EWB Musicians

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'm at a party at an undefined location, potentially a large open quarry, and I just did some acid. 
 

that's the vibe I get. I dig it. 

[Gabriel]

Musician friends of EWB... does anyone have any suggestions on software to pick up (for cheap or free) that I could use to record some demo's? I have Audacity, and that works fine for me to record my bass or vocals... but what I'm looking for really, is something that includes virtual instruments so that I can add drums and guitar as well.

I am more or less just looking for something I can use to write songs, and then be able to record a "proof of concept" version of each of them for prospective bandmates. Unless it's good enough for my purposes, in which case, I'll happily just pump out tunes from inside my little hobbit hole, all by me onesies.

[LittleDaniel]

2 hours ago, Gabriel said:

Musician friends of EWB... does anyone have any suggestions on software to pick up (for cheap or free) that I could use to record some demo's? I have Audacity, and that works fine for me to record my bass or vocals... but what I'm looking for really, is something that includes virtual instruments so that I can add drums and guitar as well.

I am more or less just looking for something I can use to write songs, and then be able to record a "proof of concept" version of each of them for prospective bandmates. Unless it's good enough for my purposes, in which case, I'll happily just pump out tunes from inside my little hobbit hole, all by me onesies.

do you have mac? if so I would definitely recommend garageband since its free anyway. if not, Ableton Live seems like one of the better ones and you can use it free for 90 days but is otherwise on the pricier end; there's also REAPER  which has a 60 day free trial and seems to get good reviews for something that's only $60 (Live, for instance, starts at $120 for their basic model but then jumps up to $450 for the standard set of features).

[VerbalPuke]

Reaper is awesome, its what I use. It is free on a trial basis, and you can continue using without paying but you'll be prompted each time after the trial runs out to pay them and no be a deadbeat (which I did because 60 bucks was very reasonable for all Reaper has to offer).

There are plug ins fkr Reaper, but I don't use them. My set is pretty much mic everything up, as far as I know they plug ins that should do what you want but they never really worked right from me but thats because I don't really understand them at all. 

Worst case scenario with Reaper is download it, try it for a month and if it doesn't work for you then so be it. Its a great deal. 

Are you using any real instruments or just trying to lay some basic plug in type stuff? 

16 hours ago, LittleDaniel said:

Yeah! I'd used DAWs before but never played around in Garageband, its wayyyy more powerful than I realized.

I feel like I cheated it was so easy lmao, the drums were made by fucking around with their drum machine which is amazing tbh. Lots of different sound packs too, I barely scratched the surface in the like four-five hours I played around with it this morning/afternoon.

Also, because I felt like I'd cheated with the drum machine I started making a beat from scratch. I only had a half hour so I didn't get far...but I realized a couple hours ago that its totally going to be the introduction for the main song when its finished.

 

Almost makes me want to play around with GarageBand, we have a mac laptop I bought for school a few years ago, realized mac was terrible for basic computer work and its sorta collected dust. Suffice it to say, it's in great shape and has GarageBand on it. I just really struggle using macs. But damn if the stuff you posted doesn't have me wanting to sink my teeth in.

[LittleDaniel]

37 minutes ago, VerBlue Christmas said:

Almost makes me want to play around with GarageBand, we have a mac laptop I bought for school a few years ago, realized mac was terrible for basic computer work and its sorta collected dust. Suffice it to say, it's in great shape and has GarageBand on it. I just really struggle using macs. But damn if the stuff you posted doesn't have me wanting to sink my teeth in.

ahaha this is exactly what happened with me; i needed the macbook for school stuff years ago and its been a netflix machine ever since. if you have any questions about mac or garageband feel free to reach out!

[VerbalPuke]

3 minutes ago, LittleDaniel said:

ahaha this is exactly what happened with me; i needed the macbook for school stuff years ago and its been a netflix machine ever since. if you have any questions about mac or garageband feel free to reach out!

Word, I appreciate that. I managed to get through a few semesters with it, so I do know the basics once I brush up, but like when it came to the basics or moving files around, uploading, etc. etc. it just wasn't as easy as a regular PC is for me (where you like literally just plug a shitty USB chord to your old trash phone and just drag and drop). 

I will probably hit you up on the GarageBand stuff though as I never really figured that out. Don't know when, eventually. 

[Gabriel]

7 hours ago, VerBlue Christmas said:

Are you using any real instruments or just trying to lay some basic plug in type stuff? 

I am going to be using my real bass, and lay vocals down myself. I am hoping to find something with good virtual guitar and drums, but I can probably play some real shit guitar to at least get the point across.

Reaper sounds like the better of the options thus far, so I will probably give that a shot on my days off. Thanks for the information, everyone.

