MUSIC thread

[marty]

Dumpstaphunk Performs "Meanwhile" at Gathering of the Vibes 2011
[youtube]IpuYmPBzhqM[/youtube]

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

only canada (and scotland) celebrate victoria day instead


[youtube]Nqfg-A-L7GY[/youtube]

 

[amberwolf]

Or you can celebrate the Broken Pieces of Yesterday

Broken Pieces of Yesterday (5th update) by Amberwolf

Broken Pieces of Yesterday (5th update) - 050122 000001 100083v #BrokenPiecesOfYesterday

www.soundclick.com

then join in a Convocation of Lies

Convocation of Lies (feat. Lauscho Remix), by Amberwolf

from the album Lies, Truth, and Assorted Inconveniences

amberwolf.bandcamp.com

and begin The Discernment of Candor

The Discernment of Candor, by Amberwolf

from the album Lies, Truth, and Assorted Inconveniences

amberwolf.bandcamp.com

 

[The Toecutter]

This video was really fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3i7tcZ-szI

It's part of a series. Carpenter Brut does his own thing, but there's a lot of overlap with Black Metal and Dark Synth.

I especially liked the zombie cheerleader with a disco spike ball on a chain. I have a similar weapon, just not as sparkly.

 

[amberwolf]

If you would Just Give Me a Voice, I could be heard everywhere.

Just Give Me a Voice, by Amberwolf

from the album Lies, Truth, and Assorted Inconveniences

amberwolf.bandcamp.com

 

[The Toecutter]

You've definitely got a talent for this, even if your overall style isn't my preference. That sounded like it was made by a professional. What tools/software are you using to generate these sounds? I'd like to learn how.

This is more my preference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6c_UEqVDHM

Or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9cqKafnUrk

Of your own tracks I've heard, this was pretty cool:

https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=14431307

It has a bit of a Perturbator vibe to it, just not as dark.

 

[amberwolf]

You've definitely got a talent for this, even if your overall style isn't my preference.

Thanks. I've found that my style(s) aren't most people's preference, but it's what I have fun doing, it's the stuff that's in my head.

That sounded like it was made by a professional.

Thanks--I'm definitely not professional, but I've very slowly gotten better over the decades; the hardest part is mixing, which I've gotten decent at, and then "mastering", which I still haven't mastered. (which is why my stuff always seems like half the volume of real music, even though it shows on meters and waveforms the same volume that real music does).

Actually...the hardest part is chopping out pieces of a song to make the rest of it work. :/

What tools/software are you using to generate these sounds? I'd like to learn how.

My DAW (digital audio workstation) software is an ancient version of Cakewalk's SONAR, v8.3. A much newer version of it is available for free as "Cakewalk by Bandlab", but it broke really old stuff I have that has to work for various projects I still work on, so I can't have it on the computer I do my music stuff on.

Most of the synths and effects I use are free VSTs, or things that came with SONAR over the years (used it since v1). A few are things I beta tested and got as reward for that. A couple I bought, like MIDIGuitar/MIDIBass that convert the audio stream from a guitar into notes, pitchbends, etc., very useful for creating more realistic guitar parts when there are things I simply can't play realtime (but can edit together from the pieces I *can* play separately). Or for stacking synths and stuff along with the guitar, or using as timing trigger tracks for percussion, etc.

If you can't play anything and can't deal with the tediousness of hand-creating MIDI data, there are a bajillion sound libraries out there, many with free "light" versions, that can be used to edit songs together from.


I have a thread here:

Amberwolf's Music Studio Technical Stuff

I've talked here and there about the music I make (well, made; havent' done anything since the fire really), but not a whole lot on the technical side of it. So since I have to rebuild the studio anyway, whcih has been in progress since moving back into the rebuilt house, I'll put the...

endless-sphere.com

with more detail on some things here and there. I don't really use much external equipment anymore. All the sounds (except for an actual bass guitar and an acoustic and an electric guitar, none of which I can actually "play") are computer-generated or sampled via microphone and modified as needed for the sound I want, mostly using realtime effects within SONAR itself (sometimes hand editing the sounds in external editors like Audacity, etc). Some newer synths and effects don't work in SONAR, so I use another software "rack" to host them, VST Host by Hermann Seib (also free from his site); it has it's quirks but it's easier to "wire" audio out to it and back into SONAR than learning a whole new DAW program just for that stuff (since the new programs can't use a lot of the old stuff I still need to use, and some of the DAWs have just plain retarded UIs).

