Robotopia

[layzer]

lets just call it "electro-swing" timing issues justified

[fastlanephil]

Sounds very cool Phil.
Enjoying the synths, and the harmonic shifts...
Drums sound great too! I like the offbeatedness of them.
Trumpets are good too!
Well done!
Cheers,
John

Thanks much John. I seem to fight the strict timing of those rythmn patches. I always want to push it a bit I guess.

Phil

[Cruba]

Made my day and I'm really really jealous cos of your smooth arps, really!

Being a drummer I say, the bass don't start at the right point of beat (1:06 I mean thet enter), but maybe I'm wrong. Also the pattern itself sounds accidently offbeat, but maybe you planned it like that. Hard to follow, cos I just have the arp as orientation.

[seismic1]

Overall, I enjoyed this. The synths worked well together and I liked the brass sounds when they joined in. Like layzer, I had a few problems getting my head around the timing. It sounded a little "off", although I'm not yet sure how much of an issue that was for me.

Good work

Glad you enjoyed this seismic.

I think electronic musicians or electronic music listeners brains kind of get rewired and resensitized about timing. That was a hurtle for me as I developed a real liking for the genre and the also the unnatural sounds. Most people of my generation find it pretty alien as something they would actually enjoy listening to. Not just as an occasional soundtrack that they are not actually listening to.

I’m not making excuses for the off beat but just making an observation.

I've just played the revised version, and I think I preferred it to the original version, but maybe for the wrong reason. I think I was probably trying too hard to make "rhythmic sense" of the original by imposing my own expectation of how that should work. Now, listening to the earlier version again, I don't really mind that the rhythm patch seems a little "off".

Sometimes when I've put tracks together in the past using multiple arps and percussion, I have soloed different pairs of arps or each arp with the rhythm track and it can sound quite tight, but all of the elements together can occasionally sound quite disruptive. As long as the disruption is reasonable and/or interesting, I'll leave it alone.

Phil Collins "This Must Be Love" is a simple but great example of a rhythmic masterpiece. If I focus on the percussion during the intro, I can completely lose track of the funky groove that the bass guitar adds and the song almost takes on a Prog-rock character. It took me few years to work that out, probably 'cos I approached it coming from a Prog/Genesis background. It was still enjoyable, but I now realise that it is actually two songs for the price of one.

[srv-musikmaker]

I find the overall elements quite interesting. The off beat rhythm is what sets your song apart. It is like the coordinated march of a robot army (which is cool). But instead of letting it stop completely at around the 1:49 mark, you might consider keeping it going (maybe at a slightly lower volume). At a certain point, this 'marching' can get chaotically loud and fade off gradually. Just some ideas

[fastlanephil]

Made my day and I'm really really jealous cos of your smooth arps, really!

Being a drummer I say, the bass don't start at the right point of beat (1:06 I mean thet enter), but maybe I'm wrong. Also the pattern itself sounds accidently offbeat, but maybe you planned it like that. Hard to follow, cos I just have the arp as orientation.

Cruba
Yeah, I screwed around with that spot at 1:06, trying to sync it up better. I’m always fighting those strict tempo rythmn patches. I play most everything in first with my keyboard in free time and have melodies and such playing in my head at the same time.

[Frantz]

Listening to Rev 1. The arp does not seem to be tempo sync'ed. It actually makes me dizzy.

Sounds and composition are fantastic but I can't get over these tempo issues. Oh well.

[fastlanephil]

I find the overall elements quite interesting. The off beat rhythm is what sets your song apart. It is like the coordinated march of a robot army (which is cool). But instead of letting it stop completely at around the 1:49 mark, you might consider keeping it going (maybe at a slightly lower volume). At a certain point, this 'marching' can get chaotically loud and fade off gradually. Just some ideas

Thanks for the comments and ideas srv-musikmaker.

I might have a go at it.

[fastlanephil]

Listening to Rev 1. The arp does not seem to be tempo sync'ed. It actually makes me dizzy.

Sounds and composition are fantastic but I can't get over these tempo issues. Oh well.

I isolated that patch and with other rythmns and it actually does sync up but has an odd pattern.

[fastlanephil]

Overall, I enjoyed this. The synths worked well together and I liked the brass sounds when they joined in. Like layzer, I had a few problems getting my head around the timing. It sounded a little "off", although I'm not yet sure how much of an issue that was for me.

Good work

Glad you enjoyed this seismic.

I think electronic musicians or electronic music listeners brains kind of get rewired and resensitized about timing. That was a hurtle for me as I developed a real liking for the genre and the also the unnatural sounds. Most people of my generation find it pretty alien as something they would actually enjoy listening to. Not just as an occasional soundtrack that they are not actually listening to.

I’m not making excuses for the off beat but just making an observation.

I've just played the revised version, and I think I preferred it to the original version, but maybe for the wrong reason. I think I was probably trying too hard to make "rhythmic sense" of the original by imposing my own expectation of how that should work. Now, listening to the earlier version again, I don't really mind that the rhythm patch seems a little "off".

Sometimes when I've put tracks together in the past using multiple arps and percussion, I have soloed different pairs of arps or each arp with the rhythm track and it can sound quite tight, but all of the elements together can occasionally sound quite disruptive. As long as the disruption is reasonable and/or interesting, I'll leave it alone.

Phil Collins "This Must Be Love" is a simple but great example of a rhythmic masterpiece. If I focus on the percussion during the intro, I can completely lose track of the funky groove that the bass guitar adds and the song almost takes on a Prog-rock character. It took me few years to work that out, probably 'cos I approached it coming from a Prog/Genesis background. It was still enjoyable, but I now realise that it is actually two songs for the price of one.

The Phil Collins song has an interesting rythmn structure. It sounds pretty Caribbean at the intro and then becomes a back rhythm.

[markkuja]

Just listened the Robotopia Rev 1
Nice soundscape and interesting composition.
I liked the ambiance and sounds

[wagtunes]

Electronic patches,trumpets and strings. New Version Below.

https://soundcloud.com/fastlanephil/robotopia

I've decided to start a new numerical feedback system so that members can get a more qualitative view of their work, albeit in a subjective manner.

I will be grading on 4 categories on a 1-10 scale

1. Music (Melody, harmony, etc.)

2. Instrumentation (Synths used, Sound FX, etc.)

3. Mix (EQ, Compression, FX, Panning, etc.)

4. Performance (How well I thought you played whether live playing or EDM quantization where there is no actual live playing or both)

Music - 8
Instrumentation - 8
Mix - 9
Performance - 8

Overall Score - 8.25

Comments: Well done. I liked it.

[fluffy_little_something]

I like the first 1:06