[VerbalPuke]

I wrote this song for my wife, she turned 40 last week. I played it for her in front of a big party. People clapped..

Listen to Partner In Crime by VerbalRick on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/fpz5X

[K]

do any EWB nerds know about synthesizers/building a synth setup? i need to placate my wife

[VerbalPuke]

On 13/03/2022 at 17:37, K said:

do any EWB nerds know about synthesizers/building a synth setup? i need to placate my wife

I do sort of,I have my own set up. 

[K]

5 hours ago, VerBlue Christmas said:

I do sort of,I have my own set up. 

oh dope, maybe you can help.

my wife has a loop station that she uses. she sings into it, loops it, layers it. listens back, deletes it. she really likes it. has used it for years, just tinkers with it, is perfectly happy playing and not making songs.

until...

a few years ago her mother bought her a synth, and i think the idea was that she would be able to use the two things in conjunction. make some noise on the synth, loop some vocals, combine them into a song.

we dont know how to do that. we don't know how to get these two devices talking to each other.

since I made that post i did some aggressive googling. it's hard when you don't even know what it is you don't know, but i think what she needs is an Audio Interface, into which we can input these two devices, then output them to a computer running some Digital Audio Workstation.

my questions are,

Would you agree with this?

Do you have a Audio Interface you would recommend?

IS there anything we need to know before we buy one?

Do you have a DAW that you would recommend?

thanks man, appreciate you taking the time.

[VerbalPuke]

18 hours ago, K said:

oh dope, maybe you can help.

my wife has a loop station that she uses. she sings into it, loops it, layers it. listens back, deletes it. she really likes it. has used it for years, just tinkers with it, is perfectly happy playing and not making songs.

until...

a few years ago her mother bought her a synth, and i think the idea was that she would be able to use the two things in conjunction. make some noise on the synth, loop some vocals, combine them into a song.

we dont know how to do that. we don't know how to get these two devices talking to each other.

since I made that post i did some aggressive googling. it's hard when you don't even know what it is you don't know, but i think what she needs is an Audio Interface, into which we can input these two devices, then output them to a computer running some Digital Audio Workstation.

my questions are,

Would you agree with this?

Do you have a Audio Interface you would recommend?

IS there anything we need to know before we buy one?

Do you have a DAW that you would recommend?

thanks man, appreciate you taking the time.

Ok so lets start from the beginning, and I apologize if it seems like I'm explaining like I'm trying to dumb it down, but I like going with an easy explanation so you know exactly what I mean. So an audio interface is a program on your computer to record music. They can be very expensive but there are great options that are free or cheap. Audacity is free and I think is very good for Audio Interface newbies, it can get the job done. 

I use Reaper, it is also free but with a caveat, you can use it for sixty days (not sixty days consecutively, but every time you use it it's a day). It's free but after the 60 days the program will remind you that the program is not free and they ask for a 60 dollar payment for the license. You can ignore that and keep using it. I paid the license because 60 dollars for an awesome audio interface is a bargain. 

A DAW, yes plug in to a CPU with a usb and Audacity or Reaper should read it. 

I agree with what you said yes. So...

It would help if I knew what type of synth and looper she has. 

To give you an idea, I'm running a Korg Minilogue, A Behringer TD-3, and Arturia Drum Brute. All three have a "midi" hook up, looks similar to a microphone input but is skinner on the inputs. So I have those three hooked up together and essentially you use one synth as your "Master", it will control the other. The others that are not in control are known as "Slaves" (I swear I'm not making that terminology up). I usually plug my three synths in to my mixer individually via standard guitar jacks and I can then record or play them directly through my audio interface into my DAW. 

Can you plug her synth into an amp? Does the looper have a midi connection? There may be other ways to do this but that is how I know how to do it. 

For DAWS, I'd probably look at Presonus and Scarlett as they offer good quality products without breaking the bank (really depends on how many inputs she's looking for. I"m at a point where I have an entire mixing board/interface because I need 12 inputs. Obviously, a synth can get by with one or two). 

[K]

hmmm, i thought the Digital Audio Workstation was the software, and the Audio Interface was the hardware? Have I got that the wrong way round?

Her Synthesizer is a Korg Microkorg Synth and Vocoder

Inputs: AUDIO IN 1,2, Level switch LINE/MIC, [AUDIO IN 1, 2 (LINE) ], [AUDIO IN 2 (MIC)]
Outputs: L/MONO, R, Headphones
MIDI: IN, OUT, THRU

Her Looper is a Boss RC505
2x XLR microphone input with 48 V phantom power supply
2x instrument input (R+L/Mono, large jack)
3x stereo output (Main/Sub1/Sub2, R+L/Mono, large jack)
1x headphone output (large jack)
2x connector for external foot switches or expression pedals
1x MIDI input
1x MIDI output
1x USB-B port

I've been sort of noodling around for a week or so online, and I keep coming back to the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2, and with you name dropping Scarlet at the end there makes me think i'm on the right track?

