ITT, We whine about how bad humanity is (especially white peoples), and rip off

[Jasper]

I had an idea, just now.

Why not handheld electronic instruments, the interface using several input devices?  Whole new instrument.

[Mourning Star]

True, "Head Like a Hole" would sound really funny with real drums.  I wonder if Rock n Roll will survive, and if so how long.  Will it eventually be replaced by Click n Drag?  Man, I am getting old. 

it sounds pretty groovy on real drums...

Keep in mind reznor has an actual band that tours with him for live shows...

Watching him press play on a sequencer and then singing would otherwise make for a pretty lame concert experience..

[Mourning Star]

I agree it's possible, but I'm much more fascinated in making electronic drums sound like instruments that are physically impossible than trying to emulate a real drum.

For example, you could make a drumset out of samples of striking various empty water towers with a sledgehammer.

Imagine playing 6 different 5-story watertowers with sledgehammers, all in the comfort of your own room.

Why do what's already done?

genius

[Triple Zero]

What people notice is the mechanical rhythm, and that can be fixed by locking the tempo to the analog track.  it's the easiest way to add the "human" element to the mix.  The above "relax" track I wrote is a perfect example.  I set the MIDI track to map the guitar rhythm/tempo, which varied a few BPM from measure to measure.

The casual listener couldn't tell, but they could feel it.

that's a pretty neat trick!

listening to the song right now, i like it! kinda reminds me of a cross between Enigma and Boards of Canada, sort of.
only things i don't like about it is that i think the reverb-effect on the snaredrum is way overdone, and the synth-pad sound in the background sounds like one of my not-very-advanced tries at writing code for synthesizing such a sound (basically, three detuned sawtooth waves with a filter). but that's IMHO of course

[LMNO]

I have crappy equipment, what can I say?

[DJRubberducky]

True, "Head Like a Hole" would sound really funny with real drums.

Oh jeez, shameful confession time: It wasn't until they released "Only" (or whatever that song is - there is no you, there is only me) that I learned NIN used a drum machine.  But that particular line is SO repetitive, to the point where I said out loud to somebody "daaaamn, that drummer must be really fuckin' bored doing it like that, without even the occasional turnaround after four measures or somethin'."  He looked at me and said "Sweetie, you realize which band this is, right?"

I had never had any fuckin' clue.

Oh, and LMNO: Abso-fucking SQUEEEEE on your trick of occasionally screwing with the BPM to make it sound more live.  One of the new toys that A Link For Life has in their arsenal is something called Interactive Metronome.  I get to play with it so I can write the copy for their website - that, and Tamela really thinks it will do me good.  When they first put me on the thing, I was thinking "Shit, why do I need THIS?!  I was a bass player in high school, and a damn good one at that - I already KNOW how to keep a beat!"  And, in fact, I was already very good at it compared to others of her patients.  But it was really interesting to play with it and see how sometimes I'd be 50 milliseconds ahead of the beat, and sometimes 36 milliseconds behind it, and it actually took several tries to consistently get to where I was within 10 milliseconds of the actual beat (in either direction).  Then factor in that I was doing absolutely nothing else but focusing on lining up with where the beat "should" be.  It'd be a long, long time before I could hit that kind of perfection with so little conscious effort that I'd have brain cycles to spare for other things, like plucking a string and moving fingers around on frets.

So yeah; I think it's awesome that you are deliberately mucking with the machine-generated beat to make it sound closer to something a human would generate.

[P3nT4gR4m]

True, "Head Like a Hole" would sound really funny with real drums.

Oh jeez, shameful confession time: It wasn't until they released "Only" (or whatever that song is - there is no you, there is only me) that I learned NIN used a drum machine.  But that particular line is SO repetitive, to the point where I said out loud to somebody "daaaamn, that drummer must be really fuckin' bored doing it like that, without even the occasional turnaround after four measures or somethin'."  He looked at me and said "Sweetie, you realize which band this is, right?"

I had never had any fuckin' clue.

Oh, and LMNO: Abso-fucking SQUEEEEE on your trick of occasionally screwing with the BPM to make it sound more live.  One of the new toys that A Link For Life has in their arsenal is something called Interactive Metronome.  I get to play with it so I can write the copy for their website - that, and Tamela really thinks it will do me good.  When they first put me on the thing, I was thinking "Shit, why do I need THIS?!  I was a bass player in high school, and a damn good one at that - I already KNOW how to keep a beat!"  And, in fact, I was already very good at it compared to others of her patients.  But it was really interesting to play with it and see how sometimes I'd be 50 milliseconds ahead of the beat, and sometimes 36 milliseconds behind it, and it actually took several tries to consistently get to where I was within 10 milliseconds of the actual beat (in either direction).  Then factor in that I was doing absolutely nothing else but focusing on lining up with where the beat "should" be.  It'd be a long, long time before I could hit that kind of perfection with so little conscious effort that I'd have brain cycles to spare for other things, like plucking a string and moving fingers around on frets.

Lately I've gotten a bit addicted to playing with a 3-sec delay. My improv/jamming skills have come on leaps and bounds since I'm constantly trying to fit in something that counterpoints the 3 seconds before and if the timing isn't bang on it doesn't sound the same.

[LMNO]

Pentatonic scale.


Works every time.

[B_M_W]

Pentatonic scale.


Works every time.

I wish I had the musical training you do so I could really take advantage of all the possibilities that the classical guitar offers.

[LMNO]

In the key of C, the Major pentatonic is C, D, E, G, A; the minor is C, Eb, F, G, Bb.


The pentatonic is also snarkily known as the "Garcia scale", as Jerry would play up and down the scale incessently.

For color, you can flatten the third and fifth (the "blue" notes).

Enjoy.

[B_M_W]

In the key of C, the Major pentatonic is C, D, E, G, A; the minor is C, Eb, F, G, Bb.


The pentatonic is also snarkily known as the "Garcia scale", as Jerry would play up and down the scale incessently.

For color, you can flatten the third and fifth (the "blue" notes).

Enjoy.

Thanks. I'll try that later today. Don't know how well pentatonic will work with baroque guitar music, but I'll give it a try.

[AFK]

In the key of C, the Major pentatonic is C, D, E, G, A; the minor is C, Eb, F, G, Bb.


The pentatonic is also snarkily known as the "Garcia scale", as Jerry would play up and down the scale incessently.

For color, you can flatten the third and fifth (the "blue" notes).

Enjoy.

Thanks. I'll try that later today. Don't know how well pentatonic will work with baroque guitar music, but I'll give it a try.

It it aint Baroque don't fix it. 

[LMNO]

You suck.

[B_M_W]

  x1600

[Mangrove]

BMW - if you can find the movie 'Crossroads' starring Karate Kid Ralph Macchio, you will indeed learn about what happens when a Julliard student starts messing with the blues scale.