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I want to dabble in electronic music

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Comments

  • @Jmcmillan said:

    @richardyot said:
    I would say if you can play, that's the best way to write any kind of music, including EDM and electronica. Play the riffs, the basslines, the melodies, and the chords. That's were the joy is to be found anyway, and the best tunes as well.

    If you write by playing/performing the process is a lot more organic than drawing notes into a piano roll or letting the arpeggiator or randomizer do it for you. You might occasionally come up with something cool with generative processes, but it's a lot less fun and engaging than actually performing the music yourself IMO.

    That’s my struggle in trying to decide to buy a sequencer or not. Seems like I don’t need one. If there’s a terribly difficult passage I can’t play, I could draw it in

    It may not be true for all, but to me, despite loving to play instruments, electronic music differs from other music in that sequencing is at the heart of the artform. It's sometimes referred to as programming, for good reason, it brings mechanization and automation to music. All of my favorite electronic music has a human element, like vocals, or hands playing an instrument, but part of the appeal is hearing the humans manipulate the machinery.

    The sequencer as an instrument is an appealing idea, one app that really clicked with me for this, as a playable sequencer, is StepPolyArp. It's in between an arp and a step sequencer, and it's fun because you can get all these tight, rhythmic patterns, but still play it like an instrument, do chord changes and stuff, or just play bits and pieces of the patterns by letting up on the keys, change patterns by hand, etc.

  • @brambos said:
    I wish I could really play keys, but not necessarily for electronic music.

    For most [not all!] subgenres of EM it's simply too easy to overdo it when you're actually playing it...
    I would really try to experiment with the minimum number of 'notes' you can get away with - and then try to find other ways to 'fill the voids': create syncopated rhythms using hamfisted multitap delays, ratchet a few drums, layer a kick with a bass (or tune the kick to double as a bassline). Use some subtle (detuning) pads in the background.

    And it's all about the buildup. Add up layers, then peel them away, rinse, repeat...

    B)

    Damn... that's really good advice for making something unique in any genre and possibly any art form:

    1. find the minimum (essential) elements
    2. find new ways to fill voids
    3. use the technology to create new textures (i.e. delay effects)
    4. layer instruments to create new "instrumental" sounds
    5. use subtle reality shifts (detuning) to add interest
    6. create a buildup (or at least check to see if you made one)
    7. add layers and peel them away (leavings traces of the layer)

    Do those things and you'll probably have unique art.

    This assumes you're not trying to re-create the art of a hero of yours which is personally fulfilling but often fails to be heard as art but more as craft.

  • @Processaurus said:

    @Jmcmillan said:

    @richardyot said:
    I would say if you can play, that's the best way to write any kind of music, including EDM and electronica. Play the riffs, the basslines, the melodies, and the chords. That's were the joy is to be found anyway, and the best tunes as well.

    If you write by playing/performing the process is a lot more organic than drawing notes into a piano roll or letting the arpeggiator or randomizer do it for you. You might occasionally come up with something cool with generative processes, but it's a lot less fun and engaging than actually performing the music yourself IMO.

    That’s my struggle in trying to decide to buy a sequencer or not. Seems like I don’t need one. If there’s a terribly difficult passage I can’t play, I could draw it in

    It may not be true for all, but to me, despite loving to play instruments, electronic music differs from other music in that sequencing is at the heart of the artform. It's sometimes referred to as programming, for good reason, it brings mechanization and automation to music. All of my favorite electronic music has a human element, like vocals, or hands playing an instrument, but part of the appeal is hearing the humans manipulate the machinery.

