Beatdrop

Why, yes, Eric Dude. And here's to me actually BEING at the next MAG. SonovaBITCH.

Yes, ex. After my stint in CCU, we seperated (read: self-destructed). I still talk to her, though.

Hey folks, Merry Christmas! Just dropping in to post about a new side-project I've gotten involved with. My ex-fiance started a band a couple months ago called Bad Molly. They primarily produce trip-hop, with one major inspiration being Massive Attack. Anyway, recently a situation arose in which one of the primary band members was no longer able to stay with the group, so I talked to her about taking up the role of producing music and doing backing vocals, and she thought it sounded cool. So... I guess I'm a member of Bad Molly now? I guess. Anyway, here's the first track I've cooked up for the band: http://beatdrop.paletteswap.com/Random/Bad%20Molly%20-%20Track%201.mp3 This is just the instrumental. I only just today sent it off to her for her to start working on lyrics/vocals. Still, it's pretty cool. It's nice trying a new style. Enjoy, and as always, feedback welcome. EDIT: Oh, here's a link to their page on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/badmolly

"Style Free" is now online. http://www.myspace.com/beatdrop One of many songs I created appearing in the upcoming arcade game, DanceTrax. It's kind of a combination of Classic and Swedish house. Enjoy. As always, feedback is welcomed. Consider it a precursor for the second disc. I'm also looking into selling my music in the iTunes Store, so I'll keep everyone posted on that. It might be the first place the album is available. EDIT (12/6): Some news about the album: Tracklist has been reworked a tiny bit to include new music / new track lengths. "Azure" is faster and a little more refined, "Tinderbox" has vocals, a new song called "Afterburner" has been included, "Freefall" has been slightly remastered, and the list has been reordered in general to provide better album flow. I'm not finished making updates/corrections, but I'm extremely close. I've also begun analyzing a few options for getting the CD pressed, one of which could hold extremely exciting things for the future, but I can't say anything else about that. I've contacted FlashOver Recordings, Blow Media, and Metropolis Records. Ultra may be next on the list, but I'll probably send them a demo direct, so I'm holding off on that for a little bit. Still toying with the idea of a 2-disc set. We'll see what happens with that. More surprises are in store. EDIT: Oh, and I'm contemplating pulling "Subservient" from the tracklist because the project file is being a fucking bastard. I'll probably just end up releasing it for free in its current form (which is finished, but not perfected).

Why, thank you. It was a long time in the making. In fact, it started out sounding completely different, and was originally titled "Without Limits." But after I finished it and it ended up sounding so much more expansive than it started off sounding, I thought it needed a more "expansive" title. Anywho, a bit more news. This is hugely iffy, but I might release "In The Dark" as a two-disc set, like I was originally planning to do with Everlast. However, this time, the second disc will include reworked versions of all of my songs from DanceTrax, the dancing simulation arcade game which is still being worked on. My contract with them didn't say I couldn't release the stuff on an album, it just said I couldn't use it in another music game. So I have full rights to my music for the game, and as such, I have been working feverishly on remastering, remixing, and reworking every single song I made for the game. This idea came from the fact that I already did that with two songs from the game specifically for the first disc, "Phase 1" and "Heterodyne Principle." Well, now I'm doing all the rest, too. Some of the songs aren't even being included in the game, but were made for it, so yeah. Should be a good time. I'll probably be putting a couple of those on my MySpace page sometime in the near future. First two to hit the page should be "Style Free" and "RatRider." The folks over at Pulse Network probably won't like the idea, but meh. I'm getting tired of waiting on the game.

Well, I made it to Hawaii (aloha!), and all is well. Hawaii is amazing, of course. My stuff is all here, so I should have my computer in my posession sometime shortly. Just need to arrange to have it delivered. In the mean time, gorge yourself on a couple new uploads to my MySpace profile! http://www.myspace.com/beatdrop The first is "Mantra," yet another song that defies classification. It represents my musical and personal history, my taste, and my flair. If I had to categorize it, I'd call it... Psychoelectro Retroethnic Trance. The second is a song with one of the longest song titles I've ever come up with, "Here Stand We Who Defy Gravity." It's a breaks track similar to some of my previous forrays into breakbeats, like "Floor Control," one of my songs for DanceTrax. It's kind of like a slower, thicker "Our Little War," I suppose. I think the title suits it. Enjoy those while I get posted up here and work on finalizing the album.

I'm in the process of transferring to Hawaii, so I can't do ANYTHING with it until sometime after November 8th. However, it's 99% finalized (a lot of the songs have already been rendered to .wav), so from there, it's just a matter of trying to find a label. And if that fails, then I'll save some paychecks and get it pressed.

Bump for great justice.

