay on timing...
Thanks a lot man,
I agree, the artist (Nate) did a great job on the lyrics.
He was also very happy with the results, and he is talking with my brother on recording a full album, which is exciting.
I can't take any credit for it, the song was all his and the recording was all my brother.... I just played the snare drum part. But I was impressed with both of them, and how easily they worked together on it.