Recommend me some techno

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The_G
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by The_G »

The idea of making my own synthesizer--with the exact kind of oscillators, filter, EGs and LFOs I want--is pretty attractive. But then when you consider the cost of everything, that synthesizer would end up being $3k, heavy, require me to move wires anytime I want it to do anything different, etc.

For less than that, I could just get a OB-6, which does everything I'd want a synth to do and probably sounds a shit ton better than anything I'd build with Eurocrack.

And if I want to play with wires I can just use Reason or Bazille, and not actually have to play with wires :lol:

innovine
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by innovine »

Lost to the Void wrote:Jesus, I've not seen Steevio for fucking years..
He was pretty active on mnml.nl a while back. I dunno about lately, I abandoned that place due to the overwhelming amount of eurocrackheads.

chava
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by chava »

dubdub wrote: It's kind of ironic isn't it - modular being the "ultimate" freedom but somehow it ends up being even more restrictive than a regular setup.
I think it is perfectly understandable. If you want to be creative you need super tough constrictions, you don't want 'freedom'. That's completely counter-productive.

Don't know much about that modularsynth stuff ya'll are talking about, but to me it sounds like these guys (I guess it is only guys) are engineers more than artists.

td3l
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by td3l »

chava wrote:
dubdub wrote: It's kind of ironic isn't it - modular being the "ultimate" freedom but somehow it ends up being even more restrictive than a regular setup.
I think it is perfectly understandable. If you want to be creative you need super tough constrictions, you don't want 'freedom'.
I don't agree with this notion at all either, I've heard just as much rubbish put out by dudes with 1 or 2 Elektron boxes as I have from folks with gigantic modular setups.

The only fundamental requirement is some degree of discipline and focus of vision... even if your methods are to get a bunch of hardware together and throw shit at the wall until it sticks, you have to at the very least be able to discern when that occurs.

I just don't think Eurorack modular, both sonically and workflow wise, lends itself to techno to the extent everyone has been losing their shit over it for the last several years. It's just this decade's bougie bit of kit as real 808s and 909s once were.

td3l
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by td3l »

innovine wrote:
Lost to the Void wrote:Jesus, I've not seen Steevio for fucking years..
He was pretty active on mnml.nl a while back. I dunno about lately, I abandoned that place due to the overwhelming amount of eurocrackheads.
Yeah I used to lurk there for a long time. That's how I came to know of him and his stuff.

He does cool shit with his giant Euro setup--it's groovy and funky and doesn't just blip and bloop and drone. (You may or may not like his dissonant choices in harmony, but that's not the equipment's fault). He's definitely cornered in his sound now though, same as say Mike Parker (this forum's favorite whipping boy apparently).

youtu.be/CY8lR7Hkjyw

Can't imagine what all that stuff must've cost though, heh.

chava
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by chava »

td3l wrote:
chava wrote:
dubdub wrote: It's kind of ironic isn't it - modular being the "ultimate" freedom but somehow it ends up being even more restrictive than a regular setup.
I think it is perfectly understandable. If you want to be creative you need super tough constrictions, you don't want 'freedom'.
I don't agree with this notion at all either, I've heard just as much rubbish put out by dudes with 1 or 2 Elektron boxes as I have from folks with gigantic modular setups.

The only fundamental requirement is some degree of discipline and focus of vision... even if your methods are to get a bunch of hardware together and throw shit at the wall until it sticks, you have to at the very least be able to discern when that occurs.

I just don't think Eurorack modular, both sonically and workflow wise, lends itself to techno to the extent everyone has been losing their shit over it for the last several years. It's just this decade's bougie bit of kit as real 808s and 909s once were.
I don't necessarily mean in term of equipment, although it is usually a simple way of doing it. This is why the best minimal techno records form the 90s still hold up.

But you can do it conceptually, like using the 'Oblique Strategies' cards for example. I would also recommend watching 'The Five Obstructions' by Lars von Trier. Lots of research has been done on creativity, but I don't think you can beat setting up constrictions if you are drowning in possibilites and information.

Sometimes you also need a second opinion/devil's advocate. That's why I miss quality labels/gatekeepers nowadays.

innovine
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by innovine »

td3l wrote: I don't agree with this notion at all either, I've heard just as much rubbish put out by dudes with 1 or 2 Elektron boxes as I have from folks with gigantic modular setups.
The difference is that I've heard good stuff put out by dudes with 1 or 2 elektron boxes.

innovine
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by innovine »

td3l wrote:
youtu.be/CY8lR7Hkjyw

Can't imagine what all that stuff must've cost though, heh.
and that's the best it gets, is it? total fucking waste of money.

chava
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by chava »

innovine wrote:
td3l wrote:
youtu.be/CY8lR7Hkjyw

Can't imagine what all that stuff must've cost though, heh.
and that's the best it gets, is it? total fucking waste of money.
And Human Resources. Not so familiar with this, but it seems obvious that this could halt peoples creative progress indefinitely. So I propose a modular tas or something similar.

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Amøbe
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by Amøbe »

I like Blawan's crack.

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Amøbe
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by Amøbe »

But with that said, a lot of people haven't benefitted from going full eurorack - However, I think the modulars are capable of creating some really interesting textures that I don't really see from other stuff. I just find it best, when it's used as a textural (or percussive) element in combination with "traditional techno gear"

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Lost to the Void
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by Lost to the Void »

I literally have not heard anything texturally interesting coming from modular in techno.
It seems to be the opposite actually, with a very narrow range of harmonics and a lack really complex texture. Mostly it just sounds like people mashing their fingers across an arpeggiator driving a monosynth.
Its probably because most of the Technoheads focus on analog eurocrack, so they just end up with typical oscillators with maybe some interesting sequencing and modulating. The complexity seems to reside in modulation and sequencing, of bleepy mono sounds.

