Otto Matta

Well, you can measure it. It's not so much a favorites thing, although a good bit of this thread has some obvious favortism apart from the real answers. There are books on the subject, tracing the history of electronic music and its influences back a couple of centuries. Fun reading, indeed, for those who want to know more about it.

Mmm...You might want to look into creating some more layers of various sorts for the sake of musical interest.

Me too. Big influence.

Ha. Yeah, man, Cubase 4 is totally buggy too, even after a big update early in the year. Hopefully the 4.1 update in the next month or so will take care of most of that - they've had a really long time to accumulate complaints and make the thing solid. And there are some important things that are just easier in Reason. Automation editing, for one, is sooooo easy in Reason, and unreasonably stupid in Cubase. And yeah, it requires a much heftier CPU than Reason, and to continue using Cubase I'm soon going to have to spend close to a thousand dollars to update my computer, which was fairly powerful in early '96, to handle it. But some important things aside, I'm really enjoying it. The quality, versatility and sophistication are, to me, superior. But hey, at the end of the day, it's all about the music that gets made, regardless of the tools. Also, the first time I tested Cubase I ended up going back to Reason, too. It could be a right time sort of thing. It was the right time for me.

Okay, Mr. Picky.

I think the rational angle is somewhere between reger's and moni's. Both are right. Off-topic isn't entirely about being "readable" and communicative, it's also about expressing oneself, and often that takes the form of what most would call spam. Either way, to hinder or censor one's expression is essentially a violent act, and to spam someone's forum, when there are rules against such a thing, is essentially violent too. The key is finding some compromise. As in, if you have to spam, do it with some tact, and if you have to moderate, do it, too, with some feeling for what's really harming people. My opinion.

Oh hell yeah, dude. So your Moog can essentially be used as a vocoder. Very cool.

True. And as far as IDM/electronica is concerned, there's really no underestimating the influence that Boards of Canada has had on the genre. I know they were mentioned once in this thread, but I felt like repeating it. It's really difficult to read an electronica review or article without a reference to BoC. It's annoying to me, but it's true. I'm not saying they should be on the top 10 list, but I think they've overtaken both Autechre and definitely Aphex Twin for overall influence.

I think it's cool. Although I'm not quite sure why Earth is in it. Seems like it's filling a gap in the composition.

Hehe. fluff - The jap edition lacks Detonator, which is pretty much the only reason I ever listen to Chrome. But now I'll have to check out Tracktor Activity again, since it's been a while.

I tried that some time ago, and found it similar to lots of text-to-speech programs, but it's not music oriented. The voices don't sing, in other words, nor can you add inflections like vibrato, etc., which is why I had to swing for something more sophisticated.

What's better about it?

Gotta go with the Trip Tonite remix.

Equator. Alien Protein is a bit *bright* for me, but I still like it.

So I picked up my first VST today. A speech synthesizer called Cantor 2. I've wanted something like this for a long time, and even posted a thread about the topic here a year and a half ago or so, which wasn't entirely helpful. Now I can stop messing around with the AT&T-text-to-speech-then-running-the-wav-through-a-sampler-then-through-a-vocoder hassle. This way I can have my robot girlfriend right there, conveniently, singing her little synthetic heart out.

Thanks, Colin. Email on its way, presently.

Thanks again, Malevol3nt. I looked around at KVR a bit yesterday and I was shocked by all the options. It almost seems daunting to have so many, but I suppose part of the fun is looking and finding. I'll let you know if I find anything recommendable. I did see a couple really juicy things. Hi Nemo! Thanks for the recommendations. Yeah, man, it looks like the NI instruments are really solid. I'll have to take them for a test drive. Why did you make the switch from Live? Can you still use it, or has Logic incorporated some of the live playability features?

Great links, man! Thanks! Do you know of any specific examples of free VSTs that are better than the commercial ones? For instance, I've heard a lot of good things about Absynth, but if there's a similar - or better - synth out there for free, I'm all over it. Same goes for the sampler, vocoder and drum module. I write electronica with a vintage 70s/80s bent, leaning towards the IDM vein, but without the excess noise often associated with it. And now that I hear what Cubase is capable of, I have to hide my old music. Yes, I hope it's a fun process to find good instruments. Thanks.

So I've finally made the leap, and I'm really happy about it. I've spent the last several days working on my first Cubase track (in C4), and I can safely say I'm never going back to Reason, even with ReWire. It was fun while it lasted, but Cubase is just more versatile, and after you get the hang of it, it's actually easier in most ways. It just feels and sounds more sophisticated, and I don't feel the need, like I always did with Reason, to cover up any lack in sound quality with tricks and effects. Very cool. Next I need to learn the whole VST thing, especially since I'm now lacking a sampler, vocoder, dedicated drum module and maybe a super-awesome synth. (Suggestions are welcome. I'll pay money for these things if they're good.)

Didn't you sell some DJ stuff a while ago?

Quite.

Friends don't let their friends drink and bathe.