Making Music

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, Happy Blue said:

Cheers, i will have a look at that   ..i opened ProTools, was like  and closed it again   ..going to have to wait till i have a lot of free time, i don't even connect my phone to the car, i'm old school, all this new tech is confusing 

Haha yeah mate, the first time I opened a DAW program up I might as well have been looking at the assembly instructions to a rocket ship. I had no idea what the fuck I was looking at.

I recommend checking out YouTube guides explaining what to do… because imo the manuals are just long and complicated. YouTube videos are good because you can sort of follow along.

[Happy Blue]

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Haha yeah mate, the first time I opened a DAW program up I might as well have been looking at the assembly instructions to a rocket ship. I had no idea what the fuck I was looking at.

I recommend checking out YouTube guides explaining what to do… because imo the manuals are just long and complicated. YouTube videos are good because you can sort of follow along.

YouTube is my go to for most things  ..i hate manuals and only look at the them if im really stuck lol

[Dr. Gonzo]

My song has ended up changing a lot since I first recorded the basic riffs that were the initial building blocks for it. Can't tell if I've made it better or worse  - one of the reasons I've not shared it yet is because it's super fucking rough and it keeps evolving as I keep going.

I've ordered the Audient Evo 8 earlier today - because I had some people over and we jammed in my living room over the weekend... then I woke up the next morning and found a notice taped to my door saying I've been too noisy and I've been fined for it (fuckers, lol). So I've probably pissed off a neighbor with our amps... especially my friend who plays the bass 

So for the future, I think we'll be jamming in my upstairs shitty little home studio - which isn't so bad because we can have the jams recording & use EZ Drummer 2 as we jam. But I think the Evo 8 was the best 4 input option at a price I'd consider reasonable - the next best option was probably the Behringer 4 input one... but given the choice to get Audient's preamps for not too much more money... I thought it was a good option.

My friend left his bass when he came over this weekend, so I'll probably fuck around with the bass and probably end up changing bits of my song around again. And then at some point, I'll have him re-record the bass parts because he's much better at the bass than me.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Bought this for just $40!

[Mel81x+]

On 02/07/2021 at 05:53, Dr. Gonzo said:

Bought this for just $40!

Love the color and I have always wanted a MusicMan. How does it play?

[Dr. Gonzo]

6 hours ago, Mel81x said:

Love the color and I have always wanted a MusicMan. How does it play?

It’s fantastic, I love the neck. It’s the bass my friend kept leaving over - I think the cheapest Sterling by MusicMan bass they make. It was his “I’m getting very drunk at other peoples houses while I jam bass” - so it’s got a few dents and dings… but it plays very nice.

I helped him move the other day and he offered to sell me the bass at an incredibly low price after I’d helped him. Which is great for me because I’d have helped him even without a discounted bass 

[Mel81x+]

26 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It’s fantastic, I love the neck. It’s the bass my friend kept leaving over - I think the cheapest Sterling by MusicMan bass they make. It was his “I’m getting very drunk at other peoples houses while I jam bass” - so it’s got a few dents and dings… but it plays very nice.

I helped him move the other day and he offered to sell me the bass at an incredibly low price after I’d helped him. Which is great for me because I’d have helped him even without a discounted bass 

And this is the equivalent of a gf leaving a toothbrush at your house and you willingly letting them.

Congrats on the bass it looks awesome. Love that oldschool double pickup at the bottom too. I've always wanted one I just can never get myself to get one as I've got pretty much everything I need right now. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

18 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

And this is the equivalent of a gf leaving a toothbrush at your house and you willingly letting them.

Congrats on the bass it looks awesome. Love that oldschool double pickup at the bottom too. I've always wanted one I just can never get myself to get one as I've got pretty much everything I need right now. 

Thanks!

Oh also thanks again for the Evo 8 recommendation! It’s miles better than the gen 2 focusrite scarlet & the irig I had in terms of handling hot pickups… and the smartgain function works really well

[Mel81x+]

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Thanks!

Oh also thanks again for the Evo 8 recommendation! It’s miles better than the gen 2 focusrite scarlet & the irig I had in terms of handling hot pickups… and the smartgain function works really well

Its really quite a piece of kit. When I first got it I was blown away by how easy it was to get an instrument going. The next thing I did was stereo music and my bass for practice and thats when I realized how much this little thing can actually do without so much as a fuss. Normally with FocusRite you end up paying so much more for these little easy to implement things.

[Mel81x+]

I've been practicing this for almost two weeks now and his exercise #2 i spot on for learning how to get better at not fluffing playing. The only thing I really need to do now is add some theory to all this so that I am not limited to playing a certain way but its good progress. This Maschine isn't a joke as I am slowly learning.

