timaeus222

Is the Korg microKEY any good? It's 37 keys, and it looks like it's exactly what I need. I think it's semi-weighted from looking at the second preview picture, and it's only $80. http://www.amazon.com/Korg-MicroKey-37-Key-Midi-Controller/dp/B0043C599S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346370055&sr=8-1&keywords=korg+microKEY http://www.amazon.com/Korg-MICROKEY37-37-Key-Midi-Controller/dp/B007VQIGPW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346370055&sr=8-2&keywords=korg+microKEY

Oh, so it's basically using the MIDI Out as a way to bypass the pitch bend limits and allow a MIDI CC edit? Alright then.

Currently, the "intro" is only 2 seconds, until 0:02. Try tripling the length to make it more natural, at least, to the listener's perspective. It seems like you have a quarter-pattern before the pick scrape, and with the pick scrape it's another quarter. This way you'll have three quarters of the pattern with just the orchestral samples and the bass, and then the last quarter has the pick scrape. I can barely hear the kick. Try notching the EQ of the bass where the kick is. Maybe even a band stop notch instead of just a peaking notch. The bass sounds kind of high in the bass frequencies. It should be lowered to about 80% of how it is now. That might be making the bass too loud right now, since at 1:30, it doesn't sound like how the waveform looks. Watch the levels on every instrument. Make sure the guitars don't overpower the orchestral element. Make sure the trebles on the bass guitar aren't heard. etc. At 2:21, the rhythm of the hi hats is weird. It feels syncopated. That doesn't seem to work too well. Try the regular rhythm. The last thing is to try to go for a good breakdown section. So far it's just the "breathing" section. Try incorporating some new instruments in the breakdown, like an acoustic guitar or something. As of right now, you have no breakdown section in my book. I'm sure you'll be able to think of something, though. Good luck!

Yeah, me neither until I took a listen to a bunch of guitar tracks. The bass is what gives guitars the "melt your face off" kind of feel, if done right. It might help more if you organize yourself and look at what frequency ranges you want to use for the guitar and bass. Save a few templates for specific tones, if you want. I haven't done that yet, but it might help you get the same tone each time.

I haven't been able to hear this at all yet, nor can I right now, but I think the sequencing could be more simple, simply because I've encountered something similar to this before. Don't have so many notes in the melody that it seems unnatural.

Oh, that corresponds to the pitch wheel for Kontakt-only instances? That works out great.

The bass is extremely high right now, and it's making the track sound muddy even though it might not be in any other sense. Bring up the guitars just a bit, and bring the bass down a lot. You really only want the bass to give presence, not actually be heard while the guitars are playing. I'm also thinking the bass has too much treble, so lower that too. Check the mids level as well on the bass mix.

I know, I said I wasn't done with it. I'm glad you're liking it so far, though. EDIT: Wow, I checked the waveform and compared it with the previous version... I really need to boost some instruments now that they have less reverb. It seems to be a bit too quiet or bare sometimes on the v2.6. I'll add back a small amount of reverb to actually give some presence. v2.7 is more similar to v2.5 than v2.6 in instrument volumes, but has less reverb and seems way less muddy. https://www.box.com/s/3b0f7355c2e35291d612 - V2.7 https://www.box.com/s/4d5394ecc48204411b1a - V2.6 https://www.box.com/s/dcab54cace89d8bfbbbd - V2.5 https://www.box.com/s/8744fdd33600fecf3187 - V2 https://www.box.com/s/a292f4b302116d4bf027 - V1

Okay, well, I thought about how it could still be muddy somehow, and I tried reducing the reverb on some instruments. I also refined the overall sequencing and EQ work some more. It seems cleaner now. There's also a new lead for the first half of the organ-style section. https://www.box.com/s/4d5394ecc48204411b1a - V2.6 https://www.box.com/s/dcab54cace89d8bfbbbd - V2.5 https://www.box.com/s/8744fdd33600fecf3187 - V2 https://www.box.com/s/a292f4b302116d4bf027 - V1

