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JWM - Rondo (Electronica with an Ambient edge produced in NS2)
Continuing my exploration of Electronica with an Ambient twist, I decided to create a piece of music with a rondo-styled song form. This time, I took inspo from three sources - Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, and the "Tron Legacy" soundtrack by Daft Punk. (Yeah, you knew those French Touch artists would make their way somewhere into my list of inspos somehow, but this time in an unexpected manner. 😂)
This time, the main synth of choice was Obsidian in NS2. The 16th-note bass and the sustained bass were Obsidian. The "ambient" section are supersaw pads from Obsidian, the "Ih Children's Choir" from Beathawk, and the "KAPro Tutti Orchestra 1" from Korg Module, and the "high sparkle arp" is Obsidian.
I used Pro-R2 on the Ambient buss. That FabFilter reverb is (in my subjective opinion) the best all-rounder reverb plugin on iPad. Nearly on par with the Quantec Room Simulator to my ears. Of course in my opinion the best all-rounder reverb for iPhone is ToneBoosters (which has a shimmer section!), and my favourite dedicated Ambient reverb for more experimental fodder is FAC Alteza.
The main lead and the secondary lead are Obsidian as well. I used NS2's Algoverb on those since I didn't need the Ambient effect and didn't want to hog too many system resources.
Oh, and let's not forget the simplistic drums. I used the Gadget Tokyo AUv3 for the kick, snare, and fill, and Obsidian for the "white noise hi hat".
Really, that's about it. 🫠 Oh, and I mastered the track with the usual suspects of Grand Finale, a limiter at -1dB to catch any stray peaks, and Youlean's Loudness Meter.
Not to brag, but I consider this some of the best work I've ever produced to date. While I'm currently taking a break from EDM and Trance, keep your ears open for an upcoming Justice-styled French Touch collab between me and another member here in this wonderful forum. 😉 Cheers and enjoy.
Comments
Not to brag huh? Well brag cuz this might be one of your best songs to date
Great work (Rondo - I love it man - evoking classical Elemebts while totally modern like that baroque thing..)
I think THIS is you man, like I said before
You can pump out hit bangers but this is the REAL shit bro
Thanks mate.
I love pumping out EDM and Trance bangers, but I'm starting to get more into JMJ, Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, Vangelis, and Daft Punk's more orchestral works.
Whoa dude... absolutely amazing. I totally dig this type of track and you nailed it.
Am I allowed to have a boner to how amazing it is?
Thanks mate.
Yeah, I want to move beyond the usual dancefloor fodder and into more advanced Electronica territory. EDM and Trance to me is kind of the "same old shit" (not that there's anything wrong with the "same old shit" mind you), where this new-to-me style of Electronica forces me to be more creative with harmonic and melodic choices. It's like writing Classical music, but in an electronic way.
Bruh, tmi dude. 🤣
I'm all in for the new era!
Fried my brain ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Agreed. This is next level for you. I love the Baroque theme. You even have some counterpoint going.
It must be Frenchified but Wendy Carlos somehow got in there, too.
I was waiting for the return of the drums. I think you should pump up the volume a bit more at that point.
It’s been wonderful to see you master this stuff over the past few years. I know you’ve suffered, too, but, in my book, it’s worth it. Looking forward to the things to come from The Master Maker Of Music. 👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏻👊🏻
Same here mate. I still will listen to EDM and Trance on occasion, especially if it's Deadmau5, just not create it. The closest I may get to EDM on this upcoming album will be dark synth-driven electronica ala mid-2000s Ferry Corsten (his album "Right of Way" comes to mind with singles like "Punk" and "Rock Your Body, Rock").
I'm in this phase of Electronic music that doesn't necessarily have to have a beat. If a track on this album has a beat, as you very well heard, it'll be a very simple beat, nothing layered full of percussion which would distract from everything else.
NS2 is definitely my DAW of choice to drive this album forward, with Cubasis 3 being there for creating vocals (if a piece calls for vocals). No full-on Pop/EDM song productions with autotuned vocals and backing vocals though. Just simple vocoded vocals interspersed amongst the layers of everything else.
Bwahaha! My brain is a bit wonky from recovering from a nasty cold earlier this week, plus the edible that's starting to kick in. 🤪
I fucking love Wendy Carlos! @Svetlovska 's music too when it comes to Electronica and Experimental.
Ah, very true. My idea was to have the drums take a back seat in the mix in order to push forward the bass and leads.
