Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[Spectrum]

On minimalism and drones and so on, check out Datadrift. She's out of Philadelphia and does this sort of stuff. She also does some more sequencer Berliny stuff sometimes, too, but this works for me when I need to relax; I think it's closer to the classic definition of "ambient" than most of what gets that label.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I can confidently say that about the 17 people. And I've often said to myself and others that if 20 or 30 people hear my music, that's an accomplishment, especially considering how outside of the mainstream it is.

A few other issues... I remember something Robert Rich said in an interview about how hard it is to be original in the classic ambient genre, because so much has already been done, and now the tools make it much easier... someone can just hold down a key on a softsynth and have a complete soundscape. I don't know how much I take that to heart, but it is in the back of my mind, especially when I do hear so much generic droney space stuff out there.

I think the other challenge is simply the nature of the genre. I know that most of you are into stuff that has a little or a lot more going on, but one of the biggest challenges of composing this music, still, for me, is NOT adding things. Accepting the minimalism of it. I don't struggle as much as I used to with that, but I'm not kidding when I say I have about 45 minutes of pretty solid stuff that I still haven't released (some of it things I've been working on for a year or two), because in the back of my mind, I still think they're not 'finished', although, in all likelihood, they probably are. It's really stupid, because I'll sit down and listen to some repetitive minimalist Steve Roach piece for 45 minutes and think it's awesome, but I can't seem to make the leap for my own music.

I listen to alot of minimalist ambient like Rafael Anton Irisarri, atrium carcieri, kammerheit, how to disappear completely and many more.

I I totally get the genre "getting easy" for the profane. I think it sux because a crap load of work goes into this type of music.

Like you mentioned it is what is not played that is equally important.

But I think you can hear the difference between true artists and the one pressing two keys on a soft synth with quantize up to 83733844%.

Like with how to disappear completely, it seems very simple but the nuances of tape crackle and such add so much texture and color.

Also you can clearly hear that Atrium carcieri uses alot of field recordings as samples. The don't sound like sound packs you buy online at all...not even close.

 

[rutrho]

mmmmm yall are giving me some motivation to get a sort of ambienty doom idea I've had kicking around my head since Halloween. turns out sitting on my patio making spooky noises for like two hours straight is some good muse wrangling.

 

[lordradish]

I know I keep mentioning this, but we really gotta get this Jamkazam thing up and running and start having sanity-inducing jam sessions online. I just keep putting it off, but hopefully not much longer. We could have a noise jam session, a super ambient session, a downtempo psy session. Lots of stuff. Then make an album of it and try to sell it on TBL to perhaps raise some money to help people hurt by the crisis.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I know I keep mentioning this, but we really gotta get this Jamkazam thing up and running and start having sanity-inducing jam sessions online. I just keep putting it off, but hopefully not much longer. We could have a noise jam session, a super ambient session, a downtempo psy session. Lots of stuff. Then make an album of it and try to sell it on TBL to perhaps raise some money to help people hurt by the crisis.

All in.

I also have plenty of .wav files to share for someone to use .

Jamming for me is gonna be really hard cuz of the kids n stuff. But like i said i can share plenty of stuff for anyone to use in anyway they want. I think I might have a good back ground drone for @lordradish

Also ageed 100% this is the perfect time to make an EP of something all together.
Awesomeness!!!!

 

[monsterthompson]

This is gonna be good...

@dukeorock

 

[lordradish]

All in.

I also have plenty of .wav files to share for someone to use .

Jamming for me is gonna be really hard cuz of the kids n stuff. But like i said i can share plenty of stuff for anyone to use in anyway they want. I think I might have a good back ground drone for @lordradish

Also ageed 100% this is the perfect time to make an EP of something all together.
Awesomeness!!!!

Hey, I think I set you up a folder on my Gdrive, go ahead and put that up there, maybe I'll take a whack... lemme know if you remember what the note/key is, too.

 

[dukeorock]

This is gonna be good...

@dukeorock

Be right back

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Hey, I think I set you up a folder on my Gdrive, go ahead and put that up there, maybe I'll take a whack... lemme know if you remember what the note/key is, too.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

This is gonna be good...

@dukeorock

Dang....that's looks like a steep leaning curve....??!!
Latency for fx??....

 

[monsterthompson]

Dang....that's looks like a steep leaning curve....??!!
Latency for fx??....

15 minutes in and drooling.
Latency on some effects when destructive sample editing. I'm not into live stuff yet.
It reads NI Sample packs?!

