Returning to music after 16 years out, help for updating

If you are new here check this forum first, your question may have been answered.
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

Sample CDs - not quite dead yet, but pretty well not the way of doing things now. As you mention it's for drum sounds etc, there are loads of drum VSTi that have pretty well all the old school drum machine samples and are set up as a drum machine. But before you even check those out, check what Logic has first. If it's anything like Cubase (I've been a long time user since 1989, and hence PC nowadays) then it will have some pretty extensive drum stuff with it. Logic always used to be on a par with Cubase, so I really would be surprised if it doesn't already have most of your drum sounds covered. e.g. Groove Agent in Cubase looks a bit like a toy, but once I got under the hood, actually it's immensely powerful. Logic will be the same. Just don't waste your time searching for CDs.

Samplers. Hmmmm. I'm old school as well (older than you I suspect) and again - samplers are old hat. Not that long ago I actually threw away my old Akai S950 when I got my studio up and running again. It took up space and is utter shite compared to anything Cubase/audio editors can do. And if you really need old style sampling - hunt down some VSTi samplers. They're way way way better than anything Akai did, or anyone else. Don't care if you have S3000s or whatever - they're inferior to what s/w does nowadays, and they're incredibly slow and tedious to program and load. And there is so much in the way of ROMplers and true synthesis VSTis for whatever instruments you need.

Your old analogues - obviously keep those - they're still very useful and still sound good. If you're comfortable with them, then TBH you don't need much in the way of VSTi synths. HOWEVER - some emulations of old gear are VERY good. I still have a genuine old MS20, but I regularly use the Korg plugin too (sometimes even both in the same track). Korg sell a very good Odyssey plugin too. GForce sell a very good OSCar plugin. Playing on real knobs and keys is still a benefit to many - TBH I find using some s/w a real PITA, so it's nice to actually get hands on analogue synths.
By the way - if you are into analogues, check out some of the new ones. You might be surprised how many really affordable analogues are now being sold - seems to be just in a recent few years. e.g. Behringer (don't laugh - they really do make analogues now - in fact they're probably one of the main sellers) are making some original of their own (Crave, Deepmind etc) and they're releasing all kinds of emulations - on my list is a MonoPoly, probably one of those Prophets when they come out, maybe a ProOne. I can pick up a Behringer MonoPoly for NZ$1100. If I wanted to buy a genuine Korg one - I don't think I even can in NZ, and the price from major markets in Europe or US are just silly. You'll be surprised what you can pick up from Behringer for way less than that - their 303 box (personally I don't think it sounds that similar - in the same ballpark but not that close) is literally pocket money. $200 or something silly.

Outboard - if you have compressors etc then keep them and use them. There are some good plugins, but personally I still prefer h/w comps (character ones at least).

Other FX - ditch the outboard.

Delays - you really only need one good one - ValhallaDelay, Soundtoys Echoboy, D16 Repeater. One of those will keep you happy.

Reverb - I used to love Lexicon h/w - TBH s/w reverb has finally caught up (mostly). It surprised me - I took a long hiatus too, so was surprised to see some good reverbs plugins. You can get Eventide if you want iLok (I don't...), but again Valhalla - superb reverbs. And/or use some convolution reverbs. I still do - you can get good sets of Lexicon, Bricasti, plate verbs etc and load them up into something like Convology XT (free, though you need to register - they make their money by selling impulses and they sell some good ones - but you don't actually have to buy any). There is a good thread in the KvR FX forum about impulses to d/l. Lots of pages but you'll find all the good reverbs in there somewhere.

Choruses, phasers, flangers etc, TBH you'll probably have enough to be useful in Logic. There are some alternative plugins, but I find you end up spending daft money on things that you don't even notice in the mix. Stock standard DAW modFX are fine.

The good thing is - you don't need to spend much to get up and running. Logic does most of it for you, so TBH if you want to get going properly you're going to have to learn the DAW at some point. If all you want to do is run a shitload of analogues by midi and add FX and mix ITB, you can easily. But it doesn't make any sense to do it without using the DAW central to it. And I say that as really old school. I like having a monster mixing desk and tapes and all kinds of old crap, but really they're crap compared to a DAW. A mixer is useful, but even if you have a big one, it's eventually going into the DAW to get recorded and mixed and mastered. :)

Post

Hi All,

Loopmasters is the example of awful nowadays sound. I would say is the worst company, all medium frequencies, all done with cheap virtual instruments, bad reverbs etc. Plastic cheapo sound.

I won´t use Steinberg since I was a Logic man.

I do my own samples sampling my lofi Yamaha FM and real analogues, then I need an editor as Peak to edit those samples and change ADSR to do drums and noises out of it but in old samplers, to get the sound I like as 1995 Surgeon of Jeff Mills, those two do awful productions nowadays due to using virtual low quality instruments and samplers ( Octapad and so) Same with Plastikman.

If abusing Live or Logic, you might end sounding as a random Loopmaster product, and that is what I avoid at all cost.

Any more tips? I live in 1995 forever, happy days.

best

edit, I am getting an Akai S950, you should get your own one asap, that is great sound! I got a real Monopoly in the 90s, well I got everything then, all xox boxes, all junos, jp8 that I used for croosmodulation metallic drums triggered from a 808 ( i did not use midi).
For fx, yet own 2 SE 70, all Roland SRV 330 series ( reverb,delay, chorus) and would like to get other DP4, I bought one new but sold it.

Maybe I will get a Lexicon PCM 91, 600e, always wanted one, Is that too dated?

Post

I was in a similar boat, stopped for 15 years or so and came back to in last august. The main thing I've learned about the current state of affairs is that there's a lot of excellent free software, and the commercial side has succumbed to a ridiculous marketing strategy involving massive period discounts to lure in customers. So take your time to try out the free stuff, don't rush to buy anything but instead pick up super-bargains when they become available.
Every day takes figuring out all over again how to f#ckin’ live.

Post

I too am a time traveler. I have always been on the PC side. I cut my teeth on Emagic before Apple bought it and kicked the PC users to the curb. I spent a kajillion dollars on Cakewalk Sonar Platinum back in the day. They lost me when they went to a subscription service. My XP computer started acting up so I hung up the cans for a few years. Just got back into it during the pandemic. Instead of recording 16-24 tracks at a time I now do 2 on a laptop. I was so shocked and pleased when I saw Sonar was a free DAW from Bandlab. That said, I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on Waveform Pro because of workflow. I still have my Ensoniq ASR 10 and my Juno 60.

Post

Stuckedin1995 wrote: Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:20 pm I live in 1995 forever, happy days.
If it should accidentally be the 02.07 we could maybe meet in the chillout area on sunrise?

Google grasspike music if you want that sound back :|

Post

Since you mentioned old samplers, and I come from that era as well, I thought I'd mention CWI's TX16Wx:

https://www.tx16wx.com/download/

It does have a Mac version, though I can't speak for it as I'm on PC. What I can say is that I think it strikes a nice balance between some of the modern features that make life easier and the classic sampler workflow.
Fugue State Audio - plugins, samples, etc.
Support the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers

Post Reply

Return to “Getting Started (AKA What is the best...?)”