Electronic/dance jam band!

[Jeebustime]

I noticed this genre isn't talked about much, so if you play this type of music or just wanna talk about it, let's talk. I'm looking to refine my sound a bit more myself, so let's talk gear/bands/techniques!

I currently have a teleaster with a Seymour Duncan little 59 on the bridge and the stock neck pickup running into a fender dsp 90. My toys consist of (in effects chain order) •dynacomp •OCD overdrive •cry baby wah• phase 90 •carbon copy delay. I'm also using a korg kaossilator Velcroed to my guitar for some cool fills and synth sounds here and there.

Also, If you're a synth player and live in the Philadelphia area, we're looking for you!

[tsar nicholas]

My group Hepnova is an electronic band with guitar. We're heavily inspired by Massive Attack, Bjork, Talking Heads, and Bis, and have been at it since '98.

Our current gear is a SidStation controlled by a Yamaha DX-27, a big old 88-key Alesis synth, and Logic for the soft synths. We make our own percussion samples and combine them with 909 or 808 kick drums.

We use Oktava condenser mics and SM57s

I play a Gibson Tennessean, a Rickenbacker 360, an SG, and some other guits through an AC30, no effects except for the very occasional Fuzz Face.

Logic is a G_dsend for recording, especially in the sampling realm. When we started using it in 2007, it changed everything for the better.

[Big Tim]

What a shame I'm not in Philadelphia anymore. My band, Tanner Newsy, is an electro duo that aims to revive some of the Minneapolis sound with current pop stylings. I'm playing a Nocaster or 336 into various effects. Synth sounds are Ableton Live, Logic, and a Roland 303. Live we go just guitar and 303. www.facebook.com/tannernewsy

[Marble]

you guys should use analog synths and stop fail-catting with all that digital biz if you're playing mostly electronic music...

or anything that calls for synths...leave the computers at home. they aren't instruments.

[tsar nicholas]

^ now, that is just silly. Different synths for different sounds. Anyone who doesn't think the SidStation sounds great is kidding themselves. And as for the computer, I couldn't disagree more -- it's no different than any other piece of hardware. We've been using digital instruments for over a decade, and they work and sound great. They don't sound like anything else, they have their own sounds that are cool.

I like analog synths just fine, but to discount the effectiveness and flexibility of digital and soft synths makes no sense to me. Not to mention their durability, replaceablilty, and affordability.


The whole '90s "vintage synth supremacy" attitude is wack and dated.



p.s. re : computers not being an instrument : I dare you to ask any hip-hop producer of the last 20 years what they think about that

[mlt1214]

Originally Posted by Marble

leave the computers at home. they aren't instruments.

Are you being sarcastic? If not I have to take serious issue with that statement...

[Marble]

i'm completely serious. laptops on the stage are probably the ugliest thing someone could put up there and they sound so bad

[tsar nicholas]

wait, I just got a bad feeling that we're going to be seeing trollface.jpg in a minute here

[Marble]

The whole '90s "vintage synth supremacy" attitude is wack and dated.

since you declared it? they've been supreme since they were being sold in the 1960s. I'm just stating facts.

All this digital stuff trys to emulate Moogs and ARPs, B3s and all that. Even if it got 99% close to the sound (which all emulations and even sample sets are way off as of 2011), it would still be an imitation, never better.

And if you don't care enough about your music to use the real thing, then that's your deal. I'm sure there are lots of pro guitarists using Agiles...oh wait. There are none.

[tsar nicholas]

^ Too late man, I already detected that you're just kidding around to get a rise out of people, good one though!

[Marble]

I'm not though. Using laptops and digital emulations is amateur and unprofessional. If that concept is so alien to you for you to think I'm trolling by saying that, then you should reconsider your values as an artist.

[mlt1214]

Originally Posted by Marble

i'm completely serious. laptops on the stage are probably the ugliest thing someone could put up there and they sound so bad

...

Originally Posted by Marble

since you declared it? they've been supreme since they were being sold in the 1960s. I'm just stating facts.

All this digital stuff trys to emulate Moogs and ARPs, B3s and all that. Even if it got 99% close to the sound (which all emulations and even sample sets are way off as of 2011), it would still be an imitation, never better.

And if you don't care enough about your music to use the real thing, then that's your deal. I'm sure there are lots of pro guitarists using Agiles...oh wait. There are none.

That's simply not true. You're working off a false assumption that whenever people use digital effects, instruments, etc. that they are always trying to emulate analog. That's not a fact. People who use computers often do so because they allow musicians to make new sounds, sounds you can't get out of analog devices. Digital instrumentation is not constraining in the way that analog is. In fact it's incredibly liberating. Props to musicians who recognize this and are not slaves to the "analog or die" mentality.

Tell Thom Yorke he doesn't care enough about his music to use "the real thing." There are countless other professional musicians who use computers in their music to great effect as well.

I really hope you're just blowing off some steam in the form of trolling after a rough day...

[Jahn]

Here's OMD live at Terminal 5 recently:



As you see, synths played "live" and a live drummer and an electric bass to boot - plus the odd sax solo here and there.

Now here's Yaz, who reconnected recently at the same venue:



Vince Clarke had to do it all himself, so he had a Macbook help him out, but still played that little Moog or whatever that small analog synth was to good effect - he even busted out a reel to reel for an intermission instrumental. In other words, if it's good enough for Vince, it's good enough for me. The crowd didn't seem to mind.

[Marble]

Hey in the '80s, digital was "cool" and "new" but in 2011 its easy to see that's its just a way to cheapen one's sound. That's why the Rhodes is being remade, why Moogs are being made, tube amps, current tape delays, etc. 90% of all this stuff is just trying to be as good as the old stuff made until the '80s.

Can I sig that though? Analog or die?

[Marble]

Originally Posted by Jahn

but still played that little Moog or whatever that small analog synth was

that's a micro korg. not even close to sounding the same. 100% digital