Playing all the instruments

[Theo Verelst]

Working on the continued saga of using the hidden processing capacities of my instruments to (indeed) get sounds musical enough that I want to play them, I regularly take the two big keyboards with a different sound on them as if they are "split" setup, so piano and bass or pad and synthesizer, etc can sound together.

 

Also, I enjoy (when the sound is right enough) to take the fairly accurate Kurzweil sequencer, and set up a little jam with bass and drums of some kind. For me, that is successful when the sound is o.k. or better, which out of the box I seldom find the case, for pretty much all demos I've heard. That is to distinguish I really need that sound to be good, or I feel no motivation feel like the IT-er behind a computer that happens to run music software that happens to produce something they call sound.

 

Anyhow, with inspiring enough sound, the challenge becomes to set up a jam or cover a song by taking on a number of instruments, like bass, drums, piano, synthesizer, a bit like producing  a Midi file of a song, but now for more realistic and inspiring instruments.

 

That is hard. First of all your setup will have to do production tricks to escape the sample player sound, as well as that you need to play bass and drums o the keyboard, which isn't trivial, then, the mix needs to work somehow magically, and you need to be proficient enough on the "virtual" instrument to make it believable.

 

Just a basic (not necessarily simple) blues is already a challenge, so tackling harder popular songs is quite the challenge!

 

T

[ProfD]

51 minutes ago, Theo Verelst said:

Anyhow, with inspiring enough sound, the challenge becomes to set up a jam or cover a song by taking on a number of instruments, like bass, drums, piano, synthesizer, a bit like producing  a Midi file of a song, but now for more realistic and inspiring instruments.

 

That is hard. First of all your setup will have to do production tricks to escape the sample player sound, as well as that you need to play bass and drums o the keyboard, which isn't trivial, then, the mix needs to work somehow magically, and you need to be proficient enough on the "virtual" instrument to make it believable.

Technology is a blessing and a curse when it comes to producing non-electronic music. 

 

The curse is that it tricks musicians into believing they can play all instruments.😉

 

For non-electronic music, the *problem* with that approach is that it often sounds like one musician is playing all parts.

 

Especially if one is not a multi-instrumentalist who can think and play like a musician who plays [insert instrument here].

 

There is a reason certain genres/styles of music still rely heavily on the interplay between musicians. 

 

IMO, music sounds and feels better when there is a collective input from different minds and talent.

 

As I've mentioned before, I don't believe Rock and Country music will ever be overrun with songs produced using sequencers.😁

 

Otherwise, enjoy the challenge of creating sequenced jams.  Try not to get too discouraged if/when it doesn't *sound* quite right.  It's mostly *your* fault(s).🤣😎

[PianoMan51]

Theo,

 

You are absolutely right! Having the right sounds can be inspirational. And then when you achieve that sound, going further into songs more complex than blues is really challenging. 
 

You have been sending us examples of your exploration in sounds for many years. I know for me I sometimes didn’t realize exactly what you were aiming at. But now I think I understand better. 
 

All of us here make our own jams. Some with sequenced tracks, and others just in our minds. 
 

Take care of yourself.

 

Jack

[D. Gauss]

I just try to actually play all the "real" instruments rather than struggle with pushing buttons forever.  (drums, bass, guitar, etc.)  I find it much easier (and waaaay more fun) to bang out a simple drum beat on a real kit instead of tinkering for hours pushing buttons to program something that is merely "passable."

 

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, D. Gauss said:

I just try to actually play all the "real" instruments rather than struggle with pushing buttons forever.  (drums, bass, guitar, etc.)  I find it much easier (and waaaay more fun) to bang out a simple drum beat on a real kit instead of tinkering for hours pushing buttons to program something that is merely "passable."

 

Me too, I'm pretty much analog. I play guitar and have a good variety for different sounds. I also play bass, percussion and I sing. I do have a Fishman Triple Play pickup which allows me to play virtually any MID plugin instrument with a guitar, that covers piano, pipe organs, choirs, etc. Most of the time I find a super simple arrangement of the song is the most effective result. 

[Theo Verelst]

Sometimes I listen to Espen Kraft nitting an analog sound (through YT...) and like it fine, perhaps depending on the music style, which included sort of standard analog patches  and of course some knowledge about effects.

 

That too is using instruments for different tracks, and also is a more difficult activity than it might seem. The challenge is what I like besides the good music, and the alternative bass sounds are a great many, each with their own style of playing.

 

For some of the advanced I think putting down some instruments on (virtual) tape isn't the main challenge, but achieving a certain narrowly defined production accuracy.

 

T