Amygdala

Well put I define myself pretty much as a maker of music. I also make musical instruments as a profession - and then I spend quite a lot of time playing table soccer. These interfere heavily with each other, but I absolutely need to do all of them! It is not the best outset for the relationship with my girlfriend, but I think she's a peach and takes it very well. Making music is my all-time biggest passion, if you disregard life itself. - A

So how 'bout Fluke... Anyone into that? I guess it's more in the soft end, but I really think those guys know what they're doing. Say, why is it that all the rilly rilly big'uns are British? -A

I second that. And I am thrilled to see Vince Clarke mentioned here, because he really does amazing stuff with good'ol' synths. I think he has gone mostly software now, but still... I am naming my first son "Vincent"! To embrace both ends of this discussion, I really dig Vince's creativity when it comes to synthesizing drums and percussion. I also readilly use "Lucky Bastard", a sample CD packed with a tiny bit of his doings. I second that t(w)oo... These days I do my kicks on an SH-1. That machine can knock the air out of vacuum, if you twiddle the filter enough. I second that third! I work for TC Electronic and especially the debugging phase of writing music software is a massive bitch. Musical software is a musical instrument, and if you steal a guitar, then you're a thief - follow the implication. A kick is a musical "event" so to speak, just like a guitar-riff. "Stealing" a guitar-riff isn't theft - so I would say that you can't really steal something that "happens" as opposed to a physical thing (software counts as physical...). Sampling a musical event is therefore fine in my opinion. -A

Hi there, That sounds interesting! I hae wanted to do some similar stuff, but I feel like it's kind of dead-in-the-water, when I can't mix on a decent sound system. Else it will be like guessing how something will work out, and that never works out Do you know for sure, that it wasn't just the DJ who panned the mix and added some stuff in the other channel...? That would be the easiest way of doing it I think. For a long time I have wanted to have a regular mix, and then add some stuff that can't really be heard, but felt as short rhythmic pulses - then let these play with the kick figure, so that it isn't just umph-umph-umph-umph, but something more. It is just so darn dificult, not to ruin the mix completely with such low frequencies... -A

Yeah, just like the beat from James Brown's "Funky Drummer"... It has been through quite a few converteres over the years! I am just curius though, why is it lame to sample bass - what is the difference? What makes it allright to sample one thing but not another? I generally agree with your view that sampling is okay... But I prefer to call it "borrowing inspiration" instead of stealing. And for the points: (1) I don't, and I think there are a lot of people who don't. (2) I don't anymore. Since I began working for TC Electronic I can see what a big problem it is, and how much better the development and in the end products we would have, if there was no piracy. You're only cheating yourselves guys Word! Sort of... We would still have synthesizers, and pioneers like Kraftwerk would still have gotten the ball rolling. In the development of electronic music, the sampler is a fairly new invention. But I think, for the styles we have today, it is one of the most important advances. - A

I like all albums except "The Gathering" and "Vicious Delicious". I think I didn't catch on to the gathering son enough to think of it a fabulous - it doesn't really stand out for me as a great achievement. All the others do except vicious. I only discovered BP, Vegetarians and IM supervisor a couple of months ago, but I am blown away - sure there are one or two misses on each of them, save Classical Mushroom, but in total I think it is just dandy. I have a sneaky suspicion that there may be our or five seriously good tracks on Vicious too, I just need to get used to the idea... So - without actually saying anything in the above, I think the dudes did great. Greater than most other artists out there. -A

Go right ahead -f it contributes to the pool of great music in the world, it would be a same not to Personally, I would take it as a great compliment, if someone stole (a little, not entire sections) from me... -A

I think it's perfectly allright. I can't see no reason why not. I think a lot of producers consider it "too easy" (while still doing it). At the same time, there seems to be consensus that stealing overall musical ideas is just fine (structure of breaks, arrangement, basslines, whatever...). To me, sampling is an art, that should be just as recognised as good synh programming. And to put a little perspective on the topic, if you like Simon Posford, be very careful about saying "stealing musical elements and sampling them is wrong" -A

Word word word I have been looking to get the G2 as well.

