Me too. #Knowsshitaboutmusic
The moment I got an unquantised sequencer I stopped caring about music theory. Never looked back
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Some music theory would have improved this remix.
It sounds fine, until it reaches the bridge of the song. There’s a harmonic clash throughout the bridge because the remixer didn’t know what to do with that chord progression.’
I think that’s why remixers tend to just omit the bridge and/or other song parts like this remix of Steve Winwood’s song - he just kept the simple parts of the song
I’m sure it would have, but we’re talking about improvised techno in here and not anime trance remixes.
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They’re just examples.
Nothing stopping anyone from improvising a chord progression then remixing it live.
Now. I don’t think you need to unlearn any of the music theory you might have as you press your bottons and turn your knobs trying to reach this techno nirvana. I guess knowing music theory might come in Really handy at times. But. At the core. Knowing your knobs and buttons and posess sound sculping abilities is ace as you go along improvising techno.
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I don’t understand why a musician would write this.
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Well I don’t think a musician should be held back by silly things like understanding music.
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I know a fair number of musos who say that too - part of the rock and roll mythos/tradition. Doesn’t affect my experience playing with them all that much - other than a minor incident in which I had to convince one to tune the guitar so that I could play along on synth without sounding too out of tune with the guitar.
Western music theory hates rhythm so much that, last I checked, you can’t copyright a rhythm, only melody.
So if you aren’t making sick Bach covers, I kind of get it.
On the other hand, there is a lot of useful stuff that can be extracted and applied to dance music and other rhythmic stuff.
It’s probably a good thing ! The whole intellectual property thing is not that old after all… But I get what you mean.
I still think too many musicians suffer from an impostor syndrome.
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Chords in techno = 
Melody in techno = 
Bassline in techno = 
A beat, some noise , thats about all it needs init?
Music theory plus techno = 
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This is one are where I’ll stay in my lane. As a software engineer, I can confidently assert that software patents are unnecessary and likely harmful to innovation. But that’s because we can usually make a metric fuckton of money on our code before even completing a patent application. (Which is eye-wateringly expensive, particularly if you go international).
Music - IDK. It’s a tough business, and while I really dislike the role debt plays in the music industry, I really have no skin in that game.
Can’t disagree with that.
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To change the subject ever so slightly, I’ve just had a revelation re: improvisation with the performance mode on my Polyend Tracker.
I’ve a long way to go before I’m instinctive enough to perform with it to it’s full potential, but Jesus, it’s like someone invented an improvised techno mode that’s just for me.
More excitement will follow.
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=
Acquiring musical knowledge
At one point, you probably did know Fuck-all and decided to be a punk. By now, however, you’ve obviously gained vast amounts of knowledge in your music of choice (albeit not “proper” music school type knowledge). I venture a wild guess: you are not quite as Punk as you once were either.
That’s OK, we all get old.
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Less pedantic too.
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= acquiring operational knowledge
Not the same thing as music theory.
Tracker is giving you a good time then? Thats cool man. Trackers and their horizontal cousins are cool.
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I’m really enjoying it.
There’s a lot to not like about it, but I’m having a lovely time with it.
I think it has the potential to be a really powerful bit of kit for live techno.
Just thought I would share my first Live PA, and also first improvised techno set. Very early 90’s warehouse vibes. Hardware used :
Novation Tracks : just the 4 sample tracks as it was the first time ever touching one of them and it was my friends… thankfully he had a few drum sounds that fit what I was going for…
Lyra-8 : main drone/synth and also using it as a FX unit(delay/distortion) for the whole setup
JMT NOISY-mic2 : vocals/additional synth/noise
Really enjoyed doing this and will be doing more improvised sets in the future. Obviously there are things to be learned for the first time and one I can see are more drums change ups and more areas with less drums… and more changes to drones…
Next time I will be using my own drum machine(or rather a actual drum machine vs just sample playback).
Comments/suggestion always welcome!
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And another one. Just went for it an hour ago.
Analog Rytm MK2 + Digitone + small mastering chain in Abelton, no external effects besides that.
No pattern change again. :>
Just dialed in and adapted.
Free for download as .wav
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