Creating chords like DeepChord?

[Barfunkel]

Throw your computer out the window, and get an Akai S950, an Alesis MMT8, a Yamaha DX100, a mixing board, one multi effects processor, and a Roland vs880.

This is so easy to do with hardware. It is only a bitch when you try to get the same sound in a computer. It isn't very hard to make a dubby techno record.

12 bit chord stab --->mixer --->effects --->recorder --->resample --->repeat

This right here. I seems to me a lot of these chord sounds are sampled then sequenced out and filtered/effected. Lots of tape delay and reverb. Look into the Roland Space Echo series. They're old, and cranky, and kinda expensive. There's a lot of regeneration in the delays which adds to the sound as well. I've also heard the Basic Channel guys master down to tape which adds to the fullness of the sound as well.

Don't dismiss NI's FM-8 though!!!

Space Echos are great of course but there's also another way to get those long, lo-fi delays: use an analog mixer, send the sound you want to a delay FX, set the delay to have just one delay, not multiple, then instead of using aux returns or such, just patch the out cables of the delay FX to a normal mixer channel, then use the aux send of the channel to send the signal back to the FX. If you set the aux send amount just right and EQ it (roll of some highs and lows), you'll end up with looooong delays, which degrade over time. I've never heard a plugin that can do this right, the fact that the signal goes through analog circuitry dozens of times, gradually degrading the signal, adding noise just can't be emulated yet.

[zongo]

The GSI tape echo is a great RE-201 simulation (and it's very cheap, like 10 euros or so). The UAD solution is even better, specially with very high feedback setting, and the spring reverb module is also better sounding than GSI's one. I don't have the UAD plug yet so I'm using the GSI plug and a convolution reverb ontop with a good spring reverb IR instead of GSI's reverb module.

I gave the GSI dll to a friend that owns a vintage RE-201 so he could compare and he said it is a very accurate simulation.

I could conclude saying that analog fx hardware sounds the best but if you don't have the money to buy all those gears then there are "in the box" solutions that sound quite good if you know what you're doing.

Ps : If you don't own a tape echo simulation, you can try adding the free plugin called JB Ferox after your regular delay and play with the knobs (mostly hysteresis, saturation and tape speed).
If you're running Ableton Live, put the delay + Ferox combo on a send channel, set the delay's feedback to zero and then activate the Live's internal feedback. Doing this, each echo will be degraded by Ferox' algorithm.

[Ronny Pries]

Synthwise you guys think way too complex. It doesn't need anything specific, just hit that c-minor on a low octave and you'll be fine with almost any polyphonic synth.

I spot a lot of old DX7 and PPG patches on those old Basic Channel etc tracks.

Think easy!

[cloutier]

you guys are making it sound like this is some gross impossibility to do via software, but it seems there's some people out there doing it relatively simply.


i'm actually quite curious as to how to do it now as well, since i live in nyc and buying gear on my approaching unemployment is also a gross impossibility.


i think i heard / read somewhere that marcel dettmann is basically software only (possibly ableton over logic, which is weird), and his stuff sounds pretty ace. granted, d+m sure does help on the final product, but i'm just sayin'...any confirm / deny on this?

[Atheory]

you guys are making it sound like this is some gross impossibility to do via software, but it seems there's some people out there doing it relatively simply.


i'm actually quite curious as to how to do it now as well, since i live in nyc and buying gear on my approaching unemployment is also a gross impossibility.


i think i heard / read somewhere that marcel dettmann is basically software only (possibly ableton over logic, which is weird), and his stuff sounds pretty ace. granted, d+m sure does help on the final product, but i'm just sayin'...any confirm / deny on this?

yes, i believe he is software only alright. he mentions it in interviews.

[Ronny Pries]

Would this help:

http://www.ronnypries.de/tmp/ ??

Some barebone dubchord tutorial i wrote a while ago...

[breakitdown]

Space Echos are great of course but there's also another way to get those long, lo-fi delays: use an analog mixer, send the sound you want to a delay FX, set the delay to have just one delay, not multiple, then instead of using aux returns or such, just patch the out cables of the delay FX to a normal mixer channel, then use the aux send of the channel to send the signal back to the FX. If you set the aux send amount just right and EQ it (roll of some highs and lows), you'll end up with looooong delays, which degrade over time. I've never heard a plugin that can do this right, the fact that the signal goes through analog circuitry dozens of times, gradually degrading the signal, adding noise just can't be emulated yet.

Try - audio damages dub delay. The regen settings really distort up the delay signal over time.

[coldfuture]

you guys are making it sound like this is some gross impossibility to do via software, but it seems there's some people out there doing it relatively simply.


i'm actually quite curious as to how to do it now as well, since i live in nyc and buying gear on my approaching unemployment is also a gross impossibility.


i think i heard / read somewhere that marcel dettmann is basically software only (possibly ableton over logic, which is weird), and his stuff sounds pretty ace. granted, d+m sure does help on the final product, but i'm just sayin'...any confirm / deny on this?

yes, i believe he is software only alright. he mentions it in interviews.

Yes I believe its true. Also, Dettmann's tonal style is quite easy to mimic using Ableton stock plugins for the most part. I took a few samples and made some effects racks the other day in Ableton on a flight to Norcal and pretty quickly made something that sounds like his recent work. The same atmosphere and texture is possible with only a few stock DAW tools.