Hi there I don't know anything about the Vanguard, but why do you want something like it, only in a hardware box? Why not look for something completely different, instead of spending lots of money, on something that only provides the same possibilites, but with more cables and less flexibility? I am just curius - I am madly into hardware myself - A

I have a 606 - mostly for the fun of it, because there are no real reason not to just sample it. The only reason I can think of, is because of the sequencer, and what it does to (or for) your creativity, but still... - Andreas

Oh, I did... But when I experience a defect in a product, I tend to think the company that made it are not really competetnt to be doing this kind of stuff. So I go for something else, and suggest others to do the same BTW, the touchpad on the Novation keyboards...? Please, what a joke! - I have my eye on the Edirol series, they look pretty cool - except for the stupid pitchbend / modulation thingy. Those are something Roland should really do something about. - A

Hi guys, I just saw the recomendation of the Novation Remote 49SL - I strongly advice againt that. I bought one, and it acted a bit funny and then, a month after purchase, it died. Before it did, whenever I was playing a sequence, and tweaking knobs at the same time, the lowest MIDI note would hang - even though it was never played in the sequence. This problem was definetly due to the keyboard, since no other gear was changed. - A

A TB-303 on eBay... Appearently, this is a very expensive machine, resembling a whole lot of nothing very much. Dang.

Yep, gliding between notes is (for me) the essence of acid... Along with a lot of resonance and distortion of course. - Enable protamento and glide hither and fro -A

I'm with Tatsu... Black Rhino would be nice. I remember buying White Rhino, wishing to be able to afford them both. I held it in my hands, but I was flat broke way back when... -A

Thanks for your feedback guys SuperGroover> I am working on a bit more smooth intro - so the hats won't be so naked at first. I have considered your idea about tempo, but I actually have bad experience about tempo changes to the faster - it can be waay cool to break down and turn the tempo down 10-15 BPM - but it never seems to work upwards for me. Oh BTW - I compressed the "Ass" out of the bAss... Naah, let's not, and say we did DigiToxin> Oh, how I've tried to come up with a slower melody to fit the ones there... But I might give it another go anyway - thanks - other feedback I have gotten and consider: More stereo-like drum-section. It breaks the idea of starting out minimalistic and keeping the rhythm part that way, and then just build from there... But maybe... Longer breaks - but this won't do, since I think what's wrong with todays music is constant disorientating breaks, ruining any possibility for da traance - I'll upload a new version soon. -A

Hi all, I finally had some time to finish a piece, that has been brewing the last four months. It starts out very dry and minimalistic but slowly builds into a more enveloping atmosphere with a bit more than phunk to listen to. For the full experience, don't skip ahead, but take it from the beginning and preferably in some good headphones, because it was mixed on headphones... Enjoy, and comments (except "compress bass more") are welcome www.amygdala.dk/Midiature.mp3 (or www.daimi.au.dk/~buding/Midiature.mp3) -A

You're welcome - I have planned to do more of that kind of stuff for long, but have not had the time of day for ages on end... Sadly. -A

Okay, since the main man himself is checking this thread, I won't post the track with the error removed -A

Well, I agree - but in my comment there's the offer of actually doing it, if anybody wants...? It will have to wait to the weekend though -A

If it's the price that's lucky, then ignore me... But go to http://www.eatstatic.co.uk/ - there you can get both Implant and Abduction (at the horrible price of 12 pounds). -A

Allow me to repeat myself... It's easier to fix than putting chewing gum in the hole of a leaking gas tank.

If it really bums you out, then the error is in a tight loop, so it should be easy to cut it out, and copy the segment from one bar later and replace the flawed one.

Anyone else... At least me It sounds like the entire mix is bitcrushed for a short instant. Probably there was sampleslips galore in the mastering -A