I might be going. That's a big might. I'm getting ready to ship off to Hawaii, so if I go, it's going to cost me a small fortune. HOWEVER! I am about to receive my hefty college bonus from the Navy (5 grand), and that might allow me to go. Was planning on using it to buy a V-Synth XT, but going to MAG again would be a far better time than I could ever have with a new piece of hardware. Only time will tell. A couple things have to fall into place for me to be able to go: 1.) I have to be able to put in a request for leave for those days. 2.) My bonus needs to be given to me all at once (or I'll need to do some SERIOUS planning). 3.) Upon arrival, people must fall before me and lick my boots. We'll see what happens.

I employ a fair number of elves who do most of my musical work for me. All I have to say is "Make me a Drum 'N' Bass remix of the Magus battle theme from Chrono Trigger," and they get right to work. Saying that you really like it is good enough for me. That's my aim. I don't pick a game so much as I pick a specific song from the game that I really enjoyed and that I think I can interpret in my own way. That's one of the major reasons I generally don't take requests: I need inspiration to make the song, and only I can determine what inspires me.

Thank you, thank you. And that's a good guess. Radikal is definitely on my list, but they aren't one of my first stops. My first two choices are Ultra and Metropolis, but I'm also looking at sending copies to the currently-forming KMFDM Records, Moonshine, Armada, and Flashover (Ferry Corsten's new label). After reading an interview with Corsten in the latest issue of Remix Magazine, I'm confident that, at the very least, he'll like what I do.

Tenative release date: 1 APRIL 2007 No more details available at this time.

Nah, I really don't give a shit anymore. It isn't an argument that can be won by any parties involved, so I'm just not going to care anymore. My whole reason for even caring in the first place comes from my own feelings that my music isn't as widely enjoyed as it sometimes seems like it is. I rarely feel I get the exposure I need (or, dare I say, deserve [warning!! bold statement!]), so it makes sense for me to blow a gasket when the software I use is referenced to as only being usable by zircon alone.

Having owned a Roland MC-307, I can safely tell you that this thing is guaraunteed to be a LOT easier to program than a groovebox. I always had a BITCH of a time getting that thing to do what I wanted to as far as simple things like note lengths go. This looks like it runs largely off of its supremely powerful arpeggiator to make patterns (kinda like my SH-32), and those are pretty easy to cook-up, generally speaking. Plus, I don't know about the RADIAS, but my SH-32 has faaaaaaar more arpeggiator patterns than I'll ever need, so I never found myself even needing to make one.

Yeah, the price difference between just the rack module and the full keyboard version is pretty substantial, but the keyboard part of it is pretty nice in its own right. It's nothing SPECTACULARLY special, but it's very sleekly designed, and the addition of the rack-filler that it comes with to allow for space for a tabletop synth module/drum machine (like my SH-32) or effects processor (the sweet-as-hell KAOSS Pad 3). I mean, the price difference may be substantial, but it's pretty well suited for the module. I definitely love the design. I'm also enjoying the different types of oscillator mixing they've thrown in: ring modulation, sync, pulse-width modulation, unison, Korg’s new-fangled Variable Phase Modulation, and cross modulation. My SH-32 offers 32 waveforms total, and it doesn't even open up as many possibilities as this thing does. Plus it's sexy.

Well, I could see the price tag being steep if it was only a VA synth, but it does... well, everything! Better price tag on what's solely a VA synth would be Roland's new SH-201, which I'm also moderately drooling over. And that's only about $500-600. Still, I want this a tad more.

http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=RADIAS&category_id=1 Sweet merciful JESUS! I want one. Now. Really, seriously, and truly. V-Synth will have to take a backseat position to this puppy. GIMME GIMME GIMME.

That wasn't the problem at all. You can state how much you hate it all you want and that won't bother me all that much, because I've heard it a million times before. However, once you start saying that "I think that recommending FL to someone is pretty much a death sentance when it comes to quality music," that's when it starts to bug me. Because in saying that, you're directly associating my music with the means used to create it.

Uhhhhhhh. I think you're going to need to expand upon what you're talking about here, because as it is, I don't have a clue what you mean. The event editor's sole purpose is the creation of automations. I've used it with a colossal list of VST plugins, and not once have I encountered a situation where it didn't work correctly. While I may defend the default plugins that come with FL, I rely on VST plugins 97% of the time. And Doomsday, I wasn't singling you out. Your post just primarily annoyed me because a whopping 87.9% of its 166 word content was spent expressing why you think it sucks. I was primarily annoyed by SnappleMan's statements, which basically said that the only person who can make good music with FL is zircon, when that, to be blunt, is bullshit. And regarding your statement about FL's included effects plugins that that has not been my experience. Reverb and Reverb 2 have consistently proven to have a better sounding reverb than any other plugin I've used, including Korg's MDE-X, Ambience, DFX Transverb, Classic Reverb, and Sony's Reverb and Acoustic Mirror plugins. Fast Dist is my second most frequently used distortion plugin, admitedly right behind TriDirt (a free VST distortion plugin). Flangus is the best Chorus/Unison plugin I've worked with, providing a startling array of uses and wide range of sounds. Free Filter is a fantastically resonant multi-filter plugin that is vitually does not affect your CPU usage, all the while being fully capable of blowing out some speakers if need-be. I could go on for awhile, making mention to Waveshaper, Stereo Enhancer, Vocoder, and a few others, but I think I'll leave it at that. While they may not appear to be anything special, they all have fantastic audio quality and are very well integrated into the program. But yes, you're right. I worded my statement incorrectly in saying it's about knowing how to use it. I'm not trying to say it's the best music creation suite out there. It just is for me. SGX hit the nail on the head. Meanwhile, he's able to be the most proficient user of Reason on this entire website, and I can't comprehend that because, as far as I'm concerned, it has one of the worst sequencers out of all the programs I've used, second only to Project 5. But it works for him.