Actually, I thought it was a good intro. I made sure everything was somewhat band passed overall so that it felt a bit empty, leaving people to wait for more to happen. All the timings I have are completely intentional. The first lead is, by convention, supposed to be a large part of this genre. Read up on wikipedia's definition of Electro. For the bass, I spent hours on end perfecting that bass. I really don't see anything wrong with it, and I've actually remade it several times. As for the "muddiness" that you hear, I've actually gone through and refined the EQ at least 20 times, so I don't think it's muddiness. I already do know that each instrument has to and does have their own area in the spectrum. It's probably just not the overall timbre you expected. The saw arpeggios might fade out a bit too quickly, maybe, but those are intentional, and are definitely introduced about 10 seconds beforehand, so there shouldn't be any surprise. Of course this needs to be longer. I wasn't done making it, as I said in the first post. I also like my transition into Heart of Fire. Personally the chord progression I had there seems to be a good indication that a new section is coming. I will try to find a better kick sample, though. I can kind of hear the kick better now, but I have already known that I would need to find a better one later, or at least increase the volume on it later. I just haven't thoroughly tested my new vinyl kicks yet. The 3o3 arp actually wasn't intended to be a real backup synth, but more like a filler to give a breakdown type of feel. I couldn't just have a bass, a lead, harmony, and TR-808 drums and immediately call that good. Personally, I don't think I have very many problems with overlapping EQ at all. I've already established that to myself for several months now. I think it's just mainly the timbre of the sounds overall.

Until 0:15, there's a saw arpeggio playing. Try shifting that up an octave and seeing how that sounds. When the guitar comes in at 0:15, it seems too ambient. It's lost in the mix and feels like it's far away in a separate auditorium, or something. Kind of sounds like a PRS guitar from Omnisphere somehow at 0:28 on the gliss up, though. xD Not a bad thing on the tone. Try bringing it out more, decreasing the reverb wet mix, and increasing the dry mix. At 1:01, it sounds like a low string instrument is coming in and cluttering the low mids. Maybe you could bring it up some octaves and use it as a countermelody or harmony instead? At 1:33, the piano or some sort of keys instrument has way too much reverb on it. It's just making it hard to hear anything there. Take it down to about 60%. The strings there also hit a really high frequency, so it might give you trouble later with the lead guitar. Try low passing that very slightly. Good luck!

After getting some feedback from a friend of mine, I lowered the high end on the snare just a bit and added a bit of low end. Then I notched the EQ of the bass right at the kick so it would be easier to hear the kick. I also raised the bass frequencies in the bass a bit and increased the volume of the 808 snare in the breakdown, because it was still too quiet in the V2. https://www.box.com/s/dcab54cace89d8bfbbbd - V2.5 https://www.box.com/s/8744fdd33600fecf3187 - V2 https://www.box.com/s/a292f4b302116d4bf027 - V1

I made a few somewhat minor changes to it. - Changed the 606 snare sample on the intro. - Refined the organ's levels on the "organ-style" sequence. - Edited the EQ on the 3o3 arp and 707 toms (yes, there were toms; I'm that subtle. ;D). - There are strings, but they were there for filler, really, just so the Heart of Fire section so far wouldn't feel so empty with just drums, a lead, and a bass. Now they're slightly louder. - Upped the volume on the 505 cowbells and 808 snare in the breakdown section. - Fixed the volumes on the saw arpeggios in the breakdown section. - Changed the funk snare sample that I use most often to a vinyl sample. Less high end, but more punch. - Minor edits to the vocoder modulation config. - Updated the transition to the VK climax repeat to make it more obvious as different. https://www.box.com/s/8744fdd33600fecf3187 - V2 https://www.box.com/s/a292f4b302116d4bf027 - V1

I don't particularly like the idea of the bass completely overwhelming the lead; keep the lead audible. 1:04 - 1:11 seemed completely random until 1:12 came. Try to polish that up some more. Mainly, the bass seems too detuned to clearly give out notes, and you've got some volume and levels trouble. Good luck!

