KVR Audio

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:07 pm

So you're saying that these synths in BoC are the solution to this tone? I thought it would have been an amp + cutoff filter... ?

savantgarde · Post by **savantgarde** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:11 pm

Haha @ Sean

I never got into BoC myself, although my DJ friends couldn't praise them enough. I was more of a Squarepusher/4 Hero geek :] Still adore Squarepusher, although I'm not interested in making the same type of music.

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:20 pm

Let's just say I agree with Morrissey, if you know what I mean by that. concerning DJ's, but not literally

Okay, let me rephrase, how can I simulate this same creamy tone that is placed over the synth sounds with vst software? I would like to use this method with my drones.

I suppose I will continue in experimenting... These things take good time

RonC

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:47 pm

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savantgarde · Post by **savantgarde** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:08 pm

With regard to drones, which distortion VSTs are likely to lend themselves well to the purpose? Of dedicated distortion FX, I only have Guitar Rig 5 that I can think of.

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:13 pm

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savantgarde · Post by **savantgarde** » Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:19 pm

shallow wrote:
savantgarde wrote:With regard to drones, which distortion VSTs are likely to lend themselves well to the purpose? Of dedicated distortion FX, I only have Guitar Rig 5 that I can think of.
Guitar Rig is easily enough - learn to tweak it relly well and you will be better off than trying to buy in some 'magic distortion'. But if you don't like the interface then definitely try other distortions - acmebargig stuff is good.

Ah thanks

Only barely played with GR to be honest, run some electric piano through it for instance. Don't know how it stacks (no pun intended) up to other distortion VSTs.

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:49 am

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6185854/kvr%20s ... DRONER.mp3

Here's my first attempt at doing something droney with guitar.
Testing out some of the tips and methods here. Sorry this is not a complete "in the box" example. It's a hybrid of stompbox and vst. But it's one guitar, one track only. I basically followed Sean's ideology/methods.

Here's the chain:
Squire (Japanese) strat with all single coils> Boss Hyper Fuzz FZ-2 stomp pedal (the older one that is still analog, no COSM) with settings maxed on mode 1> Boss DM-3 analog delay with slow repeat rate, max intensity, echo volume at 75%> Pro Co Solo (A suped up Rat pedal with 3 different mods/clipping modes, using the standard original rat mode HOT) with moderate distortion settings and tone all the way open/up> M-Audio USB Mobile Pre> clean ampsim> tape echo/delay> 3 instances of Valhalla Shimmer in serial with different settings in Big Stereo mode like Sean described, the last instance with mix at 100%. This signal is then sent to two different sends. One send has a reverse delay on it. The 2nd send is a flanger with slow rate and high feedback so it generates some motion and resonant peaky harmonics, which is then bussed to the 1st send with the reverse delay.

Slight compression on the master to even out the very loudest peaks and to glue the sounds together a little, and then Baxter M/S EQ to spread the frequencies out across the stereo field a little better, and then a bass mono maker to keep the lower freqs in the center.

PS. As I uploaded this, I checked one of my other favorite forums and there was a new free plugin released that will "Bend your Face"

, which might help with some of these in the box techniques

prolapse · Post by **prolapse** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:47 am

Doug1978(tempID) wrote:Experimenting with programs such as these, allied with a better, open-minded understanding of leading artists, should help you to make some good progress with drone music.

The 'leading artists' are only leading because everybody else is following.

My advice: There are already enough suggestions in this thread, any more and you're really going on a papergoose chase. Learn to use what you have to it's full extent, it's amazing what things can do when you think you've already hit the limit.

I have spent the last few weeks working on drones myself (which is what brought me to this thread) and after trying out a couple of dozen different 'methods' I went right back to what first inspired me, the DLGranulator in audiomulch, and with a bit more time I have found what I wanted after all (and have spent all my free time for several days 'perfecting' my drone ^_^ If you would like to have a go with audiomulch (there is a free demo) I can send some patches for your to try out.