 

[Spectrum]

An hour-long review? Yikes. My short attention span has me pausing and going to play video games after 10 minutes. No wonder I never get anything done...

 

[dukeorock]

Dang....that's looks like a steep leaning curve....??!!
Latency for fx??....

if that learning curve looks steep to you, never even consider an Octatrack. THAT’S a learning curve

Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching tracker tutorials, but first and foremost it looks like Polyend did a great job streamlining a sequencer that looks pretty easy to get your head around once you come to grips with how the layout works. The more I look at the tracker thing, the more sense it makes. That said, they seem more suited to ‘programming’ than jamming, improv stuff. The Polyend appears to have some cool options than can be performed on the fly, considering it’s a tracker.
I’m still on the fence, though it looks like a very cool groovebox with a very clever sequencer. Selfishly, I’d be happier if it were more of a flagship, premium box than a budget minded one. It’s potentially awesome for what it is and it’s price point, but I’d gladly pay more for things like individual outputs, full size midi jacks and more of them, CV outs, something more than single grain granular, etc.
I could see if this thing is a hit, then some key firmware updates could be awesome. it’s not for sale until June, so who knows how many great updates could be added based on the suggestions of some pretty amazing beta testers?

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

if that learning curve looks steep to you, never even consider an Octatrack. THAT’S a learning curve

Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching tracker tutorials, but first and foremost it looks like Polyend did a great job streamlining a sequencer that looks pretty easy to get your head around once you come to grips with how the layout works. The more I look at the tracker thing, the more sense it makes. That said, they seem more suited to ‘programming’ than jamming, improv stuff. The Polyend appears to have some cool options than can be performed on the fly, considering it’s a tracker.
I’m still on the fence, though it looks like a very cool groovebox with a very clever sequencer. Selfishly, I’d be happier if it were more of a flagship, premium box than a budget minded one. It’s potentially awesome for what it is and it’s price point, but I’d gladly pay more for things like individual outputs, full size midi jacks and more of them, CV outs, something more than single grain granular, etc.
I could see if this thing is a hit, then some key firmware updates could be awesome. it’s not for sale until June, so who knows how many great updates could be added based on the suggestions of some pretty amazing beta testers?

Ill take your word for it and look it to it more closely.
Remember Ima SP knuckle dragger on samplers. (slowly getting better and faster though!!!!!) Jeez you cant cheap on that thing.

 

[lordradish]

if that learning curve looks steep to you, never even consider an Octatrack. THAT’S a learning curve

Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching tracker tutorials, but first and foremost it looks like Polyend did a great job streamlining a sequencer that looks pretty easy to get your head around once you come to grips with how the layout works. The more I look at the tracker thing, the more sense it makes. That said, they seem more suited to ‘programming’ than jamming, improv stuff. The Polyend appears to have some cool options than can be performed on the fly, considering it’s a tracker.
I’m still on the fence, though it looks like a very cool groovebox with a very clever sequencer. Selfishly, I’d be happier if it were more of a flagship, premium box than a budget minded one. It’s potentially awesome for what it is and it’s price point, but I’d gladly pay more for things like individual outputs, full size midi jacks and more of them, CV outs, something more than single grain granular, etc.
I could see if this thing is a hit, then some key firmware updates could be awesome. it’s not for sale until June, so who knows how many great updates could be added based on the suggestions of some pretty amazing beta testers?

Okay, not having time to watch this incredibly sexy video you're all drooling over, what's the difference between a 'tracker' and a 'sequencer'? I've never heard that term, before.

Does this have multi channel in midi (meaning, you can play more than one midi channel live, at a time)? Because the MPC Live STILL doesn't, and that's my biggest bitch about it.

 

[2many]

OK, I got some stuff ready to throw out there...
Since yesterday, I've thought and considered many aspects of what I would say here on this post... but I don't want to go too deep. (I'm so old school, low tech, low budget...)
This thread is intriguing, yet over my head regarding much of what can be done, some are doing. Yet, I am into sounds and creation. I'll just go as far as to describe a bit about some tracks I've chosen to share.
Take it from there.
Just be advised that I have posted these as unedited passages. It is all live un-rehearsed spur of the moment stuff. Ya might have to give it a second, or forgive a missed note.

