Settings...

Machine settings

If you read the chapters before, you know I lost all the settings of the machine and all the loops and samples I had uploaded on the software before, so I had to make it all over again but this time I did it differently.

I did (again) new tracks on Ableton to work in a machine as sound support but this is all about evolution, so I have made things different now.

Instead, to made (background sounds = Sound textures) on Ableton and uploaded in into the software, This time I started to make proper music styles and produce the tracks with spaces in between so I could use the kaossilator sounds and they do not crash.

I still need to make the new drum patterns in the machine. The first row is already made because I was producing some Dubstep last time and I wanted to listen to how would sound, so I made some changes in the drum patterns on the machine in the first row, the other ones will come with time ;)

This setting will be changed but for now, is how I have the machine set up:

These are the styles I have decided to make...

1- DUBSTEP ----  (I can do 30 tracks of each music style and I can do 6 different drum patterns for the 30  music styles in the machine only. ) Still the only ones I have worked a bit with the drum patterns of the machine

2- INDUSTRIAL

 Most parts of these samples and loops are taken from the first textures I did in Ableton on the first experiments with the machine ;)

3- PSY TRANCE

 Thanks, Mark Gray (soundmagus) my friend samples and QPA Qubensis psy audio. You guys are brilliant but I have work and I know now I have a very unique psy trance sound because of your loops and samples.
This is a process on going ;) Thank you ;)

4- FSOL

 This sample was taken from some EPs. I cut the samples from the tracks and uploaded the best parts

 ( for me) in the machine to loop and work on top.
HAA , Yes, you can call remix ;)
Samples were taken from various sources.

5- TRAX

This is experimental, industrial, mental etc... and something more ;)
All the tracks I have uploaded (around 6) are my original tracks and they have been produced on Ableton and projected to be part of a live mix with the machine. (you will know more in the video)

6- AMBIENT

This is what I still working and I am not sure what I will do but time will tell it to me... will he !?




******************************************************************

1 * DUBSTEP

1-PUMPING-  125BPM
2-VACUM-    120BPM
3-COOL-     140BPM
4-FOOTSTEPS-140BPM
5-VOCUSTEP- 140BPM
6-RINGRING- 140BPM

******************************************************************

2 *INDUSTRIAL

1-IND18- 110BPM
2-IND16- 110BPM
3-IND21- 110BPM
4-IND9-  110BPM
5-IND8-  110BPM
6-IND10- 100BPM


******************************************************************

3 *PSY TRANCE

1-PSY-BASIC-2-       148BPM
2-PSY-FRED-            148BPM
3-PSY-FREDBNK2- 148BPM
4-PSY-FREDBNK3- 148BPM
5-PSY-FREDBNK4- 148BPM
6-PSY-FREDBNK5- 148BPM
7-PSY-FREDBNK-  145BPM

******************************************************************

4 *FSOL

1-FSOL- 120BPM
2-FSOL- 120BPM
3-FSOL- 120BPM - MOVE 2 DRUM 5
4-FSOL- 120BPM
(REMOVE)
5-FSOL- 119BPM
6-FSOL- 120BPM-EXP
7-FSOL- 120BPM-EXP

******************************************************************

5*TRAX

1-COMUNICACA-        110BPM
2-FIRE PLACE-              110BPM
3-HOSPITALMENT-      110BPM
4-LIQUID MORPHINE- 110BPM
5-TICK TOCK-              110BPM
6-DEAD INDUSTRY-   100BPM
7-CHRISNAS-             100BPM - PLAY W DRUM 6
8-KIKA-                      120BPM - PLAY W DRUM 5 (SPEED UP)
9-TRANSMISSION MISSION- 120BPM - PLAY W DRUM 5 (SPEED UP)

******************************************************************

11*AMBIENT

1- AMB1- 128bpm
2- AMB2- 120bpm
3- AMB3- 120bpm
4- DRON1-116bpm
5- DRON2- 86bpm


 Ok, next I will start the video chapters.

Chapter 18 - Resume

 Track Structure Resume

Expanding the things this way I believe is hard for some people to understand what I am really talking about.
Thats why I like resumes !
Its where you read the important things at once and dont need to go into the all story.