I'm working on an Electro/Jazz/Glitch/Chiptune CV remix, and this what I have so far: https://www.box.com/s/a292f4b302116d4bf027 Is there anything that really sticks out, or is it sounding fine so far? The arrangement is not done though; the only Heart of Fire I've included is the lead in at 0:34 - 0:38 (from 0:30 - 0:33 of Heart of Fire) and the famous Castlevania "Organ-style" line right after that (variation of 0:34 - 0:49 in Heart of Fire). I'm thinking of putting in the section at 0:08 - 0:33 from that source up next. Something to note: All FX and non-percussion other than the 3o3 arp in the breakdown section are custom patches I made in Zebra2. The percussion is generally TR-606, 808, 909 stuff, etc., if that has any meaning to you guys. In case this is necessary:

Well, by that I mean the samples work well.

This is a tutorial topic. It isn't wrong to revive this topic, right? You serious? That's awesome. I've always wanted to finally be able to modulate the mod wheel in Kontakt. You CAN also do it with the pitch wheel... right?

It's a good idea to make sure you're only hearing what's coming out of FL Studio, without anything else interfering with the output volume or anything like that.

The bass instrument itself is too loud, especially in the trebles. Try scooping the range between the mids and upper mids, leaving in a low band width band pass for the treble lowered by about 2dB. That way the live bass later should have sufficient but not excessive frequencies for any fret slides or slapping or anything out of the ordinary in a bass. The hi hats are a bit weak. Find one with a longer release---and a more "brushed" hissy sound. Definitely work on the rhythm guitars though. Raise their volume for sure. Try to have them about 2dB softer than the final decision on the lead's volume. I do agree on how the drums have too much bass. I don't think the kicks need to be THAT prominent, though they should be. It kind of sounds like the mids are a bit too high, the upper mids are a bit too low, and the bass and sub are a bit too high. A curve kind of like this might work if the kick is on a separate mixer track: http://i47.tinypic.com/14w9irk.png Ignore the oval though. You might want to get a better guitar tone, though, if you can. It might just be because you did still have to roll off things below 200Hz first (although I've heard below 150Hz is fine too). The bass gives the bulk of the tone for me, at least. There are some mid frequencies that feel missing though, in the guitar. I would be interested in mixing this though, if you'd like. All I'd need are the individual instrument tracks. I can do some stuff to help you avoid the preliminary production problems, and then for the more intricate stuff that I just can't notice sometimes, try asking someone else? Or ask Sixto; he does guitar stuff all the time. It really depends, though. What DAW do you use?

You got fantastic drums going on there. xD

In the beginning until 1:02, the kick, IMO, is too loud. Try to lower the volume, but boost the most powerful frequencies it has by about 1.5 dB. 1:48 - 1:58 is begging for a proper chord progression. If you try, I think you can make what is expected from the melody you put there. If you do it correctly, it'll sound very cool. At 2:12, the wub takes too long to fade out. Try doubling the LFO speed at that spot only, using MIDI CC perhaps, and automating a fade out yourself. Fade it out faster, because it's blocking out the keys instrument playing that arpeggio. The breakdown at 2:12 also feels somewhat bare. Maybe increase the wet on the reverb a bit for the keys instrument? It needs some spacial presence. The kick that comes in at 2:40 also seems to have unnecessary frequencies. It might be in the middle between the low mids and mids (I have no reference considering I'm not home). Try adding a band notch filter in that range and seeing how it works out for you. Also, you should replace the snare there, if that's a snare. It sounds so similar to the kick. Definitely add some more high end punch to it. At 3:09, things start to really get muddy. It's usually because there's too much in the low mids, so try checking that out, as well as everywhere else. Just this section first, though. If you do it correctly, it should work decently enough anywhere else. Play each instrument individually and draw out the ranges somewhere, and compare them to decide what frequencies to drop out and how much. It could just be because since the snare would create a good amount of the highs, without a good snare it only "feels" like it's low passed. That just means you should bring back in some higher frequencies in the main backing instruments. Right now it feels like the kick is the main problem, followed by the snare, then the dubstep wobbles that come in to hog the soundscape (of course, it only feels that way because of the overcompression). At 4:04, you definitely don't want THAT much of a low pass on the drums like you have now. Instead of reducing a low pass on the drums for a transition, try reducing a high pass for a transition. The last thing is to really bring out the lead and work more on the ending. The lead sounds pretty good though. You don't have to do everything, but the majority of this is quite necessary to fix up the production. Good luck!