[Dr. Gonzo]

33 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

I've been practicing this for almost two weeks now and his exercise #2 i spot on for learning how to get better at not fluffing playing. The only thing I really need to do now is add some theory to all this so that I am not limited to playing a certain way but its good progress. This Maschine isn't a joke as I am slowly learning.

The Maschine definitely isn't a joke. Out of all my musician friends out here in California, the most serious of those friends is a professional drummer who's in three (maybe 4) fairly large bands for the genre, but also one of the main songwriters in his main band - but he lives in a tiny apartment so he can't really ever play drums in it. I know he's got an electric set that he uses to practice without irritating the fuck out of his neighbors... but I very recently learned that the way he writes out beats he'll eventually play on drums while he's at home is with the Maschine.

I've also learned from him that if you are very good at real drums... it translates over really well to the finger drums 

But to get really good at finger drumming, I think you've got to train your hands to be able to properly finger drum efficiently and effectively like the exercises this guy is demonstrating.

Finger drumming on the Akai mini is a bit different, because it's not so easy to go through the full kit on just the 8 drum pads on the top. I've actually found using the 8 pads at the top to be a lot more difficult than I'd anticipated - and I find myself often using the actual keyboard part when I'm using my MIDI controller to come up with drum parts. I did find using the pads (for hi hats and other cymbals mostly) at the top in conjunction with the keyboard using the arpeggiator is a pretty good way of "cheating" at finger drumming.

I maintain, however, that The Maschine is probably the coolest MIDI device I've ever come across in my life and every time I see a video of one being used, I am always thinking "wow that thing is really fucking nice" - I also feel like I'd be pretty shit at using it though without putting in a lot of time to practice. But with a device like that... it's definitely worth the time to put in so you can get the most out of it.

[Mel81x+]

51 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The Maschine definitely isn't a joke. Out of all my musician friends out here in California, the most serious of those friends is a professional drummer who's in three (maybe 4) fairly large bands for the genre, but also one of the main songwriters in his main band - but he lives in a tiny apartment so he can't really ever play drums in it. I know he's got an electric set that he uses to practice without irritating the fuck out of his neighbors... but I very recently learned that the way he writes out beats he'll eventually play on drums while he's at home is with the Maschine.

I've also learned from him that if you are very good at real drums... it translates over really well to the finger drums 

But to get really good at finger drumming, I think you've got to train your hands to be able to properly finger drum efficiently and effectively like the exercises this guy is demonstrating.

Finger drumming on the Akai mini is a bit different, because it's not so easy to go through the full kit on just the 8 drum pads on the top. I've actually found using the 8 pads at the top to be a lot more difficult than I'd anticipated - and I find myself often using the actual keyboard part when I'm using my MIDI controller to come up with drum parts. I did find using the pads (for hi hats and other cymbals mostly) at the top in conjunction with the keyboard using the arpeggiator is a pretty good way of "cheating" at finger drumming.

I maintain, however, that The Maschine is probably the coolest MIDI device I've ever come across in my life and every time I see a video of one being used, I am always thinking "wow that thing is really fucking nice" - I also feel like I'd be pretty shit at using it though without putting in a lot of time to practice. But with a device like that... it's definitely worth the time to put in so you can get the most out of it.

When I started out with it, there was just so much to learn. This thing can arrange, slice and do so many things and I am not even using the full tool which can just live on its own sans anything else. You want to add a bass line and you're confident you know it, no problem just play it out on the pads and then push it into a group and woosh now you have a bass line in there. Got a need for a synth or a piano and you want to add it to your track, then just program it get the midi sound you want, tweak and add. The list really just goes on.

Where it really does shine though, as your friend probably knows more than i do, is how it arranges things with time and you don't even have to look up at  your monitor or anything because those pads that are used for drumming actually turn into visual tracking cues for how you can read the time on the way you program the beat division. I still have a ways to go when it comes to drums but its a solid piece of equipment once you master it and that is really where the hardest part has been for me when it comes to learning drums. I am just not used to having my hands restricted when I am playing even the bass or guitar the way finger drumming works but the exercises are helping and while I can do your standards like 4/4, 3/4, 5/8 etc the problem really starts when you want to play something to get it out of your head versus just arrange it on the board. 

My other problem with this tool is that most of the tutorials are really all centered around EDM production and how you use it with regards to that and very few folks who use it for other instruments rarely seem to be contributing to the learning scape for it but that really hasn't stopped me ... yet haha. The other nice thing about the mini is it travels well (mostly around the house for now) so I just plug it into my Mac, fire up Maschine and practice so thats a blessing in disguise I wouldn't have gotten with the bigger brother.