This track was the one I was thinking of last night when I first decided to go back into the archives and throw up "ambient" sounds I'd done long ago. But when I revisited it, I found it had too much structure. I remember musician friends of mine calling out, "NO STRUCTURE"! with regards to jamming sessions my other buddies and I were involved in. In a way what we did was because we were in a new age, but also held back by capabilities. This was way before I ever had a bass guitar. And indeed, I'd never mastered the saxophone either, so sounds was the order of the day... I did have a delay and chorus though, and that's what is making theme from a dark alley fit the ambient classification.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And from another live two track recording of that year, I submit walking the dog in space and hooking up with the garbage chute. Let your mind go ... use your imagination ... I believe this is the true ambient piece out of the three posted today. I had the great fortune to be gifted the use of a moog for a period of time.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And finally, from 1 1/2 years later, a jam session which basically features a mic rubbing the upholstery of a chair's fabric. 1986 live two track recording with a cello, two cheesy keyboards, and my sax rig of delay and chorus. (yet no sax)
I am including the whole thing here... IE, from the very start! You hear the cello gal laugh at the sound I was getting and the remainder kind of fall into it all. There is a bit of "tapping" I got into doing early in, but I left it... It moves on from that, get over it. This one has it's own atmosphere to it.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[steubig]

Here goes nothing. Thank you for taking some of your time to listen, it is very much appreciated and if you stop 40 secs in......all good to we can still get along fine,

that was fun. (oops, sorry . . . that was some crazy noize M-FER!)

i found some of those pleasant.

the first one did make me wonder if it was gonna make me react badly physically (it didn't). that's actually happened to me on occasion.

btw, do you all know any of ryoji ikeda's stuff? pretty interesting. some kind of noisy but the stuff i've heard is mostly super minimal.

 

[lordradish]

OK, I got some stuff ready to throw out there...
Since yesterday, I've thought and considered many aspects of what I would say here on this post... but I don't want to go too deep. (I'm so old school, low tech, low budget...)
This thread is intriguing, yet over my head regarding much of what can be done, some are doing. Yet, I am into sounds and creation. I'll just go as far as to describe a bit about some tracks I've chosen to share.
Take it from there.
Just be advised that I have posted these as unedited passages. It is all live un-rehearsed spur of the moment stuff. Ya might have to give it a second, or forgive a missed note.

This track was the one I was thinking of last night when I first decided to go back into the archives and throw up "ambient" sounds I'd done long ago. But when I revisited it, I found it had too much structure. I remember musician friends of mine calling out, "NO STRUCTURE"! with regards to jamming sessions my other buddies and I were involved in. In a way what we did was because we were in a new age, but also held back by capabilities. This was way before I ever had a bass guitar. And indeed, I'd never mastered the saxophone either, so sounds was the order of the day... I did have a delay and chorus though, and that's what is making theme from a dark alley fit the ambient classification.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And from another live two track recording of that year, I submit walking the dog in space and hooking up with the garbage chute. Let your mind go ... use your imagination ... I believe this is the true ambient piece out of the three posted today. I had the great fortune to be gifted the use of a moog for a period of time.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And finally, from 1 1/2 years later, a jam session which basically features a mic rubbing the upholstery of a chair's fabric. 1986 live two track recording with a cello, two cheesy keyboards, and my sax rig of delay and chorus. (yet no sax)
I am including the whole thing here... IE, from the very start! You hear the cello gal laugh at the sound I was getting and the remainder kind of fall into it all. There is a bit of "tapping" I got into doing early in, but I left it... It moves on from that, get over it. This one has it's own atmosphere to it.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Nice, thanks for sharing. I'm rather partial to that second track.

 

[lordradish]

Hey, since we're all gonna be spending a lot of virtual time up here, everybody please share your soundcloud links, so I can follow.

My personal one:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

My synth duo:
Five Before Chaos

 

[monsterthompson]

Okay, not having time to watch this incredibly sexy video you're all drooling over, what's the difference between a 'tracker' and a 'sequencer'? I've never heard that term, before.

Does this have multi channel in midi (meaning, you can play more than one midi channel live, at a time)? Because the MPC Live STILL doesn't, and that's my biggest bitch about it.

It is another way to view a sequence. The big difference is that you have vertical columns representing each track, instead of horizontal piano-roll rows. Imagine it like a Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution screen. Each column on this device has 4 sections (sub columns) that control various parameters.

It looks to have multi midi you are looking for, if I'm understanding your question and the video. Around the 40 minute mark he explains the 5 midi channels you can send external CC on.

Jump into the video and check the time markers for the issues you have the most interest in. Loopop is pretty good about his video bookmarks. Check the pros/cons at the end for a quick summary.

In some ways it looks like a lot of fun, and has some live performance applications that are interesting. There's also a few mentions of "wish list" items for the firmware, which Polyend will likely follow through on, knowing them.
I've got to watch it again to get my head around how I'd use it.