Not dead project

Hello, 2012 !!

I know... is now the end of the year and I haven't written anything since 2011.
Not because I didn't work on this project but because I have maturing ideas and making different planes.
So.. I decided to change many things and go forward to make this project walk out of the studio.. how?

Since I broth the Dock station for the laptop I believed the machine would work with this but unfortunately was too much delay between the sound backgrounds and the drums and the beat was running out on the 8 bar.:
If you lost this chapter read here:
http://wavdj.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/update.html

what to do !? If I can not use the Drums of the machine, I will not use but I will not drop this project and abandon everything only because the drums are going out of synch, so I decided to not use the drums of the machine and this will let me with only the background sounds wish now... are complete tracks made on Ableton projected to be overdub with the sounds of the kaossilator into a mixer ;)

I have many ideas but I only write this now to let you know this project is only started.

Next, I have 108 new tracks (backgrounds) to work on Ableton and set up to upload into the machine and from there I will get back here to leave more info... till then..
Keep it experimental and ... mental ;)

Chapter 16 - Track Structure (part 1)

Track Structure Experiments

Finally I catch up with my self :)

This is where I am writing as I am doing the things !
I am at the moment in the music structure, I have recorded the sounds and I have listen, I took some decisions and I will need to change:
1* Start of the track
2* Use more bass
3* Make more unrecorded sound movements with the Kaossilator

4* End of the Track

The reasons are:

1* Star of the tracks are always the same way.
This is because I am working with no synchronizer.
First I play the Improvised sound made in the kaossilator, next
The Drums , next
The background, next
more sounds.
This is ok and probably will be the total structure of the track but listen 10 tracks starting the same way and finish the same way can be a bit too much !?  I think !


2* I listen the tracks and they need bass... again, my girlfriend , say no !
I will try to use some more bass in the tracks and listen how it sounds.

3* Make more unrecorded sound movements with the Kaossilator.
Some low parts in the track need to use more (spare) sound FX, this helps to create movement in the track.


4* The end of the track, like the start, its always the same way.


 End of the track is the same, always !
Always start with the drums and finish with the drums.
At the end I have to switch off
The background, next,
The FX and at the end ,
The drums.

I can find some different ways to finish the track, the structure will have to be always like this but I can use other effects to cover the basic structure at the end.

* Track Structure
I start with a Kaossilator sound and next,,come in the drums. The sound looping with the drums will sound desynchronized for a start but after some time looping together, they start to transform into a synchronized rhythm.
Next come the background sound, that works exactly at the same tempo of the drum loop.
Here, the melody is created already from nothing and I am just follow the vibe by now:)

This makes all the difference because all the music produced , is produced and recorded just one time and is never the same again, totally unpredictable, can be the same sounds but the melody and effects are always played in a different way and this create a ambient vibe very nice and mental to hear.
Yes, very nice  :)

BUT
Start the track with the drums, its too violent !
For this reason, I start the track with the FX sound of the Kaossilator.
This despy the fact, that the drums will come next and not synchronized with the sound played, but the drum loops + the FX, soon start to make sense in your head :) :) and at this moment, it is just a melody created with the FX and the drums.
After this first 2 sounds are playing together, I come in with the background sound and after the background sounds , then I apply more sounds , change the rhythm, etc...

Very fun :)

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.

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 5 - Keyboard instruments

Keyboard Instruments

The keyboard instruments have 18 buttons, each one represents a channel on the keyboard.

This is the midi part of the software program wish work in conjunction with the korg!
In the software I have 16 channels, each one represents a sound in the channels buttons of the keyboard.
For example, I can choose 1 instrument for the first channel but I am able to choose from 127 different instruments for each channel.

Means , I can have the sound I want in the keyboard if I put the instrument in the channel button.
Again, this 127 instruments are fix sounds but this time, because is to be played with the keyboard, I can change the octaves of the keyboard and get different sounds.

