30 second track

quite like the 30 second time frame atm, especially combined with omnisphere random preset button

found a process that might work well for me

the process is to make a minute of music in about 15 minutes, then listen back to it while drawing for 15 minutes

ive always found drawing assists with music-making... usually always ive drawn to other peoples music. i feel like it works well making the music because ill make quick decisions... making music that ill want to draw something to. and then after 15 minutes of either, ill want to switch to the other. i generally prefer always drawing to music. maybe the music feeds into the drawing and then the drawing feeds into the music. i might stick with this process for a while, see if it keeps going. this music might have taken longer than 15 minutes, might have been 20 or 30, dont know. the times are probably more of a rough guide

tried out major key again... tried out the deadmau5 thing i was talking about yesterday... it might be called polyrhythms. it reminds me of triplet arpeggios.. and then you just put them on the 4/4 grid instead of triplet grid... then the timings are all messed up it'll be running slower/faster than the main chord-changes... whenever theres a chord change you figure out a way to transition it into a different arpeggio for that new chord. in this upload its the piano throughout the whole thing doing this. idk if its a sound im really into that much. it kind of makes everything trippy/washy. but im bored of making 4/4 edm atm so need to try out some different things. i think these could be cool mainly in buildups... but they do kind of suck the intensity out of the track and maybe make the track more trippy..washy.. might try it out some more and see if it works, maybe theres different ways to use them in tracks

need to learn more sound design... lead sound design. cbf looking through presets every time... the lead in this was made from saws in serum, with some filter/pitch/gain envelope automation in the sound design. barely any pitch automation really, just a tiny lfo that keeps it from sounding bland really. and some distortion and compression delay reverb and then a phaser on the end of the fx chain... maybe if i made 100 more leads id know how to make a few different styles of lead. might use the serum waveform editor to edit a saw wave's first few harmonics and then put that into filters/distortion. idk exactly what type of lead id even want in a track, ill probably try a bunch of things while working on future tracks

trying out major progressions

triplet edm intro & buildup

5 second edm song

did some distortion/volume modulation over time in this, using abletons modulation pages instead of automation. modulation might be easier than automation in ableton for some things like drop automations maybe... add midi notes and then just click 'envelopes' and it automatically puts you into editing the last-modulated parameter. i guess it counts as sound design. kind of confusing how to mix everything when theres so much automation/modulation going on, but this type of automation complexity feels like progress towards modern edm/dubstep sound. still the same instruments im using all the time. vowel sample, 808, supersaw, brass stab. but everything is overdistorted... so doesnt really sound like any of those things maybe idk. the 808 has notes playing from 3 octaves at once at some points. getting a little bit more complex with 'sound design' maybe even just using these basic instruments

idk mostly just modulating volume and eq and distortion amounts in this over short sections of time in this (2 beats-ish). i distorted the kick so much that i didnt use sidechain. maybe instead of sidechaining, from now on ill just add more distortion to the kick/snare. semi serious. i need to learn about mixing mastering etc. i dont know if i can just put everything through a limiter and its done. also what limiter settings specifically for mastering or whatever

oh there was no eq automation in this, just static EQ. need to do EQ automation for the next one

i think in general with making edm atm i need to be adding as much shit as possible... then later i can strip it back to the elements that work.... or EQ everything better... etc. so probably everything going to sound messy and complex for a while. dont know tho

another thing i need to try out is automating the detune knob of supersaw in serum. more for longer-type fx probably though. but maybe also in a drop

audio of two piano exercises

bad piano playing

bad bcaus there was some fraction of input delay while recording midi into the computer. i used to noodle on the piano like this a lot. i do it a bit less these days. its a good hobby i guess. gotta use a lot of pedal.... thats probably the number one thing about piano.... use a lot of pedal, thats pretty much all you need to know about learning piano. i sometimes do educational content on this page but i cbf going over how to learn piano. jam to music you listen to. repeat basic chord progressions in left hand and improvise with right hand. thats the end of my piano school youre now set with knowledge to learn to be penist. yung lean - afghanistan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwrXt0wCep0 s a good track to jam to

lots of space to add melodies in. doesnt really matter what you jam over just turn it up down until the levels are right and jam over

id go with yung lean yoshi city for another choice.. yung leans recent track with fka twigs was good too... dont know if that ones good for jamming. or lately ill jam over beatstars trending page. thats another good choice..... beats are missing the top melody alot so you can really go ham with those i guess... i cant remember trying to jam over piano music. i dont really listen to piano so not much point... jamming over the radio can be good if theres not too many ads. idk probably learn something like drums... drum teachers probably know the most about how to make music. i dont think music education is very good but i have these alternatives. idk how good my music school is. mostly it involves listening to yung lean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX1a3JngmpI

