Hi everyone. I'm a Caustic beginner, and I started exploring its potentialities by trying to cover some electronic music I like. I'm into Gorillaz's Shy-town now, and I can say I'm pretty doing well. All tracks sounds good (drums, drones, arpeggios, the main synth, etc), and I'm now stuck in little details.
I can't find a passable way to reproduce the really short echo-ed sound you can hear throughout the song (I'm NOT taking about the high-pitch arpeggio), the little "yeeee" you can hear at exactly 0:02-0:04 in the YouTube video I linked. That is shortly followed by its echo, plus another similar sound a little lower in pitch. Another variation of it is audible around 0:13.
I tried using a Subsynth machine (with delay filter on the mixer), playing a A# with quick decay and setting a low pass filter with a non-immediate attack. It's something, but anyway it sounds very far from the desired result.
Any idea? Someone have any clue?
Modular. Pcm. Subsynyh. Enuff said.
I don't waste my time recreating others creation i waste my time, creating my own creations. Is u a puppet on a string? Two follow their music sooo much in possession? Or is there a reason more behind recreation?
Booooooooring! Yes, I'm trying to learn Caustic by perfectly imitating other's sound. I think being able to reproduce a particular, specific sound means I will be able to create every other thing pops in my head. Is it a crime? Does it make me a puppet? No. If you think so just don't reply, please.
Good luck with learning Caustic!
There are so many clever people in here (i´m not - YET!), so I hope you get some tips & tricks, since you are so specific about what sound you want.
-Britt
https://soundcloud.com/squirrelonmars
https://www.youtube.com/c/squirreIs
https://www.facebook.com/squirrelonmars
I'VE NEVER SEEN MINI ARGUMENTS ON HERE IT'S CRAY!!
I'll get that sound to you asap, I learn the same way. It may take awile, so yea.
ＭＹ ＭＵＳＩＣ
My best advice at the moment, is to load up presets, and tweak them to learn and understand the function of how each synth works, be it one that plays samples (or with my content, multi-samples for instruments) or knobs in actual synthesizers to get an idea of what reacts with what, and how the tone changes, filters applied, etc....
Trust me, learning synthesis here is so much easier, if you take the time to dive in, rather than trying to understand it with other software that do not typically have such a user-friendly UI.
^ this. Everything Jason just said. I never finished one electronica/DAW sequenced song until I got Caustic, much less actually learn how synthesizers produce specific sounds. I am now proud to say I can usually tell how a certain sound was made, and more often than not I can reproduce it or something damn close in caustic. I'm not near my headphones at the moment but when I am I will check this out for you. VIVA CAUSTIC.
And let me say that learning by imitation is invaluable and extremely important. I work in many genres of music, and at multiple points in my life have earned most of my income from my music - mainly in playing and teaching piano. But it is working as a songwriter - which isn't really working by definition, because no one pays for my weird songs - that really floats my happy meal, or whatever... In songwriting, as a teenager, I would imitate songs by Pixies, radiohead, pearl jam, etc. structurally, without actually copying the notes, to try and wrap my head around just how these people came up with all these crazy things. A few songs I play to this day are built around guitar lines that I initially came up with in these "copycat" sessions. Just last year I tried to do an "imitation" of Great Dane's awesome track "invite only" on caustic (which is only truly awesome on good speakers with accurate sub-bass), both in structure and sounds, and I failed miserably, BUT the song I did come up with in the process became the first track on my debut ep. This isn't a track I'm overly proud of, but a couple people like it, and it admittedly got a lot better once I gave up going for the great dane sound and just fleshed it out with my own creativity. My point is that it would have NEVER gotten written if I hadn't tried to copy someone else's sounds, and in the process I learned a lot. I actually tried recently to copy this tracks sounds in caustic (without sampling of course), and got WAY closer, but I'm still missing something...
¿que onda, pachuco?
I agree with the above. Imitation is a great way to learn a number of different skills. Pick a favourite song and try to copy it as closely as possible with Caustic and you will learn something about songwriting, synthesis, production, etc.