[Dr. Gonzo]

39 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

When I started out with it, there was just so much to learn. This thing can arrange, slice and do so many things and I am not even using the full tool which can just live on its own sans anything else. You want to add a bass line and you're confident you know it, no problem just play it out on the pads and then push it into a group and woosh now you have a bass line in there. Got a need for a synth or a piano and you want to add it to your track, then just program it get the midi sound you want, tweak and add. The list really just goes on.

Where it really does shine though, as your friend probably knows more than i do, is how it arranges things with time and you don't even have to look up at  your monitor or anything because those pads that are used for drumming actually turn into visual tracking cues for how you can read the time on the way you program the beat division. I still have a ways to go when it comes to drums but its a solid piece of equipment once you master it and that is really where the hardest part has been for me when it comes to learning drums. I am just not used to having my hands restricted when I am playing even the bass or guitar the way finger drumming works but the exercises are helping and while I can do your standards like 4/4, 3/4, 5/8 etc the problem really starts when you want to play something to get it out of your head versus just arrange it on the board. 

My other problem with this tool is that most of the tutorials are really all centered around EDM production and how you use it with regards to that and very few folks who use it for other instruments rarely seem to be contributing to the learning scape for it but that really hasn't stopped me ... yet haha. The other nice thing about the mini is it travels well (mostly around the house for now) so I just plug it into my Mac, fire up Maschine and practice so thats a blessing in disguise I wouldn't have gotten with the bigger brother.

I think Carlos uses it for writing/arranging songs for pretty much everything he writes (primarily metal and jazz) other than the guitars (which, btw - it's unfair how fucking good he is at both drums and the guitar, he's arguably the best guitarist in his main band... and the other two guitarists are really fucking good  - the guy is insanely talented) & I know he takes it with him when he tours, so he can keep writing on the road. And tbh, I think he may have used it to write guitar parts at some point too.

It truly is mind boggling, but incredible, how much that one piece of kit can do. I think that's one of those things that's probably too advanced for me to wrap my simple little mind around  - honestly, I think it's surprising more people don't use them in other genres outside EDM, because it's got a lot of practical uses for a lot of genres (probably all genres, tbh). I can definitely see why most tutorials would be centred around EDM tbh - it definitely seems like an ideal piece of kit for anyone into that type of music... but I think it shouldn't just be seen as something solely for one genre.

[Mel81x+]

5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think Carlos uses it for writing/arranging songs for pretty much everything he writes (primarily metal and jazz) other than the guitars (which, btw - it's unfair how fucking good he is at both drums and the guitar, he's arguably the best guitarist in his main band... and the other two guitarists are really fucking good  - the guy is insanely talented) & I know he takes it with him when he tours, so he can keep writing on the road. And tbh, I think he may have used it to write guitar parts at some point too.

It truly is mind boggling, but incredible, how much that one piece of kit can do. I think that's one of those things that's probably too advanced for me to wrap my simple little mind around  - honestly, I think it's surprising more people don't use them in other genres outside EDM, because it's got a lot of practical uses for a lot of genres (probably all genres, tbh). I can definitely see why most tutorials would be centred around EDM tbh - it definitely seems like an ideal piece of kit for anyone into that type of music... but I think it shouldn't just be seen as something solely for one genre.

 

I use Sanjay's tutorials to get a bit of a feeling for how things go and then went from there. I just took the concepts he explained and then expanded on them but there are some good subreddits for it, still yet to find a Discord server so that I can actually discuss this with other folks in real-time.

As for folks who can play multiple instruments. I used to play with someone who was a keyboard player and we had a friend who played the lead guitar in a band. One day we were just jamming and out of nowhere this person said "that sounds wrong, here can I try" and all of a sudden he sets it right. We all just stopped for a minute and then someone said "you didnt tell us you could play guitar" and he just casually says "its easy once you just know the fundamentals". My rhythm guitarist just said "fucker".

[Dr. Gonzo]

Never really cared about plugins all that much before this year ... but now my Instagram feed is full of ads for them and there's some really really tempting sales out there right now.

I don't think I really need any though 

[Dr. Gonzo]

@Mel81x - Boss makes guitars now https://www.boss.info/us/products/eurus_gs-1/?lang=en-US&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=A+Bold+New+Voice+for+Sound+Innovators&utm_campaign=Boss_Launch_GS-1_*RUS* 

[Mel81x+]

9 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

@Mel81x - Boss makes guitars now https://www.boss.info/us/products/eurus_gs-1/?lang=en-US&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=A+Bold+New+Voice+for+Sound+Innovators&utm_campaign=Boss_Launch_GS-1_*RUS* 

if it ever comes to this side of the world (highly likely) I am going to try and play one just to see what its like. Nice to see them try their hand at this after having such a successful history with pedals.