Anyway, you can get everything you need software-wise to do stuff like this for free, though you can get "better" stuff for quite a lot of money if you have it to spend. It does take a lot of CPU and RAM to do synths and effects, and everything works better with a good low-latency ASIO-driver audio interface, but these are often available cheaply used on ebay or guitar center, etc (just get a big brand name one so you have a better chance of good ASIO driver support--cheap stuff doesn't even make drivers, they depend on windows default drivers which suck). Good ASIO (or low-latency versions of WDM) drivers take less CPU, shorten delay from the time sound starts being generated to the time it gets to the speaker jack, which makes a huge difference trying to do any kind of realtime playing or editing--more than a millisecond is difficult to deal with.

You can post in this thread or that studio thread with questions about stuff, processes, etc., either now or when you start trying this out yourself, etc.

This is more my preference:
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6c_UEqVDHM

Or this:

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9cqKafnUrk

Neither one would really be what I'd listen to; I couldn't go very far in, but the starts were interesting. The second one has some terrifying screaming vocals so that's compeltely out.

I wanted to skip forward to try different parts but YT retardedly no longer allows that via the player control bar or any other method. For some time now it only plays things from the beginning to end and no key shortcuts work either, so I stopped using it for anything, including watching or listening to anything, or posting new stuff there. (they've done this before, then put it back to the way it was after a few months, so I'm hopeful they'll do that again someday).

Years ago I used to do long involved intros to things but people seem to get bored and stop paying attention so I started just jumping right into things right off the bat instead. More people pay attention for longer, of the very very small sample size I can get (very few listen to my stuff, perhaps 3 or 4 for any new song posting, virtually none ever post/talk about it afterward, since it's not really good enough for that).

Of your own tracks I've heard, this was pretty cool:
Broken Pieces of Yesterday (5th update) by Amberwolf
It has a bit of a Perturbator vibe to it, just not as dark.

Thanks--there is a greatly extended version of it I've been poking at for a while now, which will probably end up at least twice as long, mostly between the "chase music" and the ending. Everytime I think I have found the right transition from one to the other, I find the transition itself is a whole new section. :lol:

 

[amberwolf]

What tools/software are you using to generate these sounds? I'd like to learn how.

In case you were specifically wondering about this song (Just Give Me a Voice)

I started with just the bass guitar (an Ibanez basic 6-string electric bass guitar), which like all my externally-generated audio is recorded in dry, using realtime effects in the track bins (and the bus bins those feed into) to create the specific sound I'm after, so I can alter it if necessary to better fit a mix, or even to completely change the character of the sound, etc., played to a drumtrack generated by SONAR's included Session Drummer 2 or 3 drumkit, played with Sonic Reality's brit kit.

The guitar is actually split between two tracks, which I cut and fade between for various parts; one is stereo and the other mono, but both fed with mono recorded guitar audio. Stereo version effects are, in order:
--Shred1.06 (free vst) Lainee Custom FrankenAmp with some tweaks to make the delay fit the song tempo (600ms left 450ms right) and lowering the feedback, etc.
--VX64 Vocal Strip (incl with some version of SONAR at some point), on Telephone preset, controlled via envelope to cut in and out and change amount of effects, for various sections of the song.
--Sonitus FX multiband EQ (incl wiht SONAR), with only a couple bands active as shelving low and high, to do a more extreme version of the telephone effect, also automated over parts of the song, primarily the fadeout at the end.
--CakewalkFX Reverb (incl with SONAR), automated to help with the fadeout.
Mono version effects are the same except no reverb (track not present at end)

The bass guitar track started as a copy of the last section of the guitar track, copied over and over, but later I created one from scratch using hand-drawn MIDI note control of the included Cakewalk Session Instruments Bass Guitar with the Blown Speaker preset for sound, not using any patterns though. Same Shred effect/preset as teh main guitar, then the FX EQ, differetn bands and different automation timing/etc. One short section of the bassline is actually the guitar track of that same section copied and pitchshifted a couple octaves down, then pitchshifted up or down a few notes to complement the guitar notes at that time instead of matching them.

The piano part is Cakewalk TruePiano (incl with SONAR, but avialable as a VST from 4Front as well), with the Bright Amber module, and reverb off. FX chain is VX-64 Vocal Strip with hip hop vocals preset, then Channel Tools (free VST) set to widen the track, then Cakewalk SonitusFX Delay (incl with SONAR) set to 1:3/4 with "host sync" to match song tempo (of 99BPM), then SonitusFX Reverb as a slightly modified "short and sweet" preset, then the Sonitus FX EQ with a few active bands, automated as needed thru the song. The actual piano part was played in by hand, modified thru the built-in arpeggiator using settings that create a "round", whcih modifies itself as I played the part. This I tehn commited to a "hard" midi track without the arp and then edited the clips to what you hear. Some bits of this I then matched some of the bassline's MIDI notes to at the end of various bars.


