So I’m looking for a looping solution for live techno improv. My setup is a Tempest and Norand mono. The plan is to have some patterns on the Tempest and then improv some lines on the mono. I would like to loop the mono and/or the Tempest while I introduce and transition to new sounds and patterns. All pretty straightforward. I’ve tried an octatrack but I didn’t like the workflow much. Options I’m considering are:
looper pedal like the Boss RC500
Blackbox
Maschine+
The blackbox and Maschine are appealing because they have some FX built in and would allow me to also sequence a few other sounds (perc loops etc). They would also allow me to work without a mixer. The looper pedal is a simpler setup and that is also appealing. Is there anything else I should consider?
If you want to record and loop sequences from Tempest and Norand Mono live i wouldn’t use the Blackbox. Looping on it introduces clicks sometimes. There are a few tricks to eliminate clicks but in my experience it wasn’t working good enough for that.
I tried an RC-505 mkii briefly but it was looper overkill given that it is very large and I really don’t need 5 loops. Also, it’s plastic and pretty ugly IMHO. I ended up getting an Octatrack mkii instead which now acts as the hub for the rest of my gear and handles mixing, FX, and yes, looping.
Edit: another option could be to use an iPad running Loopy Pro which is going to give you the most functionality by far in a small package.
This track was actually improvised on the fly as one pattern with a bunch of conditional parts. I decided I wanted to record it though, so I spread the manual changes I was doing with it over 8 patterns in song mode, then recorded it. It sounds nearly identical to the improvised version with me hitting some occasional mutes etc. All Syntakt.
Not experienced in modular, but decided to start building first case in my life. First modules arrived, and WOW, I like it… I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. I can’t wait for the next modules I ordered
Hey all! Want to share a couple of tracks I have made recently. All tracks I plan to release are recorded live as single takes through some combination of eurorack/octatrack/ob-6. So I start until I arrive at some combination of sonic elements, typically some weird sounding shit on the modular and then add a kick and go from there until I hit my working track.
Im a big fan of the likes of Regis and Surgeon and most of the 90s Birmingham techno. Finally have come to a consistent sound I really enjoy making - really focusing on the aspect of long form simple structure with small gradual changes - tracks made for mixing
Have yet to release anything properly yet but dream of starting my own label later this year to put some tracks out on wax and have some great artists in the bklyn scene I’d also like to get released in the near future as well.
Some little snippets here - they have been mixed but I’ll need to go back and do a better mix down eventually and are still un-mastered.
Thank you! My set-up is constantly changing - signal flow wise that is. I’ve changed a lot of gear over the years but have slowed down to a pretty good point where everything works and I can focus on a few key pieces at a time.
The only set formula for how I mix is I’ll multitrack everything into ableton and I wont have it coming in loud, usually I don’t go more than -10dB - always seperate the kick and/or bass elements and pretty much am using only stock plug-ins (never gotten much VSTs).
Typical things I’ll do are sidechain the kick to the bass (not always), try to remove or lower in sound resonant frequencies, have reverb on a send so I can send most of the elements to help glue it all and/or have a tape delay send to help create more space albeit at a very low volume. I’ll play around with panning from time to time for drum elements. Rarely do I ever go heavy handed with compression on a track, if I feel like its too dynamic I’ll throw one on it just to help even it out slightly but I don’t usually do much compression on an individual track - kicks are rarely compressed, I prefer to saturate or overdrive if anything. It’s pretty simple and standard stuff, but I like to think of it as trimming unnecessary fat when I go about using plugins.
On my mix bus I usually re-record it 2x. First go around is with a plugin from waves, JA37, which I swear by (so does Setaoc Mass)–it does magic! And a Shadow Hills compressor which I feel gives me an incredibly sound with compression. This round is about adding some color and taking away some dynamic range - when I’m ready to send these off to a proper mastering engineer this is the stage I plan on sending them. On round 2 (re-record) I use the shadow hills in conjunction with a saturator (not to color, but to help round off peaks) and limiter (this is to catch any final peaks and I don’t limit more than .5dB on my end) and/or do any more light compression with the SHMC.
Honestly all the technical aside, my primary focus is on the compositional element of techno such as where and how do elements evolve/change/grow over time and when the proper timing is to take out/put back. Then comes the question of how dynamic and interesting is the loop you’re working with. Can it be listened to on repeat and maintain an interesting quality that keeps your mind engaged?
Hoping this all helps in some capacity and would be more than happy to answer any more questions
