Hi.
I've spent the past several years performing 100% improvisation on my electric bass guitars with my Boomerang III looper pedal. I'm long overdue to come out with another album and I've been out of the loop(no pun) for too long to know what to look for in a workstation to help me record my next project.
I've collected quite a handful of audio samples on my iPhone while traveling to Europe the past few years and want to base the next few projects on those; editing and creating loops from them to use as a base to layer electric bass guitar loops on.
I'm all about simplicity & quality over quantity, so I'm wondering if I could get away with something like the Korg Electribe sample-based box, or if my only other option is a way over the top(for me) PC/interface/software direction. I was kinda hoping an MPC-type solution would work for my goals.
Looking for ideas...help!
p.s.
My background is production on a Roland 880EX for almost a decade(!!) and an Ensoniq EPS prior. ...prolly why I'm more comfortable with a hardware solution.
I'm not sure you'll get a consistent answer from everyone. So many capable DAWs. There are notable examples of people using Cubase, Ableton, Logic, Pro Tools for what you're talking about.
Hey what version of iPhone do you have your samples on and did you record them through the voice note (iPhone mic)? I noticed between the iPhone 4 and the 4S that there was a jumpin compression. The 4 had a more subtle one.
Cubase is the easiest and also best DAW, have a look.
I'm a big cubase fanatic,but all daws are good at the loop thing,logic flex time is great.
I was just shown some great things about studio one.but logic is $200,and it has the biggest sample/loop content that's included with the $200 price tag.
ableton live is basically exactly what you're looking for. it's the easiest daw to use for anything loop-based, as you literally just drag and drop loops and it automatically adjusts them to fit your tempo, and it's very easy to manipulate them. it also has the best realtime time-stretching algorithms, so audio and loops are 'elastic' and can be adjusted on the fly.
ableton live is basically exactly what you're looking for. it's the easiest daw to use for anything loop-based, as you literally just drag and drop loops and it automatically adjusts them to fit your tempo, and it's very easy to manipulate them. it also has the best realtime time-stretching algorithms, so audio and loops are 'elastic' and can be adjusted on the fly.
Well said. I'm sold by that .. and I don't even really use loops!
i dont know why a few people say that cubase is the easiest.. fl studio is almost fool proof. ableton live is what i prefer but in terms of ease fl studio is the easiest
Even though I'm a hardcore Logic user, Abelton Live is by far the leader when it comes to crazy loop usage features. It has some very cool tricks up its sleeve.
Thanks for all the replies. If I go software, I've got my work cut out for me. Of course, we then get into the old Mac/PC thing. While I'm a Mac guy, I doubt my budget will allow for it. I'd still have to figure out an audio interface. :P
Thanks for the hardware suggestions too.
Right now for quality my first thought was Computer and Live.
Iphone/ipad have apps for recording too and as you travel it might become a viable option.
There are interfaces for ipad. I have not looked into it and I am not sure if it is viable.
But it won't be long before you can record with quality on your phone with an interface if not already. See if there is an Ableton live app for ipad/iphone!
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A compressor is a "voltage turn it downer".
You can determine when it begins to turn it down and when it resumes from turning it down, even how quickly it does it's "turn it down" and by how much it turns it down so you can push more voltage into it to be turned down and then make up for gain lossed from turning it down.Bart Nettle
AS you already have an iphone you could be trying Loopy app , which offers realtime looping ,
Beatmaker2 as your sequencer ; which gives MPC sample triggering , multi sampling instruments , midi linear sequencer and 8 audiotracks recording with effects .
Animoog , Sunrizer and Magellan for additional synths, DM 1 if you want a drum machine .Filtatron for filter/delay effects.
Also vocal /granular effects .
I repeat ....All of these have Iphone versions so you could be trying them out already !
If you feel you could work with them , get an ipad for the extra power and bigger screen to work with .
Also many more amazing apps available for Ipad only , the most notable of which would be Auria , a 48 multitrack DAW with top notch vst ported effects , where you could mix and master the album .