The string part is Cakewalk Session Instruments Strings (incl with SONAR) whcih emulates a string section using a distict bass, cello, and violin section, in this case using the FastAttack program for sounds (but not using any of the patterns). There's two independent copies of this synth in the song, with the same effects chains, driven by separate sets of MIDI tracks. One of them just plays some copies of the piano's MIDI notes, and one of them is some extra stuff I played in as MIDI and a few bits I drew in by hand. FX chain is VX64 with Backing Vox Silky Smash preset with some of the Compander and EQ parameters tweaked to fit the rest of the sounds, the same Sonitus FX Delay as the Piano, and the same Sonitus FX Reverb as well. Some of the notes of the played-in strings are copied to the bassline to have the bassline match and fatten the strings, and some of the guitar notes were figured out using a tuner (because I don't know what notes I'm playing, I just go by sound), and copied as MIDI to the strings to fatten the guitar in certain spots.

The drum track is the Cakewalk Session Drummer 3 using the Sonic Reality Brit Rock Kit sound preset, and started out as a set of patterns (loops) of MIDI notes including with Cakewalk, by Groove Monkee, in the Soft Rock section, the "072" series. I actually just imported a bunch of the series and then began placing them not exactly randomly, but not with much care for which type of loop it was for which part of the song it would be for, but when I was done they somehow nearly just fit and worked as they were (sometimes this just happens to me, where things work out the way I want them without a bunch of faffing around). I ended up doing a fair bit of trimming to remove extraneous notes and then moving various bits of the loops around, trimming stuff off, adding some bits, to fit it all better to the actual music, most of this done late in the editing process. This synth has independent outputs for each drum if you want them, but in this case I routed most of the stuff to a dry track, but the kick and snare go to an FX chain with PX-64 Percussion strip (incl with SONAR) with The Heat preset, and the cymbals and crashes to a chain with that same Sonitus FX Reverb as the strings and piano.

The piano and strings are routed to a bus that has another VX-64 using the Tracking Doubler preset, which then routes to the Master bus.

The two guitar tracks are routed to a bus that has the VX-64 using the Female Cleanup and Presence preset, then the Sonitus FX EQ with the bands set to notch around where the kick and snare are frequency-wise, as well as where some of the sparklier piano sound is. This then goes to the master bus.

The bass track is routed to a bus that has the VX-64 Warm and Fuzzy preset, then it goes to the Rhythm Comp bus.

The drums go to a bus that has the LP64 Multiband compressor (incl with SONAR), set to the Mastering (lighter) preset, then to the Rhythm Comp Bus.

That RC bus has just the Sonitus FX Mulitiband Compressor (incl with SONAR), with the Smooth preset, and the output limiter at 0dB, then out to the Master Bus.

The Master bus uses the Vintage Master Hard preset of that Sonitus FX Multiband Compressor, also with output limiter at 0dB, then out ot the speakers.

Most of the "mastering" and bussing stuff I've learned from various websites found via google that discuss this sort of thing, and then just experimenting with my mixes using those ideas and the tools I have already (many of the sites talk about using multi-hundred-dollar or even multi-thousand-dollar mastering plugins which I will never have, so I adapt their techniques as best I can to the stuff I do have).


(Side note: I actually recorded the original track guitar track using the bass guitar a few years ago (2019?) and didn't have anywhere to go with it then, so it sat just like that until a couple months or so ago when I was listening to old unused stuff and got an inspiration. I use the bass guitar to play a lot of the lead guitar parts because my regular electric guitar is not very good and the bass has a much better sound for almost anything I need to play with a real guitar--the First Act frankenlectric guitar is alright for using with MIDIGuitar program to create MIDi tracks that then control various synths, though).

(i crossposted this to the studio thread for future reference as well)

 

[Skorohod]

This video was really fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3i7tcZ-szI

There is a very obscene russian profanity on the right side of a stage background at the 03:11 timecode :lol: Not the first time i've encounter such traces of "soft power" of russian culture on american soil, one of the most noticeable would be same writing on the phone booth in a "Police academy".

Thanks. I've found that my style(s) aren't most people's preference, but it's what I have fun doing, it's the stuff that's in my head.

