(Retrowave) SIDEWINDER - Using Only The Subtractor

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hurricane
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14 Jun 2018

This is for my friends short film, specifically for the credits, where he has the credits running against an animated Outrun-like video game, only the car transforms into a fighter jet and flies off into the sky, kind of like the way the jet flies in the Afterburner video game. Who knows if it will ever be released, but here's my track for it:

Oh - all synth parts are Subtractor. No other synths used. :puf_smile:

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miscend
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14 Jun 2018

I really enjoyed this, sounds simultaneously like both an 80's TV show intro (think Streethawk) and a hifi remake of a classic Sega arcade game soundtrack. Sorry I cant offer much in form of constructive criticism.

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hurricane
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14 Jun 2018

miscend wrote:
14 Jun 2018
I really enjoyed this, sounds simultaneously like both an 80's TV show intro (think Streethawk) and a hifi remake of a classic Sega arcade game soundtrack. Sorry I cant offer much in form of constructive criticism.
Thanks for listening - you got what I was going for. :thumbs_up:
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Klaus—Morlock
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14 Jun 2018

This is fantastic. Great development, very clear mixing, and you make the Sub sound like a million bucks. Top, top track, man,

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hurricane
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14 Jun 2018

Klaus—Morlock wrote:
14 Jun 2018
This is fantastic. Great development, very clear mixing, and you make the Sub sound like a million bucks. Top, top track, man,
Ooh, thanks - cuz I think I suck at mixing, lol.
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EnochLight
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17 Jun 2018

hurricane wrote:
14 Jun 2018
This is for my friends short film, specifically for the credits, where he has the credits running against an animated Outrun-like video game, only the car transforms into a fighter jet and flies off into the sky, kind of like the way the jet flies in the Afterburner video game. Who knows if it will ever be released, but here's my track for it:

Oh - all synth parts are Subtractor. No other synths used. :puf_smile:

Hahah - oh man - this is awesome! It literally drips the 80's. Nice work, man! If I close my eyes, I can hear this over the end credits of a dozen movies from the 80's, as well as a dozen different cartoons aimed at teens in the 80's. Spot on, man.
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

dberndt7
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18 Jun 2018

Love this! You nailed the 80's tv vibe!

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Noplan
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18 Jun 2018

Nice. But it needs more cowbell! :)

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hurricane
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18 Jun 2018

Noplan wrote:
18 Jun 2018
Nice. But it needs more cowbell! :)
LOL!

I was listening to this in my car Saturday night, and I noticed the cowbell was a bit too prominent. And I giggled furiously as I pictured this:


cowbell.png
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hurricane
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18 Jun 2018

EnochLight wrote:
17 Jun 2018

Hahah - oh man - this is awesome! It literally drips the 80's. Nice work, man! If I close my eyes, I can hear this over the end credits of a dozen movies from the 80's, as well as a dozen different cartoons aimed at teens in the 80's. Spot on, man.
Thanks! - I was unfortunately too young to appreciate the music in the 80s. I do remember watching Thundercats, Transformers, Voltron, Silverhawks, Spectreman, Tranzor-Z and every single 80s Ninja movie though. Good times...
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kuhliloach
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18 Jun 2018


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sapientmode
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27 Jun 2018

Wow, man. This one had me instantly smile. Brought back good memories. And great work squeezing the sub :)

Hats off!

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TheGodOfRainbows
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29 Jun 2018

OMG you nail the 80's sound so well. All your tracks are good. Are you playing guitar? Great stuff! I love your mixing and even the sometimes heavy handed tape wow and flutter.

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hurricane
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29 Jun 2018

Thanks! No, I don’t play guitar. The “guitar” in this one is a Subtractor played with a keyboard.
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Ahornberg
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30 Jun 2018

In fact, Reason 1.0 is all we really need :cool:

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hurricane
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30 Jun 2018

Ahornberg wrote:
30 Jun 2018
In fact, Reason 1.0 is all we really need :cool:
Yeah, for the most part! But I'd pick Reason 2.5. Barebones Reason still needs a better chorus. And having the RV7 is nice. RV7MkII would be nicer, but the OG is good enough.
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TheGodOfRainbows
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02 Jul 2018

Ahornberg wrote:
30 Jun 2018
In fact, Reason 1.0 is all we really need :cool:
:shock: :lol: :D :P Whoa slow down partner! Reason Record Duo (Is that Reason 5?) is where I draw the line between what is absolutely necessary and what is not. :redface: :cool: :twisted: I NEED basic audio recording always and forever.
Go in peace.

