JWM - The Beginning (Lo-Fi House/Synthwave in Koala Sampler)

jwmmakerofmusic

Another Koala Sampler piece, and at first I aimed for Lo-Fi House, but somehow it sounds more like Synthwave. Anyways, this time I mastered the track in AUM with RX950, MagicDeathEyeStereo, ReelBus, and Barricade. Here are a couple screenshots.

More production notes in the SoundCloud description. I hope you enjoy. If you like it, leave a comment below! Cheers. 🍻

(P.S. This is the first track from an upcoming EP.)

jdp000

Couldn’t help but to dance to this one! I really love it.

jwmmakerofmusic

@jdp000 said:
Couldn’t help but to dance to this one! I really love it.

Awww thank you so much, friend. ❤️ That means a lot to me.

McD

Cool. Did this come together after your block or has it been getting worked from the creative burst before?

jwmmakerofmusic

@McD said:
Cool. Did this come together after your block or has it been getting worked from the creative burst before?

After the most recent "options paralysis" episode, I meditated as suggested by @jdp000 and BOOM! The creative floodgates were opened and I crafted this in under 24 hours! 😂

jdp000

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@McD said:
Cool. Did this come together after your block or has it been getting worked from the creative burst before?

After the most recent "options paralysis" episode, I meditated as suggested by @jdp000 and BOOM! The creative floodgates were opened and I crafted this in under 24 hours! 😂

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear” - Ram Dass

McD

@jwmmakerofmusic said:

@McD said:
Cool. Did this come together after your block or has it been getting worked from the creative burst before?

After the most recent "options paralysis" episode, I meditated as suggested by @jdp000 and BOOM! The creative floodgates were opened and I crafted this in under 24 hours! 😂

I started to craft some advice for your “block” but pulled back thinking most blocks resolve themselves but sometime they can linger but it’s usually due to some non-musical factor that weighs in on the “Why create?” imperative. Of course, have a place to share your work and get a reaction is #1 for most of us. Which reminds me… I haven’t listened to the work yet. it’ll be back.

I discovered (again) that Koala actually has a “piano roll” page… I’ve been looking for a nice piano roll to experiment with that
also fits into AUM. NOTE: To find the Piano Roll page double click on a sequence PAD in the sequence section of Koala. Tapping the Keyboard sends you into a keypad mode. But tapping a sequence allows you to “see” the patterns you may have entered by hitting “record”. But I want to load up some good “note” samples and fire notes off from this Piano Roll using my ears to decide when I have a nice “line”.

jwmmakerofmusic

@jdp000 Very true and wise words. Meditation is all about quieting the mind, and I often need that.

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@McD Yeah, it was a short block, but luckily it didn't last a full week. Now I'm planning an EP, the above track being the first of it. (Although the version that will show up in the EP will actually be a shortened version.) I also plan to produce another Lofi track, maybe a Jersey Club beat, 90s House, and something Ambientesque (not full Ambient, but something atmospheric).

magnusovi

Great post and song man!!!

McD

OK… I finally listened to the track. I like the deep rich sounds and you’re admission that you sampled
a Korg app in AUM and loaded it into Koala. I think that’s a good way to go.

I recall Pete Sasqwax had a great video showing how to resample into Koala in AUM… worth a watch:

He also threw in some complex side-chaining details that I cloned and uploaded as a AUM Project in Patchstorage:

https://patchstorage.com/petesasqwax-koala-resampler-rig/

jwmmakerofmusic

@magnusovi Thank you so much mate.

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@McD Of course I admit to sampling instruments for Koala. I like to share my processes, not just my music and passion for music. ❤️ To help others out with insights into the methods of my madness. Even sharing my more "vulnerable" moments here (such as that 5-day creative block) so others can also gain from my experiences.

When I was cutting my teeth in musical production, I got little to no proper advice and had to figure a lot of things out on my own. "Didn't you go to uni?" I did, but it taught me more about how to make the Ambient and Noise Experimental sort of genres rather than any real-world production skills. Back then, I couldn't give a flip about those genres of music, even though those are the only genres that the uni considered as "what Western music evolved into". A rather ignorant, snobbish, narrowminded viewpoint towards other genres of music such as Pop and Dance Music and HipHop.

(Of course now that I'm older and could separate the attitudes from the experimental genres, I've come to love, appreciate, and produce them.)

I'm definitely checking out the video and Patchstorage project! Thanks for those mate.

McD

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
@magnusovi Thank you so much mate.

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@McD Of course I admit to sampling instruments for Koala.

I know that forum members are asking for Koala samples and I purchased a few myself but I think we all have a ton of apps that can us used to make Koala fodder. I think it’s a really interesting workflow.

jwmmakerofmusic

@McD said:

@jwmmakerofmusic said:
@magnusovi Thank you so much mate.

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@McD Of course I admit to sampling instruments for Koala.

I know that forum members are asking for Koala samples and I purchased a few myself but I think we all have a ton of apps that can us used to make Koala fodder. I think it’s a really interesting workflow.

I agree. I love "rolling my own" one shot instrument samples for Koala per project . I didn't know I could load Koala in AUM and sample from plugins directly like that! That simplifies and streamlines my workflow substantially.

magnusovi

How would you guys sample other synths in Koala? I was thinking of doing a screen recording while playin with an external synth, hosted in aum or standalone, and then importing it into Koala. Is this the way? Or how would you guys do it?

jwmmakerofmusic

@magnusovi said:
How would you guys sample other synths in Koala? I was thinking of doing a screen recording while playin with an external synth, hosted in aum or standalone, and then importing it into Koala. Is this the way? Or how would you guys do it?

What I did was load a synth into AUM and record a note, the recording of which ends up in AudioShare. Then I'd transfer the samples over to a folder in Files and load them into Koala that way.

Screen recording sounds like a good hack.

But above is a method to record samples directly into Koala within AUM. 🤯 Next Koala project I'm definitely trying out that method!

AlterEgo_UK

This one went straight to my feet! Foot-tappingly good!
Excellent use of Koala too!

thesoundtestroom

@jwmmakerofmusic Yes, this is great, cool beans😊

DMfan

Well done my friend!

👏👏👏

/DMfan🇸🇪

jwmmakerofmusic

@AlterEgo_UK @thesoundtestroom @DMfan Thank you so much mates. ☺️ This was a lot of fun to build.

jwmmakerofmusic

Just sent the link to this track to Marek. Hope he enjoys it. Peace. ✌️

magnusovi

@McD said:
OK… I finally listened to the track. I like the deep rich sounds and you’re admission that you sampled
a Korg app in AUM and loaded it into Koala. I think that’s a good way to go.

I recall Pete Sasqwax had a great video showing how to resample into Koala in AUM… worth a watch:

He also threw in some complex side-chaining details that I cloned and uploaded as a AUM Project in Patchstorage:

https://patchstorage.com/petesasqwax-koala-resampler-rig/

Thanks for reposting this!

jwmmakerofmusic

Marek liked it and linked me to the Koala Flip Challenge. Fantastic dev.

GeoTony

Very catchy. Look forward to the EP although I’m that far behind with my listening you’ve probably finished it now 🤨

jwmmakerofmusic

@GeoTony said:
Very catchy. Look forward to the EP although I’m that far behind with my listening you’ve probably finished it now 🤨

Not quite yet. I have a small handful of tracks I haven't released yet to make. Shooting for 5-7 tracks.