not a very good beat

anyway not really enjoying making so much edm.... enjoy listening to edm but making it kind of feels like a bunch of chores... make buildup better than last time, make drop crazier than last time etc..... whereas beatmaking feels more like making music....... with that in mind atm i might try and focus on making beats then over time add more and more edm songwriting structures to. buildups, drops, vocal pads/cuts. a loose endgoal could be eventually make tracks like hudson mohawke - play n go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHXRMIwpW_Y or any other trap tune really......... idk i find making edm so boring compared to making beats..... but probably can learn songwriting through beatmaking. mostly i listen to rap/pop atm.... i like the general philosophy of beatmaking. theres never really a beat where u can say alright THAT was THE beat... whereas making edm it sort of feels like the goal is more to make like a pinnacle of sound design and an emotional peak. gets boring trying to write in that style all the time... beatmaking is more like the jamming on piano to me... consistently enjoyable consistently motivating. probably works different for other people. thats the thinking atm for me.... focusing on some kind of beatmaking-type songwriting maybe. wave edm... i kind of like some of the 'wave' subgenre of edm... sort of close to beatmaking with the kicksnare patterns etc. idk that im superinto wave music... more enjoy trap. maybe once i get better at beatmaking/songwriting. yea maybe trap bang gers might be a good goal. i like playing 4/4 on piano but 4/4 kind of boring to make in the computer... every time i try make 4/4 in computer i get bored pretty quickly. most of my piano playing the last few months has been 3/4 timing.... not really into trying to make 3/4 drum patterns. hip hop type drum patterns hip hop beats in the computer more something i consistently enjoy making. cant say im that good at making beats yet.... but learning making beats alongside adding song structure to the beats might be what ill try for now

in technical news, found 2 small features in output - exhale (vocal plugin)... (the vocals i use are these vowels... has every note in bout a 3 octave range... bout 8 different single-vocalist options... dont think theres another plugin like this..) the 2 features i found recently were 1) you can change the sample start point for wherever these vowels start at... since they loop indefinitely. this is nice caus the same attack all the time can not always sound great.... then you can also reverse the sample as well within the plugin. so this just gives more options for using these vocals........... main goal i have is to master this vocal plugin.... i just like these vowels everywhere. can be leads, can be plucks, can be pads.... can be fx. just started e.g. using highpass on a single 4bar note and the highpass sweeps down, maybe amp sweeps up and overdrive sweeps down. in the below tune i used utility modulation to get the volume pumping effect where a note starts off -5/10db and sweeps up to 0db towards the end of the note. still havent gotten into using vocal chops/plucks that often... need to get more into that. i think other effects type things you can do is put delay and reverb on, bounce that out, reverse it for a riser. might try this. also need to find or probably make some good flute patches in omnisphere. flute and vocals are pretty similar instruments... flute pads used a lot in beats... mixes well with piano... theres one flute in omnisphere ive found already thats pretty nice... its not even a flute, the main part of the sound is a choir bank has some processing maybe and another quieter layer that might be a flute. maybe choir processing is something for making flute-like instruments. also need to use brass stabs more often really dont know how to write for brass yet

i used to listen to this beat quite a bit https://www.beatstars.com/beat/panther-441858

i generally like whatevers trending on beatstars... some of those guys really know how to make beats. idk that id be able to compete with that id probably have to put edm into my beats definitely. beatmaking is a worldwide phenomenon now... really competitive. idk i think it works... i like a lot of the modern hip hop beats atm. cant say i follow rap music much or the financials of how it all works so cant say much on any more than that. i guess its a worldwide competition to make beats and lease them to rappers... idk if competition is the right word. some of the guys sort of pick a specific sound for their beats and make hundreds in that style.................. idk i only check beatstars. i think plenty of beatmakers on instagram too. i dont really know anything about rap i mostly just like whatever gets popular and the abstract quality and the music of the beats....... all the crazy intricate percussion and combined with the 808s and melodiesssss. edm with 4/4 drums the percussion is kind of limited. hip hop you can put the kick anywhere and have as many kick hits as you want and then all the other percussion can have ridiculous patterns......... everyone pitches hihats etc different pitched snare rolls all sorts

