Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
Ha.... 20 bucks... gotta rethink that one. Thanks, though.
I like this one, which is from the same site
I feel the same as lordR w beats. Pocket operators helped me understand how to create better. I tended to think I needed a lot going on, but eventually I have learned the power of simple. I still struggle on variations and fills and the like. A while back I also bought some drum pattern books. Every now and then I'll look up a few funk beats and study the similarities and differences. I mostly got the pattern book to learn how to make beats of different styles...typically I try to make beats w mutes on my bass and a looper.
Also, been looking deeper at synths. Kinda seems like that Hydrasynth is the move so I can grow into it and not need an upgrade shortly after getting used to it, but more research. Maybe a good thing to throw some stimulus money at...stimulate the economy a bit, ya know.
Also, been looking deeper at synths. Kinda seems like that Hydrasynth is the move so I can grow into it and not need an upgrade shortly after getting used to it, but more research. Maybe a good thing to throw some stimulus money at...stimulate the economy a bit, ya know.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Something I got from the Elektron workflow regarding beats;
parameter locks and conditional trigs are crazy powerful and can make for a semi generative experience. I typically make a beat that I’d consider too busy, then place conditions on some of the steps. Many of the steps only have say, a 19% chance of firing off each pattern cycle. Using parameter locks you can also have certain effects or modulations on certain steps while the others stay unaffected. Then I can make each track a different pattern length. In this example there are 6 tracks, all on my Model:Cycles. One is 7 steps, 3 are 13 steps and the others are 16 steps. Maybe you all knew this stuff already, but if not, hope it’s helpful!
parameter locks and conditional trigs are crazy powerful and can make for a semi generative experience. I typically make a beat that I’d consider too busy, then place conditions on some of the steps. Many of the steps only have say, a 19% chance of firing off each pattern cycle. Using parameter locks you can also have certain effects or modulations on certain steps while the others stay unaffected. Then I can make each track a different pattern length. In this example there are 6 tracks, all on my Model:Cycles. One is 7 steps, 3 are 13 steps and the others are 16 steps. Maybe you all knew this stuff already, but if not, hope it’s helpful!
All this drum talk has me realizing I'm the only one here busting his @$$ with an old school OG sampler for drums?!?!
Wow, talk about making things harder for myself chopping breaks and individual hits by ear.
Haha.
Wow, talk about making things harder for myself chopping breaks and individual hits by ear.
Haha.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
All this drum talk has me realizing I'm the only one here busting his @$$ with an old school OG sampler for drums?!?!
Wow, talk about making things harder for myself chopping breaks and individual hits by ear.
Haha.
I still do that all the time and it can lead to ideas you’d never get any other way
OK, I was hoping I wasn’t alone.I still do that all the time and it can lead to ideas you’d never get any other way
howdy . . . just catching up.
@uglybassplayer: the bomb squad—hard to live up to that level of genius.
re gear: for sure, not the key to creativity, but it can help. i mention the ipad because, if you already have one, an app doesn't cost much in the grand scheme of things and i've found that the interface can be more forgiving than small programming windows.
the probability/semi-generative thing that @dukeorock mentions can be really useful in making patterns breathe a bit. there are a couple of apps that do that. pretty sure patterning does that, but i'd have to look. the other thing about the ipad is you can just sit around and program stuff in a different locale than all your other stuff. anyway, yeah pimping the ipad . . .
drum beats are difficult if i want to sound like a "real drummer" . . . if i go more for trying to sound like a good drum machine, i do a little better.
i have friends who take loops of real drummers and tart them up or overlay/combine them. those always sound more like real drums to me than a machine.
anyway, i tend to make things that sound like prismatic rhythm patterns (™).
@cosmicevan, i think the hydra is a good choice. if you have any questions, you could pm me. if you're not afraid of facebook (and we have every reason to be afraid of it), there's a hydrasynth page that has some really knowledgeable folks on it—including the devs. there's a gearsltuz page, but it's been spotty of late.
by the way: something that's a work in process. all hydrasynth.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
@uglybassplayer: the bomb squad—hard to live up to that level of genius.
re gear: for sure, not the key to creativity, but it can help. i mention the ipad because, if you already have one, an app doesn't cost much in the grand scheme of things and i've found that the interface can be more forgiving than small programming windows.
the probability/semi-generative thing that @dukeorock mentions can be really useful in making patterns breathe a bit. there are a couple of apps that do that. pretty sure patterning does that, but i'd have to look. the other thing about the ipad is you can just sit around and program stuff in a different locale than all your other stuff. anyway, yeah pimping the ipad . . .
drum beats are difficult if i want to sound like a "real drummer" . . . if i go more for trying to sound like a good drum machine, i do a little better.
i have friends who take loops of real drummers and tart them up or overlay/combine them. those always sound more like real drums to me than a machine.
anyway, i tend to make things that sound like prismatic rhythm patterns (™).
