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So, I want to produce IDM on iPad...
Hello friends! So, lately I've been listening to a lot of Aphex Twin and really love his music. It's original, groundbreaking, and genius. I watched these videos about him...
...and it got me thinking - how do I make music like that on an iPad (or to make great music like that in general to be honest)? Music like "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker".
Now, besides what I've learned in the videos, I speculate that experimentation is one of the main key factors in producing similar results to Aphex Twin. That's obvious. But, I'm also wondering what else there is to it.
So, first question - which apps and plugins would work great for glitching and other effects associated with IDM? I mean, when I produced "Splat" (which was a Dedf1sh-styled DnB piece with stuttering and glitching effects), I created all the effects by freezing the audio and editing it by hand in Cubasis 3.
But, that takes a long, long time to do by hand, lol. Are there plugins out there that can act as "cheat codes" I could use in Cubasis to help me glitch it up? And if Cubasis is less-than-ideal for IDM, which app(s) would you recommend in place of it?
Second question - what other IDM artists are out there similar to Aphex Twin you'd personally recommend I listen to for inspo?
Third question - are there any tutorial videos on Youtube and/or free articles online you can recommend I check out for more info?
Last question - if you yourself produce IDM, whether on iPad or desktop/laptop, what advice could you give me besides the standard "just experiment"? I'm looking for a bit of a direction to go in as it were and don't know where to start exactly.
(Note - you needn't answer all the questions nor in any particular order, lol.)
The reason I'm making this thread is to spark a discussion about IDM in general - aka my main musical obsession currently. I did a search for the topic on this forum and didn't see a thread dedicated to IDM yet as far as I could see. And of course, any help and advice you can post here in this thread will not only help me but help the community as a whole.
Thank you all in advance!
Comments
Boards of Canada are another great band.
My tool of choice for this style of music which i strive to emulate is well…ya know.
Drambo on iPadOS.
I generally start with a sample and find a part that resonates with me at that moment and build out from there…stacking and tearing down and adding new and removing old…i treat it the way i do collage work…and feel my way into it.
I honestly try to find a mood to capture and build from there.
Also give Future Sound of London a listen.
They are one of my all time favorite Bands.
The album Lifeforms is one of their more accessible of their works.
Dead Cities is just a mind scrambler.
ISDN is a journey.
They have so many albums. All their most recent work is on BandCamp.
Welcome to a genre of music that will change your life.
It did mine. 👊🏼💗🎚️
A cool video from Imaginando:
Speaking of Drambo, here is “Beep Street” by Squarepusher, early 90s. But is it IDM? Or strictly DnB … I’m never comfortable with labeling music.
Replicant 3 could be your cheat code for glitching up the drums.
The forgotten one; clark
That was an exciting time to be a young man getting into electronic music! One of my personal faves from the era:
I absolutely love FSOL, still listen to them a lot. I actually never really considered them IDM but then it got me thinking "what is IDM?" uh oh... I think it was a catch all electronic term here at one point to mean "not 2 Unlimited or Sven Vath" in the same way that Nirvana and Dead Can Dance were in Alternative which meant "not Guns n Roses or Billy Joel". I guess there are IDM cultural tentpoles and nowadays I think people would make connections to individual acts as opposed to IDM as a genre.
😁deleted
I read its called intelligent because al that artist were on the old warp cd “artificial intelligence”
https://www.discogs.com/style/idm
The main reason it was called idm was just to emphasize that it was designed primarily for listening rather than dancing. In fact the term 'electronic listening music' was also used for this stuff back in the day, until idm became the more popular term. It's always (understandably) been a controversial name tho!
Yah, it seems it was just a marketing label more than a style or genre. I mean, by the 'you listen and don't dance' description there was a ton of IDM made in the 70s (vangelis, jarre etc). For me B12, one of my favourite artists from the 90s warp era is just 'electro chill' or something. My initial exposure to IDM was the more noisy kind of low bit rate sounding semi-agitating weird stuff (which I also liked) and then in no time tons of things were calling themselves IDM and there wasn't really any sort of clear through line so I just bailed on the term as it just seemed pretentious anyway and it also seemed like none of the good artists being called an 'IDM artist' would even want to call themselves that.
My favourite ever album review was in the NME:
Don’t tell anybody but I actually bought an Autechre album in the 90s. I’m not German. Or bald. And my anorak is cheap.
Brilliant 😂😂
I'm bald and like their early stuff before the car alarm masturbating but I refuse to become German.
So many different ways to make this kind of music. On YT Ned Rush and Mr Bill have a ton of great content on how to. They’re both Ableton users, but for someone with your background @jwmmakerofmusic I’m sure you could grok principles from these guys.
On iOS my favorite manglers are borderlands, effectrix and egoist. Repitching, resampling, chopping and effects in Koala is also great.
Look forward to seeing how your journey progresses.
Bigtime Egoist fan for this for sure. Spacecraft may be useful too. (Cough, BM3, cough)
You might also want to have a look at
Fauve : flawed reconstructor on the App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fauve-flawed-reconstructor/id6749634822
I love to complexity it adds to simple tracks.
I forgot Fauve was recently released. Just purchased it now. When it's time, I will use that and dive headfirst into IDM. Right now, Auxy is constantly calling my name to produce more music in that. 🤣 I will see if I can create some sort of breakbeat track in that. May be fun.
Also, thank you all for your input so far.
I'm gaining some better understandings as well as listening to lots of amazing artists (whether I heard them before or am brand new to them).
@jwmmakerofmusic i don’t own it so I’m only speaking to what I’ve seen, but Looperator & Bleass filter, Tonebooster filter (those two I do have) on your drums you could use the same midi to add one or more of the Fractal programs. Add some good Lofi pads and strings Automate some Reverb. One of my Favorite Tracks Ever! Cow Cud is Twin, how Aphex opens that track live with him hollering and door slamming then brings it home….also Igor Vasiliev is your friend, in all things you want to go nuts on.
What about Beatbreaker in Logic Pro for iPad?
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I've got a feeling that Battalion would be pretty good for IDM too! With the variation button turned up.
@jwmmakerofmusic after laying out my thoughts I messed with the idea, dunno if this is right, but thought it sounded ok
K-devices apps?
I just went to see them in Vancouver and they were incredible! Danced all night and got completely immersed in their unique sonic vision. Totally inspirational producers for me, always have been.
This almost makes me want to read NME for the first time in decades. This is way better than the pretentious, pseudo intellectual bullshit that they let writers like Paul Morley smear all over their pages for years.
Just had a jam with jAmp Percussive through some light Magma and then into Fauve and it was delightfully glitchy.