i read the autobiography of gucci mane a few years ago. id recommend it. i guess a fun fact is gucci mane dropped out of college computer programming to pursue cocaine trafficking/inventing the genre of trap with zaytoven. so it was a good book... thats about the limit of my knowledge on rap music... i would agree with others and say the war on drugs has been lost a long time ago, the drugs did win i think... cartels in mexico now are even getting farmers to pay them off to grow avocados, i would propose shifting the focus of the war on drugs into the war on avocados. is it okay for a citizen to consume avocados. high in healthy fats... low in something.... should law enforcement have the abilities to arrest someone they claim to smell the scent of avocado fruit on.... i would say idk. im going to vote in the election is what im going to do... im going to vote for the good guy, i wouldnt vote for the bad team. theres two teams you gotta vote for the one that you think is the good one...... i would say question your avocadoes avocado where do you come from avocado were you grown on farm overseen by cartel armed ute of soldiers. avocadooooo avocado why do you taste so good

edm with 3 instruments no drums

theres probably jumpscare in this, the piano is meant to be really quiet so the other 2 instruments come in loud and jumpscare fast ... dont turn it up high when its just the piano playing

was relaxing to make. nice having 3 instruments and not looking for samples/think of new instruments to add in. not having drums i guess makes it relaxing to make

for process, same as the process for intro-build-drop i usually make id say. its probably worth mentioning i work pretty slow... pretty much every time i make a change i have to listen to the entire track from the start, or from the start of the nearest bar/4bar section... but often ill have to listen from the start of the entire track. so idk if speed challenges are much point for me to do. id probably try and do a buildup-intro-drop in 60 minutes instead of a full track. feels like im learning a lot just making the first half of a track. feels like i can sort of plan out a bit of longer ideas now, this 1 minute thing was one sortuv long idea, instead of the usual lots-of-short ideas together, dont think i used to be able to jot down 1 minute in this way. reminds me of piano jamming... when i first started jamming on piano my ideas were all short... eventually became longer like imagining a few bars ahead of time etc. but with this edm i can sort of imagine what im going to put later/sooner in the track now... maybe have more of a feeling for how the ideas can progress... making this kind of reminded me of that, felt like the edm idea was a bit longer than it usually is. talking bout this i guess i can imagine other elements in this track..., since it was the same sort of intro-buildup-drop i usually make just without all the different instruments. same sorts of melodies and harmonies i usually make,, idk if that means just tracking down melodic parts is a quick way to practice melodic songwriting structure, maybe. maybe ill do some more of this basic sketching of a tracks melodic structure. really would like to learn more drum structure though. maybe ill try make a track with only drums and fx.

really like the ambient space piano from omnisphere atm. its the first instrument that comes up when you sort by 'keyboards' and have the sorting set to 'featured'.... a lot of the omnisphere 'featured' instruments are pretty decent... yea like this space piano caus its a sort of reverby wash piano i guess... its similar to regular piano so im used to writing for that type of sound.... and it kind of works well as a bridge between edm and piano sort of sound... can be used with or without distortion maybe, can be used as a pad or more of a lead sound. i think it works well with all the other instruments im using atm... yea probably use it a lot. also want to get into using lots of harp sounds. omnisphere sort of has some harp-like instruments so ill probably just look through all of those....... also maybe i should get into making omnisphere patches.... omnisphere has the huge sound library and some nice effects and you can easily layer patches together so maybe ill try it out. probably not ill probably look at all the presets first.

in ableton you can save an entire track as a preset in a folder. including any midi clips in the track, including any plugins and all the settings of those plugins, including any fx plugins on the audio of the track.... so dont even have to save presets within the plugins itself... just drag the whole track into an ableton folder and name it something... been using this feature lately

i work pretty slow in regards to the having to listen to the track from the start fairly often but other than that i work pretty quickly....... try lots of things out and go with whatever feels the best or whatever the process of making music is..... still feel like i know nothing about electronic music. piano music is pretty simple you have one instrument and a note is either off or on at a certain volume.... electronic music is a billion instruments and how you mix all the instruments together and then one instrument can have a volume it starts at but then that volume can change depending on FX like distortion or EQing or automating EQ movement or the billion factors that go into sound design etc................................................................................................. mostly think electronic music is about which instruments you mix with what and where you have different instruments come in or out. nice thing about electronic music is you can layer so much crap. and you dont even hear the stuff thats layered underneath but then when you turn one of those tracks off the whole track doesnt feel the same.......... altho i didnt do that with the upload today... just 3 tracks. i like david guettas description of electronic music as about tension and release. or he might have been talking about music as a whole. or he might have been talking about dance music. i guess minimalism is something i could try as an exercise

tried to make a (2minute+) track in 75 minutes. ran out of time.. made it to about 1 minute of audio. felt like something different to what i usually make.

