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Roland TB-303
One of the most important musical instruments in recent music hitory, The Roland TB-303 was a failure at its intended purpose.
The 303 was designed to be an "automatic Bass machine". It was introduced in the early 80's along with the TR-606 Drumatix drum machine. The two were relatively inexpensive, and were intended to provide a rhythm section backup. Meant to be a backup machine for practicing or for demos, the TB could be programmed with 16-step patterns that could then be arranged into songs. Unfortunately, it was difficult to program and more trouble than it was worth for most musicians. Roland stopped producing them after only 18 months!
In the late 80's, they could be bought for almost nothing in pawn shops. Around '87, DJ's in detroit began tweaking the knobs of a TB-303 while the bassline played a sequence. Paired with a TR-909 drum machine, it created a unique danceable sound. The rest is history. The TB-303 became a part of most of the electronica styles since then, including acid, house and trance.
Several features of the 303 give it its unique sound. First is the accent. The accent can be triggered on any step, and it adds a little voltage to the VCA and the VCF. This makes the accented notes seem louder and brighter than unaccented notes.
Several other aspects contribute to its unique sound. The slide is constant, no matter what notes you jump between. The filter is an 18 db/octave resonant low-pass filter. Most other analog synths used Moog-like 24 db/octave filters, or 12 db/octave filters. The filter effect is modified by five knobs, which adds a great deal of flexibility.
In performance, the TB is rarely used as it is intended. Instead, musicians program a simple 16-step pattern which loops continuously, while the performer tweaks the various knobs. The musicianship lies in knowing which knobs produce various effects, and doing this in a fashion that brings the music to crescendos and climaxes.
Because of its seminal place in the last 15 years of electronica, the TB has become one of the most imitated and revered synths of all time. Prices for 303's run up to $1,000, or even more if it is in pristine condition, or has desired modifications. This has inspired dozens of imitators, most notably the Novation BassStation and the Future-Retro 777. The 777 is the only new synth to capture not only the unique sound of the TB, but also the unique sequencer.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trance_music
Trance production
Trance usually employs a 4/4 time signature, a tempo of 130 to 155 BPM, 32 beat phrases, and is somewhat faster than house music but usually not as fast as psychedelic trance. Occasionally, trance may sometimes be faster and sometimes slower. A kick drum is placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often placed on the upbeat. Some simple extra percussive elements are usually added, and major transitions, builds or climaxes are often foreshadowed by lengthy 'snare rolls' - a quick succession of equally spaced snare drum hits that builds in volume towards the end of a measure or phrase.
Roland JP-8000, this synthesizer is famous because it incorporated the supersaw effect
Synthesizers form the central elements of most trance tracks, with simple sawtooth-based sounds used both for short pizzicato elements and for long, sweeping string sounds. As with other genres of electronic music, important synthesizers are the Roland TR-808, TR-909, and TB-303, which is the source of the "acid" sound. There are also several synthesizer sounds that are almost completely unique to its genre. One of these sounds is the "supersaw", a waveform was made famous by such classic trance synthesizers as the Roland JP-8000, the Novation Supernova, and the Korg MS2000. A technique called "gating" is often employed in creating lead sounds (turning the volume up and down rapidly in rhythm with the piece to create a stuttered, chopped sound). Rapid arpeggios and minor scales are common features. Trance tracks often use one central "hook" melody which runs through almost the entire song, repeating at intervals anywhere between 2 beats and several bars.
While many trance tracks contain no vocals at all, other tracks rely heavily on vocals, and thus a sub-genre has developed. The sound and quality of the production relies to a large degree upon the technology available. Vintage analog equipment still holds a place in the hearts of many producers and enthusiasts, with names such as Moog, Roland and Oberheim staples in the trance sound palette. However, the mainstream availability of digital technology has allowed a whole new group of producers to emerge because while top shelf digital (or analog modeling) synthesizers cost thousands of US dollars, high demand and a small supply of clean vintage analog synthesizers causes them to be extremely expensive.
Trance records are often heavily loaded with reverb and delay effects on the synthesizer sounds, vocals and often parts of the percussion section. This provides the tracks with the sense of vast space that trance producers tend to look for in order to achieve the genre's quality. Flangers, phasers and other effects are also commonly used at extreme settings - in trance there is no need for sounds to resemble any real-world instrument, and so producers have free rein.
As is the case with many dance music tracks, trance tracks are usually built with sparser intros and outros in order to enable DJs to blend them together more readily. Records that adhere to this "build up, strip down" arrangement during intros and outros are referred as being "DJ friendly". As trance is more melodic and harmonic than much dance music, the construction of trance tracks in such a way is particularly important in order to avoid dissonant (or "key clashing," i.e., out of tune with one another) mixes by DJs who do not mix harmonically.
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Trance Addict 4 LIFE!
| quote: | Dr.DRE
"It's not the equipment....it's the muthaf@#%r running it" |
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Fighting online is like winning the special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded. |
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