Otto Matta

Check out Nefarious, off Multistate's Collaborating with Machines album. Saikosounds samples This is just a guess, and a track I find particularly fun to listen to. I'm also partial to rino's suggestions. I couldn't really tell the difference between your samples.

Damn, devious. It's been a while since I looked at this thread. You've seen some amazing stuff come and go. You might want to consider using both the terms GAS and GADS (Gear Acquisition and Deployment Syndrome) as well. LOL. Me, I'm itching to start a new track, and this time I want to get a few new VSTs for the purpose. Which means I'm about to submerge myself in a manic bubble of a search for the ones that speak to me, and will probably end up spending too much money on them. But that's part of the fun, is it not? I'll be looking for: - a subtractive synth or two with lots of breadth, warmth and solidity (and easy on the CPU) - general sound effer-upper effects, glitchers, etc. - something that I can put a voice through to create robotic/vocoded effects Wish me luck this weekend.

Good point. Unless that's a large labium, I think I see some scrotum escaping those red panties there.

I have a challenge for radi - or whoever is behind radi's persona: I want to see a picture of you holding a Goa CD.

It's been in my head all day today, and it's been a couple days since I listened last.

Yeah, but that was many albums ago. Kai-Q meant that Shango was Juno Reactor's last good album, and I agree, although Hotaka was a great track.

No expectations, but I agree that it would be nice to have album music rather than more Matrix soundtrack music.

Okay, alleycat, here's my review, for what it's worth (I did not vote in the poll): The philosophy I adhere to with music - and all artistic media in general - is that to satisfy me (and most people, it seems), it requires a solid background, midground and foreground. This track of yours is mostly midground and some background, with just a tiny bit of self-conscious foreground. The track is very noisy, which is not in itself a bad thing. Most decent Goa/Psy stuff has a significant amount of noise, but usually as a sort of background canvas upon which the main elements are doing their thing. Because your track is mostly stuff one would hear a little bit of in the midground, your track comes across as very shy and introverted, whereas you have to agree that confidence and boldness is what gets people interested in listening. I suggest taking a listen to your favorite stuff with this background/midground/foreground idea in mind, and see how the successful artists are doing it. Their foregrounds tend to be relatively simple but deliberate and articulate. Their backgrounds - beats and bass - is also generally simple, but usually very confident. The midgrounds (noise, percussion, effects, pads, etc.) tend to be more complicated, and you seem to have this part down to an extent. But then the trick is getting all three grounds to play off each other effectively and confidently. I also feel that K.I.S.S. is a great rule in any artform: "Keep It Simple, Stupid." Always strive to simplify rather than complicate. Or complicate first, then remove everything that is not absolutely necessary, while making the remaining elements as interesting as possible. Complexity for its own sake is rarely interesting. I'd also recommend putting some more practice into your compression, EQ and effects so that the individual sounds are differentiated more. It feels like there's too much central competition going on, which has a muddying effect. It's hard to hear your kick at all, which, along with the bass, is arguably the most important part of any dance track. I realize that one can be very limited by one's equipment, and maybe you don't have an ideal situation. What I can hear of the kick is actually interesting, but is currently ineffective. There are also some extremely high frequencies going on throughout the track that are fairly painful. Hope that helps, alleycat. This is a continuous learning process, and everyone is learning along with you. Good luck.

Thanks, Colin. I'll give that a try. I've yet to figure out how to make any sound from my Korg in Cubase. Dude, more people need to hear this. I suggest you put it in Music Promo too.

Holy moley, guys! Thanks! Wicked! :posford: Thanks so much for the detailed review, Colin. Yeah, man, the kickdrum issue is probably my worst habit at this point, and I fall for it every time. I'm trying to make a really fat, thumpy kick, but I always go overboard. I'm assuming it's a compression issue I don't know about yet. Or an EQ thing. Or both. Honestly, I want a kick sound like those big hip hop kicks, which I think go really nicely with a melodic structure on top. Thanks, klaus! I'm glad you liked it.

It's a Korg 01/Wfd workstation ("fd" is floppy drive). I'm pretty sure it's DOS and SMF, yes.

I wrote some orchestral stuff in the early to mid-90s. I actually still have one of them from around 1995, but it's on a floppy for my synth, and I don't know how to get that data. Does someone know a way that I can record that info into Cubase? Colin? Everyone should listen to Symphoid's Doomsday. It's awesome.

I use PlasmaViz for Windows Media Player. I tried AcidWax when it came out, but I didn't like it as much. I recommend checking out PlasmaViz. You can turn off the adverts.

I like this, fluff. It's definitely original to my ears; not trying to be anything specific. The best part - and I really wasn't reading into this - was how the music is, to my ears, a contradiction on many levels. It's arbitrary but deliberate; it's dirty but clean; it's serious but playful; it's aggressive but sensitive. Very sculptural, in a hi-fi sense, too. The one thing I didn't like was using that high-pitched sound to end every single 4-bar module. I realize it's an effective tool to delineate each module, but it's overused, I feel. Otherwise, it's a very entertaining and unique experience. I enjoy the illusion of simplicity as well as the restraint you utilize. I'll be looking out for new stuff.

I have to agree.

I see. For some reason I interpreted what you said as something like "The TB-303 is responsible for dance music."

Really?

Art of Noise was big for me too. Also Tomita, lots and lots of 80s synth pop, and electronic new age music like early David Arkenstone. The first thing that really hooked me was Wendy Carlos' Switched on Bach when I was a tiny person.

My interest in synthesizers goes back a ways, but the track that got me into electronica in 1997, and then psytrance a little later, was a track called Skank by Higher Intelligence Agency, on an album called Freefloater, on the Waveform label, from the mid-90s.

I meant "ultra" in a good way. As in Ultraman. Ultrageezer! Maybe Supergeezer? Megageezer? Ubergeezer? (I'm just taking out on you what the 20-somethings take out on me. I suggest harassing the 50-somethings.)

35 here. I agree this music helps one feel younger. If I'd just now gotten into it I'd suspect a mid-life crisis. I think 30 is a good line for the Psynews geezers club. 40 would be for the ultra-geezers.

Thanks, Snapissimo. I really appreciate the good words. Warms the soul.

I've been listening to a bunch of Waveform stuff recently. Bluetech, Grey Area, Sounds from the Ground. Recommended for sure.

Thanks, Nemo.