Post your keyboard controllers, synths, drum machines, etc!

[Takumaji]

Does your wife work with electronics? That's really something I'd like to learn considering I've been working around it for 11 years yet never learned much nor got to use it.

Yeah that Kyoka track grabbed my attention. I saw her interview on the front page of the Ableton website one day and said why not and clicked on it. She gave me some ideas after listening to her music.

Haha, no, my wife sells clothes at H&M

Modular systems are like electronic crack. Most people I know who started building a modular setup ended up spending all their money on it and now have walls full of that stuff. That's not the route I want to go, though. I have a mini-rack for six to eight modules, currently there are only two Doepfer modules in it (LFO and Wasp filter) and I'm mostly using it for enhancing the modulation options of my mono synths and filtering external audio. Sure, patching up new sounds on a large modular setup is fun and the possibilities are endless but it's also a black hole time-wise. More often than not you will be fiddling around with cables and settings for hours on end and never come out with a track...

 

[Cylotron]

what is a good synth(hardware or vst) that can make those early 90's "rave" style sounds? or the 'cheesy piano' sounds used in house music from back then?

 

[Takumaji]

The typical cheesy house piano of the late 80s/early 90s came from the Korg M1.

If you want rave-stuff but also powerful and flexible synthesis, get yourself a Quasimidi Sirius, it can be found comparably cheap on ebay. However, if you want the REAL DOUBLE CHEESEBURGLAR OF RAVE, you should go for the Quasimidi Raven. Like it's name suggest, it was made for that high-bpm-count rave stuff of the 90s and has it all, house pianos, fm-style basses, env arp for rhythmical pads and comes with a ton of ready-made styles that can either used directly or adjusted to suit your taste. It features a nice sequencer (which also has awesome live performance options) and is very easy to use.

Here's a short demo:

 

[Cylotron]

That thing is pretty awesome. I can't seem to find any for sale though.

 

[Cylotron]

alright, here is another track. this one has a beat similar to 'break beat(breaks)', but unlike that genre which typically runs around 140bpm... this one is at 117bpm. dreamy'ish sort of track and the bass isn't nearly as intense as the previous track.

 

[Cylotron]

The threads' dying out eh?...
hardware-wise, I do plan on getting that new electribe once it's available!

In the meantime, decided to do a remix of Cerrone's "Supernature".

º_º

 

[Takumaji]

I was very busy during the last few days. One of our cats also is very ill, he suffers from a serious inflammation of the pancreas and it's unsure whether he will recover. Poor little thing.

Will give your new tracks a listen tonight.

Hardware-wise I'm interested in the new Electribe sampler. Either that or the Akai MPX16, which is cheaper but I've heard a few things about it that I didn't like (timing problems with longer loops). I rarely use loops so it basically doesn't matter but there's no sense in spending my hard-earned money on some half-assed product.

 

[Takumaji]

My cat Merlin didn't make it, we had to put him down today.

Farewell, my little mousehunter, you've been the best we've ever had.

 

[Lagduf]

My cat Merlin didn't make it, we had to put him down today.

Farewell, my little mousehunter, you've been the best we've ever had.

My condolences Tak

 

[Cylotron]

That is heart breaking. Sorry to hear it.
I'm a "cat person" myself(well, always wanted a dog growing up.. but always end up with cats.. whether they're gifts, strays, etc)
Of course, I don't just think of them as pets.. but rather, family. Whenever one dies, I'll feel suicidal for awhile(substance abuse helps numb the pain)

 

[complexz]

god damn sorry to hear about your cat, I just lost mine in a similar way too

you should consider a old MPC tak! if you need a sampler and your hardware midi sequencer is currently still unusable, every single MPC will do both better than most

I think a MPC is right up your alley really, very fun and intuitive workflow. I'm not sure how your sequencer is so maybe this is nothing, But I love using the track mute feature on the MPC to mute and unmute midi tracks by touching the drum pads, it's great to kinda live arrange a song quickly and easily! I can turn on some synthesizers in the background, switch track mute off and play some live drums on the pads as the synths play themselves.... midi technology is so cool... good job dave smith.

 

[Lagduf]

I really want a Korg Monotribe.

 

[Cylotron]

I really want a Korg Monotribe.

There's quite a few of them on Ebay now. What I don't understand though is that lot's of sellers are asking $199(NEW) for them when they currently go $179 new on Amazon(and most other retailers).

 

[Lagduf]

There's quite a few of them on Ebay now. What I don't understand though is that lot's of sellers are asking $199(NEW) for them when they currently go $179 new on Amazon(and most other retailers).

Yeah I saw that. Crazy, right?

Seems like the perfect piece of gear for someone who wants to get in to analog synths - you get a synth, a sequencer, and rudimentary drums? Sign me up. For someone who isn't sure if this is something they want to get in to this is the perfect piece of gear.

 

[SNKorSWM]

My cat Merlin didn't make it, we had to put him down today.

Farewell, my little mousehunter, you've been the best we've ever had.

Sorry to hear. My condolences.

 

[Cylotron]

Made another new track. It's sort of Aphex Twin influenced, but still on the "house" side.

 

[Cylotron]

for those who know who Jeff Mills is, he's put up his old TR-909 for sale on ebay(signed)

with a starting bid of £2,000.00 though... i don't think there will be any takers

[EDIT] hah... shortly after i posted the link, the auction was cancelled. there's talk on facebook that it's not his real signature.

 

[Cylotron]

Just won a monotribe on Ebay. Should be here sometime next week.

 

[Lagduf]

Nice. Get a good deal?

I've been watching a lot of modular synthesizer videos on youtube.

Then I made the mistake at looking up how much all that stuff costs.

 

[Cylotron]

It's good if there really isn't anything wrong with it:link

 

[Lagduf]

Killer price even with shipping!

 

[Cylotron]

Check it out.. FL Studio gets crap from a lot of producers... but apparently superstar "Martin Garrix" uses it. He even used it on his club smash hit 'Animals':

 

[Cylotron]

Other then the new Electribe, anyone planning on getting Akai's Rhythm Wolf? It's more affordable and seems pretty fun:
http://www.akaipro.com/product/rhythm-wolf

Since I've ordered that Monotribe though.. I'll most likely just tinker with that until I get the Electribe :0

 

[Cylotron]

I received the Monotribe. Just been tinkering around with it before going to bed. It's fun yes... but is extremely limited and I realistically don't see it for music production(at least not on a professional level). It's more like a toy to 'get your foot in the door' (so to say).

 

[SPINMASTER X]

Check it out.. FL Studio gets crap from a lot of producers... but apparently superstar "Martin Garrix" uses it. He even used it on his club smash hit 'Animals':

I think Martin Garrix is a terrible example to use for FL Studio. Him and those other "Big Room House" EDM artists make some of the worst, cheesiest, simplest, uncreative electronic music of our time. There are other artists out there who are much better to use as examples. LOL I can't quite remember them because I often forget who uses what. But I agree that FL Studio is fine, it's more of the artist than the tools.

One thing that I've learned recently as a novice producer is that so many people use a lot of the same VST instruments so a person who uses FL Studio will sound like a person who uses Cubase. People who rag on other DAWs often rag on them because it's not their DAW and can't do things the same way. But I realized some things are easier on one DAW and harder in another. I won't rag on any DAW so long as you can make some dope beats.