 

 

[VerbalPuke]

5 hours ago, K said:

hmmm, i thought the Digital Audio Workstation was the software, and the Audio Interface was the hardware? Have I got that the wrong way round?

Her Synthesizer is a Korg Microkorg Synth and Vocoder

Inputs: AUDIO IN 1,2, Level switch LINE/MIC, [AUDIO IN 1, 2 (LINE) ], [AUDIO IN 2 (MIC)]
Outputs: L/MONO, R, Headphones
MIDI: IN, OUT, THRU

Her Looper is a Boss RC505
2x XLR microphone input with 48 V phantom power supply
2x instrument input (R+L/Mono, large jack)
3x stereo output (Main/Sub1/Sub2, R+L/Mono, large jack)
1x headphone output (large jack)
2x connector for external foot switches or expression pedals
1x MIDI input
1x MIDI output
1x USB-B port

I've been sort of noodling around for a week or so online, and I keep coming back to the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2, and with you name dropping Scarlet at the end there makes me think i'm on the right track?

 

 

I was kind of drunk yesterday so yeah you're right. I mixed the two up.

Either way you're on the right track there. 

I'll respond a bit more in depth a little later, still early. 

[K]

19 minutes ago, VerBlue Christmas said:

I was kind of drunk yesterday so yeah you're right. I mixed the two up.

Either way you're on the right track there. 

I'll respond a bit more in depth a little later, still early. 

Thanks man, I really appreciate all the effort

[VerbalPuke]

On 19/03/2022 at 10:08, K said:

Thanks man, I really appreciate all the effort

So it seems there could be a few different ways of doing this. You can probably go midi to midi on the Synth and Looper, not sure which should be the slave or master, probably a preference thing. The scarlett doesn't appear to have a midi hook up, but thats ok. You can get basic guitar cables, plug them from the synth and looper directly into the Scarlett (the front two plug ins for your microphones ALSO can be used to plug an instrument cable directly, in effect make the recording program your amp). I think if you were to think of it in turns of if you were plugging a guitar in or a bass that might be the most obvious plan? 

So with mine, I've got my korg midi cable hooked to my drum machine, and then my drum machine to my Behringer TD-3. From there the Korg will control all three if I use the sequencer. The Midi cable should ideally sync the internal clocks, but I don't know if the Boss has that. 

I don't know how the looper would react with the synth exactly. 

Check these resources as they might be smarter than me...

 

[K]

2 hours ago, VerBlue Christmas said:

So it seems there could be a few different ways of doing this. You can probably go midi to midi on the Synth and Looper, not sure which should be the slave or master, probably a preference thing. The scarlett doesn't appear to have a midi hook up, but thats ok. You can get basic guitar cables, plug them from the synth and looper directly into the Scarlett (the front two plug ins for your microphones ALSO can be used to plug an instrument cable directly, in effect make the recording program your amp). I think if you were to think of it in turns of if you were plugging a guitar in or a bass that might be the most obvious plan? 

So with mine, I've got my korg midi cable hooked to my drum machine, and then my drum machine to my Behringer TD-3. From there the Korg will control all three if I use the sequencer. The Midi cable should ideally sync the internal clocks, but I don't know if the Boss has that. 

I don't know how the looper would react with the synth exactly. 

Check these resources as they might be smarter than me...

 

shit thanks man, this is all really useful. my wife and i are gonna have a chat about it this week and see what kind of set-up she wants. That's amazing, thank you so much for your help.

[VerbalPuke]

Been a bit since I've put something together, but I knocked this one out this week. It's a twangy surf kinda deal, also added this "Ching" to my crash cymbal, it's a tambourine that goes on your cymbals and give a neat sound. 

Then this is one I wrote awhile back, finally figured out a drum beat that worked and so here it is. 

 

[VerbalPuke]

I bought a new drum machine that I am totally obsessed with, I've been playing around with the electronic stuff lately. 

This one is one I want to re-do, because I really dig the idea, it just needs more cohesion. This one is not the drum machine but me drumming, so I do use synth but it also features the other basics. 

Ok so now we get into the new drum machine. Kind of a dreamy techno number. 

This one is cool, reminds me of some acid house raver stuff. 

Then this, sorta sounds like a mess so I'm probably going to clean it up some, but figured I'd share anyway.

 

[VerbalPuke]

And some more offerings, back to real instruments. 

This one I actually did today, just felt like making something new. And I like it, it's pretty cool I think. 

This is a choppy sounding one, it's nice. 

Then this one I get some synth with the instruments, I wrote this two years ago and made a new version of it.