The same! "Not my style", but nothing but respect for the efforts. "I'm Something of a Scientist Myself", so i can totally relate to your labours of music making. So please keep on!

My DAW (digital audio workstation) software is an ancient version of Cakewalk's SONAR, v8.3.

Oh, the memories. I've started with Cakewalk back in 90's, then Sonar... Now it's the Reaper.

 

[amberwolf]

The same! "Not my style", but nothing but respect for the efforts. "I'm Something of a Scientist Myself", so i can totally relate to your labours of music making. So please keep on!

I dont' have much choice about it; when the music is in my head I have to let it out or else my brain would explode.

I just wish I could find more people that would listen to it and provide feedback I can use to improve things, which might increase my audience.

Almost all of the very very few plays my stuff ever gets show as "partial" plays, or even "skips", which means only a very tiny part of them were listened to before the listener stopped. Which means they didn't like it. :/

When I used to play at scifi conventions and the like, and some "coffehouses", I could attract a fair audience...but they weren't a *repeat* audience, just whoever was there at the time; people didn't come just to listen to me, generally (there were a few). And the things I create now are far beyond my ability to play live, other than just playing back the project from the computer, same as playing an audio file, and there's not much point in going somewhere just to do that. But I do know that those that listen to my stuff do sometimes like it. I just don't know how to get more people to listen...I'm not a marketer and am terrible at it.

Oh, the memories. I've started with Cakewalk back in 90's, then Sonar... Now it's the Reaper.

What do you create with it? Any links?


I've been referred to Reaper before. I still have to keep SONAR for all my existing projects and many of the sounds, effects, etc that I use that cannot be used with anything else, but perhaps I can use Reaper (or something) as a parallel-running sequencer that runs more tracks and can use effects and instruments too new for SONAR to work with. I went ahead and downloaded the evaluation version and documentation; don't know when I'll get to installing and learning it, though; too many things on my plate (always).

 

[amberwolf]

More heavy chiseling away at Just Give Me a Voice

Give it a listen:

Just Give Me a Voice, by Amberwolf

from the album Lies, Truth, and Assorted Inconveniences

amberwolf.bandcamp.com

or

Just Give Me a Voice by Amberwolf

Just Give Me a Voice - 120919 000001 0000110J Just Give Me a Voice (to Say the Words and I Will Speak) #JustGiveMeAVoice

www.soundclick.com

 

[amberwolf]

New track Under the Frozen Sky
(There is a Hunger Like No Other)

Under The Frozen Sky (...There Is A Hunger Like No Other), by Amberwolf

from the album Lies, Truth, and Assorted Inconveniences

amberwolf.bandcamp.com

 

[amberwolf]

Listen to The Tomorrow Option

The Tomorrow Option, by Amberwolf

track by Amberwolf

amberwolf.bandcamp.com

or

The Tomorrow Option by Amberwolf

The Tomorrow Option - 062321 000001 300207ai The Tomorrow Option Latest remixed version 300262Ai is at https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/the-tomorrow-option #soundscapes #soundtrack #soundscape #edm #theTomorrowOption

www.soundclick.com

 

[Skorohod]

What do you create with it? Any links?

There is mostly simple live sound mixing, so nothing that interesting regarding multi-layered synthesizers and effects. But once or a twice i've had an experience with a synts too. One was very interesting, i've generated a short motif with a AI music generator and rearrange it to my taste. It was a simple background music for my short archive video, here is the link: https://dzen.ru/video/watch/60575644f538db689d0eae03

 

[amberwolf]

I'd be happy if I could play two or three notes of that...

...all on the same day, much less the same performance.


I can *create* music, like this:

Gareki I, by Amberwolf

track by Amberwolf

amberwolf.bandcamp.com

but actually *playing* it...no, not really.

 

[The Toecutter]

but actually *playing* it...no, not really.

Do you have anything black metal, doom metal, or death metal inspired?

 

[marvin78]

Afaik I wouldn't classify any of his songs in a specific genre, it feels more like 'moods' then songs belonging to a genre.

Decades ago I once was obsessed with creating hardbase / gabber 'tracks' using Fruity Loops. I tried playing instruments myself, I have a few month of bassguitar under my belt, but my fine motorcontrol just doesn't allow me to move my fingers as fluently as I would like. So I gave up.

Just as on making 'music'.. basically I was just listening to a drum computer and some added tracks with ambients/effects and vocal clips. FL was really intuitive for that, but I never worked with midi instruments. ( the bass guitar was analog and before FL got my attention ).

