Sound Development Journal of Rich the TweakMeister  while Making the Post-Industrial CybrSound Depot

 Part 2

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1-5-01  We are in Overtime, folks.  I added a few more DnB style snares--rim shots with select frequencies removed and the kits just blow me away.  I am planning to make one more super preset.  This is going to be something you will not find anywhere.  I'm going to take some ms20 super saw waves and route them to everything in EOS.  That's right, to ALL the controllers.  This will allow the closest thing to true analog synthesis on your emulator.  Just think, you can take this preset and point it to other samples for the ultimate in real time cords modulation.

The new demo, Rave at the Temple of Tut is up, and a new sample preset list has been updated.

1/13/01

Many refinements added during the last week which you will appreciate, and hundreds of samples are retweaked, re effected, eq'd, gain optimzed, and cleaned of pops and blemishes. and many are being replaced. I've got to like it for it to stay, or it gets marked for removal.  Most newsworthy is the drum kits which are now slammin' hot, and quietly cool.   While I liked the snares i cooked up a real lot, I decided it was time to add a real snare drum and real hats to my arsenal.  So you'll hear the samples of my new Tama 5.5 x10 snare.  This snare is great for DnB samples, it really has an attitude.  Out of about 50 pedal hat samples I made last night I found one that was perfect for the project.  I am also replacing some of the redundant synth FX with acoustic samples.  So I am putting in some new sound effects elements for that ambient touch, bamboo wind chimes, stereo babbling brook, an alternate sample of my Mystik chimes which were featured on the Mystik garage, a hit of my Egyptian Tambourine.  So things are rounding out in a nice way.

The project will be going to beta test next week.  We are getting closer.  But you will be glad it took so long, when you get it. 

1/25/01

I finished tuning, then decided after doing the Rave at the Tomb of Tut demo (which makes me recoil in horror at parts) that overall the bank was bass heavy so I swept through all 1000 samples and re-eq'd them.  Now they stack up in a mix a lot better and the top end is cleaner.  Of course I can't just leave in a dud sample or two so I decided to add CZ101 Brass and Violin.  Hey I know they are cheesy, that's why they are in.  Fixed some DC offsets and then when back to the preset level, calibrated my Ultra and mixer to 0db with the on board test tone and then set the preset volume for every patch so the peaks of each sound dance around 0db.  This has added real polish to the overall sound.  You can run your Emulator with the master volume on 10 and the midi volumes at 127 and there will be clear sound with a crisp edge, but no distortion even holding down a chord.. Back off from 127 and you can stack to your heart's content.

  And I am back to demo-ing.  Trying all the presets and learning which don't seem to work so I can modify them or replace them.  I'm going to take my time here and make sure its final before I do, yep, one more bank reorganization and make the non-ultra banks.  I made a killer Sitar out of the acoustic guitar samples and reworked many of the drum kits and refined  "just 4 kiks", "all snares" and "kiks and snares" which will be useful at mix time if you like to isolate channels of these central drums.

So we are miles ahead of where we were on New years day, and my ears are still open.  My feeling is to hold off on release.

I just updated my article, "Secrets of Sampling" since I am working so furiously the last few months.  if you want to read up on my methods, here it is!

You climb a stairway to the top only to find a door.  You knock, no one answers but you can hear muffled voices inside.  You touch the doorknob and realize it's open.  You know you are ready because you have painstakingly prepared for this.  Ah.  back to tweaking, inspired.

1-30-01

Hyper critical mode!  I am slashing samples from the project with a vengeance  Doesn't matter if I spent a day on it, if it doesn't please me, it OUT!  Readily replaced by a new candidate that will satisfy.  This is slash and burn time before the final, long dreaded day of reorganization #3. 

  2-4-01

Another week has passed and improvements were made every night.  Tossed out samples and replaced them with hot new stuff from Dynamo's new Juno plugin and sample munger.  Also Sampled in more acoustic stuff, my new Aztec drum and Ocarina, Maracas, straight Tambourine, and one African drum that I don't have the name for.  Also made a full Cyber Disco song, available in a few days. finally.  I'm psyched, because at last I am hearing the kind of music that has inspired the project a 21st century Dance music, resting solidly on the shoulders of the '80s, but with an intensely modern cyber-spacey feel. My friends, you will not find anything like this bank anywhere else.  And more  good news is, I only had to go into SoundDiver one time to fix something wrong with a preset 

2-12-01

More tests; more tweaks, and more real world samples.  Went out and got a new set of windchimes, the Matador Jazz Chimes and made up a nice long stereo glissando which will give a nice ambient touch.  Decided this weekend I wanted to be a bongo player!  Put two hard slaps in the set that will gut through the mix and shake booty.  Irritated by the lack of long cymbals in synths I added a strong China Cymbal.  Decided too that one of my long stereo MS20 drones didn't have to be stereo and added a Korg Electribe animated sweep that is very reminiscent of the old Morpheus samples. Finally, added my new "Goat's Nails".  These are actually the rattling toenails off dead goats and they sound exotic.  Retweaked all the major drum kits and built Cybr Kit III. 