dont think ill finish this, might try the 75 minute challenge again. i feel like 60 minutes isnt enough, 90 minutes too long, 75 was a pretty good amount of time for now. what did i spend 75 minutes on in this? the first 45 minutes it was sort of an ambient track... which ive never really made before, so was taking a bit longer to make everything. then in the last half hour it morphed into the sort of thing i usually make with buildup and drop. i was thinking while i took a break, it might be an idea to have an ambient track that somehow drops into a dubstep-sort-of drop... without jumpscaring too much. another idea would be to not have the drop at all... just keep it kind of ambient but still have like a 'drop' that doesnt really sound at all like a drop. dont know what instruments would be used or anything but it was just what i was thinking in the break. yeah 75 minute track challenge with 10 minute pause to roll and smoke a cig i guess is part of the challenge. maybe next time i do 75 minute challenge ill start with piano chords and 8 bar piano melody... then morph that into cheesy edm. pretty sure i could do 2 minutes of that in 75 minutes, might be a better place to start

did a bit of phase plant sound design. made a keyboard and a bass. cant see phase plant window in recording. the bass has ring mod with phase plant 'midinote' modulating the frequency of the ring mod (gets rid of the unpredictability of ring modulation... pretty sure only phase plant can do this thing where you can use the individual note's frequency.... ) idk too hard to explain but basically phase plant pretty much best subtractive synth easily probably, can modulate almost everything by almost everything else and audio rate modulation too. wish it had a matrix view like fm8 for fm synthesis tho. fm synthesis in phase plant looks like shit caus theres no view set up for it so you just have loads of oscillators stacked on top of each other

well another thing you can do with phase plant to explain the midi note modulation... you can build phase plant patches where each individual note in a chord stack can have a lowpass filter at the exact frequency of the fundamental. dont know of any other synth that can do things like this. its a type of synthesis i want to try out. caus it sounds like fm synthesis sort of combined with subtractive synthesis. i think its fairly cpu intensive to do this much processing on e.g. individual notes in a chord stack

copied the structure of tule - grind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMfz5bm-D0A

disconnected perc loops

piano tune

omnisphere random preset button tune

remade the start of the track Ben Gold & Tritonal - Apex https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBn3V6yknGs remade the start of it then remixed that remake

taylor swift type beat

rough sketch of a wevlth - level type track

pretty happy with the workflow of adding distortion. still need more work on arrangement, arrangement and drum arrangement

garbage melody and leads. i like the zappy bits before the drop. started with background percussion and added piano chords

im going to start doing music posts on a different streak, if you want to listen to emo trap bangers u can find me on daily music dump probably. ive uploaded a source code of the input system im working on for electronic music. if you check my last post the link is in the comments. im not using it yet... it takes say ~200-500(?) hours muscle memory training game to learn an input system like that so idk if you really want to waste your time trying.... but yeah... maybe ill keep working on it and have a video of it working in a month or 6, dont know. maybe if you like the idea of the input system you can build something for your own needs. its just basic autohotkey script. wouldnt take long to learn how it works. maybe. but input systems like that can become enormous time-sinks. maybe in a month or 6 i should have video of it working at speed. and properly explain how it works in video format. dont know. so its just sneak peek for now i guess. input chains like that can be used for visual art as well. pixel art. bezier curves. changing color using CMYK color format. maybe something with blender/houdini scripting and low poly. whatever. i havent built any of that. ill probably do a pixel art inputter eventually. im hesitant to say what kind of 'speed increase' such input systems offer. depends how well you design the input system... and then it depends per artist. one artist might use an input system like this and get no real speed increase... another artist might get 5x faster electronic music input. you kind of have to always be adding your own macros to the system and then learning the muscle memory for what you just added... always changing the system. the input system should never really be 'finished'... youre always going to be adding functions that you find yourself reaching for over and over again. so you have to be a programmer pretty much... and you have to be an artist as well... input system isnt a silver bullet... just allows some things in the computer to be done a lot faster than regular input, maybe. but some things wont be faster than just using the normal tools like mouse and keyboard and midi clips automation etc... might be the same speed for some things. also because im a programming noob and i just built the system for spamming mouse movements and keystrokes into the ableton window... its probably always going to be somewhat a buggy piece of shit... so yea its unlikely that ill move the system into actually solid programming with a DAW that has exposed data parameters etc.

actually what im mostly interested in at the moment with the input system is just using randomizers... so having loads of different randomizer functions with parameters that can be input. i think this is one of the more interesting aspects of input system. so having a few keyboard presses that select a random snare drum sample to use, then a few presses to generate a random pre-selected chord progression midi is inputted on e.g. a melodic instrument track, then you can react to whatever the computer generates and edit that, then add some more random stuff... mostly just adding random instruments from pre-selected banks seems good.... it is kind of a chore to manually select instruments every time and the randomness can allow happy accidents. im not talking about randomly generating entire melodies... that seems kind of boring to me. just small randomizer things to get a track started off. randomize bpm, random key selector... i guess just those things