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TheGodOfRainbows
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02 Jul 2018

hurricane wrote:
29 Jun 2018
Thanks! No, I don’t play guitar. The “guitar” in this one is a Subtractor played with a keyboard.
Dope. :o :!: :thumbs_up:

strangers
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03 Jul 2018

Very nice work! It really does take me back to some of the great 90's video games.

I nearly turned into a racecar once that cowbell kicked in.


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MindTheft
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16 Jul 2018

Really well made song!! And as said above, you nailed the 80s sound! A montage of mullets was flashing before my eyes :)

Impressive work with Subtractor, did you find limiting yourself helped in any way?

jimmyklane
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16 Jul 2018

hurricane wrote:
14 Jun 2018
This is for my friends short film, specifically for the credits, where he has the credits running against an animated Outrun-like video game, only the car transforms into a fighter jet and flies off into the sky, kind of like the way the jet flies in the Afterburner video game. Who knows if it will ever be released, but here's my track for it:

Oh - all synth parts are Subtractor. No other synths used. :puf_smile:

Fantastic composition and production! Something I didn’t care for was the pluck type sound around 1:50...this is in no way your fault since it’s the linear envelope I object to...plucks are either too fast or too slow but never quite right unless the envelope shape is tweaked by ear. And I think PH must’ve used the most computationally “cheap” way to program the envelopes....I could be very wrong....The drums are PERFECT...they remind me of the excellent (but awful to program) Yamaha RX5 that was the first ever drum machine I had growing up. What machine(s) are these samples taken from? Is this actual hardware or is this a software sampler (not that it matters in the least)? Interested in your method and equipment/software used here, as this truly sounds like something that could have come from my old AtariST, Cubase, and some synths/samplers! I know this was 100% Subtractor, but you did a nice job getting all the sounds to sit together and I think the lack of resonance in most of the patches has helped with the illusion of analog, as that’s really where Subtractor falls down hard....as soon as you introduce resonance you go from “Juno 6” to “JD800” (I am NOT saying that Subtractor sounds like either of those synths!!!) and it becomes an obviously digital production. As it stands it has that “80’s analog” sound for many of the patches, which is a credit to your skill as a synthesist.

In any case, Well Done! Hope you have the time to reply with your process! If you want more details as to my thoughts for each section, don’t hesitate to ask me.
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

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hurricane
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16 Jul 2018

MindTheft wrote:
16 Jul 2018
Impressive work with Subtractor, did you find limiting yourself helped in any way?
Not really : )

I almost gave up trying to make this a Subtractor-only track. It was a little frustrating to be honest. Instead of simply reaching for my preferred EP (which comes from FM8) and my preferred guitar (Indiginous Torch), I had to create them from scratch, and the EP in particular took me FOREVER. And so I'm sitting there thinking "this is turning out to be a pretty decent track, should I waste my time trying to force the Subtractor onto everything? what if it's a good track but the sound is shitty? I'll probably have to re-do it in Logic with "real" synths". Luckily it turned out ok. I'm especially proud that out of the 11 Subtractor parts, only 2 use more than one Subtractor. The bass is two stacked Subs, and my brass is I think 8 Subs connected to Blamsoft's Distributor. I just hate complex combinator-style layering - it kills my creativity.

And Jimmy, I'll respond in more detail later when I am in front of my Mac. I don't remember what I used for drums. : )

Thanks again for listening!
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hurricane
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16 Jul 2018

jimmyklane wrote:
16 Jul 2018

What machine(s) are these samples taken from? Is this actual hardware or is this a software sampler (not that it matters in the least)? Interested in your method and equipment/software used here,

...As it stands it has that “80’s analog” sound for many of the patches...

...Hope you have the time to reply with your process!
Lol, I hope I'm not going to disappoint you, but my process is super embarrassingly simple, and the way I pick my drum sounds is even more simple.

In this track, it looks like I used a DMX snare from Addictive Drums' Reel Machines pack which is weird for me because I usually just go to my 707 folder and drag and drop a snare from there. Or I'll use a basic Linn or DMX snare. Must have been messing around with Addictive Drums. I have no idea what KICK I used, but again, it's a sample - most likely from the Linn or the DMX - I have zero idea, lol. No, I don't have the hardware, these are just samples I downloaded from the internets. Same goes for all the perc and the toms. All drag and drop onto a sequencer track - except for the TOMS and those I have loaded into Arturia's Spark so that I can "play" them in. No specific reason for choosing Spark over the NNXT, I just felt like it. And there are no effects on any of them, except for maybe some slight channel EQ (and some gated verb of course).

I've also never touched a real analog synth before (I REALLY would like to get my hands on one though!) so I'm afraid I don't really know what one sounds like (other than from what I can hear on the internet) so my sound design is what I THINK analog sounds like. Who knows if it really does (I guess you would).

