[TECH HOUSE] Friends in high places

[danc]

This is FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES... a little project that I created with my hardware Arp 2600 at the helm. I've been playing in the last month with Arturia's Arp 2600 plugin and I just was blown away... realising how organic it sounds. Ok, to create any new preset from scratch in that things took quite a lot of tutorial videos to understand the weird audio path. And then even more time to understand the fun you can have with the patch cables.

Anyway... I liked the VST so much I bought the real thing - a Blue Meanie - and this is my first track with the 2600 taking command, centre stage... used on many many track layers in this track. Take the chord sequence in the mid section - where each OSC is out of tune (there are 3 OSCs in the 2600 - but I sampled it twice in 2-different octaves, so basically double layering it. So we have 6 OSC's fighting in out tune'ness). That 2600 just has so much attitude and solid weight and this is where it leaves VSTs for dust!

Other sounds were created with PhasePlant... which were absolutely from scratch new presets I concocted.

Also - I've been experimenting with making my percussion more interesting and groovy.

Thoughts?

[Superology]

Sounds always static with four on the floor beat to me. But I find good synth timbre.

[bilgebeans]

In my experience, the music has never varied from a steady four on the floor. The synth timbre, though, is rather pleasing to my ears. You may refine and improve it even further.
the backrooms

[danc]

In my experience, the music has never varied from a steady four on the floor. The synth timbre, though, is rather pleasing to my ears. You may refine and improve it even further.
the backrooms

Thanks for your comments BILGEBEANS. It does make me laugh on RT when submitting tech-house/techno tracks for comment... if you go off-piste with too much variety you get comments like this is too random and isn't like commercial tech-house/techno. And if you stay tight to one theme you get comments like this is too stuck with one idea. And more often than not, they miss-understand context - for what works on a dance floor, where a track is only generally played for about 90 seconds, mixed in with other tracks.

TBH I don't mind all thoughts and comments. Throw them at me!

[Popey]

Nice track Dan. Percussions are really cool and a solid groove throughout.

I have only used the arp 26000 from arturia for presets so if there was a particular you tube site that was helpful i would appreciate the heads up (no problem if not as i can always search).

The arp 2600 always seemed a bit intimidating to me programming wise but i used to feel the same way about the trimmers and mod panels on diva but have been deep diving that and it now makes sense.

[danc]

Nice track Dan. Percussions are really cool and a solid groove throughout.

I have only used the arp 26000 from arturia for presets so if there was a particular you tube site that was helpful i would appreciate the heads up (no problem if not as i can always search).

The arp 2600 always seemed a bit intimidating to me programming wise but i used to feel the same way about the trimmers and mod panels on diva but have been deep diving that and it now makes sense.

Hey Popey - this is the tutorial I followed for Arturia's ARP 2600 VST -

Do bear in mind that you can learn a lot from watching videos on the original ARP 2600 hardware, or the Behringer clones, because Arturia's VST is a clone of those, and although there are some modulation additions in Arturia (which are really useful) there are 1-1 correlation between hardware and the software versions. The only thing you'll miss in software is the hands-on experimentation, which you shouldn't underestimate once you have patch cables in your hand. For example, I have patch cables going in/out from my ASM Hydrasynth, Keystep Pro, Moog Sub37 and Korg MonoPoly. Like from the Hydrasynth I am using the envelopes and LFOs in that device (synced to clock and key trig) and driving anything I want in the Behringer 2600. So I have 4 additional LFOs and 4 additional envelopes (loopable etc etc) in the 2600 that it never originally had. The ASM also has audio in, mutate it and add FX and then push back live to the 2600. It's like a playground of ideas and experiments. And the Keystep Pro is so powerful to control it all.

[Popey]

Nice track Dan. Percussions are really cool and a solid groove throughout.

I have only used the arp 26000 from arturia for presets so if there was a particular you tube site that was helpful i would appreciate the heads up (no problem if not as i can always search).

The arp 2600 always seemed a bit intimidating to me programming wise but i used to feel the same way about the trimmers and mod panels on diva but have been deep diving that and it now makes sense.

Hey Popey - this is the tutorial I followed for Arturia's ARP 2600 VST -

Do bear in mind that you can learn a lot from watching videos on the original ARP 2600 hardware, or the Behringer clones, because Arturia's VST is a clone of those, and although there are some modulation additions in Arturia (which are really useful) there are 1-1 correlation between hardware and the software versions. The only thing you'll miss in software is the hands-on experimentation, which you shouldn't underestimate once you have patch cables in your hand. For example, I have patch cables going in/out from my ASM Hydrasynth, Keystep Pro, Moog Sub37 and Korg MonoPoly. Like from the Hydrasynth I am using the envelopes and LFOs in that device (synced to clock and key trig) and driving anything I want in the Behringer 2600. So I have 4 additional LFOs and 4 additional envelopes (loopable etc etc) in the 2600 that it never originally had. The ASM also has audio in, mutate it and add FX and then push back live to the 2600. It's like a playground of ideas and experiments. And the Keystep Pro is so powerful to control it all.

Cheers for the link, appreciate it.

As much as I would like hardware I have neither the budget or space at the moment, no doubt it sounds like you have a lot of fun with your gear.

[selig]

In my experience, the music has never varied from a steady four on the floor. The synth timbre, though, is rather pleasing to my ears. You may refine and improve it even further.
the backrooms

Thanks for your comments BILGEBEANS. It does make me laugh on RT when submitting tech-house/techno tracks for comment... if you go off-piste with too much variety you get comments like this is too random and isn't like commercial tech-house/techno. And if you stay tight to one theme you get comments like this is too stuck with one idea. And more often than not, they miss-understand context - for what works on a dance floor, where a track is only generally played for about 90 seconds, mixed in with other tracks.

TBH I don't mind all thoughts and comments. Throw them at me!

I like it a lot - I’m not a fan of strictly following genres, and because of low interest in following them over the years I’m not even sure I know what most of them SHOULD sound like. I just listen to stuff I like and let it’s influences creep into my own music over time.
But I’m the type that doesn’t follow genres as much as I follow music/songs I like. So I may listen to a rap song, then a country song, then an ambient drone track followed by an EDM song all based on the song rather than the genre.

[danc]

Thanks for your comments BILGEBEANS. It does make me laugh on RT when submitting tech-house/techno tracks for comment... if you go off-piste with too much variety you get comments like this is too random and isn't like commercial tech-house/techno. And if you stay tight to one theme you get comments like this is too stuck with one idea. And more often than not, they miss-understand context - for what works on a dance floor, where a track is only generally played for about 90 seconds, mixed in with other tracks.

TBH I don't mind all thoughts and comments. Throw them at me!

I like it a lot - I’m not a fan of strictly following genres, and because of low interest in following them over the years I’m not even sure I know what most of them SHOULD sound like. I just listen to stuff I like and let it’s influences creep into my own music over time.
But I’m the type that doesn’t follow genres as much as I follow music/songs I like. So I may listen to a rap song, then a country song, then an ambient drone track followed by an EDM song all based on the song rather than the genre.

Thanks Selig - glad you like.

As for following one type of genre or dipping into any genre based on wide-range of interest, I think this is just down to different scenarios. If you are a DJ in a club you'll be picking tracks based on genre/key/bpm and making a track list based on that... and no doubt their track list morphs genre/speed/intensity as it progresses through the night. Whereas... at home, you are likely to hop around as you like and for a lot of people they listen to a curated list by music type (e.g. club bangers... EDM... ambient... Ministry of Sound... Ibiza... hip hop... etc etc), which is kind of what a DJ provides in a club in one hour of the night.