The only thing I can say about people who talk poorly of FL Studio is that they don't know how to use it. Simultaneously, I can't suggest it for people new to computer music creation because it may SEEM easy to use, but that doesn't mean it's easy to use properly. First of all, automation is not just tacked on. It's fully integrated into every single part of the program. This is apparent when you consider the following: a) You can automate 99% of the controls in the program. You can create automation inside of individual patterns to trigger and retrigger as frequently as you desire. c) Automations can be created using either the graph-based Event Editor or by creating spline-based Automation Clips, which can run either the entire length of the song or can be four measures long and be dropped in at any point. d) The program contains a number of "internal controllers" which allow you to do things like automate a large number of parameters simultaneously by only creating automation for one knob. Automation has been as much a part of FL as the fuckin' STEP SEQUENCER has for quite a long time. Secondly, audio integration may not be the most intuitive, but they're constantly improving on it. The latest improvement incorporates the Edison audio editor, which is QUITE in-depth, considering it's just another part of the program. You can drop an audio clip in (ie: vocals), process it with any of the FX plugins FL has to offer, slice it, edit it, stretch it, quantize it, and any other number of things. Thirdly, a lot of the plugins that FL comes with are HIGHLY useful. Again, you just have to know what you're doing. If you use them as if they're self-contained synthesis suites, then yeah, they're going to sound pretty lame. You know what? Fuck it. I don't need to defend the program. If you don't want to use it, don't use it. But please, when someone asks for suggestions about what to use, don't suggest a bunch of things and then tell them why all but one of them suck. Let them try things out on their own. I've been using FL for nearly SIX YEARS now, and I wouldn't replace it with anything. That's not to say I haven't tried other applications. I have. I've tried Reason, Cubase, Sonar, Project 5, Ableton, Buzz Tracker, ACID Pro, and probably some others I'm not even thinking of. Everything else I've ever used has made me feel restricted to the point of killing all inspiration I had when I first launched the program with the intent of writing. FL is the only program to not do that to me. Its features are so endless and wide-scope that I could have no inspiration upon opening it, and I'd come up with SOMETHING useable before closing it. I don't know, maybe you all think I'm a shitty musician. But when you say things like it remarkably demeans everything I do. And in saying that, you're also saying that people like, oh, I dunno, AE (http://www.myspace.com/wavetheory), is a poor musician, when FL Studio is also his weapon of choice. And he's not the only one. There are a LOT of people who can make pretty fucking amazing music with it. You just need to know how to use it. Anyway, I'm done. Made whatever point I felt I needed to make. Maybe the only point was to vent some aggravation.

Oh cool. Looks something like this, I'm guessing:

I didn't know shit pie made sounds. ... Could you sample them for me?

Increasing the sample rate in FL Studio should never have adverse effects on the sound quality, besides making it sound better. However! If you increase the sample rate beyond 44.1 KHz and intend to play the song file back live (ie: pushing the play button in FL), you'll likely be disappointed. Cranking up the sample rate in FL will cause exponential increases in CPU usage, especially beyond 44.8 KHz. Anything higher than that... can't suggest. On the other hand, if you're just upping the sample rate to render the song to an audio file, it shouldn't cause any problems. Might take considerably longer to render, but I can't say I've ever tried.

Software: FL Studio 6 - Producer's Edition Sound Forge 8 Favored Plugins: PlastiCZ Vanguard WASP XT Muon Tau 2 Hypersonic V-Station Superwave P8 Hardware: Roland SH-32 Korg Electribe EA-1 E-MU XK-6 Keyboard I try to stick to the quicker bread-and-butter instrument plugins most of the time. I have a pretty large arsenal, but I find it much more enriching to create a fairly simple synth sound and then see what I can do to it during post-processing. The results that I can get out of FX plugins tend to be a lot more creative, unique, and useable than what I could squeeze out of a seven operator FM synth with a 32x32 modulation matrix. Do you have any idea how badass an upright bass can sound after you process it with the right kind of distortion, some heavy compression, and a light touch of reverb? And truth-be-told, I hardly ever even touch my hardware.

Nice illustration. Simple and highly effective. Kudos.