Should the workman blame his tools?

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tone-def
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by tone-def »

always blame the tools!

I sold my favourite gear and ever since my music has sucked. i need instruments that i want to use for hours at a time. I've got some nice things but the sequencing isn't right at the moment. I can't compose with a computer screen anymore. It's drained my soul. :-sadflower
AK
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by AK »

Yes and no imo. When I didn't have any gear at all and not even a computer, I was writing stuff just an old Yamaha RM1x groovebox/workstation thing, I got some nice things out of it esp. as far as ideas went but the sounds just didn't cut it at all, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get past the fact that I couldn't make a sound on it that I thought was good enough


Also, one of my first ever keyboard synths was a Roland D-5, same again, just couldn't get anything out of it that I considered worthy of making anything professional. I then got rid of the Roland and bought a Boss drum, a Roland SH-101, a Spirit Folio mixer, a Yamaha DX100 and a Casio CZ-101 and even though they were budget synths at the time, I felt that my music sounded a lot more professional.

I don't know how much this applies to todays music though, with the quality of software around, even freeware, there's so much potential there to not warrant a 'blame the tools' statement. The first time I delved into music, I was using an Atari STE running an old version of Cubase and only a small amount of hardware with no outboard efx pretty much, it was really hard getting anything decent at all. I'd have died and gone to heaven if I'd of had access to the amount of software around now, even the free stuff. But we all grow with our needs and want bigger and better things all the time, I think the danger though now, is that a lot of us do not fully explore the gear we have, this seems esp. true of software where a person never fully realises the potential of what they have and instead, look for newer/'better'/alternative things.
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tone-def
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by tone-def »

AK wrote:Yes and no imo. When I didn't have any gear at all and not even a computer, I was writing stuff just an old Yamaha RM1x groovebox/workstation thing, I got some nice things out of it esp. as far as ideas went but the sounds just didn't cut it at all, no matter what I did, I just couldn't get past the fact that I couldn't make a sound on it that I thought was good enough
grooveboxes are great for my creativity. I can do a lot with one of those and a DAW. if you take the groovebox away my ideas suffer. if you take the DAW away nothing gets finished.
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by steevio »

Barfunkel wrote: I agree with you, maybe I didn't represent my opinion clearly. Even if you didn't gel with with Gibson guitars, they probably still have their use. Someone, somewhere is making awesome music with them. Speaking of synths, even a lowly Casio home keyboard has it's use. You just need to find the right tools for you, or alternatively make the kind of music your tools suit better for.
oh yes, some of the best music of the 20th century was made on gibson guitars,

absolutely you have to find the right tools for yourself, thats what i was saying to eggs, if you havent got the right tools, then yes you can blame them...

lets face it, not everything thats ever been made is good, or well designed, or even fit for purpose.. thats just life, some things a totally sh!t and dont do the job properly, and there is plenty of that out there in the world of electronic music, hardware and software.

ive got some terrible pieces of kit that were given to me, like a Korg MR16 drum machine from the 1980s. its got pretend keys painted on it, and has only a pan and volume control for each sound, which are samples triggered from midi, but the samples were never trimmed properly so there is a nasty glitch at the beginning and end of every sample, some of the samples are just chopped short before the decay is finished. its is an appalling piece of kit, i could go on and on and on ......... :)



i didnt post this on youtube btw :)
AK
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by AK »

steevio wrote: like a Korg MR16 drum machine from the 1980s. its got pretend keys painted on it, and has only a pan and volume control for each sound, which are samples triggered from midi, but the samples were never trimmed properly so there is a nasty glitch at the beginning and end of every sample, some of the samples are just chopped short before the decay is finished. its is an appalling piece of kit, i could go on and on and on ......... :)



i didnt post this on youtube btw :)
Hahaha, I need that cowbell man! Actually, there were lots of cows wearing bells. Fair play, I think he did it justice by providing us with a plethora of sounds during the end of bar intervals.
AK
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by AK »

Huh? Half the time I don't even make sense of my own posts, But hey, I love you guys and as much as I am grinning right now under the influence, I'll be grinning a lot more at FR2013
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by steevio »

AK wrote:
Hahaha, I need that cowbell man! Actually, there were lots of cows wearing bells. Fair play, I think he did it justice by providing us with a plethora of sounds during the end of bar intervals.
actually, i sampled that cowbell, cleaned it up and used it on one track, cos it was the only good sound on there. a lot of kit for one sample though eh :)
AK
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Re: Should the workman blame his tools?

Post by AK »

Man I was out of it last night. Anyway, what is this news? Steevio sampling????? :lol: Just kidding, obviously a long time ago
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