Admitting Defeat - Who knows their stuff??

[max_audioshock]

Hey Guys,

My name is Max, I am a synth player from Kent, England and I play in a band called Audioshock!

I have reached the point where I am wanting to up my game a bit and start layering big synths together live (Crystal Castles style), however I am finding it incredibly hard to work out how to do this (professionally anyway).

I currently only own a Microkorg and a Microsampler - I have tried (with my lack of technical knowledge) simply sampling my Korg into the sampler, however it is difficult to get a decent - full sound, and there is constantly issues with the timing side of it (they run out of sync etc.)

So I have admitted defeat and accepted I need to go out and spend a lot of money on awesome equipment to help me out! What things do these bands use? Or is it simply being a decent producer on the computer, and wacking them onto a keyboard?

Sorry if my knowledge is shocking, Im decent at making sounds and playing them - promise!

Any help would be incredible,

Thanks,

Max

[SanderXpander]

What kinds of sounds are you looking for?
Workstations (like the Korg M3 or Kronos series, the Yamaha Motif series or the Roland Fantom series) are generally considered to be good at layering and having a broad sound palette. The new Roland JP80 and JP50 are odd ones missing the "essential" workstation features of sampling and sequencing but they have killer sounds and good layering. However, if all you want is true synth sounds you might be better off using midi to link another synth to your Microkorg.

[billbaker]

Max,

This is not an uncommon problem.

It would help those of us inclined to give advice to have a better picture of the type of music and shows you want to play. Different genres have vastly different needs - you wouldn't want to take even an expert dub-stepper's production advice if you were playing country music covers.

You want to sample - that has it's own set of needs and recommendations but knowing what you are inclined to sample and how you want to use samples makes a difference (i.e., big dif between doing short one shot samples for drums, and trying to sync sample loops with a drum machine).

Piano is an essential for me - maybe not for you.

I wouldn't want to try and sample my piano in order to get it "on stage" in a show.

Likewise trying to sample synths without being intently aware of how your sampling rate and process changes the exact sounds it's attempting to duplicate will leave you frustrated.

So... more detail please.


BB

[max_audioshock]

Firstly, thank you both for taking your time!

This is a link to one of our songs on youtube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRS6toYMwC4

We are Electro/Rock. You'll probably be able to tell from the track that theres one main synth line all the way through that I am able to play live, which I do all on my Microkorg ( in almost all of our tracks I just switch patches around live when there is variety)

In terms of what Im aiming for, its definitely more in the dance/dubstep area - this (sorry if its just a racket to you haha) is where im left wondering what is the synth player doing here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRS6toYMwC4

Those epic layers (in the chorus), have they just been prepared/produced on a computer and downloaded?

Same in this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkbCUIm21rc the layers just build up etc. Airy leads, dirty basses - is the kind of sound I reckon im after.

Hope this is okay information?

Thanks,

[Yoa]

What you could do (though certainly not the easiest) is learn how to play multiple instruments at once. When I play stuff live, I have my MK, DX7, and kaoss stuff all set up on one side, then the digital stuff (MIDI keyboard, nano stuff, tablet) on the other. I also have a small DJ setup to play other stuff I can't play live (say, samples). It takes practise, but it's possible.

Another thing you could do is go the deadmau5 route and MIDI-sync everything and maybe have one instrument set up just for you to play. When I do this route, I usually have a sequence in Live playing via MIDI and I'm also playing the controlled instrument, so you have two parts, same sound, same instrument.

Just some ideas.

PS: that track is pretty freakin' good! I subbed to your channel.

[icarusi]

Any help would be incredible,

One thing worth looking out for is a Redsound audio to midi synchroniser. It takes any audio with a prominent beat, such as a drum, and derives a midi clock from it. I used it on a broadcast radio input and it showed me the BPM of the track playing and I could sync a drum machine to the radio. Occasionally I'd need to resync it but it locked on to a fairly wide tempo range. I used it with an RC20 loop sampler which has no clock or sync out but does output an audio drum or click.

They've updated it here:-

http://www.redsound.com/products/SoundBITEMicro.html

It doesn't have the BPM readout or full size DIN midi sockets but now includes some looping.