I usually add a LOT of modulation to my leads. I generally use Zebra for some kickass leads, considering I love to make patches on it. Some well-thought-out modulation would make even the worst synth sound decent. I also believe square wave based patches sound the most powerful and give the most to work with. For example, check this out: https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Legacy%20Files/Random%20Stuff/Sound%20Demos/Zebra%20Patch%20Demos/BN1ACDC%20-%20Zebra%20Recreation.mp3?w=c15cce17 This track is an OST's original MIDI with the instruments completely recreated with Zebra2. No notes were really touched, nor has there been any external processing (or any manual modulation, really). All reverb, delay, vibrato, etc. are just internal effects of Zebra2 that I put in each patch. Take a close listen to the lead and you'll see why square waves are extremely useful to start off with. This GBA game uses square leads AND basses on nearly all its songs because it's so easy for it to punch through mixes, and vibrato can really sound intense on a square wave. EQ really does help a bunch, though. Sometimes I add intense vibrato that comes in about 50ms in. Other times, I actually link the LFO amplitude to an X/Y controller, edit the MIDI CC events in the piano roll, and add vibrato in like that. That way, it won't be vibrato all the time and it'll sound more "live". Note though, that editing MIDI CC with X/Y controllers might not be the best way to do it, but I started doing that naturally, so I like to keep it consistent. The main thing I do, though, is add some reverb to it. I usually have the wet only slightly less than the dry, and I keep the feedback rather low; around 40%. I put just enough so that it feels like it's in a really spacious area, but not too much so that it doesn't feel too much like a cathedral or something. Another important thing is to test out VST effects you normally wouldn't use on a certain type of lead. For example, I occasionally use Guitar Rig on E. Pianos to give them a wah pedal effect. I also find it better to have a larger frequency range than you need, so you can just EQ out what you don't need. That way, you aren't just limited to the sound that you have. Sometimes, you might want add in more frequencies you're "missing" when you're actually content with the amount of instruments you have already. Modus also has the right idea with layering. Whenever you don't have the sound you want, layer in another sound that has the timbres you want, and EQ out any unnecessary frequencies. Then you can get a much better sound without having to search for hours on end for ONE patch that gives you ONE layer for a good sound. That's probably never going to happen.

Definitely record it raw. And contrary to what most might call "raw", I define raw as "without reverb or delay". If you have some sort of distortion, chorus, phaser, etc. on the keyboard parts that change the tone of the sound, then keep those for sure. What I mean is that you should record the parts without any spacial adjustment effects. Keep that in mind if you know they'll have some excellent VSTs.

I looked within this folder, originally: \~\Library\Application Support\GarageBand\Instrument Library\Track Settings\Software\ Considering you have a MAC IIRC, can you try saving a patch and telling me relatively where it goes? Just so I can see if the library itself is filtering out the files or something. EDIT: I FOUND THEM! =DDD They're in the "\~\Library\Application Support\GarageBand\Instrument Library\Track Settings\Software\" folder in specifically my own account's apparently separate directory. It is NOT in iMac.

Surprisingly long intro there, but it didn't wander off for no reason. It seemed to have a logical structure to me. Loved the bit crushed percussion made to build it up at 1:18 - 1:26. Perhaps some more filler notes could have been used to flesh out the piano in the intro some more, though, considering the pattern in the chord technique was somewhat simple, but it's not overbearing. The snare afterwards could have a tad more low end punch, but it's sufficient nonetheless. The gated poly saw was interesting, but it went on for quite a long time. Maybe it could have faded out at about 4:15, but that's alright. At 4:35, perhaps you could have added some new elements to the mix (considering it feels like the climax), as you kept a lot of them from earlier, but the mix still works well there. Overall, great work!