My synthesised drums are still punchy, as flat drums (cough Vengeance sample packs cough) are a huge "hella don't" for me personally.
Thank you so kindly my cherished friend. Well, there's a very special collaborative effort coming up which will be in the style of French Touch Disco music. So I may jolly well use LinnDrum samples for that rather than synthesising my own.
Oh you'll hear what I mean, mate.
Agreed with what's been said above. Definitely your strongest creation to date. Enjoyed every bit of it especially the harmonic progression. Great job!
Mercí beaucoup mon ami. I really appreciate it. Being in a more contemplative mode has really helped me come up with better chord progressions. I didn't even use Scaler 2 to achieve it. 😅
I approached the whole composition of "Rondo"
as one would a notated piece of Western Classical music. I loaded a piano sound into NS2 (in this case, Marseille's default piano), and sketched out the harmonic progressions, the bass, and the melody. That way I had all the MIDI written.
Then I transferred the MIDI clip to different sections and deleted from each instance that which wasn't needed. For instance, the bass didn't need the melody or harmonies, so deleted those and kept the bass. Etc. This is how I built up my arrangement. The rest was just adding a little this and that to the layers (except drums, which needed to be simple and straightforward).
won't repeat what others have said before.
BUT
NS2 RULEZ!!!!
You never cease to amaze me with your twists and turns in style Jim, and I agree that this is one of the best things I have heard from you.
Definitely captured those baroque motifs, and as Mike said, the counterpoint is there too.
More of this please!
The bass pulse puts me in mind of the masterly original Dr. Who theme (with the best Doctor!)
Great work. Can certainly feel the Jarre and Tangs influences too. Very accomplished. Now this musical numpty is off to look up what a Rondo is…
Outstanding composition, arrangement, and production. Bad to the bone!
I can imagine this being performed in that venue.
Looks exactly like the Congress Plaza Hotel Ballroom.
One of my favorite gigs, The Ukrainian/American Debutants Ball.
Too bad I was married at the time.
I agree 100%! If NS2 ever bit the dust, I'd probably get into Cubasis 3 a bit more and try to make it work for me. But, I don't see Matt abandoning NS2 since he promised to maintain it. And if he ever does tire of maintaining it, hopefully he sells it to competent developers who won't add useless features (although audio tracks would be welcome, lol).
I swear, I searched for "the perfect DAW", and as it turns out, that's NS2 in a nutshell for me personally. Any vocal stuff can be recorded and processed in Cubasis 3 no problem.
Precisely. Ah, I'm in love with this type of music creation. It's more akin to composing music via notation versus just laying down synth tracks right away. As I said, the piano sound came first to lock in chord progression, bass and melody.
Absolutely mate. Thinking my next piece will touch upon Acid, but with an Ambient twist. Just gotta figure out which 303-styled synth I will- (oh who am I fooling, it's Troublemaker. LOL).
An absolute masterpiece of synth music. I love that themesong. It fits the Doctor quite well.
Lol. It's a Western Classical Music song form.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondo Quite fun stuff. Nothing "numpty" about not knowing something. Always room to expand and grow one's knowledge no matter how old we get. Always great to learn new things. 
Sounds quite fun actually. I'd love to have been there.
Oh yeah, to be fair, I honestly don't think I'll find a "Mrs. Right" anytime soon. I tried, but eh. Can't find someone who'd allow me space to create music as much as I want to. I feel living on my own is a blessing. I have a great circle of friends and family online and irl, and I like to chat it up once in a while with them.
Neither did I. Just when you least expect it… Bam!
@jwmmakerofmusic What a wonderful piece of music. A really great composition, and the instruments are so well chosen.
Lol, exactly.
I appreciate that mate.
It was a lot of fun to make this type of piece. Starting to get into my Jean-Michel Jarre/Tangerine Dream era.
More please!
You got it. ☺️
Ok! This is excellent work! It passes the, "Can I leave it on and do some work?" test with flying colours, cuz I keep coming back to it and enjoying the little morsels along the way.
I love that.
Thanks so kindly mate. Cheers.🍻
This is really good @jwmmakerofmusic ! well done!
Holy crap, I thought I replied here to you mate. Thank you so kindly!
"Rondo" has now over 1000 listens on SoundCloud! My average listens are usually near 200, so I'm happy I created this piece.
Definitely my favourite musical direction currently.
Irena beat me to the Dr Who reference 👾
Everybody else beat me to saying what a great track this is 🙏
Thank you so kindly, my friend. ❤️ I plan to do even more works like this as well as other Ambient styles.