@cosmicevan, i think the hydra is a good choice. if you have any questions, you could pm me. if you're not afraid of facebook (and we have every reason to be afraid of it
), there's a hydrasynth page that has some really knowledgeable folks on it—including the devs. there's a gearsltuz page, but it's been spotty of late.by the way: something that's a work in process. all hydrasynth.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Please inquire the trademarked. "Prsimatic rhythm patterns "howdy . . . just catching up.
@uglybassplayer: the bomb squad—hard to live up to that level of genius.
re gear: for sure, not the key to creativity, but it can help. i mention the ipad because, if you already have one, an app doesn't cost much in the grand scheme of things and i've found that the interface can be more forgiving than small programming windows.
the probability/semi-generative thing that @dukeorock mentions can be really useful in making patterns breathe a bit. there are a couple of apps that do that. pretty sure patterning does that, but i'd have to look. the other thing about the ipad is you can just sit around and program stuff in a different locale than all your other stuff. anyway, yeah pimping the ipad . . .
drum beats are difficult if i want to sound like a "real drummer" . . . if i go more for trying to sound like a good drum machine, i do a little better.
i have friends who take loops of real drummers and tart them up or overlay/combine them. those always sound more like real drums to me than a machine.
anyway, i tend to make things that sound like prismatic rhythm patterns (™).
@cosmicevan, i think the hydra is a good choice. if you have any questions, you could pm me. if you're not afraid of facebook (and we have every reason to be afraid of it
by the way: something that's a work in process. all hydrasynth.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Ditto on the ipad. I got two drum machine apps that are very cool and easy to make patterns. (Step sequencing)
I also sample individual hits from these apps so its 2x as useful.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
How do you import drum sounds??
Are they included in the app or do you have the Apple gridlock of going through 438134567384 steps to get a sound in to the ipad?
Ruismaker is a Euclidean midi sequencer that I find very easy to use. It is synthesis based not sample based, which I prefer. Well worth the $5 IMO
some you record the pattern in the app itself and then transfer.
if i was going with one that had probablity (stochastic used to be amazing) or you could have long overlapping patterns (electrify was great at this, but i think it’s basically gone away now), i would play it into abelton and then fix things up.
Glad we have the same level of appreciation for the Bomb squad.
Ill check out some vids on patterning, thank you my friend.
On that trademark thing again?
prismatic....
re: drum programming ... I kinda have the opposite problem that many of you describe. I was given a pair of drumsticks from jazz drummer Jerry Betters when I was 4 years old, was always cobbling together fake drumkits throughout my pre-teens, and finally started seriously playing drums in high school, through college, and then on and off for a few years thereafter. When I program drums they absolutely are based on things a human drummer can/would actually do on a kit, they sound more-or-less "natural" (as opposed to "mechanical" at least), and it all comes rather easily for me.
It also take freakin' forever.
Worse still, it also shows up the deficiencies in my sound library far more than a less literal drum track would.
I sometimes wish I could forget everything I know about drumming so I could approach sequenced percussion tracks with a bit more ...eh, I don't necessarily want to say "naivete" but just a more accepting, open mind, a willingness to embrace the mechanical nature of samples and drum machines and grids... thinking maybe I should try collaborating with musicians who only know drumming as a programmed beat-making thing; I could learn a lot, and they could probably reinvigorate compositions that have maybe grown stale or been pigeon-holed in my mind.
It also take freakin' forever.
Worse still, it also shows up the deficiencies in my sound library far more than a less literal drum track would.
I sometimes wish I could forget everything I know about drumming so I could approach sequenced percussion tracks with a bit more ...eh, I don't necessarily want to say "naivete" but just a more accepting, open mind, a willingness to embrace the mechanical nature of samples and drum machines and grids... thinking maybe I should try collaborating with musicians who only know drumming as a programmed beat-making thing; I could learn a lot, and they could probably reinvigorate compositions that have maybe grown stale or been pigeon-holed in my mind.
I'd like to thank mr @steubig for making me buy all expansion packs for the moog model d synth app. (Apps are way more in my budget bracket than a hardware synths.)
More sampler food.
Next....more drum machine apps.
hey
just want to say that i really enjoy this thread and getting to read everyone’s comments. something i look forward to every day. makes this isolation thing a little bit more bearable.
be safe out there.
just want to say that i really enjoy this thread and getting to read everyone’s comments. something i look forward to every day. makes this isolation thing a little bit more bearable.
be safe out there.
