Shakers

[steevio]

Why not just use a loop? Seriously, what's the point fannying about trying to synthesise something like a shaker? It's never going to sound as good as a real shaker recorded and played by pros. Stick a loop in and offset the timing till you get that delayed effect you're after.

ha ha thats so funny, i can synthesize a shaker in 10 seconds, tailor it to fit the track, give it the exact texture and tone i want, even make it do things a human being couldnt do with a physical shaker.
i make electronic music, why should i want to cut and paste someone elses musicianship, when i can do it better myself.

sample textures from the soundscape of your life and do something creative with it, then it becomes a real psychedelic instrument.

Sorry, I misread the OP as wanting advice on how to achieve a good shaker sound. Turns out what he really wanted was yet another tedious fucking lecture on artistic integrity from mnml.nl's pseuds corner.

ok i was reacting to your fannying about comment, if you're into making music on synthesizers, it's as much fun and as legitimate making a shaker to fit your track as any other sound, is that not what a synthesizer is for ?
unless you record yourself playing a physical shaker along to your track, its very unlikely that will get exactly the right shuffle and feel to fit your tune from a random shaker sample.
i wasnt lecturing, i was just passing on some knowledge which may or may not be useful to somebody, and i found it funny that what i do in my studio could be disgregarded as fannying about, by someone who advocates the 'why bother, just clone it off a sample cd approach'

The OP is asking about shakers on a deep house tune which he posted. Go and listen to the tune. It's a loop. The one thing it does not sound like is filtered fucking white noise. I responded to the question the guy was asking in a way I thought would be helpful.

And I think it's only fair to add that I'm listening to 'punkjazz2' right now and I've just listened to 'ty-puresinewavemix14' and if this 'synthesise everything' approach is intended to result in original sounds then it might be time to re-assess.

now you're getting personal, those tunes did what they were intended to do, if you're going to write me off, maybe you should listen to more than just the two tunes i gave away for nowt on the netlabel, and maybe you should let us hear some of the fruits of your ten long years of bedroom production before you slag someone off so effortlessly.
i did listen to the tune, i was also just trying to be helpful,
here ends this conversation with you.

[steevio]

lots of ways to get shaker sounds, my mate mics up a pringles tube filled with rice and records it live, i use a couple of sine waves modulated with white noise on an andromeda A6, or a nord 3, then put it through a Blackstar valve (tube) -drive guitar pedal to make it warm and sexy. it's all down to the shape of the envelope, and the shuffle you put on.

i'm not sure how i got from this, basically saying that there are 'lots of ways to get shakers sounds' which was me trying to help the OP, by telling him how me and my mate do it, to being slated by a total dickhead.

im out of here.

[steevio]

to chucklechops,
i'm very sorry i called you a total dickhead, i cant believe i let myself be drawn into a slanging match over a shaker.
i'm a great believer in the power of music to heal, and i feel ashamed that i lost it like that and left bad karma out there.
i suppose most musicians react badly when someone is slagging off their music, this forum isn't the place for bullshit like that, we're supposed to be helping each other. i've got nothing to be ashamed of with the tunes you mentioned, they were both written over 7 years ago, and were both meant to be very minimal simple tunes, and were not intended to break any boundaries in synthesis, as the name suggests, ty pure sinewave mix was just a few sinewaves and nothing more, so all the more reason why i shouldnt have got so pissed off with you.
this whole scenario stemmed from you dismissing my simple bit of advice on two ways to make shaker sounds, which was unnecessary, you could have just added your advice without flaming mine, and i'm equally to blame for taking the bait and firing back, and i can see that that was just pointless provocation.
i dont know why i always react badly to advice like 'just use a sample' maybe its because i dont see the point of a production forum if people dont share their different techniques, so we can all learn from our peers, instead of the production forum should we just have a page that says 'just use a sample' ?or would we rather find out about the thousands of other possibilities out there.
youre totally right when you say no-one on the dance floor gives a fck anyway, but not everone makes music just for the dance floor. home listening music is much more scrutinised, and the details of the sounds become more important.
i'm not totally anti-sample, the first track i ever released was made from samples of single hits of the members of my band, and it was lots of fun to make, (it even had a shaker in it) but i moved on because i wanted to create my own sounds.
i release lots of tunes on my label from other artists that use sampling, some of my favourite tracks are made from samples.
i need a break from this forum, but i thought it was inexcusable and bad form to go out on such a sour note, and i was just as much to blame for upping the stakes.

[MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE]

I appreciate everyones help man honestly!

Ive kinda worked out that designing a basic shaker sound and sequence is eaaaaasy using a synth... (i knew that before i posted)

but

Designing a shaker sequence using a synth, that sounds REAL, is alltogether another thing man....

Ive got a whole live project with about 12 channels & 4 sends dedictaed to shakering..... but im still not there... its the rythm and intricate change in envelope thats hardest to emulate,...........

Ill keep shaking my digital shaker and see what i come up with....

Thanks

[Torque]

Jesus, seriously ya'll

Sometimes you guys amaze me with how complicated you guys aproach some subjects.

The way i always make a shaker sound is just with white noise. Put a bit of white noise in a sampler or make some with a synth, lay down the midi for it on the keyboard or akai pads so you have realistic sounding velocities on the midi, shorten or lengthen the sound to where you like it, and then top it off with a touch of reverb.

A shaker is one of the sounds in a track that doesn't need to sound real in order to work because it's in a frequency range that nobody is going to focus on. Personally i'v always liked my own shakers better than recorded or preset ones because they're allot more raw and leave you some extra frequencies to play with in the mix if you want to up in the super highs. The secret to making them sound realistic are the velocity settings of each note of midi. It's actually a good a idea to make all the velocities on each hit different than the last. You'd be suprised how much that loosens it up.

[hydrogen]

Jesus, seriously ya'll

Sometimes you guys amaze me with how complicated you guys aproach some subjects.

The way i always make a shaker sound is just with white noise. Put a bit of white noise in a sampler or make some with a synth, lay down the midi for it on the keyboard or akai pads so you have realistic sounding velocities on the midi, shorten or lengthen the sound to where you like it, and then top it off with a touch of reverb.

A shaker is one of the sounds in a track that doesn't need to sound real in order to work because it's in a frequency range that nobody is going to focus on. Personally i'v always liked my own shakers better than recorded or preset ones because they're allot more raw and leave you some extra frequencies to play with in the mix if you want to up in the super highs. The secret to making them sound realistic are the velocity settings of each note of midi. It's actually a good a idea to make all the velocities on each hit different than the last. You'd be suprised how much that loosens it up.

thats the key to most drum sounds...

[steevio]

Jesus, seriously ya'll

Sometimes you guys amaze me with how complicated you guys aproach some subjects.

The way i always make a shaker sound is just with white noise. Put a bit of white noise in a sampler or make some with a synth, lay down the midi for it on the keyboard or akai pads so you have realistic sounding velocities on the midi, shorten or lengthen the sound to where you like it, and then top it off with a touch of reverb.

A shaker is one of the sounds in a track that doesn't need to sound real in order to work because it's in a frequency range that nobody is going to focus on. Personally i'v always liked my own shakers better than recorded or preset ones because they're allot more raw and leave you some extra frequencies to play with in the mix if you want to up in the super highs. The secret to making them sound realistic are the velocity settings of each note of midi. It's actually a good a idea to make all the velocities on each hit different than the last. You'd be suprised how much that loosens it up.

thats almost exactly what i was saying at the beginning of this thread, thank god someone else understands how simple it is to make your own shakers.

[MINIMALTECHNOHOUSE]

1 or 2 Reverb + pre-delay.........