interesting dub chord / stab sounds...

[hydrogen]

I understand knowing the techniques and stuff is helpful but to break down stuff to that detail just brings me to a place like studying art history, when I'd much rather be painting

I set out to try and recreate the exact same pads in the track mentioned in the original post, but half way through I got bored and started making my own music.

this is genius.

[cloutier]

i'm not trying to copy it, but just trying to understand how certain sounds that i really enjoy are made. i do it with plenty of tracks, and hope to combine them and manipulate them in to my own stuff in the future.

but sometimes i have something in my head that i absolutely know i want, but i've got no clue how to make it, so i'm asking - this being the most recent one.

[jessejames]

but sometimes i have something in my head that i absolutely know i want, but i've got no clue how to make it

Welcome to the unbelievably frustrating and disheartening world of making techno. It takes quite some time before you can make what you want with ease.

And it is neverending.

I remember a few years ago, I was making a track and things suddenly started clicking. I was able to build the track up easily and it sounded good. I was so excited, I called my friend and told him, "I finally figured it out. I now know how to make techno."

Know what he said to me?

Something along the lines of, "There will be many many more."

And it has held true. Every great thing you learn, every breakthrough you have, is just a small step to conquering the entire mountain range, which you or I or anyone may never get to.

[Phase Ghost]

Are you drawing the notes in ableton or playing by hand with a midi controller and recording the notes? IMO, there's a huge difference between the two. When playing by hand, you're going to get the notes hitting at different times, being slightly off tempo and different velocities for each key. That's where the organic quality comes from. You can adjust these things by hand, but I don't feel like it translates as well.

It's pretty much the only way I do chords. I'll just play for a while and pick out what I like and make a few midi loops from those to alternate through the track.

As mentioned previously, a lot of this stuff that sounds like chords, might not be from a synth at all. You can get some really interesting things happening when you slow a sample way down.

I really with I wasn't at work right now. I'm feeling inspired.

[Hades]

Welcome to the unbelievably frustrating and disheartening world of making techno. It takes quite some time before you can make what you want with ease.
...
Every great thing you learn, every breakthrough you have, is just a small step to conquering the entire mountain range, which you or I or anyone may never get to.

absolutely !!
for every small thing you learn, there's still a million other things out there you haven't properly figured out yet.

also, don't forget the chance factor.
don't think that all these sounds are made deliberately.
a lot of great sounds were just discovered by chance, by fiddling about and trying out new things.
it's not always a big laid-out plan, but just a thing that happens by coincidence along the way.

[simonb]

Welcome to the unbelievably frustrating and disheartening world of making techno. It takes quite some time before you can make what you want with ease.

And it is neverending.

I remember a few years ago, I was making a track and things suddenly started clicking. I was able to build the track up easily and it sounded good. I was so excited, I called my friend and told him, "I finally figured it out. I now know how to make techno."

Know what he said to me?

Something along the lines of, "There will be many many more."

And it has held true. Every great thing you learn, every breakthrough you have, is just a small step to conquering the entire mountain range, which you or I or anyone may never get to.

You've summed up my feelings about producing pretty well there, it really is a neverending and often frustrating journey!

[::BLM::]

also, don't forget the chance factor.
don't think that all these sounds are made deliberately.
a lot of great sounds were just discovered by chance, by fiddling about and trying out new things.
it's not always a big laid-out plan, but just a thing that happens by coincidence along the way.

Yep.

Most things I do that sound great, I never set out to do.

The most annoying thing for me is when you have a patch on a synth that you love, but you cant quite figure out how you got to that point because its been used and saved over for an extensive time period.

[::BLM::]

also, don't forget the chance factor.
don't think that all these sounds are made deliberately.
a lot of great sounds were just discovered by chance, by fiddling about and trying out new things.
it's not always a big laid-out plan, but just a thing that happens by coincidence along the way.

Yep.

Most things I do that sound great, I never set out to do.

The most annoying thing for me is when you have a patch on a synth that you love, but you cant quite figure out how you got to that point because its been used and saved over for an extensive time period.

then i would leave it. Save the patch and midi for a other track that it will work in

im not talking about using the sound or anything. im talking about how i created it. I have a few patches on my prophet that i have no idea how i created.