The interesting thing about the Cybr Kits is that they start out like a solid hard hitting electronica kit for the 1st 2 octaves, but each successive octave gets a bit more abstract and spacier till you hit the c6-c7 where its "way out" but still makes sense musically with transposing up a basic pattern.  . Incorporated the Aztec 'tongue drums' into the Ambient kit at their natural pitches and with the new chimes and goat's nails, this kit will softly rock you into mysterious realms.  Added 2 more basses that cut through on the low end.  Tonight I started getting ready for sample reorganization,,,dread of all dreads; its almost here. 

2-17-01

The last samples were added--mini bongos, a beautiful maracas with a long tail, a mbira hit, vibraslap and cleaner congas.  These have really made the ambient kit sound worldly and I just love it.  Finally, I put in a few Korg electribe hits and drones adding yet more color. I am finished with the set! I spent the last 2 days going through the awful reorganization process (about 10 hours of button pushing in extremely repetitive ways, battling all the file system bugs in EOS on the way).  It's now done.  All samples and presets are in perfect order. End in sight!

2-24-01

Now we are having fun.  When you get to this point in a project of this scope, that is when all the pieces are in place and everything is good, you keep at it and add value with every move.  I logged over 50 hours this week on the project.  Hundreds of presets refined, hundreds of samples retweaked and a few replaced.  I have tons of ideas for new samples and sometimes I can actually manage to justify a replacement.  SoundForge 5.0 arrived at the lab and I've been making good use of the new WaveHammer compressor--really nice for samples.  Spent most of today and yesterday tweaking kiks--very tricky and oh so important.  Getting it loud and thumping without destroying the sonic field is a matter of art in itself.  You will love my 808/909 kit. I have never heard a better one! I invested in a gabber/hardcore cd to see what they are doing.  Lots of distorted kiks.  While I am not a hardcore guy, I have let it influence me in an artful way.   Many of the pads are simply awesome with textural beauty now, basses are retweaked again, the space sounds are deep and evocative.  I am also tweaking the onboard fx.  But this is just for those who like the Emu effects.  I will probably recommend that the FX be globally turned off for thick arrangements.  Even with the sends set to 2-3% the emu reverb seems to get in the way in a mix.  It can be useful for sparsely tracked ambient mixes.  I will make sure that patches sound great both dry an wet if I use the FX options.

Today I added a cold satellite from my VFX set and an ambient sample recorded outside the clubs of Chicago at 4am.  Metaphor of the day: Endless abyss of possibility.  When you get the idea behind the Cyber Depot, you will realize you are in an audio universe where anything is possible,  Tonight auditioning patches, I was at last strongly blown away.  But I am still not ready to call it quits--we are waiting for the point of diminishing returns, the point when adding makes things worse. I am already there with the sample set.  It takes a long time to come up with better stuff than I have.  Yet there is still some room among the 980 presets.  I like to have presets where all 88 keys do something meaningful in a related fashion.  And I love throwing in surprises. I like every preset to be a "portrait" that totally stands on its own.  Yet I also insist that it be useful to another artist.  And at every point I am thinking of all of you.  What will you need when you call up this preset? What do you need to make your project stand out?  This cd rom will only be successful to me if you actually use it.  My goal is nothing less than to make your music great. So when I think of adding a sound, I am thinking of every angle by which you might approach it. 

2-27-01  The Landmark Day Arrives

Last night I realized, while making a new song called CyBr DisKo, hunting for patches, that I am truly blown away.  Then today, as soon as I started programming the feeling was stronger.  Didn't stop me from running out to pick up one more instrument for the set.  I added a Doumbek to my arsenal and yer gonna get it soft and hard. Gotta have it when you go ambient and need those subtle deep bass tones. Then later as the Tweak had to mow his yard today, I found some forgotten old rusty bells in the backyard.  They are simple gorgeous in their exotic qualities.  So I crafted a stereo loop of them and they will please and relax you.  Finally, I added some 11k lo fi samples of my phone dialing and 56k modem connecting.  I mean really, how can i approach the sounds of cyberspace without a modem sound?  You'll like it.