And then as far as my process - super simple again. I just load a preset of whatever (usually brass or EP) and just make shit up until something sounds good. Once I have something I'll lay down a base chord track by playing it in (I play the piano so that's how I record my parts) and then play each individual part in. Obviously knowing music theory speeds things up and makes things super simple (as I'm not entering notes into the piano roll with the pencil nor am I using any kind of matrix-like sequencing device to play notes for me). Playing stuff in is just faster. And as you can see from the Sidewinder screenshot below, I like to keep my track count down.

I don't layer, I don't create massively complex combinators, I use minimal automation, I don't run anything through analog gear, I have hardware synths but I don't use them, I'm not anal about the drum samples I use, the instruments in my rack have maybe one or two insert effects (MAYBE), I play everything in, I use mostly Waves plugins (in Reason), and I probably use Reason more like a tape recorder than a DAW.

And as far as making things sound 80s - I don't really have any method behind that. I just like listening to 80s music and I guess I picked up a few things here and there. I only started doing 80s music 5 months ago, so I'm still learning.

See? Very simple!


sidewinder.png
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jimmyklane
Posts: 740
Joined: 16 Apr 2018

17 Jul 2018

hurricane wrote:
16 Jul 2018
jimmyklane wrote:
16 Jul 2018

What machine(s) are these samples taken from? Is this actual hardware or is this a software sampler (not that it matters in the least)? Interested in your method and equipment/software used here,

...As it stands it has that “80’s analog” sound for many of the patches...

...Hope you have the time to reply with your process!
Lol, I hope I'm not going to disappoint you, but my process is super embarrassingly simple, and the way I pick my drum sounds is even more simple.

In this track, it looks like I used a DMX snare from Addictive Drums' Reel Machines pack which is weird for me because I usually just go to my 707 folder and drag and drop a snare from there. Or I'll use a basic Linn or DMX snare. Must have been messing around with Addictive Drums. I have no idea what KICK I used, but again, it's a sample - most likely from the Linn or the DMX - I have zero idea, lol. No, I don't have the hardware, these are just samples I downloaded from the internets. Same goes for all the perc and the toms. All drag and drop onto a sequencer track - except for the TOMS and those I have loaded into Arturia's Spark so that I can "play" them in. No specific reason for choosing Spark over the NNXT, I just felt like it. And there are no effects on any of them, except for maybe some slight channel EQ (and some gated verb of course).

I've also never touched a real analog synth before (I REALLY would like to get my hands on one though!) so I'm afraid I don't really know what one sounds like (other than from what I can hear on the internet) so my sound design is what I THINK analog sounds like. Who knows if it really does (I guess you would).

And then as far as my process - super simple again. I just load a preset of whatever (usually brass or EP) and just make shit up until something sounds good. Once I have something I'll lay down a base chord track by playing it in (I play the piano so that's how I record my parts) and then play each individual part in. Obviously knowing music theory speeds things up and makes things super simple (as I'm not entering notes into the piano roll with the pencil nor am I using any kind of matrix-like sequencing device to play notes for me). Playing stuff in is just faster. And as you can see from the Sidewinder screenshot below, I like to keep my track count down.

I don't layer, I don't create massively complex combinators, I use minimal automation, I don't run anything through analog gear, I have hardware synths but I don't use them, I'm not anal about the drum samples I use, the instruments in my rack have maybe one or two insert effects (MAYBE), I play everything in, I use mostly Waves plugins (in Reason), and I probably use Reason more like a tape recorder than a DAW.

And as far as making things sound 80s - I don't really have any method behind that. I just like listening to 80s music and I guess I picked up a few things here and there. I only started doing 80s music 5 months ago, so I'm still learning.

See? Very simple!



sidewinder.png

Your process is really no different from mine except I’m using mostly hardware. I’ve got a bunch of samplers with ancient floppy disks that I’ve created with 808, 909, DX, DMX, Linn, 707, and many many more....I’ve borrowed, owned, or jammed with these machines over the course of my life allowing me to make my very own samples of them. I just pick something that sounds “right” and roll with it. I, too, am a pianist (and a drummer) and simply play what I want to hear (although I’ll admit to using quantize and correcting the MIDI now and again!) and it’s the same with the drum machines. Most often I’ll load samples into one or two machines, and resample the one-shots into Maschine so that I can sequence in Reason without screwing around with SMPTE or MIDI sync.

Basically no process and all feel. You’re good, you’ve got a deft touch and an excellent ear, I think.

I started the 80’s kick about 2-3 months ago, but I’m doing something more modern with it. Using the tools and sounds of the 1980’s to make modern electronic music (not EDM) that people can enjoy.
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

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