 

[amberwolf]

Do you have anything black metal, doom metal, or death metal inspired?

No, I can't listen to angry screaming (it's terrifying) so I have not listened to anything like that (beyond momentary accidental exposures) and could not make any of it.

If there is any of it out there with no vocals at all, and it isn't just a bunch of noise, I might be able to try.

Otherwise, to me that kind of stuff is angry hateful noise that sends me wiht my arms around my head trying to pretend I don't have any ears while I hobble to the safest hiding place I can find.

 

[amberwolf]

Afaik I wouldn't classify any of his songs in a specific genre, it feels more like 'moods' then songs belonging to a genre.

I call my stuff #MotionPictureScenes

I don't know what category any of it really is; for sites like soundclick that require picking a genre I usally stick it in game music or electronic or experimental or world.

I don't know what most of the genre names even mean, beyond whatever wikipedia / etc describe them as, other than the few categories I already know and like (or can't stand to hear).

Decades ago I once was obsessed with creating hardbase / gabber 'tracks' using Fruity Loops. I tried playing instruments myself, I have a few month of bassguitar under my belt, but my fine motorcontrol just doesn't allow me to move my fingers as fluently as I would like. So I gave up.

I don't really have much in the way of fine motor control, even my coarse control can be erratic (just pointing a mouse cursor at the right spot can take a few seconds and sometimes I can't get it where I want it at all unless I slow the trackball response down to the minimum).

So I play the bits that are fun and fix them in the computer. For gutar I lay it in my lap or on the bed and deal with one string at a time, sometimes I can manage two. Record those bits, then move to another string, record those, and stack them together in the tracks as needed, editing bits off where I screw up, etc. If I play a wrong note and it's by itself I just pitch shift it to the right one. Etc.

Evertything else I build directly in the computer, either drawing it note by note as midi in a piano roll, or sculpting the sounds in a synth, or sculpting wave audio files i've recorded from all sorts of sources as well as those gathered from the intarwebz over the decades (like the vocals in the most recent songs). Some of the sounds I work on outside of the DAW program (SONAR) in things like audacity, awave, cooledit, etc., some I do nondestructively within SONAR.

 

[marvin78]

So I play the bits that are fun and fix them in the computer. For gutar I lay it in my lap or on the bed and deal with one string at a time, sometimes I can manage two. Record those bits, then move to another string, record those, and stack them together in the tracks as needed, editing bits off where I screw up, etc. If I play a wrong note and it's by itself I just pitch shift it to the right one. Etc.

That sounds very time consuming, but more importantly I would assume it increases the difficulty to create a composition. Where most people I guess would just strum around till they find something which feels and sounds good to them, you have to do this process much more drawn out. I would fear I would loose oversight, I know I work best when I can do things in a flow like state and I do very bad having to stop and start constantly.

I call my stuff #MotionPictureScenes

I don't know what category any of it really is; for sites like soundclick that require picking a genre I usally stick it in game music or electronic or experimental or world.

I don't know what most of the genre names even mean, beyond whatever wikipedia / etc describe them as, other than the few categories I already know and like (or can't stand to hear).

When I listened to a few songs I couldn't put them in real categories, but I do think 'experimental' and 'world' do cover 'mood songs' best. 'Ambient' I don't think should be a music 'genre', it's just a soundscape you can use in 'real genres'. Which is why I commented what those songs you linked made me think off, I felt they were taking me on a journey through emotions even I didn't know what emotions were intended.

The transitions sometimes did catch me off guard, as in I didn't always feel like all the parts connected but I think that's because I don't know each song's background ( or I just didn't expect the outcome of both parts being the same song ).

Evertything else I build directly in the computer, either drawing it note by note as midi in a piano roll, or sculpting the sounds in a synth, or sculpting wave audio files i've recorded from all sorts of sources as well as those gathered from the intarwebz over the decades (like the vocals in the most recent songs). Some of the sounds I work on outside of the DAW program (SONAR) in things like audacity, awave, cooledit, etc., some I do nondestructively within SONAR.

I remember making drum loops by just selecting the instruments, notes and setting tempo but I was so happy when I got 'free' sound packs including premade drum loops, so much less work Also removed some of the 'fun' tho I guess, as I stopped not long after. I did try playing synth myself at a later stage... but again, fine motor control is not on a level where I felt it was a worthwhile endeavor

I don't think I should be making music right now anyway, I don't want to expose people to the darkness in my head

 

[amberwolf]

That sounds very time consuming, but more importantly I would assume it increases the difficulty to create a composition.