The more textural stuff tends to be the digital stuff, granulisers and wavetable stuff like piston honda. And I've only really heard ambient peeps making the more textural sounds.

It's rare I hear anything that couldn't have been done with standard gear, in techno at least.
"Hey listen to my new patch, it took me 3 days to wire it in...."
Que mono blip spitting out random notes.....

That's not to say it can't be done, it just isn't being done very much in techno, on average.
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The_G
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by The_G »

I don't mind that Steevio track at all.

But you can make all those sounds from much less complicated, less expensive sources. Doing it with eurocrack and that exhausting maze of cables is fairly superfluous.

I think the deal with eurocrack is that it appeals to people on a "DIY engineering" level, like building a car from a kit or creating a retro gaming system using raspberry pi. It's interfacing with machines and being a "maker" that people are attracted to, and fair enough.

But I haven't really much where I'm like "ooh, that's something I can't do for a lot less with a lot less hassle." This included, and I don't mind this one.

chava
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by chava »

The_G wrote:
I think the deal with eurocrack is that it appeals to people on a "DIY engineering" level, like building a car from a kit or creating a retro gaming system using raspberry pi. It's interfacing with machines and being a "maker" that people are attracted to, and fair enough.
Yes, you might ask why this has happened. Some would might say it is an reaction to the growing alienation of dealing with not very transparent digital media on a daily basis. Trying to emulate a 'hands-on' feel in stead. Although I tend to see it as akin to the obsession over DSP-synthesis in the early 00's which frankly not led to much of interest in my view.

The_G
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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by The_G »

chava wrote:
The_G wrote:
I think the deal with eurocrack is that it appeals to people on a "DIY engineering" level, like building a car from a kit or creating a retro gaming system using raspberry pi. It's interfacing with machines and being a "maker" that people are attracted to, and fair enough.
Yes, you might ask why this has happened. Some would might say it is an reaction to the growing alienation of dealing with not very transparent digital media on a daily basis. Trying to emulate a 'hands-on' feel in stead. Although I tend to see it as akin to the obsession over DSP-synthesis in the early 00's which frankly not led to much of interest in my view.
There's a lot going into this, if you take the broader view. People feel alienated from digital media. People don't want to stare at screens after staring at a screen the whole work day. People feel less fulfilled by work and more fulfilled by hobbies. People (me included) are increasingly (culturally) attracted to retro and nostalgic movements. Cultural status in urban areas is increasingly determined by whatever ultra-nerdy "craft" activities you take part in, from how you grind your coffee beans to whether you take part in crochet groups, scrapbooking, retrofitting your own VW camper, etc.

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Re: Recommend me some techno

Post by Amøbe »

Lost to the Void wrote:I literally have not heard anything texturally interesting coming from modular in techno.
It seems to be the opposite actually, with a very narrow range of harmonics and a lack really complex texture. Mostly it just sounds like people mashing their fingers across an arpeggiator driving a monosynth.
Its probably because most of the Technoheads focus on analog eurocrack, so they just end up with typical oscillators with maybe some interesting sequencing and modulating. The complexity seems to reside in modulation and sequencing, of bleepy mono sounds.

The more textural stuff tends to be the digital stuff, granulisers and wavetable stuff like piston honda. And I've only really heard ambient peeps making the more textural sounds.

It's rare I hear anything that couldn't have been done with standard gear, in techno at least.
"Hey listen to my new patch, it took me 3 days to wire it in...."
Que mono blip spitting out random notes.....

That's not to say it can't be done, it just isn't being done very much in techno, on average.
Ah - it probably didn't come out right. I like the textures of the actual sounds (maybe timbre is a better word) - I'm not talking about ambient textures.

It's not that it's only possible to do with crack, but I like that some of these tracks seem to have a constant evolvement or buzzing going on (I haven't tried to work with crack - but my guess is that it facilitates evolving sounds?). That could be a bass-figure, that keeps changing its timbre to give an example of what I'm talking about (or some percussive sound, that sounds different everytime it hits)
The_G wrote:
chava wrote:
The_G wrote:
There's a lot going into this, if you take the broader view. People feel alienated from digital media. People don't want to stare at screens after staring at a screen the whole work day. People feel less fulfilled by work and more fulfilled by hobbies. People (me included) are increasingly (culturally) attracted to retro and nostalgic movements. Cultural status in urban areas is increasingly determined by whatever ultra-nerdy "craft" activities you take part in, from how you grind your coffee beans to whether you take part in crochet groups, scrapbooking, retrofitting your own VW camper, etc.
There's definitely something to this. I talked with a friend about how we started collecting vinyls after our CDs became obsolete, and we came to one - of many - conclusion that we simply had to have something on our shelves. The actual physicality of it became appealing (I'm one of those guys that honestly can't really hear the difference between the vinyl print and a CD - except of the crackling from vinyl - so it's never been some hi-fi argument from my side... I just like to hold it and look at it without being distracted from my screen)

The appeal of having something physical away from the screen is also what really appealed to me with the push controller - it made a lot of the creation of music fun again, as I could do something away from the screen!


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