Writing Berlin School Music Within a DAW

[SHall1000]

May or may not be of interest.

Rob Papen Live Stream 24 August 2023 Berlin School Music Sequencer Challange

https://youtu.be/1AYw3WvpNDo

[seismic1]

Playing parallel identical sequences using varied note-off/note-on can be very creative.

[jamcat]

Viennese School is where it's at.

i like their whirls.

They say Strauss would eat only Viennese whirls while he composed his Viennese waltzes.

You could even say a Viennese waltz is a Viennese whirl.

[ghostwhistler]

Only issue I see is having all the GUI's open when you want to tweak the synths.

well that's the point. Besides which switching between them and using mouse and keys to alter parameters woiuld be, to say the leasat, fiddly!

Just to pick that up: I think you'd be surprised how fiddly a hardware workflow is... I tried it, and quickly ran back to in-the-box...

Why was that?

[El°HYM]

Viennese School is where it's at.

i like their whirls.

They say Strauss would eat only Viennese whirls while he composed his Viennese waltzes.

You could even say a Viennese waltz is a Viennese whirl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZoSYsNADtY

[Opaque]

Well, isn't this just a question of setting up macro controls. I haven't used Reaper in quite some time, so I don't know what they've introduced, but there should be some way to map an empty knob to multiple parameters of vst instruments, effects, midi effects, and modulators already modulating various parameters, and define ranges/direction of control. Sequencer states might be mapped to some kind of macro toggles, or also knobs, and all this then mapped to a midi controller. That way a wide array of various parameters, within a predefined range for each of them, is controlled with several knobs.

Isn't this how you would treat a hardware modular as well, the same can be done in ableton, vcv rack, bitwig, max, reaktor, etc. The trade-off is that in hardware you could more easily spontaneously reach for any knob or parameter individually, whereas in software you have to think a bit what you think would be useful and sound good to map beforehand. On the other hand, the macro controls are maybe faster and more precise to set up in digital.

Btw the whole analog/digital debate can in my opinion be summed up by saying that analog by default sounds fatter, especially when doing simple stuff, while digital allows for more complexity and precision - both can sound great but these are inherent features, extreme examples are early Boards of Canada and late Autechre.

[El°HYM]

Macros & Toggles would be the Way to Go using Software, then just Jamming it out Live. Even an LPD8 or something should lead to good Results already. One thing about the Sound to keep in Mind; the Synths and Modular Racks didnt directly go into the FOH - Console but were Re_amped via Microphones through the Big Amps on the Stage (Talking about TD here again). Just saying; Let your Sounds breath & live a Bit (again).

[chk071]

Only issue I see is having all the GUI's open when you want to tweak the synths.

well that's the point. Besides which switching between them and using mouse and keys to alter parameters woiuld be, to say the leasat, fiddly!

Just to pick that up: I think you'd be surprised how fiddly a hardware workflow is... I tried it, and quickly ran back to in-the-box...

Why was that?

I had the Waldorf Blofeld for a week, and, I found that the operation with all the menu diving, and very little controls was vastly inferior than operating Waldorf Largo as a plugin, and, it also only has 25 voices, compared to the 256 voices in Largo, not to mention the need to have cables running to the audio interface, and, of course, to only be able to run a single instance, while I can run as many instances as my CPU can handle with Largo.

It was just a worse experience in every regard.

[El°HYM]

Me actually finding the Waldorf Blofeld more elegant in Vibe & Sound than Largo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6L9_s1AMyQ

[chk071]

They're very close in terms of sound. Largo might be a bit brighter, and, the bass boost may be a bit more intense (even though it's very close to other Waldorf synths as well). With the analog waveforms, I could hardly hear a difference.

The blofeld has the PPG filter, Ok. But, that's one of the few differences there are. The Largo has unison, and, as I said, the ability to play 256 voices, which are 10 times as much as the Blofeld. Not trying a "this is better than that" thing, just pointing out why I found Largo a much better experience.

[vurt]

25 voices would be far too many for early berlin school sounds

[vurt]

Viennese School is where it's at.

i like their whirls.

They say Strauss would eat only Viennese whirls while he composed his Viennese waltzes.

You could even say a Viennese waltz is a Viennese whirl.

it means nothing to me










oh vienna.

[vurt]

do you use any modulars?
it wouldn't be too difficult to build a few voices in vcv, using the sequencers available, will give you more of the feel than the piano roll imo as you can trigger them live, to get the freeform feel.

[neverbeeninariot]

I'd recommend taking a look at ReaLearn by Helgoboss. It's a Reaper extension that specialises in controller mapping. It has a companion app that can display the mapped parameters on a separate screen so you don't get lost and forget what's mapped to where. It's very flexible and free.

I've used it for mapping an old SL Mkii and a Launch Control XL to the Reaper mixer and a bunch of send effects (both the send levels and the effect parameters) for dub mixes.

[ghostwhistler]

do you use any modulars?
it wouldn't be too difficult to build a few voices in vcv, using the sequencers available, will give you more of the feel than the piano roll imo as you can trigger them live, to get the freeform feel.

I only use softsynths