Depends on your definition of difficulty.

For me, playing it is difficult, or impossible. But for me, doing it like this is relatively easy...though time consuming.

Where most people I guess would just strum around till they find something which feels and sounds good to them, you have to do this process much more drawn out. I would fear I would loose oversight, I know I work best when I can do things in a flow like state and I do very bad having to stop and start constantly.

That's generally true of most poeple---I do beter when I'm "in the groove" and can stay in it.

I do noodle around with the "real instruments" (guitars, piano, assorted noisemaking things) and with the keyboards controlling synths in the computer (and hardware versions of some). I generally record all my noodling, because I cannot reproduce anything I do. *** If it works out, I'll edit it into something, or use it later in something else, etc. If not, it'll just sti there in my files (almost everything used to be in the unnamed files; nowadays mroe than 3/4 ends up as actual songs. Not sure if that is becuase I have less ideas or that I jus tknow how to develop more of them. :lol:

When I listened to a few songs I couldn't put them in real categories, but I do think 'experimental' and 'world' do cover 'mood songs' best. 'Ambient' I don't think should be a music 'genre', it's just a soundscape you can use in 'real genres'. Which is why I commented what those songs you linked made me think off, I felt they were taking me on a journey through emotions even I didn't know what emotions were intended.

I think that none of my stuff is a "real" music genre either. Probalby not even "real music"; it's some form of soundscape that might fit some scene or whatever, but not really something that can stand alone and say something I intend (as much as I would like it to, I don't know how). They do sometimes make listeners see or feel something, but it's rarely what I thought or felt when making it.

The transitions sometimes did catch me off guard, as in I didn't always feel like all the parts connected but I think that's because I don't know each song's background ( or I just didn't expect the outcome of both parts being the same song ).

There are certainly some of my songs where the parts *aren't* actually connected, in that they weren't created at the same time, or some other disconnection.

Some, like "If I Should Wake", are connected only in their use of the same sound sets. That specific one was actually started as an experiment to just play with some "new" sounds and see if I could force myself to make something out of a bunch of disparate parts from different places that were not intended to work with each other.

Others, like "A Peek Over The Wall" started out as disconnected sections that I began to have an idea behind as I heard the sounds, and connected them together to build a kind of short journey from a safe known place up to the top of that place's walls to look out upon an unknown mysterious forbidden place. (see the anime Haibane Renmei for the references). This is a very rare type of song for me that has an intent and a design...almost nothing I do is more than building from noodling and wahtever "feels right" to me as I hear it.

One, "Ookami no Yume no Kari (Wolf's Dream of the Hunt)" was built specifically on an idea of the title, trying to get it across, and is possibly the most complicated one I've ever made. It has several sections intended to be different parts of the dream, different feelings, etc., and also has tempo changes (some sudden, some subtle) that were hard to do and probably not done right to screw up transitions between sections. It still doesn't get across what I meant it to, but I learned a lot in making it (especially about creating complicated midi driven percussion by hand drawing it in) and it was mostly fun.

"Just Give Me A Voice" was an unnamed throwaway noodling session that years afterward I randomly chose to load and playback, and this time I heard something I could do with it. A lot of hours later, I ended up with the song that's on the bandcamp site under the "Lies, truth, and Assorted Inconviences" album. There are a number of sections and transitions in it, too, and I tried to make it say something, about my struggle to get the ideas and feelings I have out so others can hear them, and how it jsut goes on and on forever...but pretty sure I failed at that one, too, despite having fun creating it all, especially the drum stuff, and learning how to drastically change played-in guitar parts to what I wanted them to be without replaying anything.


Etc.

I remember making drum loops by just selecting the instruments, notes and setting tempo but I was so happy when I got 'free' sound packs including premade drum loops, so much less work Also removed some of the 'fun' tho I guess, as I stopped not long after.

I use the loops and stuff too. Sometimes I leave them in and edit them down to what I want. Sometimes i replace them partly or entirely with my own creation based on them but specifically for the othe rstuff i created around those loops that then dont' quite fit the rest of what i end up with anymore....

Some years back it was really common for me to use a midi effect called SlicyDrummerLite as a "drum machine" to play my stuff along with. It has a handful of "drum note tracks" with preset patterns you can't change, but youc an pick from a bunch of different patterns, and ou can assign any of those patterns to any note in the scale to match up with any drum sound you want (or any instrumetn if you want some weird arps). It even has randomizing buttons either for each pattern or for the whole thing, and you can export the patterns as midi clips into the song so you don't have just a repetitittititve few bars of the same thing over and over, and edit each one to be appropriat3e for that song section, etc. draw in fills and whatnot. I'd use the patterns to drive variosu drum sounds, and mix and match stuff, and sometimes end up with some usable drum tracks.