If you dont know , the fairly recent implementation of " virtual midi " and background audio multitasking allows a few apps to control / sequence each other with virtual midi cabling running simultaneously . For audio ,whilst at this very moment it is a little clunky to get audio from one app to another using "copy and paste " ,having recorded the part within the app; in the very near future a new protocol called Audiobus will allow realtime streaming of audio between apps .
So @ 3/4/5 apps can be running together as you would connect boxes in a hardware setup , and the features and quality of the best apps equal if not surpass what you can achieve with hardware. Certainly if you were wondering if you could do the job with an Electribe or MPC , you would get way more features with an Ipad .
Not only could you produce an album , as your work is " simple " , but you could also integrate Ipad in your livework .
Midi footswitches/pedals/ and usb knobs/faders can be integrated for control.
Well, everyone is gonna have a different opinion of course, you should really do as much research and demoing personallly as you can, but I've gotta say that I've found Logic Pro 9 to be FANTASTIC when it comes to loops, especially cuz it comes with 20,000 loops of every imagineable instrument, style, genre, etc. etc., drumbeats, basslines, synth lines, horn parts, string sections, vocal lines, the list goes on and on that are all arranged right in a nice little menu right on the side of the screen that you can just drag and drop into your project and they will automaticlly adjust to the tempo and key/pitch without artifacts, and the'ere also a really sophisticated editor where you can do what you want to outside loops.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OldGuitarPlayer
Ahhh...John Cage. The ultimate troll.
Using and abusing Reason 4.0 (with tons of ReFills) and Logic 9 (with tons of soft synths, VSTi's and plug-ins)
via
a Yamaha S80 (with 2 FC7's, an FC5, an FC3, and a BC3a) and a Behringer BCR2000
on
a 4GB 2.53GHz Intel Core Duo Mac Mini
with
AKG K55 headphones or M-Audio BX5a Deluxe monitors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anderton
Just remember...machines don't kill music, people do.
Thanks for all the replies. If I go software, I've got my work cut out for me. Of course, we then get into the old Mac/PC thing. While I'm a Mac guy, I doubt my budget will allow for it. I'd still have to figure out an audio interface. :P
Thanks for the hardware suggestions too.
Pay a nominal sum and contribute further in the future if you like the DAW, what a nice way to do business! It also could be a good way to see if DAWs are for you.
So the Roland SP404sx & Korg Microsampler are very much along the lines of what I'm looking for...something I can easily work with live, while at the same time, polish when it comes to demo time.
Are there any other units along these lines I should consider(ex. the Electribe sampler)? The latest MPCs look like they all require a PC.
I'm not sure but I think the MPC2500 (& or) MPC5000 can play a sample loop now, and start it correctly even if your song position is 3/4 ways through the samples start. they also may have Audio track recording. however, the irritation may be the limitation in bouncing all these tracks to disk and loading them in the computer for post work.
in that respect I think the SP Roland may prove simplest. This exportability feature is the important part where most technology falls down..
ahhh which just reminded me, have a look at the Korg Sound on Sound.
the only thing which seemed to concern me about it was minijack input, but maybe they have done another version.
another nice one was the digitech jamman. but I don't think you can mute any of the loops you've recorded there. which I think you can do with the sound on sound.
__________________ . Great music and mixing isn't making a three minute portal to Exit reality. it's making a three minute portal to Enter it.
You could do crazy things like dragging in 40+ loops into Ableton, record a session by triggering loops, go back in and edit the parts you like. No preprocessing of the dragged loops needed.
I found ableton Live to be good for recording / creating new loops over the top of others. For actual arrangement of all the loops I move it to Acid. I use alot of stuff that's not a full measure loop - beginning /end of loop has lead in or trail off - and I like how Acid lets me work with those. Ableton can probably do it fine, but for some reason it frustrated me for the way I worked when putting all the different loops together.
if you do want to use something like Live for the job then using these tools is what you'll probably need. It's a bit of a job to set up and you will probably need a foot controller that has a good bunch of footswitches which send notes and then translate those into Lives system. as I say, it will take some time to get your head round.
The Tools.
OSX
controlAid
controlAid works by modifying the channel that note on and cc messages are outputted to. There is a user defined lower limit for modification, so that note on and cc messages below a specified point will be passed through to their destination without change by controlAid. controlAid
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