In the jazz world beginner musicians are positively encouraged to learn famous solos transcribing them by ear and either writing them down or just learning them. It's the same with any genre of music, before you can play in that style you have to learn the vocabulary just as you do with any other form of language. Babies don't come out of the womb freestylin' do they?
Well the sound you want can't be made with the machine's available in Caustic and here's why...
The sound is a typical FM sound which by itself is quite easy to produce but there is a pitch glide on it. This glide effect could be made by sequence it in mono mode (polyphony set to one).
But the sound need to be polyphonic since there are three notes played that overlap each other slightly.
Your best bet in this case is to make the sound with the modular, then export a few notes and import them into the pcm. Note that on the first pass the sound glides up and on the second pass it glides down so you need to create two presets or at least modyfy your preset between the exports.
I'm at work now but I could try to make it when I'm at home.
Yeah, or set up three FMs, or modulars, all monophonic, to generate the entire thing and export that, which I still can't listen to, but should have ability to within the hour.
¿que onda, pachuco?
Yeah, or set up three FMs, or modulars, all monophonic, to generate the entire thing and export that, which I still can't listen to, but should have ability to within the hour.
¿que onda, pachuco?
Thanks to human dynamics, there is not one set path an individual learns with. I feel that if you're a beginner, attempting to replicate something you hear another artist create is a rather useful way to learn. In my opinion, this example represents the importance of the means rather than the end. It's gained knowledge that can be used elsewhere. How many people have created generic drum patterns that have no doubt been seen in 8783278846532 other songs? What was the purpose? For me, that served as a way to take a solid foundation of something, and see how it would sound if I were to say, add some 16th hihats at a part of the pattern. That was a very general example.
I've tried doing covers of famous artists' songs, and it's not nearly as easy as it sounds (for me). But the challenges faced during the process aren't only learned for the sake of reproduction, but kind of a "crash course", depending on the subject. If you were to sit and do a cover from scratch, you have a lot to do aside from recreating the notes and beats. You have velocity-editing to endure. You may have to adjust polyphony appropriately, and in that area alone, 8 voices may not be enough if you're trying to do something complex... which forces a challenge you may not have anticipated. Or maybe you notice that snareB sounds better with kickA than snareA. At that point, when you start making bigger changes, you may kickstart your think tank and decide to scrap the idea of doing a cover and start a fresh project. This happens to me all too often for me to ignore any merit.
You came off a bit harsh, dude, but I don't think you meant to.
VIOLENT NEUROSIS (YouTube) ...https://www.youtube.com/user/ViolentNeurosis
The last few posts remind me that increasing grid resolution is also useful, and don't forget about the Vocoder or Machine Input on the Modular, as they each open new worlds of sonic potential.
VIOLENT NEUROSIS (YouTube) ...https://www.youtube.com/user/ViolentNeurosis
Good points. Idk if i ever learn this at all. Cause i had someone sit me down in doing alot of dry runs with my ideas and timing was always off. And idea after idea u lose a few if u don't have it all the way.
sooo practice yea but nothing like creating someone song. I always look at cover tunes as i commented. Blowing smoking in the wrong direction of the craft of talent in the original artist. And in the talent of support around the original artist.
My up bringing was solely on originality or don't ever call my person an artist. Cause it was not worth the copycat if i had two not draw from my own my mind my own creative thought process.
So yea my artistic expression is stifle because i can't copy a single thang. Mental & emotional scars.
Thanx zero.
Now, just intimadated two recreate a peace of someone else is music. Or someone else's artform afraid of butchering.
Lol no worse than the english language right!!! Lol
I always thought we did. The spit is life experiences u either have alot two say from deep root karma. Or scared shitless two not spit. But flow. And actual making music..... is all engineering. Most of the frestylez ain't songs without the production of the engineer. Most is just random babble about how everyone calls my post. Huhhhh!!! And i can't freestyle a lick!!!
Thank you all guys!
At the end I decided to go for a simple Subsynth using very short notes, all glided (and a filter). The result is not perfect nor identical to the original, but at least it does make sense now :)
Thanks again!