KVR Audio

ras.s · Post by **ras.s** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:22 am

.....and just for that reason, a very simple, rudimentary hardware rompler might just be the thing you could find useful. Even after saying that's not the route your willing to trod. Consider a simple box, one of those nineties things with a two line LCD screen and buttons for diving into menus that will make you cringe at the thought of actually synthesizing something of your own on the damned thing. Use it for nothing else than just playing. No synth-noodling or sound design, but practising and playing. Get a piano tone at your finger tips that resembles the sound but is nowhere near an actual piano. Make sure it has a headphone jack so you can connect cheap computer speakers to it so you can hear it without any fuss about connections. Forget about interacting with a computer and the modulations and the filters and all the sound design jazz and the next new shiny thing or the old ones gathering digital dust and just focus on the musical content for a while. Forget about loops and stuff and come up with a tune and play it throughout with a full structure, with the intro and the verse and the chorus parts and the bridges and the build ups and the climax and come up with an ending instead of fading out. Practice, compose, rehearse and play, then do it again before hitting record. You can do that with the stuff you got, but a simple hardware box (one simple hardware box!) sets you free from the computer and the endless possibilities it offers.

bobhva · Post by **bobhva** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 1:45 am

ras.s wrote:.....and just for that reason, a very simple, rudimentary hardware rompler might just be the thing you could find useful. Even after saying that's not the route your willing to trod. Consider a simple box, one of those nineties things with a two line LCD screen and buttons for diving into menus that will make you cringe at the thought of actually synthesizing something of your own on the damned thing. Use it for nothing else than just playing. No synth-noodling or sound design, but practising and playing. Get a piano tone at your finger tips that resembles the sound but is nowhere near an actual piano. Make sure it has a headphone jack so you can connect cheap computer speakers to it so you can hear it without any fuss about connections. Forget about interacting with a computer and the modulations and the filters and all the sound design jazz and the next new shiny thing or the old ones gathering digital dust and just focus on the musical content for a while. Forget about loops and stuff and come up with a tune and play it throughout with a full structure, with the intro and the verse and the chorus parts and the bridges and the build ups and the climax and come up with an ending instead of fading out. Practice, compose, rehearse and play, then do it again before hitting record. You can do that with the stuff you got, but a simple hardware box (one simple hardware box!) sets you free from the computer and the endless possibilities it offers.

^^^^^^ This is such a great idea. I have a Yamaha PSR-273 somewhere in storage that I could dig out. I think it would actually help me to get away from the computer for a bit and concentrate on learning to actually play something. Thank you very much for this great suggestion!

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 8:37 am

Agreed. I always advice beginners not to buy one single plugin or sample library for at least the first year or so. Learn your DAW first, use all the bundled stuff and learn to use that inside out. Only once you've mastered that, look further for what's available.

Stop writing checks, start writing music.
A fool with a tool is still a fool.

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 8:58 am

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:38 am

Do what I did and sell all the stuff you don't "need"....then buy it all back

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:19 am

bobhva wrote:I started this journey October 31st, 2015 when Steam had a sale on Sonar(steam/artist version) + Zeta+2 for only $99. I had a passing interest in music so I thought this would be a great option to test the waters. Since then I have spent so much time shopping for that "one more plugin" that would get me where I wanted to be that I have neglected actually learning the things that I should have. I have no delusions of being a great musician/producer/mix engineer... I just enjoy playing with all my toys and if I ever make something that 1 person enjoys then I will have more than accomplished what I set out to do. The problem was(is) that I have spent more time researching plugins, buying plugins, updating plugins, etc. than I have learning what I need to actually make something. Don't get me wrong, I have learned so much in this time and I have made some progress. I just want others who are just starting out to avoid this trap that I fell into. I have so much stuff that I don't really do anything but tinker with it. No, seriously I have more than most people that actually make music probably have. It is ridiculous... Serum, Spire, ACE, Bazille, Hive, Zebra 2, EZ-keys, EZ-Drummer2, Addictive Drums 2, TAL Audio synths, all AAS products, several Native Instruments and UVI products and so many more... Then there are the presets, and sample libraries... and effects plugins, 142 plugins from Waves alone. Oh, and lets not forget Ableton Live which I have hardly used. I am not bragging about all this stuff! Even though I love having it all, I would probably do things differently if I were to start over again. On a positive note I could never purchase another thing and have everything that I could ever "need" for a lifetime of playing with music. I know that people joke about there being no such thing as "having too many plugins", but it is true that you can have more than you need. I am trying so hard right now to break this pattern that I have fallen into and I just wanted to share my personal experience. If this post can help just 1 person avoid this problem that I have created for myself than I have done a good thing. I am going to try to start doing much more learning and a whole lot less buying from now on! Wish me luck...

I completely feel where you are coming from. I've been kind of stuck in this no-music zone lately as my mind has been on other things. I'm still periodically checking KVR though because I DO want to get back into making music, I just need to get my studio setup in my new location.

Don't feel so guilty, if anything at least we are feeding the creative minds and their families behind these great tools.

Here's what I own that i barely use..