This is the resume of the Track Structure.

1- Drums
2- Background
3- Kaossilator

Drums

1 drum loop (64 or 128 bars)
This drum loops all include percussions and they are all made in the program software.
* Read more about the drums here
http://wavdj.blogspot.com/2009/12/chapter-4-drum-loops.html

Background

This consist of  a sound or noise looping at the same tempo of the drums.
This background are totally independent of the drums and can be use with other drums (how far the drums are at the same bpm)
Because this part of the WAVDJ machine do not loop, I have to import the sounds to Ableton and in there put the sounds at the same bpm, include more sounds,include voices, and loop the sound for around 10 minutes to give enough space for improvisations.
* Read more about the FX part of the WAVDJ here the background loops are stored
http://wavdj.blogspot.com/2009/12/chapter-8-sound-fx.html

* Read about the backgrounds here
http://wavdj.blogspot.com/2010/01/chapter-14-background-sounds.html

Kaossilator

I pre-choose a group of 6 / 7 sounds similar with the background that is playing.
Now I just start creating :)

Having the 2 parts of the wavdj (drums & FX - background sounds) and the kaossilator working at the same time, I  can take sounds off and put on again, true the mixer of the wavdj

Lots of things have change and new ideas come in since I start write in this blog.
I create 2 tracks in ableton with no drums and I imported to wavdj, then I create 2 drum loops to go with the tracks but this time I create the drums in the software of the wavdj.

Questions ??

Next I will post a detailed  Zoom of  this 3 elements and explain exactly how I am working and what I am doing with the wavdj and the kaossilator.

Chapter 17 - Track structure (part 2)

Track structure (part 2)

NO BASS !
After some experiments with bass in the tracks I decided, bass is not very good to be included in this type of track.
The track's structure is minimal, when I drop the bass in the track, most part of the other small sounds are inaudible. I don't know why but this can be because of the frequency of the sound.
Another thing that put me off of the bass... the minimal feeling of the tracks changing totally and I am forced to have a melody, wish to change all the direction I want to take on this project.

At the moment, I am choosing the right sounds of the kaossilator for each background sound and drum loops More updates soooooooon :)

Hello Friends

 Hi Friends

Hello my friends and welcome to my privet blog.
Here is the reason ,I have been ask you your email addresses :)

If you didn't read this blog from star, I will advise you to do.
But what is this ? you wonder...
Well , this is the part where I start to show to my close friends what I been doing and I have a plane...

I like to invite all of you for a music session at my place. Dont ask me when !
Things still have to be well set up and I want to show you the final product, but will not be to long from now.

The reason I start now to contact you , because I have some tracks nearly ready and I will like to show you and to listen your opinions.
Who's best to do that ?? YOU !

I know it can be painful but I can handle some hear plugs just in case :)

Mean time, this was just to push your attention and to keep you involved in the progress of this project.
Till then.. please keep reading as I am close to the end of the first round of tracks.

Speak soon and thank you for pay some attention to the weird shit I do :)

Chapter 15 - Add Instruments

New Instruments Experiments.

I ad a friend visited me during a weekend, he is a shy musician but have a lot of instruments including lots of drums (as it is a drummer:)

My friend bring me a Micro Korg

The Micro Korg
Its very good but too limited to work.
Its nice to take some sounds but just that !
Its a vocoder too and that is good for voices as some sounds. Can make a very original effect in the music.
Its a very good equipment for live performances but not in the style of the music I try to make here.
I will say, its more a (techno minded) music machine



a Mixer

The Mixer
Here we connected everything.


and a Kaoss Pad

The Kaoss pad
It can be very useful to make some final effects in the total music or can make small variations in the final sound played. He can make some extra sounds on top and other special effects.
With Kaoss pad, I think is good just to make some very small changes in the total sound but is the only one I can see included as a 1 more instrument.

For now, my friend leave me the Kaoss Pad for me to have a try but he will take it back in some months time.
I end up do not use this much.

Chapter 14 - Loops VS Kaossilator

Him and Her !!

