Here's a question (but not a poll): do you prefer synths/samplers or effects?

[CinningBao]

neither

Oh you're one of those "pan-sonic" musicians are you, squeezing the air from between your fingers and feeling the rush of wind as you blink?

[Michael L]

I am totally a “note person”, but the note pitch, envelope etc is often determined by the timbre of the sound. I love prepared piano & orchestral libraries similarly’prepared’ with effects — the right effect can extract goodness from a ho-hum string library or waveform

[CinningBao]

I prefer all of them ... When it comes to buying stuff I tend to be excited by synths the most than effects and not interested in sampler. The stock samplers of my DAW can do all I want.

Sounds like me at the start of all this digital-music-shenanigans. Synths are the door to the nth dimension I entirely rejected samples at the start, wholly believing a good selection of synthesis types was all I needed. And then I realised the physical modelling algorithms weren't where I needed for acoustic drums. thanks for your reply!

[CinningBao]

I am totally a “note person”, but the note pitch, envelope etc is often determined by the timbre of the sound. I love prepared piano & orchestral libraries similarly’prepared’ with effects — the right effect can extract goodness from a ho-hum string library or waveform

Excellent response Thanks Michael!
And you're right - the right starting 'patch' (synth config or sample set) can absolutely drive you towards the end result. Sometimes just a short reverb or subtle filter can make a sound feel like it's working itself 'better', which speeds up writing. And that's all we want really; ways to get the ideas out quicker.

[martiu]

sometimes short attack amp envelope with long delay time effect can bring hum noise to a whole new level in noise ambient music production, so yeah, i am noise person, 60hz hum noise

[CinningBao]

sometimes short attack amp envelope with long delay time effect can bring hum noise to a whole new level in noise ambient music production, so yeah, i am noise person, 60hz hum noise

Well that explains a lot and the beepboopness.
I think ambient music is much more about the processing than the actual notes. I mean, notes are important, where they're needed, but ambient isn't really about "oooh feel this lovely note in relation to the bass and chords, and then check how we move from this note to this _other_ note and the bass and chords still just work lovely, right! mm-mm". It's about creating spaces, and you can't create space with a sawtooth and a filter

Incidentally, do you do any work with 50hz hum? My acoustic pickup is generating a god-awful amount of new hum after new batteries were installed, unless the guitar is perfectly perpendicular to our flat earth. (I jest about assistance)

[vurt]

yeah, it's a very "modular" way of thinking, i think mainly it comes from the lack of distinction between audio and control voltage, and as you point out, the interconnectivity between the different aspects.

but since using mostly an actual modular system, it has extended in to other areas, my guitar fx chain, now combines feedback loops, and looper pedals, plus synth pedals, all effecting other parts of the chain somehow.

i get that not everyone is the same, unlike the other poster, i don't see your view as unnatural or strange, just a different way of getting where we want to be with the sound.


re they do do one thing or another...
delay as a sound source
minds blown!!! who doesn't love a bit of karplus strong????

"just a different way of getting where we want to be with the sound" - exactly this. I'm trying to get a sense of how 'us', as electronic musicians, allocate our interests, which are initially aligned by our desires. Are we "note" people who are more interested in the composing of beautiful note sequences, or are we "sound" people interested in creating textures and harmonically interweaving spaces..

And quite frankly, there's no need to bring delay feedbacks in to this discussion. You know, as well as I do, that they break all known concepts of sound and music, sitting precariously on the fence between 'effect' and 'generator', and yet declaring "things _can_ last forever".. whatevs dude.

<I love jamming shit in delay lines and AIN'T NOBODY gonna stop me>

exactly, it's as much "fun" as any other part of the process.
different goals require different "focus", take bones, wants to put out songs, to play live, so has a time limit (self imposed) to get from a to b.
i do this, because this is what i do. no real desire to do anything but the process, no end point, i just record bits of a whole evenings patching. not tracks as such.

it's all just fun for me, from the idea, writing it on paper (im never in the room when the ping hits) then realising the idea in the session. after that, next idea!

[HOTF]

I prefer all of them ... When it comes to buying stuff I tend to be excited by synths the most than effects and not interested in sampler. The stock samplers of my DAW can do all I want.

Sounds like me at the start of all this digital-music-shenanigans. Synths are the door to the nth dimension I entirely rejected samples at the start, wholly believing a good selection of synthesis types was all I needed. And then I realised the physical modelling algorithms weren't where I needed for acoustic drums. thanks for your reply!

Oh I use samples all the time but the I meant the sampler that comes with my DAW has enough features for me I don't need a third party sampler.

[RobGee]

The lines between synthesis and sampling are blurred for me when you consider things like Falcon, Reaktor and Emu EOS etc.

It’s the same when you look at things like Reaktor, the Eventide rack units, Eurorack and all of the modular multi effects options.

[BONES]

You're a great example of a musician who just writes and writes and writes.

I don't write much at all, my bandmate does most of that. I'm definitely the production side of our partnership but mostly I tweak and tweak and tweak - levels, envelopes, filters, velocity response and those sorts of things that make all the parts work together. The actual patches are usually chosen/created fairly quickly, it's the fine-tuning that takes most of my time.

[CrystalWizard]

yes

[CrystalWizard]

sometimes short attack amp envelope with long delay time effect can bring hum noise to a whole new level in noise ambient music production, so yeah, i am noise person, 60hz hum noise

i was in a duo (with many guests) called 60 Cycle Hum for 11 years. We definitely used more effects than synths. Our only two synths were Moog Sonic Six and a homebuilt, mostly it was all guitar and bass guitar feedback.

[ramseysounds]

Here’s a question. Do you prefer milk or dark chocolate? I may run a poll.

MODS: move this to the Food forum

Calm down

[Flip64]

FX that do something different can be interesting but generally "great new compressor/limiter/reverb (delete as necessary)" articles have me falling asleep. Instruments every time, for me. I know some will collect 30 different compressors and swear that "THIS compressor sounds very different to THAT one"...but...it's not something I can really get interested in.

[Unaspected]

I have most use for processing effects as I'm usually working with live recordings. I don't really have a preference though. I've enjoyed designing sounds for synths - though I haven't done such work for a while now.

Here’s a question. Do you prefer milk or dark chocolate? I may run a poll.

MODS: move this to the Food forum

Calm down

I've actually been enjoying white chocolate more of late. Not sure why. It just started happening.