They are 18 buttons and 16 channels for instruments, the 2 extra buttons are:
(see image 1)
1 - enter silence (wish stops the Fx sound from the WAV Effects panel) and the
2- is the FX button, this one trigger the sound of the WAV effect playing and pass it to the keyboard,wish alou me to play the FX sounds in the korg.
3- Channel 10 is always Drums. I can trigger the drums in the keyboard too but in this case the octaves do not change the drum sounds.

This is not my favorite part of the machine.

1-I am not brilliant with keyboards.

2 -the keyboard have a off tempo. He just do the sound after I have pressed the keyboard tab.

This part is the FX channels and the wheel  to make pitch bend and scratch

 

I do not plane to make much with the wheel scratch of the machine , unless I need to add some extra sounds wile I am changing the background sound or other.

So, on this part of the machine, (korg and wheel scratch I do not plane to use much. Unless for now)

Chapter 4 - The Drum Loops

 The Drum Loops

 By now and wile I was waiting to have my hands on the kaossilator, I start to re-construct some drum loops from the machine software.

WAVDJ have12 different drum loop button styles:
funk, techno, rap / hip hop, dance, jazz / blus, rock, country, alternative, pop, reggae, ragtime, world / new age, and March / polka.
Each one of this styles have 6 different drum loop patterns, this make 36 configurable drum loop patterns in total.
This drum loops are made in 64 bars but can be stretch to 128 bars or how long I want hem to go, as I can change the tempo (bpm) wile I do the beats or in real time wile I play.
Means , I can make a drum with percussions long as I want and will always loop in the bpm I want !
 Fine :)

The sound of the Drum loop is limited to 47 Percussion sounds and is no way to change this sounds, the only thing I can do with the sounds in the drums is change the volume up or down or change the patterns.
I can re-construct all the drum loops in the machine or I can delete all and start from scratch but that is a very long time consuming work !
The drums sounds are very basic, they have the basic kick , hit-hats,crash, tom, etc... and the percussions are basic like : ride bell, cowbell, vibraslap, stick, bongo, triangle, etc... but they are all inside of the same drum board and I just can use this instruments... or not, depending of the patterns I create !

You can see the drums part of the software :

And here you have the drums part in the machine, this, as you may have guest, its all working with the software but the main point is to trigger the sounds in the buttons, the software just carry the sound files to the machine, the trick is to put the sounds inside of the software program to be activated any time I click one of this buttons :)
Basic, I click the button and will play the drum loop I set up in the software ;)

In the case of the drum loops , is no other way than re-construct the drums, beat by beat !
I can not add drum loops from other sources.

 This Drum loops part is versatile but is no way to change the sound of each instrument.
The sound of drums and percussion will have to be always the same sound, I mean... the beats are different but the drum sounds are always the same .(
The only way to change this is to have drum style files in  (.sty files) or .osm files, this (.sty files are used by Yamaha korgs) but I have been looking in the web for some time and I dont see a way to get this files with drum loops other than salsa, pop, rock and other styles not applying to me.

ABOUT THE .STY FILES
This files are pre made with all the sounds and instruments.
I need this files with much more instruments and sounds.
This is the big limitation of the program (machine)

I upload 1 of the .sty files (rock) for reference in case some one can help me out.
If you have any knowledge of this type of files just let me know:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/f9aqkq

Chapter 3

THE RETURN OF THE BEAST

Mean time, I was waiting for my Birthday present :) I get my hands back to the machine and start to connect everything back to the PC, this time, I didn't connect with my music PC, I connect to my personal PC, a old IBM.

This time was no problems at all  !
I did exactly the same installation of the program and the drive for XP and the program + machine start to work perfect.
So, what the reason I ad so much trouble to get this machine to work on my music PC and on this one was working fine ?
The problem was because the mouse socket was connected with a usb adapter and the pins of the plug from the machine didn't get exactly the same effect and provoke bad function...

Luckily, I found 1 of this Machines for sale on ebay and I get all the images to post here.

Again, the sale of this WAVDJ (machine) was without the software !!

So, here is the plugs I talk about. Many of the PCs on this days do not have this connection, now is all in USB.

All its plug and working fine for now :)