Not much of that was ever really any good, though; I do better with the actually-played-in stuff (mine or loops) and eiditng those down to waht works with the other stuff in a song.

These days if i'm just noodling and need drums to play with I am more likley to startup the SessionDrummer3 syunth in Sonar and use the pattersn that came with it along with one of the drumkits I've created (or customized from other kits), and the effects I set up in the tracks fore ach drum sound, etc., to have much more realistic sounding drums. I may not use any of them in the actual song, but they may give me the rhythm I want to keep time to when i need that.

I did try playing synth myself at a later stage... but again, fine motor control is not on a level where I felt it was a worthwhile endeavor

I have a thriftstore find desktop drum controlelr (yamaha something) but I haven't used it nearly as much as I thought I would, but less because of my motor control than because it hurts to hit the pads hard enough to do much of anything. I tried "sticks" of various shapes and materials, but they keep flying out of my hands because I can't hold on to them correclty while still doing anything useful on the pads with them.

Keyboard is eaiser because most of them have pretty sensitive keys and some have a velocity curve I can adjust, but I still get a lot of wrong notes and multiple keys hit at the same time (thsi happens all the time when typing too, i just have to edit everything a lot and it can take a while to type some stuff up...and i miss a lot of my mistakes so have to go back and reedit or i just let it go when i'm too tired to deal with it).

I don't think I should be making music right now anyway, I don't want to expose people to the darkness in my head

I find that creating the music when i feel like that helps solve some of the darkness, or at least give it somewhere else to live for a while. Even if I never put it up anywhere. Some of it has been put up, and it's not any good but i put it there beause the feelings were important to me or the events were or both. (like "As He Lay There Dying Alone" and "Drying Tears") Sometimes one turns out alright, like "Back To The World", though I never actually finished it--that's just the first part, maybe a third of it? that I wrote.

Someitmes I write words to the songs, or write a song aruond words that i typed up, but those are both thankfully rare as I can't sing. :lol: Now that I am finding more vocal bits out there, I mgiht be able to "build" words out of some of them that weren't sung, in a way that is musically useful, and have more songs with words that mean something to me. (most of which would probably be darkness-related).


******************************

*** Something i typed up on another forum to try to explain my music creation "style" / method / etc; I suppose it works just as well here:

I have what would probably be called language problems (maybe associated with my autism? who knows), that apply to math, music, coding, anything of that nature. I can't really read and comprehend any of them in a useful way (other than English, which according to my family I was starting to read before I could crawl, though I doubt that's true).

I can see the notes, words, etc, and transliterate them onto other forms information bit by information bit (letter, note, etc) like taking sheet music and inputting it into SONAR's staff view, but I don't think in any of it, and they don't "mean" anything to me. I "understand" what they mean, in a technical way, but nothing is conveyed to me by any of them, and I cannot convey meaning to anyone by using them.

I have to hear the sounds themselves--not just the notes, but the specific sounds made with them, to give them any meaning. And for me, a "cover" of a song that doesn't use the same sounds, etc. as the original, in basically the same way, is not the same song--I cannot connect them in my head, even if you put the same name on both of them it doesn't mean anything to me.

I also cannot repeat what I hear; it just passes thru me. So I can hear things (even what I myself am playing) but they are not "recorded" in my head like they should be, so I can't play them back. I can recognize them when I hear them again, though, so they're in there somewhere, just not connected to the right systems to use like normal people do.

 

[marvin78]

I have what would probably be called language problems (maybe associated with my autism? who knows), that apply to math, music, coding, anything of that nature. I can't really read and comprehend any of them in a useful way (other than English, which according to my family I was starting to read before I could crawl, though I doubt that's true).

Sounds like Asperger, even though DSM-IV no longer makes the dissertation. Though it usually only applies to pragmatic use of language ( in social contexts ) and not in 'coding'. Many autistic people are quite well suited to being code monkeys ( more then being UX oriented, as that involves 'thinking as other people' which doesn't really come natural ).

I think that none of my stuff is a "real" music genre either. Probalby not even "real music"; it's some form of soundscape that might fit some scene or whatever, but not really something that can stand alone and say something I intend (as much as I would like it to, I don't know how). They do sometimes make listeners see or feel something, but it's rarely what I thought or felt when making it.

