If you tweaked a couple of the notes it'd sound pretty cool but as-is I have to agree with kitphillips, it sounds like most of the last half's notes were placed more or less randomly. It's not bad though, it could just be better.

quote:

Originally posted by Kysora If you tweaked a couple of the notes it'd sound pretty cool but as-is I have to agree with kitphillips, it sounds like most of the last half's notes were placed more or less randomly.

Totaly agree.. just sort out them notes and place them right.. Then for effect, try giving the odd note thingy a bit of a stutter if you know what i mean?? I find it easier to do this by bouncing, chopping the audio, and repeating the note.. well not so much easier but sounds better i think like a stuck cd.. may sound good right before the beat kicks back in

Oh yes, let's just throw all the clichés in there.

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quote:

Originally posted by kevin shawn Maybe a bigger reverb or pluck? Only then will hands reach for the laserbeams my son

Kevin cheers - when you say a bigger pluck - it's already the maximum I get get out of DCAM synth squad - and the verb is big - so when you say a bigger pluck - what do you have in mind? I'm trying to avoid layering as I wanted a cleaner sound and it already is sounding less clean than I wanted.

Cheers (pa - automation and other sounds all to coME.

From a number of comments it seems this riff is sh1t - so I'm in 2 minds what to do.

I deliberately moved around notes to give a less rigit robotic quantised feel - just as people often say they want but it seems my placement needs work. I wish cubase5 had a function where I could aline all the recorded notes - quatise legnth and all those other functions dont seem t line them all up correctly. Piano roll is soo tendious for me - I wish I could play perfectly!

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quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler I wish cubase5 had a function where I could aline all the recorded notes - quatise legnth and all those other functions dont seem t line them all up correctly. Piano roll is soo tendious for me - I wish I could play perfectly!

It has all of that, and more. Open the MIDI editor, select notes and press Q.

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quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler I deliberately moved around notes to give a less rigit robotic quantised feel - just as people often say they want but it seems my placement needs work.

I did wonder if that was what you were aiming for with the off timed note placement.

Its good to do that, you don't want every note perfectly snapped to the grid, but some of these, you moved a bit too much and it just sounds wrong.

Having said that, there are many tunes I like where the notes can sound way off, almost random in their placement (not anything remotely trancey I might add), but often in these cases the producer will keep it all messy with pitches warbling out of control, delay effects with timings unsynced to the beat etc etc and its clear the effect he is going for.

Basically if you want to try random note placements then you need to make it clear to the listener what your intentions are. Otherwise it just sounds like the producer had shoddy timing.

If you merely want a less robotic feel then move the notes much closer to where they should be so the effect is very subtle.

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quote:

Originally posted by G-Con I did wonder if that was what you were aiming for with the off timed note placement. Its good to do that, you don't want every note perfectly snapped to the grid, but some of these, you moved a bit too much and it just sounds wrong. Having said that, there are many tunes I like where the notes can sound way off, almost random in their placement (not anything remotely trancey I might add), but often in these cases the producer will keep it all messy with pitches warbling out of control, delay effects with timings unsynced to the beat etc etc and its clear the effect he is going for. Basically if you want to try random note placements then you need to make it clear to the listener what your intentions are. Otherwise it just sounds like the producer had shoddy timing. If you merely want a less robotic feel then move the notes much closer to where they should be so the effect is very subtle.

Agreed. As it is it just sounds like you were trying to hit the notes on your keyboard but hesitated and couldn't find the right note at the right time....

first four measures are ok, repeat them layer some nice arps
filter the shit, chop it to 16th's / 32th's /64th's highpassed snarerolls, sidechained whitenoise. Anticlimax bang, athmos and silence for 4 beats and reverse crash/whip and FULL ON!

(ditch the rest, it's crap)


p.s. ditch the sample it's also crap. (you sound like a freaking UK hardstyle 12 year old tracksuit tilly with that Hellraiser sample DON'T EVER pull that one again boy )

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quote:

Originally posted by Raphie p.s. ditch the sample it's also crap. (you sound like a freaking UK hardstyle 12 year old tracksuit tilly with that Hellraiser sample DON'T EVER pull that one again boy )

Oh yes, I forgot to mention about that.

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funny cos i kinda liked the vocal the riff just needs re-mapping out if you're happy with the sound then its fine

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Thanks Owien - I'm keeping my little evil vocal - took me ages to record and make it.

I have updated the track loads in my LEIPZIG MONO SYNTH demo - see the other thread.

I'm a sell out chaps - hope Tiesto likes it!

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quote:

Originally posted by Richard Butler What would be an example of a strong riff for you - any chance you could post here - cheers in advance.

pardon me I totally forgot about this thread.

This is one of the classic big room trance riffs IMO.

I know its not quite the same feel that you're going for... But its got all the elements you need. Repetition, not too cheesy but still interesting... Its restrained without being boring, huge without taking itself too seriously. The sound's pretty flat obviously, but it really doesn't matter. Total case of less is more, and it works SO well.

When I said make the pluck bigger, I think you need to add more low frequencies. No more unison, just get less snap in the filter envelope (lengthen the decay) and maybe add a sub oscillator to it.

Also, you don't need to "humanise" trance plucks. Its really not neccesary. You might swing a bass, but you wouldn't humanise it. What you might want to do, to make it more funky, is offset some of the notes by a 16th. Every note is on the eighth in your track, it doesn't give it a very funky feel, but works well for this sort of cheesy trance riff.

This is a really cheesy track, and I think people need to stop complaining about that. It is what it is, but even given that its a massive cheese ball, it could still do its job better IMO.

So, just for laughs, here's a quick glance of how I'd go about doing it. I was thinking about really twisting it, but I thought that for demonstration, it would be better if I did something closish to what I think you're trying to do. My little demo was thrown together pretty quickly, so don't take it too seriously, its not mixed or anything, or really even thought out that well or sound designed to any reasonable extent its just how I'd approach it. I built all the sounds, worked out your chords, and tweaked around with a few things in about half an hour, so see what you think of it. Shits and Giggles by Kit Phillips

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