Kaossilator and WAVDJ .
Now I have the background sounds in the buttons (by now I have 18 backgrounds)
and I have 6 different drum loops in the 6 drum buttons this make:
18 background sounds
6 drum loops
= 3 background sounds for each drum loop, like that I can change the background sound 3 times in 1 track.
They are all at the same 110BPM.

Putting all together and start to play....

After I have both playing at the same time, I start the kaossilator at the same BPM and I make some sound effects; by now, the drums and the background are looping at the same time and the kaossilator sounds are giving a color to the music as I ad many other effects.

As I go along with the sounds and loops , I can play with the mixer of the machine (wavdj) and have the drum loop ,on and off or the background sound or the kaossilator on and off  too.
This is a good help to dont have the same sounds looping for to long.

The kaossilator is a very nice complement for the wavdj.
I have been construct this track with a vision of a Industrial Ambient, so I haver been looking for Industrial sound loops for background and I make the Drum Loops to sound Industrial too but the sounds of the kaossilator make the track much more soft and Ambient.

I recognized that my Drum loops are a bit too (breaks) even be at 110BPM.
(Later I will writ about the Track structure)

This explanation of the track construction, is just the result of my first experience, I probably will be changing things and the structure of the tracks , tempo or other.

2- Drum Loops

Project Start - Drum Loops

Drum Loops
Part of the wavdj used to change the drums in the program.

I can change all the patterns in the drums , include percussions.
This feature is very limited (as all) the only thing that can be change is the BPMs and the loop patterns, but the instrument sounds will remain the same.

This is the loop part of the wavdj machine.
(here is the drum loops buttons on the machine. 6 different drum loops for each style)


Here is where the things get complicated as this loop machine is not synchronized with nothing.
For this reason ,the background sounds and drum loops have to be exactly at the same BPM.

Next mission is to get this two parts playing at the same time (drums & Background sound) , this require a lots of preciseness to click the button of the effects at the same time the first kick of the drum... Lets see !!

Go well :)
Where how I start the tracks before:

1- I have to start always with the drums
2- Then, I can start the background sound at the same tempo of the beat.
(This is because is no synchronization in the machine.)

But now I do like this: 
1- I will use the KAOSSILATOR to make some noises at the start.
2- I start the drums,
3- I start the background sound.
4- I take off the KAOSSILATOR sounds and delete the first sounds to start new ones wile the first drum loop and background sound is playing...
YES !!

Track is on ;)

Chapter 13 - Project Start

 Project Start - The Intro

After all the story and all the wavdj and Kaossilator presentations, I will start now to be more specific with the project and what I am doing.

First, I need to make:
1 - Background sounds
2- Drum loops
3- Ad 3 background sounds for each drum loop
4- Make short keyboard melodies
5- Make the background sounds at the same tempo of the drum loops in Ableton
(no sounds synchronized here)
6- Found the best sounds in the kaossilator to use in each track.
(I will specify all this later)

This sounds easy, but is not !
The wavdj software have too many bugs and dont work as a professional music program.
The wavdj (machine = console) make delay in the sounds.
(NOTE)  Delay is the time it takes for the sound can actually be heard on the speakers after I press the buttons of the wavdj (machine)

For delay example:
If  I press the keyboard, the sound take about 2 seconds to be hear in the speakers. (delay)
If  I press the FX buttons, the sound take about 1 second to be hear in the speakers. (delay)
If  I press the drum loop button, the sound take about 3 seconds to be hear in the speakers (delay)
This makes a hard job to get the music all synchronized (drums + background sounds + keyboard)
in this case, I have to know exactly the tricks of this machine, but the most important thing is to have the sounds and drum loops at the same tempo.
IF I press the FX button (background sound) just 1 second before or after the beat of the drum loop, the sound will start out of tempo... I really need to be precise here or all the music go in a mess !
Luckily, I am able to stop the sound if I press the button at the wrong time and I can restart again, wish makes kind of a sound intro, wile the drum loop still playing.

Experiments for start.
My first experiment was to make Minimal Ambient music but soon I realize that the drums of the wavdj dont let me make much, as the sounds are the same and just the loops can be changed (as I writ here before) but I did have a go anyway.

