Original Message 1/7                 Date: 04-Aug-00  @  06:15 PM   -   Newbie needs help... Please!!!

vkcarroll

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

Hi Guys,
I'm new to the whole dance music programming thing, and I need help in laying down beats and stuff for underground-ish trance music. I am currently putting together a studio. I have a Korg Prophecy, Pentium 2 PC with cubase, acid, sound forge, and I intend on getting a virus, supernova, and s3000xl. I need your help in how to do stuff like snares and breaks... anything, that will get me up and running in making good underground trance. Also how do I get whoooosssy sweeping sounds out of my Prophecy, does this involve the noise osc and filter.
Thanx.
Victor C

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 2/7                 Date: 05-Aug-00  @  05:59 AM   -   RE: Newbie needs help... Please!!!

r-tek

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

umm, theres no need to buy both a virus and a supernova mate, especially if you`re still learning how to get the sounds you want out of the prophecy. Get the smapler by all means, but for now, just concentrate on getting the korg to sing - if you`re into trance, then you`ve gotta learn how to prgram synths properly and buying a couple more aint gonna help. Swooshing sounds? Come again?

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 3/7                 Date: 05-Aug-00  @  08:14 AM   -   RE: Newbie needs help... Please!!!

vkcarroll

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

thanx for tha advice r-tek... very much appreciated. I am finding it quite hard to program my Prophecy, coz there are so many menus and stuff, would it be better to invest in something like a JP-8000/8080 for learning pupposes or maybe an old analog synth. That would give me lots of knobs and sliders to fiddle with, and little if no menu's. Can you recommend something. I have the past couple of issues of Future Music magazine which give guides to programming synths. I've been making some noises, but nothing special, should I just workon editing the presets?
Whoooossy noises: Stuff like the very first sound in Tilt - Invisible and the kind of filter sweep things in a lot of Paul Van Dyke's stuff (but not for an angel). They sound a bit like wind blowing on a stormy night. Can u help with that? Please.
Thanx :-)
Victor C

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 4/7                 Date: 05-Aug-00  @  08:41 AM   -   RE: Newbie needs help... Please!!!

r-tek

Posts:

Link?: Link

File?:  No file

I`ve heard the prophecy is real difficult to program, so if its your 1st synth then it must be a nightmare. The Roland JPs get used a lot in trance as far as I know and will definately be a piece of piss to program in comparison, so its really up to you - they`re only bi-timbral so you`d prolly want another synth at some point to help it out but it may make you a much happier studio bunny than the prophecy which sounds great but aint exactly pleasurable to program. There are other synths to look at tho - the Nova, which you mentioned before goes for about the same price as the JPs now, and I think they sound nicer and offer far more in terms of polyphony and timbrality. Old synths are nice too, but kinda lacking in features and they can be unreliable so maybe think about that in the future once you`ve got your shit together and you can use it for special sounds and have a VA as your workhorse. For synth programming, forget FM - they`re idiots, check sound on sounds website above - they did a massive indepth series on programming, whcih while it was sometimes a little hard to understand, was still very comprehensive and very enlightening. I htink most of that series are posted on their site now somewhere.
















































Good luck anyways, it`ll all come together eventually if you stick with it.

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 5/7                 Date: 06-Aug-00  @  03:59 AM   -   RE: Newbie needs help... Please!!!

jj

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

Good advice r-tek.

I can't stress enough the importance at early stages of having a fun interface. Something that gives you immediate results. That means something pretty simple. Something that you CAN learn to program. Once you've figured that out, you can move on, cause you'll want too, because you've learned the sounds that you can make, and probably will want to make more better butta.

I know what I'm about to say is real dumb, but I'm getting an EA-1 from korg, which is like the cotton candy synth, just to have fun. I've been working with some tough synths, and really as much as I love making music, my studio has gotten to be quite a drag. I don't hang out in gyms or nuttin, but I bet there are a bunch of macho newbies who show up and try and lift a tun of weight, and hurt themselves, and don't feel good, and just give it up. If you wanna be a buff electronic music maker, build it slowly, and don't stop enjoying it. If you do stop enjoying it, figure out what has changed, and do whatever you have to do to get the fun back.

Footnote-> I learned alot about the architecural mechanics of synths (sound) by using instraments in reaktor (a software synth) and then studying their design (which reaktor lets you do). Great experience.

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 6/7                 Date: 06-Aug-00  @  04:40 AM   -   RE: Newbie needs help... Please!!!

vkcarroll

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

Hi JJ + r-tek,
I've been thinking, if I crab some mixer map things for my Prophecy I can control the different parameters from whitin cubase (I think). I have the Prophecy Midi'ed up to the computer and am able to record keyboard parts and play 'em back on the Prophecy. But, when I move the virtual controls inside the cubase mixermap nothing happens.
If I was able to change all the parameters on screen it would be like having a synth with loads of knobs and sliders, but not as hands-on. Still it would be very good for learning purposes.
I believe the Orzic Tenticles used mixermaps with there Prophecy... read that on the Sound on Sound website.
BTW: R-tek, thanx for the addy for the SOS synth programming articles. I'm making my way through the Synth Secrets feature at the moment.
I also have a demo of reaktor thats teaching me about modular synthesis.
Thanx again,
Victor C

[ back to forum ]               [quote]

Message 7/7                 Date: 08-Aug-00  @  09:17 AM   -   RE: Newbie needs help... Please!!!

magnus

Posts:

Link?:  No link

File?:  No file

I'm not so sure if the prophecy is that hard to program, really. Yes, there are a lot of menus, but it's fairly self explanatory. Apart from the Cross Mod/Feedback bit, which I can never get to do anything useful.

One quite good thing to do with it is to set up the knobs (called PE's I think) below the screen to control your standard synth functions:-

e.g.

PE1 - Filter 1 Cutoff
PE2 - Filter 1 Res
PE3 - Filter 1 Env Amount
PE4 - Env Decay
PE5 - Env Sustain

If you set up the oscillators for a standard saw wave, you then can program simplish analoguey sounds just using the front panel...

[ back to forum ]               [quote]