    The sequencer as an instrument is an appealing idea

    That’s a wonderful way of putting it! Operating the machines to make music for us. Like being a driver on a steam train engine. Working those machines to get it moving, adjust speed and change tracks, but it’s the engine that produces that typical sound. :smile:

  • Yeah I think that’s a thing we all learn - without the silence, we can’t truly hear the music. I’m forever doing too much. Throwing in that one more sound. I suppose that is the art of baking a musical cake - using just the right amount of each ingredient :p

  • @Processaurus said:
    StepPolyArp: between an arp and a step sequencer

    OK. That's going on the shopping list. I hit the preset arps and I get that rush of EM I have loved and I have punched steps sequences into low end keyboards like the Roland JX-3P with it's
    128 notes of possibility.

    I'd like to get that feeling in a live context. Sign me up.
    Looks like I should get "StepPolyArp Unit" ($15) to get the Audio Unit MIDI effect plug-in capability.

    NOTE: I'm still in "App Abuse Rehab" or App Anon. We have a lot more that just "12 Steps".

  • @McDtracy said:

    @Processaurus said:
    StepPolyArp: between an arp and a step sequencer

    OK. That's going on the shopping list. I hit the preset arps and I get that rush of EM I have loved and I have punched steps sequences into low end keyboards like the Roland JX-3P with it's
    128 notes of possibility.

    I'd like to get that feeling in a live context. Sign me up.
    Looks like I should get "StepPolyArp Unit" ($15) to get the Audio Unit MIDI effect plug-in capability.

    NOTE: I'm still in "App Abuse Rehab" or App Anon. We have a lot more that just "12 Steps".

    SPA is absolute brilliant. The closest you get to a piano roll sort of way in AUM ;)
    you will love it. sequenced melodies can be saved and the cool thing is, its using the cloud solution. in case you have an iPhone and do some stuff on the run, in the train, whatev-where you can save them and pick these up on your iPad later. I really love SPA and won't regret buying it. Although its not a real piano roll thingy...

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  • @Dawdles said:
    I think this is kind of a ‘by numbers’ recipe for certain electronic music forms

    Fair, but it was by no means meant as a "by numbers recipe" to create music. More like an exercise to practice getting away from what the OP is used to and getting comfortable taking another approach.

    Like a warmup/practice exercise before an actual sports match.

  • @Dawdles said:

    I think this is kind of a ‘by numbers’ recipe

    I knew I shouldn't have used those Frickin' numbers. It just ruins it every time: People hate lists and recipes. They want "freedom".

    Personally, I think @brambos had a pithy response. I had to go an add numbers. Stupid bunt. (Monty Python reference).

    Art eschews rules. "Bake". (BBC/PBS Baking Show reference).

    Should I be using footnotes for references? I don't have any... footnotes or references.

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  • @Dawdles said:
    Haha, it wasn’t the actual numbers, just the words ‘drop’ and ‘add layers/remove layers’....

    Point taken. You obviously know this genre and what to avoid. But this does help me, if not the OP. You see we don't always know when we are just full of crap... so, for the clue, Thanks.

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  • Of the link posted the Ratana and the Aphex sound interesting. I also like Daft Punk but don’t like the vocoder vocals so much

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  • Thank you Dawdles for the specific advice!
    Just some open questions:
    Why Cubasis over Auria Pro (or Garageband)? I have all those nice FF plugins I got for half price :)

    You recommended two Particle synths...I'm not terribly familiar with those...what are particle synths good and bad at?

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  • Ah OK, I understand. Granular synths have caught my attention lately, so I think I'll have to purchase Tardigrain or Quanta

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    @Jmcmillan said:
    Ah OK, I understand. Granular synths have caught my attention lately, so I think I'll have to purchase Tardigrain or Quanta

    I would get Spacecraft for now, its like 3 bucks! Also it is easier to get to grips with. Also, like a few of us said. Just use maybe two or three elements and get to know them well and keep it simple. You don't have to take inspiration from other electronic music either, just create :-)

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    . duplicate

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  • Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I'm going to jump in and try some ideas in my head with what I've purchased app wise.

    I might buy gadget though...it seems to be a good all in one kind of app. But maybe not...$20 buys a few beers too :smiley:

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