My second experiment (still on going) is to make Minimal industrial. A'm a bit more satisfy with the results but still a long way to go as I have to search a lot in the web to find some good free sound loops and after that, I have to put the loops on Ableton to make some arrangements and get the background sounds at the same tempo (bpm) of the drum loops of the wavdj.

My last experiment (I think) will be minimal Ambient but this time with no drum loops , just sounds !

I would never get into this, if I didn't find the kaossilator to be a good supplement for the wavdj.
The fact is, one time I have the wavdj looping the sounds and the drums at the same tempo, I will have time to go into the kaossilator and ad more sounds.
After I have enough sounds playing in both machines, I can go back to the wavdj and change the background sounds, make short melody's, stop the drum loop and drop in again or any other sound playing, because the wavdj have a 6 channel mixer where the sound can be on and off.

In fact, I can go more mad and connect all this to my cd decks mixer, wish have a surround button and will give me the possibility to equalize the sound wile I am play (low, med, high).
But I am not that mad... am I !?
If so, is just a music issue ! :)

Chapter 12 - Kaossilator

Kaossilator - The other off

After all the explanations about WAVDJ, I like to go now into this little korg.
Kaossilator is a Dynamic Phaser Synthesizer.

Specifications

• Programs: 100 sounds
  
• Program Categories: “NOTE” Sound = LEAD: 20, ACOUSTIC: 10, BASS: 20, CHORD: 10
  “SE” Sound = SE: 20
  “DRUM” Sound = DRUM: 10, DRUM PATTERN: 10
  
  
• Musical Scale Patterns: 31
• Key Range: ±12
• Types of Gate Arpeggiator: 50
• Connectors: LINE OUT jacks (RCA phono jacks), PHONES jack (Stereo mini phone jacks)
• Sampling Frequency: 48kHz
• DA Conversion: 24-bit Linear
• Power Supply: four alkaline AA (LR6) batteries (6 V) / AC Adaptor?Sold Separately?
• Battery Life: approximately five hours (with alkaline batteries)
• Included Items: Owner`s Manual, parameter sheet, four AA “test” batteries
• Dimensions: 106 mm (W) x 129 mm (D) x 29 mm (H) / 4.17" (W) x 5.08" (D) x 1.14" (H)
• Weight: 154 g / 5.43 oz. (without batteries)
  

Options

AC adapter ( DC4.5V )

I have a look in youtube and I choose this video just to show,how the kaossilator work.



Thanks to Bratenstein
http://loops.bratenstein.de


Later I will try to make a video of  the all happening and post on youtube.
For now, my mission is to get background sounds to add to the wavdj and make drum loops.

Kaossilator have drum loops already but I am making the drum loops direct in the wavdj software, this way I am able to drop the drums and the background sounds in and out any time I want and they dont need to be repeating all the time

The background sounds, I get from websites with free loops and samples and I am making a choice of the more similar sounds I need to make this music project.
This Background sounds (loops) I am doing with the help of ableton software before I add them to the machine.
Like that, I can make the loops long as I like and I can add different patterns and other sounds.

Back to Kaossilator
A part of all the technical explanations above, I have to specify something for people who dont know about this techy stuff:

The kaossilator have 
7 sound category's
1- Leads
2- Acoustic
3- Bass
4- Chords
5- Se (FX)
6- Drum (single beats)
7- Drum (Patterns)
This is the basic 100 sounds

Scales (key)
Kaossilator have 31 different keys, like C / C#/ D / E #/ E# / G/ G# etc...
Some examples are:
Chromatic
Ionian
Dorian
Majore Blues
Major Pentatonic
Gypsy scale
Arabian scale
spanish scale
Egyptian Scale
Octave interval
And go on, and on, and on..........

Gate Arpeggio Patterns
This is effects that can be ad to the sounds a part from the normal effects wish cut the sound into short beats
The kaossilator have 49 different arpeggio patters

Mush more can be say about the kaossilator but for now, I think I did explained the best of my knowledge.


More about this in the next chapter ;)

Chapter 2

THE OTHER OFF...