Ableton Live lite 9 (Tempted to upgrade to full and buy a Push2) ,Apple Logic X, Bitwig Studio, Harrison Mixbus 3
U&I Metasynth 5, Togu Audio Line Tal-Sampler, NI Komplete 10, Sonic Charge Permut8, Plogue ChipCrusher
Xfer Records Serum, Roli Equator, IZotope Nectar Elements, Trash2, Ozone5, Alloy2, DDLY, ValhallaDSP VintageVerb
U-he Bazille, ACE, Diva, Satin, Presswerk, Uhbik, MFM2, Filterscape, Waldorf PPG Wave 3.V, Edition V2,
Cytomic The Glue, The Drop, Accsone Crusher-X, LittleEndian Spectrumworx
Ohmforce Ohmicide, Fxpansion Tremor, BFD Eco, Synthsquad V1, Strobe2, Geist,

I have my GAS (Next Purchases) list too.

Renoise Redux, Ohmforce QuadFrohmage, U-he Zebra2, The Dark Zebra, Hive, ValhallaDSP Shimmer, Room, Plate, Ubermod, IZOtope Ozone 7 Advanced, Nectar 2 Suite, X-fer LFOTool, Cthulu, Plogue ChipSounds 2.0, Madrona Labs Aalto, Kaivo, Virta, Ina-GRM GRM Tools Complete, Nuno Fonseca Sound Particles, NI Komplete Ultimate 11 Upgrade, Fxpansion Etch, Maul, Bloom, DCAM Dynamics, Geist2 Upgrade, Synthsquad2 Upgrades

No shame here, I decided to just horde and enjoy w/e journey I get out of this hobby.

Michael L · Post by **Michael L** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:43 am

Don't beat up on yourself. You identified something important you want to change. Congratulations! Its such a common challenge, Ableton published an entire book on it:
Making Music: Creative strategies for electronic music producers.
From the website:
"This book is a collection of solutions to common roadblocks in the creative process, with a specific emphasis on solving musical problems, making progress, and (most importantly) finishing what you start. This site features a selection of chapters from the book."
You don't have to buy the book, just read some chapters. I have it. It is very practical, step-by-step, etc and not focused on Live.
https://makingmusic.ableton.com

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:18 am

bobhva wrote:That is another point that I would like to make. You probably already own some great soft synths, get to know them and learn to make them do what you want. Basically up until now I have just purchased new synth plugins as a new set of presets. You don't need 5 different FM, VA, Modular, etc. of each type of synth. I think this is very hypocritical of me to say, seeing that I have so many. It is still very hard for me now to just use one or two and stick with just those for even a day or two. Having so many toys is fun, but it makes it harder to progress than if you only have a few.

bobhva · Post by **bobhva** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:29 am

^^^^^^^ That is Me!!! ^^^^^^

bobhva · Post by **bobhva** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 2:25 pm

Michael L wrote:Don't beat up on yourself. You identified something important you want to change. Congratulations! Its such a common challenge, Ableton published an entire book on it:
Making Music: Creative strategies for electronic music producers.
From the website:
"This book is a collection of solutions to common roadblocks in the creative process, with a specific emphasis on solving musical problems, making progress, and (most importantly) finishing what you start. This site features a selection of chapters from the book."
You don't have to buy the book, just read some chapters. I have it. It is very practical, step-by-step, etc and not focused on Live.
https://makingmusic.ableton.com

Thank you Michael. I really do want to change, but I am still struggling with it. Every time I see a plugin on sale my brain says that I must buy it. I bought Izotope Trash 2 yesterday, but I decided against the UVI Mello today. I have made up my mind that I am not going to buy anything else except if any of the 3-4 plugins already on my list go on sale and only if/when they do. Some are joking about this and that is fine, but I really do feel like this is an addiction. The only difference is I am not taking away from my family and I am not physically harming myself.

I do plan on checking out that online book soon. Thanks again!

Jorgeelalto · Post by **Jorgeelalto** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 9:29 pm

You could just try to focus on one synth for each synthesis type - that's what I'm doing.

FortunOfficial · Post by **FortunOfficial** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 7:04 am

One of the most effective strategies for me was to use the Reason DAW. I am not using it anymore, but I often look back with the thinking in mind: "oh man, I was so productive at that time". I simply did not care about any synth coming out.

Nowadays it even gives you the option to moderately extend its capabilities by the Rack Extensions, which is kind of their VST implementation and only few synths are available there, which I consider a good situation.

Despite that I feel your pain. My case is not so extreme, but I own Omni2, Razor, Hive, Serum and Hybrid 3. This actually is not much, but enough to confuse me about which synth to take for specific usages. I force myself to learn these synths inside out and hope, that I'm not looking into any other VSTs, because that's simply enough already. Just now I was digging deeper into Serum and found some nice options again, which made me create a nice new track from scratch.

My experience after 8 years of production is: the better you know your tools, the easier it is to become creative and care for what is really important. Music.

Michael L · Post by **Michael L** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 8:03 am

bobhva wrote:I decided against the UVI Mello today

Good move, because Mello is free occasionally. And plugins lose value over time, so the longer you wait the more you save. Plus, your synths have so many parameter combinations, they will take years to fully explore. Personally, before I buy something I ask myself if I feel joyful using it. Only a fraction give me that (and some have terrible GUIs but oh well....)

Tet-64 · Post by **Tet-64** » Fri Jul 29, 2016 11:11 am

at least your only hoarding digitally, and not compelled to collect other peoples rubbish

bobhva · Post by **bobhva** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 5:40 pm

Tet-64 wrote:at least your only hoarding digitally, and not compelled to collect other peoples rubbish

For the most part, I do have a slight tendency to hoard in general as I think things will eventually have a use.
I did briefly mention my storage unit, which needs to be "cleaned out" very badly;-)

One more plugin - avoid this mistake!