[Mel81x+]

@Happy Blue would you buy a JEM from Ibanez? 

[Happy Blue]

1 hour ago, Mel81x said:

@Happy Blue would you buy a JEM from Ibanez? 

I believe they are really good guitars but no because they are not my style, if the shape of it doesn't speak to me I wouldn't buy it, I like pointed designs like the 2 Jacksons I have, Dean Razorback, BC Rich Ironbird, stuff like that. are you thinking about getting a JEM?

[Mel81x+]

11 hours ago, Happy Blue said:

I believe they are really good guitars but no because they are not my style, if the shape of it doesn't speak to me I wouldn't buy it, I like pointed designs like the 2 Jacksons I have, Dean Razorback, BC Rich Ironbird, stuff like that. are you thinking about getting a JEM?

Yeah I am. I have one that I really want just because of the look and more importantly the neck but I know its not everyone's cup of tea. Will probably get it early next year if its still in stock.

https://www.ibanez.com/na/products/detail/jem77p_1p_04.html

[Happy Blue]

51 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Yeah I am. I have one that I really want just because of the look and more importantly the neck but I know its not everyone's cup of tea. Will probably get it early next year if its still in stock.

https://www.ibanez.com/na/products/detail/jem77p_1p_04.html

Looks cool if you like that sort of design, very Steve Vai, is this what he uses?  like the colours and the spec is decent with the aftermarket pickups and a nice thin maple neck like my warrior, how much is it going for? 

Nice spec 

• neck type
• Wizard 5pc Maple/Walnut neck w/KTS™ TITANIUM rods

• top/back/body
• American Basswood body

• fretboard
• Maple fretboardTree of Life inlay

• fret
• Jumbo fretsPremium fret edge treatment

• number of frets
• 24

• bridge
• Edge-Zero II tremolo bridge

• string space
• 10.8mm

• neck pickup
• DiMarzio® Gravity Storm™ (H) neck pickupPassive/Alnico

• middle pickup
• DiMarzio® Evolution® (S) middle pickupPassive/Ceramic

• bridge pickup
• DiMarzio® Gravity Storm™ (H) bridge pickupPassive/Alnico

• factory tuning
• 1E,2B,3G,4D,5A,6E

• strings
• D'Addario® EXL120

• string gauge
• .009/.011/.016/.024/.032/.042

• hardware color
• Cosmo black

[Mel81x+]

3 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

Looks cool if you like that sort of design, very Steve Vai, is this what he uses?  like the colours and the spec is decent with the aftermarket pickups and a nice thin maple neck like my warrior, how much is it going for? 

Nice spec 

• neck type
• Wizard 5pc Maple/Walnut neck w/KTS™ TITANIUM rods

• top/back/body
• American Basswood body

• fretboard
• Maple fretboardTree of Life inlay

• fret
• Jumbo fretsPremium fret edge treatment

• number of frets
• 24

• bridge
• Edge-Zero II tremolo bridge

• string space
• 10.8mm

• neck pickup
• DiMarzio® Gravity Storm™ (H) neck pickupPassive/Alnico

• middle pickup
• DiMarzio® Evolution® (S) middle pickupPassive/Ceramic

• bridge pickup
• DiMarzio® Gravity Storm™ (H) bridge pickupPassive/Alnico

• factory tuning
• 1E,2B,3G,4D,5A,6E

• strings
• D'Addario® EXL120

• string gauge
• .009/.011/.016/.024/.032/.042

• hardware color
• Cosmo black

It is what Steve plays and that neck from Ibanez is actually very good for fast fret work if you want to play licks, etc.

[Happy Blue]

3 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

It is what Steve plays and that neck from Ibanez is actually very good for fast fret work if you want to play licks, etc.

If it's what he uses it's defiantly built for shredding lol   ..i'm more of a rhythm player, i can play a few solo's but can never remember all the notes, i forget them as quick as i learn them   

[Dr. Gonzo]

4 hours ago, Mel81x said:

It is what Steve plays and that neck from Ibanez is actually very good for fast fret work if you want to play licks, etc.

Do Ibanez have any necks that aren’t very thin and built for speed?

Every Ibanez I’ve ever played has a neck thin as paper that’s just begging for me to play as fast as I can on it

[Dr. Gonzo]

Can active pickups break an interface?

Either way, looks like this Evo 8 might have to go back  - just stopped working all of a sudden while using my ESP. Can get it to sometimes go back to normal, but the second I try to adjust the input gain it just stops working.

Haven’t really seen anything else about this kind of issue anywhere on the internet… so I’m guessing it’s just bad luck…