For the sake of coincidence the 'featured' vst on the right of my screen is this: http://www.kvraudio.com/product/ggrain_by_gvst

Doug1978 · Post by **Doug1978** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:54 am

prolapse wrote:
Doug1978(tempID) wrote:Experimenting with programs such as these, allied with a better, open-minded understanding of leading artists, should help you to make some good progress with drone music.
The 'leading artists' are only leading because everybody else is following.
...

Not necessarily, but I'll PM you instead of stating my view here.

As for the rest of your post, I think that you've got some good ideas there.

rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:00 pm

I've been experimenting and haven't really found any sweet spots so far with any of these methods... This can prove to be very frustrating.

JoeCat · Post by **JoeCat** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:23 pm

Local guys (to me of course - your geography may differ). Met the guitarist when I purchased some equip. off him. This is all out of the box stuff - when I read his list of stomp-boxes, etc., I almost laughed out loud.

Interesting too in that they actually duck the guitars with the kick live.

http://thewhitecascade.bandcamp.com/

At any rate, the guitarist talks about how he gets some of those sounds, might give you some ideas:

http://www.silbermedia.com/qrd/archives ... Guess.html

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:33 pm

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rpc9943 · Post by **rpc9943** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 9:28 pm

I'm also wondering in Spiritualized's "Pure Phase", was that pure phase? What did they use for this kind of drone? This is the kinds of sounds I seek. I would like the kind of feedbacky whine to eminate from my reverbs... How to get this?

Thanks as usual

jonahs · Post by **jonahs** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:30 pm

lovesliescrushing and flying saucer attack are great! I think if you want to play in that sonic world you're going to make your life a whole heck of a lot easier picking up a tape fourtrack. Sean is totally right about hitting things loud and it's really not that fun/easy in a digital system because if you mess it up by going too loud it sounds terrible.

Within software though Übermod's distortion function is one of the best I've found for chaining audio feedbadck loops and limiting loud signals in a pleasant way.

Back to the four track. I use a tascam 424 (some fostex ones are good too). You want to be able to make effect sends. I use often an answering machine tape that allows me to do endless sound on sound. I generally send the guitar or synth sound into the computer out to the 4 track and then back into the computer. Often times I have various amps set up and mic that go back in to the computer as well.

This isn't a hardware vs software question though. It's more about the fact that (for me) the more I do real time the better my drones are. There isn't as much opportunity to over think and ruin a perfectly good session. I'll do a lot of these jams, edit them on the computer and then and play the mutes and fades live to compose them.

I never got on with Live for realtime processing. I found it better to use for rough compositions of clips I already made. Personally, I find audiomulch to be invaluable. It lets me go with the flow and play like no other composition software I've used. I can play with the effects routing just as easily and enjoyably as with software pedals, but without the mess of wires.

As far as other software goes, I don't think anyone mentioned the soundhack PVOC kit or spectral shapers. http://soundhack.henfast.com/
Spear is a free and fun spectral tool. Plogue bidule is worth checking out too. It's kind like Audiomulch If you are into spending more time building complex control and processing setups.

Some MAX stuff to check out would be ppooll, gleetchlab and noiseplug. Not sure if they work with M4L or windows for that matter.
http://ppooll.klingt.org/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.gleetchplug.com/gleetchplug/Software.html
http://www.smidernoise.com/software.html

Also, iannix. http://www.iannix.org/en/index.php

The effects built into Live are plenty good enough though.

Despite all the software I mentioned I feel the the most important things for drone and ambient is to explore your environment, be mindful, maybe meditate and read books. "Ocean of Sound" by David Toop is worth checking out. I remember an interview with Curtis Roads where he mentions being inspired by the book "The education of a gardener". I think a strong sense of place separates the good stuff from the new age noodling. Take Biosphere's literal arctic explorations, BoC's "beautiful place in the country" or Eno confined to a hospital bed. And I think one of the krautrock guys (someone in Neu?) was inspired by the movement of flowing water, but I'm spacing on a name.

Here's fripp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHM9c3p41d8

Help me figure out the best "Drone" solution for myself...