Change of plan: cutting down to the minimum

The Lounge General Discussion
#41

I don’t have much gear as I’ve sold a bunch to get to what I’m using. However being stuck as I am generally just using hardware over software, though my pc is right at hand it’s not my go to. Been a bit disappointed that I sold my minilogue xd when I moved up to the OT over the DT. And have been using VST’s for polyphonic synthesis. What I have sounds good, but not easily being able to connect my sub phatty’s controls to change parameters has been a bummer and I think I’m just going to sell it and go for the hydrasynth desktop module.

From the demo’s and seeing all of it’s features I don’t think there is really anything it can’t do and sound great doing it. Will it sound like my Moog, with 3 full oscillators and from the vintage patch demo’s I’ve heard I don’t think I’ll really be missing it that much with 8 notes of polyphony and freedom from my pc again. Not to mention controlling that thing via the OT.

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#42

In my very specific circumstance, that’s exactly what modular did for me. I just couldn’t get the sound I wanted out of all the gear I used to have. Building a case full of modules I’ve picked myself based on how I can build specific types of sounds has been a revelation.

Modular is never really the answer to any question, but it has helped me learn to do a lot more with a lot less.

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#43

Having had a fairly large hardware setup at one time, I certainly prefer something stripped down to the essentials these days. I do however use a hybrid setup and finish most of my songs in my DAW. Not really a “live jam” or “dawless” person excepting when I DJ.

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#44

This is exactly the path I have taken as well.

I own over 30 synths, and do not plan to sell any of them in the foreseeable future. However, only a few of them are setup at a given time. In addition, the said situation also allows me to have more than one setup available, if working on multiple projects or tracks.

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#45

Interesting setup. How are the pedals routed? How do you record? What’s that thing behind the Moog stack?

Re: gear. For me, the number of units of gear I have increases complexity of the setup due to routing. I’m never sure how I want to connect stuff. I always end up switching things. Like, I want the AH in front of the Cycles. Then I decide, I want it in front of the Microcosm.

That, and deciding on what to use as the master clock. I’ll settle on something for like a week or so and then change it again, and again. I don’t even have enough MIDI cables to connect everything, at the moment.

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#46

This may or may not be useful as we’re all different. But my most productive setup is one sound source and one sampler. Getting a second DT after the 1.30 update has been a revelation. In less than a month, I created enough material for an EP from just using Ether and DT. Now, I’m into a second EP using SubH and DT. I tend to sample things very quickly (anything goes really as DT can shape anything with resampling), spending no more than half an hour tops. Then, I put the sound source away and focus purely on getting tracks going on DT. One pattern, some LFOs and mutes is enough. 3 or 4 hours later, I have a track done. I cannot stress how important less is more is for me. At one point, I had OT, DT, DN, AK, and Roland Boutiques and I didn’t get anywhere with them. YMMV.

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#47

SSL SiX.

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#48

Totally on board with the idea of focusing on a cut down setup.

Only question for @vasidudu is, how content are you with only having a mono output for your fancy fx boxes?

(Don’t have much experience with that sort of thing so it could very well be a non issue)

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#49

That’s great to hear mate! I really like what you’ve been getting out of the Fusion. I guess it’s about each of us finding the sweet spot with gear/setup these days with so much choice, as well as the sweet spots with the sounds.

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#50

Pay day = Friday = Ether day

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#51

I’m in a very similar boat after recently selling off a bunch of unused gear. Im a big “in the box guy” and I’m down to 104hp of Euro, a MN O coast, some MIDI controllers and Ableton. That’s it. It’s been an incredible learning experience with synthesis in general and I honestly have no GAS at all. I mostly work with pulling sounds out of euro and sampling, layering and mangling them in Ableton along with VST’s, mainly for FX, polyphonic content and some samples.

My fav part had been synthesising drum sounds. I always hated flicking through samples for something that felt new to me, now I have ball dialling them in from scratch.

My lil’ system:

Great thread btw, good lunchbreak reading.

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#52

I don’t know how long you’ve been doing this music making thing, but I applaud your decision, minimalism (in all things) is probably what is coming to us all anyway.

I have too much stuff, more stuff than I have the time to learn expertly. Maybe now isn’t the best time to sell everything though, prices are bad (at least in GB) so maybe box it all up, and sell it when the market is a little better?

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#53

I’ve heard his debate many times. Getting things done is easier with less. Of course it is. Less things to mix together. I think 3 instruments is the cut off point though. When you drop down to just one its okay for an occasional track but is a yawn-fest for an album.

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#54

Lately when I listen to certain records, I hear a sort of mix of parts. Almost like an 8 or 10 piece band. And one band member may only be a certain type of hats toward the end of track that just peppers it in a certain way.

My setup is very minimal at the moment, a DNK, guitars, Iridum, Bigsky and Timeline. It’s more than enough. And with Ableton in the mix, the possibilities and sound palette is of course wide, if not infinite.

But still I love the idea of an individual player as machine. Of course, a couple of roles could be taken care of by one machine. So maybe one only needs 4 or 5 machines at max, depending what they are.

I’m always attracted to the mixing board.

For me, I keep coming back to the idea of, ok, if I could just pack up a car with instruments and hot tail it to the woods, ready to bunker down for 3 months or so to make some tunes, what would I take?

For me it’s pretty clear. A mixing board, monitors, interface and laptop. And maybe 3 or 4 machines.

Minimal, simple and even complex recordings are possible with very few machines, maybe only one, but that tonal pallete will have its limited characteristics (which again is fine if that’s the aim) unless you enjoy overdubs.

Still I come back to the actors, 8 or 9 players in a band is a fully fledged outfit that covers the frequency spectrum in a full way, offering multiple methods of approach when mixing all the ingredients together.

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#55

In a nutshell. Perfect

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#56

Unless that one machine is the Octatrack :wink:

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#57

Yes, I would say it depends a lot one the specific machine. A MnM can cover a broad range of sonic and sequencing territories, for example. A MnM and a MD are already a lot to handle and, IMHO, more than enough to make music without the sound to be boring.

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#58

Hi there,

My pedals are routed into the SSL Six (behind the Moogs) as 2 separate effects loops.

This means (at the moment) I have the Mood -> H9 and the Particle -> Polara that I can apply to each Moog and whatever else I have playing along (it was the PO-12 last night, which was awesome fun).

I currently record into a Spire Studio, which is a little device that was clearly designed for singer songwriter types but works rather conveniently (at the push of a nice big button) for grabbing stuff when I want to. It’s got a great little soundcheck function which gets everything levelled nicely before recording, and when I’ve finished, the file can be quickly uploaded directly to Google Drive or Dropbox (or even Soundcloud).
Unknown

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#59

The idea that one machine can be boring seems a bit shortsighted. Look at all the guitar-only, or piano-only albums out there.

Miles Davis didn’t seem to be limited by only playing the trumpet, is what I’m saying. And that’s kind of the OP’s point I think. Focussing on one instrument lets you really get a lot more out of it.

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#60

Are there a lot of Miles Davis albums where he’s alone with his trumpet ?

I don’t think there’s a general rule here.

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