1 month later, I visit some friends and one of my friends show me this little korg (kaossilator) .
I never hear about this new toy ! When my friend connect the kaos in to the Amplifier and start to make sounds and loops, I connect 2 x 2= 4.
Better than 1 loop machine is 2 loop machines working together :) and kaossilator make everything that WAVDJ dont do... better, the WAVDJ have things that the kaossilator dont have.
I trough ... they are the perfect partner !

Sure I start to look in the web for this new gadget (kaossilator) people say its good fun and the price is not that high, so I wait for my birthday to get it (Girlfriend did:)

Intro

 WAVDJ (The Machine)

Hello .
I start this blog to register a experience I am doing with WAVDJ -VM-108.
This machine (as I like to call it) is discontinued from the market and no much information is found in the web.

This wavdj is a (Oregon Scientific) product and was released in 2001 as a console to make music with WAV files + .sty and .osm files.


It is a really limited machine to work with but on other hand, can be very fun to change things around, alterating sounds and create something different.
You can read more about WAVDJ  here:
Jornal Article

http://amplifiers.annonz.co.uk/amplifiers/wav-dj--74896

 http://www.trademe.co.nz/nz/auction-177550236.htm

http://www.positive1.com/reviews/toys/osci/dj/index.html

If you like to download the manuals , you can make here:
http://safemanuals.com/user-guide-instructions-owner-manual/OREGON%20SCIENTIFIC/WAV%20DJ



Now... Why to get a thing like this to make music ?
I have 2 PCs at home and 1 is just to make music as I work with Ableton music software and I have been around other music programs too !
The problem I found (if is a problem) in this software music programs, is the many options they give, can be good but can be damaging too.
Some times, I get no felling to make a musical track and I start to work automatic, as I get no vibe making music just by putting all the sounds together and click a button to synchronize beats or spend hours searching for a sound or making a sound.
Its good, its professional but some times really take my vibe away !!
Its ok to do music with software, is like playing a game where you have to put the images in the right places but I much like to fell the music and play with the sounds :)
Yes, I can make the same in Ableton but again, all is synchronized.

I am doing this project for fun and I am not looking to make a professional life of this, so I am free to play around as I want and experiment without the conscience of be attach to some music style ...
we all have a shelf , is it ??
DADA DO ;)

Soo,,, here and there, some of  the reasons I set up this machine and why....

1- I can set up specific sounds and know where they are when I press a button,
2- Is lots of  fun = work,
3- I can make something really different,
4- I will not need to click a mousse,
5- I can have just the sounds I made or need in each of the buttons of the machine,
6- I don't need to look at 1000 of  sounds to find a sound to make a track,
7- I can improvise with all the sounds,
8- Any track is a new creation and never the same,
9- Its all in real time ... live,
10- No synchronizers, just my fingers,
11- All the sounds are made individual and put together,
12- I can fade sounds in and out as the machine have a mixer with 6 channels,
13- I can improvise sounds or melody's with the keyboard instruments wile I can make some fx with the FX wheel doing scratch and pitch bend,
14- I can regulate the BPMs in real time,
15- I can jam in a 6 pad drums,
16- PLUS.... I can add 992 sounds to the wav effect buttons panel, that Im using to store samples and sounds. on this wav effects part of the machine, I can have more than 1 hour of a sound or a sample in each button and will keep playing.

This will take me long time to set up but will be a 1 time job.
Main problem (for now) is that , I can not change the drum sounds... I can change the drum loops... but not the sounds of  the drums; to make this ,I will need .sty files or .osm files (still around with this ones... grrrr) If you know something about them, just let me know.

But what I really want to do ?
I want to make a Psychedelic ambient experimental music project with this machine, plus I want to use a Kaossilator to spice the music.
This machine and kaossilator are loop machines, this can create a hypnotic ambient music capable to go into the mind and really give you a psychedelic experience as I have been notice.
For that same reason ,I start this blog.

Am a bit late on this intro and chapters as I start some weeks ago working on this machine but I will update regularly and hope by the end, I can leave you some tracks for your experience.)

02/12/2009