The Studio Log - What Did You Do In The Studio

[WatchTheGuitar]

I remembered why I haven’t used Ableton that often recently when it crashed on me three times at different points in one bloody session. The common factor seems to be using multiple sets of modulation making response flaky.

[donkey tugger]

Some weirdy alternate tuning acoustic guitar thing with lots of drone strings, mebbe ripped off owes a bit to Ver Zep III.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Set up my OG Beatstep and added a JS: MIDI filter in Reaper so that notes < 64 went to one bass style instrument (MS 20 Mini) and 64 and above went to a lead source (Bro-1) with delay and stuff on. Loads of fun just jamming on that against a beat. With the whole pattern monophonic it's a great way of ensuring the frequencies don't step on each other and get muddied.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Some weirdy alternate tuning acoustic guitar thing with lots of drone strings, mebbe ripped off owes a bit to Ver Zep III.

If there's one band you shouldn't be too bothered about 'accidentally honouring' it's Led Zep, 99% of Page's stuff was recycled blues riffs and folk reels played a bit louder and faster.

[foosnark]

I started something with a drone loop I recorded earlier, with two MIDI footswitches to arbitrarily transpose it up or down by whatever interval sounded neat to me.

Then I tried to match them approximately with the Micro-pitch tool in Bitwig. I landed on an 18EDO tuning, the first time I've really done anything intentionally with a microtonal scale (though I've used macrotonal ones like 7EDO or Bohlen-Pierce). I like how it came out -- it doesn't give an obvious microtonal vibe but it's a little bit exotic nonetheless.

Trying to decide if I want to stick with it for a whole album... maybe the scales from Micro-pitch will come through Univer Inter, and even if not, I should be able to get Teletype to quantize to 18EDO without too much trouble.

[Scotty]

I was in technical land today. I have been rebuilding my Studio B room with an emphasis on hands on gear which is where I have most fun. I rebuilt an a computer, optimized it for audio and setup routing for 20 or so pieces of hardware. Then I bought an editor for my beloved DP/4 from Dan Defective Records and enjoyed getting to know that piece of gear even more Some music today but mostly taking care of the details. Thank for asking.

[WatchTheGuitar]

I played with VCV Rack standalone today, even recorded some guitar and vocals into it.
I’ve used it only as the plugin version since it arrived, but forgot how your mindset changes when you are building stuff solely with it. It was good fun and there are some real quality modules these days.

[foosnark]

Trying to decide if I want to stick with it for a whole album... maybe the scales from Micro-pitch will come through Univer Inter, and even if not, I should be able to get Teletype to quantize to 18EDO without too much trouble.

Yes, no, and yes.

(The issue with Univer Inter might be that the pitch bend range doesn't go far enough, but it's something I will dig into further and maybe talk to Noise Engineering about.)

I recorded a second track in 18EDO, with Teletype quantizing for me (easy enough).

Then I saved some Scala files and Micro-pitch presets that are subset scales of 18EDO, so I don't have to try to play the keyboard with octaves spanning from C to F# I also kind of accidentally made a cool generative patch in Aalto that's about 2/3 of the way toward being a complete track.

I still feel like I'm just scratching the surface of microtonal stuff though. I don't know what "7-limit" or "quarter-comma" or any of that other jargon is, and I'm not close to making Wendy Carlos proud of me yet

[PatchAdamz]

Despite the heat, progress moves forward, some days with good sounding tracks, other days the metaphorical trash can is full of digital wannabees.

I ask myself why?

Some words of motivation from artist and musicians:

“Imagination creates reality.” – Richard Wagner

“I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.” – Ludwig van Beethoven

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” – Pablo Picasso

"Music is best" - Frank Zappa

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas

“The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

“Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.” – Franz Liszt

“Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.” – Louis Armstrong

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” – John Cage

“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse

“There was no one near to confuse me, so I was forced to become original.” – Franz Joseph Haydn

“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” – Ray Bradbury

[elxsound]

Rookie Patchbay time!

Had to buy 2 more cables, so it’ll be “finished” on Saturday. The more videos I watched, the more I saw how much like modular racks it is… there’s no such thing as finished.

But, I’m excited! I only tested a few patches to make sure they’re the right spots, and it seems like it is???

More try on Saturday, but should be fun having it hooked up like this.

IMG_0398.png

[vurt]

[harryupbabble]

“I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.” – Ludwig van Beethoven

reminded me of elton john and jimmy page
they are not into writing lyrics too

but if you can't write lyrics then you are only half a songwriter?
damn, it's so hard writing lyrics
lyrics that fit the music

[Bombadil]

Experimented with IK's Neve emulations. Plugged in my Stanford Marquee and jammed da bluz widda ADD2 Blues song drum track.
Drove the Missus into the bedroom....

[Bombadil]

I used to be a pretty good lyricist. Haven't written a word in 20+ years. Too bad, because I have lots to say after such a long interval. My brain is blocked. Maybe try something that is meant to be goofy, but I am wary of that because so many people are afraid of writing about real feelings, that, to me, it seems rather like pointless exercises.

[PatchAdamz]

“I would rather write 10,000 notes than a single letter of the alphabet.” – Ludwig van Beethoven

reminded me of elton john and jimmy page
they are not into writing lyrics too

but if you can't write lyrics then you are only half a songwriter?
damn, it's so hard writing lyrics
lyrics that fit the music

So you might say, "there is nothing on Jimmy's page....."