paging Troy re; Garage Band stuff

[newtrix1]

Please explain what I'm listening to on this Garage Band cdr. Did you compose & program this music yourself?? If so, hat's off, this is impressive for an amateur composition. My fav is Morocco Mole. I also dig those heavy gurgly synth bass tones on Heliotrope.

I especially like the fact that the percussion sounds are not canned. please explain the mechanics of how one does this. Do you need a synthesizer/keyboard?

[Troy]

The way I use it 90% of the time, it's a MIDI program. You write notes on what looks like a player piano scroll by placing black dots on it. These dots have variables like velocity, sustain and modulation on them. The more notes you lay, the more complex the song. Stacking clusters of notes in the timeline creates chords.

You then take these player piano scrolls and drop them into layers. Each layer is a separate instrument which is 100% controlable. ie: the guitar has about 10 presets for different types of strikes and acoustic or electric sounds. You can add about 100 different effects onto any instrument (overdrive, Flangers, Tremolo, Wah etc.) just like a player with one of those 10 foot long pedal boards. With the variety of FX and amplifier settings, the types of sounds you can get is literally limitless. I now understand those stories about musicians sitting in a studio for 3 days working on a snare sound!

If you have the processor speed you can have up to 256 separate instrument tracks! Alto I haven't seen a need for more than about 10 (but only 6 used at any one time).

So yes, except for about half the piano melody in Heliotrope (which is a partially disected Apple MIDI loop) I wrote 95% of everything on that disc. There are occasional drum loops used and the Surode (kinda like a sitar) on Morocco Mole is a loop too. There are a few other pre-fab loops as well, but not many.

Yeah, the percussion is mostly hand crafted. Imagine in the player piano scroll that the C1 key is a bass drum, D1 is a different pitch bass drum, E, F, G1 are different snares on up thru about F5. Each key is a different percussive hit. I think I used almost all of them in Morocco Mole. Also, there are about 5 different drum sets with different tom and cymbal sounds. Anyway just drop those black dots on the timeline (editable to 32nd notes) on the right notes and you have a drum track.

Keyboards- yes, you can plug a USB keyboard into this thing (many on the market starting at about $100- the one I bought) and you can play directly onto that player piano scroll which can then be edited 100%. Most of those songs were entered that way, starting out as one finger hunt and peck melodies that I built into chords and built into songs.

Mind boggled yet? Mine is.

I feel like a 13 year old that has discovered masterbation. I JUST CAN'T STOP!!!

[Dave_G]

Troy,

I got yer 3 pack cdr package yesterday.

The first one I played was Garage Band.

No Ozric Tentacles or CGT or Tony Levin Band, but ok for a movie dweeb.

I wanna hear some vocals on top of that weird ass noodling.

You know how I hate instrumental stuff. Add some vocals.

All of it is typical Troy stuff, great artwork coupled with weird, off the wall, different, unique, and bizarre music.

Keep up the coolness, you are unique.

Dave

[Troy]

I wanna hear some vocals on top of that weird ass noodling.

You know how I hate instrumental stuff. Add some vocals.

Make up and sing your own words over it as it plays, OK? Send me .wav files and I'll layer them in.

Your alleged aversion to instrumental music is weird. Don't you like fusion? Aren't the best parts of Genesis and Flower Kings the instrumental sections?

Keep up the coolness, you are unique.

Yadayadayada. Thanks.

Can I have a raise then?

[mad rhetorik]

I'd like summa that music myself Troy. I'll PM ya my addy. Thanks. ; )

[Dave_G]

Yes I do like the long instrumental sections in those things you mention, Troy.

But I don't in general like "instrumental bands" like the ones I mentioned, I lose interest after a while.

Hell, I dunno, I am weird, but mainly I just felt like rubbing yer ego!

I'll overdub some vocals the next time we hook up.

Dave

[BarryL]

My package arrived yesterday. I'll add them to the stack and get back to you. I'm interested, of course, in your GarageBandLand stuff. I still haven't had time to play with mine. If only I could stop masterbating for long enough...

[Troy]

If only I could stop masterbating for long enough...

Careful, you might start growing hair on your shift key . . .

[Troy]

I'll overdub some vocals the next time we hook up.

You DO realize that I am going to hold you to that, doncha?