Both the beauty of music, and something I wish would be different at the same time. Off course being able to interpret things make for a broader audience, but if music was 'straight/clear/intentional' it also has a beauty to it.

Most wouldn't call the beats of dragon boat racing 'music' but when they do the annual races it's one of the things I look forward to most. Sometimes being outside and hearing the wind and streaming water also is just as enjoyable as a composed piece. Now compose a piece or 'related' soundscapes, and it's easier to follow or attach a feeling/emotion of your own. When it transitions to a piece which feels disconnected from the rest, it leaves me confused instead.

I find that creating the music when i feel like that helps solve some of the darkness, or at least give it somewhere else to live for a while. Even if I never put it up anywhere. Some of it has been put up, and it's not any good but i put it there beause the feelings were important to me or the events were or both. (like "As He Lay There Dying Alone" and "Drying Tears") Sometimes one turns out alright, like "Back To The World", though I never actually finished it--that's just the first part, maybe a third of it? that I wrote.

My darkness is vast and 'beyond treatment' according to the docs, If it wasn't for Dutch laws giving me the hope of doctor approved euthanasia, I would probably still end up at the IC to get my stomach pumped out / monitor my breathing/hearth rate. And it gives me hope of not being a nuisance to others, even at the end, which I really do not want. But it's not a fast process, I'll be around for some time to come

Someitmes I write words to the songs, or write a song aruond words that i typed up, but those are both thankfully rare as I can't sing. :lol: Now that I am finding more vocal bits out there, I mgiht be able to "build" words out of some of them that weren't sung, in a way that is musically useful, and have more songs with words that mean something to me. (most of which would probably be darkness-related).

I think it would add to my experience if you did add those words, even if 'just written in the description' as it allows us to join you in your train of thought ( to an extent ). As I tried saying earlier, I think music is strongest when it's not open for interpretation, but when you can identify clear intent.

I can see the notes, words, etc, and transliterate them onto other forms information bit by information bit (letter, note, etc) like taking sheet music and inputting it into SONAR's staff view, but I don't think in any of it, and they don't "mean" anything to me. I "understand" what they mean, in a technical way, but nothing is conveyed to me by any of them, and I cannot convey meaning to anyone by using them.

I have to hear the sounds themselves--not just the notes, but the specific sounds made with them, to give them any meaning. And for me, a "cover" of a song that doesn't use the same sounds, etc. as the original, in basically the same way, is not the same song--I cannot connect them in my head, even if you put the same name on both of them it doesn't mean anything to me.

I also cannot repeat what I hear; it just passes thru me. So I can hear things (even what I myself am playing) but they are not "recorded" in my head like they should be, so I can't play them back. I can recognize them when I hear them again, though, so they're in there somewhere, just not connected to the right systems to use like normal people do.

Episodic memory vs semantic memory comes to mind. Not saying it sounds familiar, far from it but episodic memory -> your brains ability to process and store information, and it is known music should be able to enhance this. Many people with autism 'like' music for it's structure / 'predictability and they've offered me music therapy multiple times.

Your semantic memory is excellent, or you wouldn't be able to help all these people on this forum with your built up expertise/knowledge.

 

[The Toecutter]

No, I can't listen to angry screaming (it's terrifying) so I have not listened to anything like that (beyond momentary accidental exposures) and could not make any of it.

If there is any of it out there with no vocals at all, and it isn't just a bunch of noise, I might be able to try.

Otherwise, to me that kind of stuff is angry hateful noise that sends me wiht my arms around my head trying to pretend I don't have any ears while I hobble to the safest hiding place I can find.

You described all the reasons why I like it!

If you want something more easy to listen to, a sort of black metal incognito, I recommend Ghost:

Or black metal without the noise and screaming(or at least not nearly as much), in electronic/synthwave form, from a different artist named Gost:

I have what would probably be called language problems (maybe associated with my autism? who knows), that apply to math, music, coding, anything of that nature. I can't really read and comprehend any of them in a useful way (other than English, which according to my family I was starting to read before I could crawl, though I doubt that's true).

I have some of the same issues. I learned to speak at a late age(after I could read), and have difficulty understanding other peoples' or my own emotions, as well as difficulty with empathy. I excelled in math and art, as well as rote memorization, to say the least. I was born 2 months premature at 3 lbs 5 oz with a damaged brain, so there's that.

Your music shows a level of understanding and technique that exceeds that of most amateur musicians, IMO. Keep at it.

 

[A-DamW]

One of my faves:

https://soundcloud.com/cualli%2Fcualli-upwards