 Then I started a new song "Ambient Two" and within suddenly the wash of emotion came on like a warm ocean wave.  Realization: I've made it past the threshold of Quality, and the overall vibe of the disk is speaking with a clear voice.  Its like the clouds have finally passed and I realize the sun is shining.  The sounds are smiling!  No kidding,  You will smile!  You play through the  presets and you'll hear it too. No I am not crazy, stoned or tripping.  I'm a TweakHead, I know about these things. This is a set that will engage not only your musical mind, but your heart as well.  Wondering how sampled electronic music can have a heart?  Buy this disk and you will find out.  Believe me, i am not just saying this to sell disks.  Its not easy for me to be blown away.  I've heard everything and rarely get past detached amusement.  This is not another techno-industrial-dance set.  Consider it enlightened techno-industrial, infused with feeling.  Genuine raw dance power, yet with a perspective on the beautiful, the beatific, the worldly and other-worldly. Its a very good vibe.  You will put sounds together and you and your audience will feel the irradiating soul of the 21st century.  Many of the sounds touch on memories we are only about to first experience.  Read that again OK?  As you see, I am confident.  I can sell with confidence knowing you will not be disappointed.  And my bet is that you will instantly hear what I am hearing and this disk will be on top of your stack of cd roms.  Also I can now announce the release date:  March 9th at midnight.

There is a new just uploaded list of presets and samples. in the online Manual.  I will have a logic environment ready by the release date. (ed. Done 3/11/01)  And later I will make a cubase .dev file and cakewalk .ins file.  All of these will be downloadable.  There will be a dedicated MP3 page for user songs (ed. Done 3/11), I will set aside a page on TweakHeadz for user presets in SoundDiver format.  The price? Come back on March 5th.  Or subscribe to my newsletter.    

3/1/01

The Latest demos :

1. Ambient Two

2. At the CybrDisKo

3/3/01

Try as I might to shut it down, it won't let me.  And now I've got a deadline to mind.  New instrument at the lab and the final one for this disk: A north African Kora. Sort of like a Koto, but softer, due to its light nylon strings.  I was going to save this one for the next cd rom, but gosh, I had to sample it and once I did, I had to include it.  Its only 2 samples (I'll do the full treatment next time) but you will like it because I tuned it to an exotic scale that will fit in the palm of your hand. Also in the preset are doumbeks tuned low, mbira, and the aztec drums, so it's an ambient party ready to play.  It's so playable and good sounding its now in the #6 spot.  Also made a BPM string section patch.  You'll hear the traditional fast bowing of an string section on steroids, but on this one, the bowing speeds up and slows down according to your sequencer's tempo.  There's also a new preset called Bombay Strings, ideal for a worldly sounding Orch. 

3-06-01 5am

I spent my weekend doing nothing but adding spices to the performance presets, and enjoyed every moment, watching and hearing keymaps come alive with imagination. A great night!  Sunday night I called an end to sampling and programming.  And started the final disk building process.  As of today I have a rough draft of the disk finished.  Right now there are 10 banks, the master 128 meg bank and 8 other smaller banks which include all 980 presets. There's also a Mystik Garage demo bank.  I still have 15 megs on the 515 meg disk free.  I'll put something cool there. The smaller banks are meant for people using non-Ultras with the 456k limit on preset RAM.  They range in size from 17 meg to 62 meg, so those of you using Flash ROM, (which uses up 64 megs of your total RAM) can still use banks from this project.  Of course, even if you only have a 4 meg EOS machine you can use this disk.  You just browse for presets within the banks and load them into memory till you run out.  I think my range of banks will have most of you covered. 

Here's the Bank List:

00  Master Bank 128 meg

01 Ambient Bank 48.2 meg

02 DnB and Dance Bank 46.7 meg

03 Industrial One 63.4 meg

04 Orchestral Bank  38.0 meg

05 Noiz and BPM FX Bank  62.7 meg

06 Guitars Bank  15.5 meg

07 FX and Performance Bank  60.1 meg

08 Build Yer Cybr Kit Bank  14.4 meg

09 Mystik garage Demo  1.3 meg

10 Celestial Windowpane Demo 7.4 meg

The cool thing is the 1st 6 banks can be used by themselves to make a complete song.  Each has drum kits, basses, synths, pads, etc., so you can load it and merge your favorite bank (s) on top or vice versa.  For example, you can load your Emu Orbit Bank, or World percussion, or one of the many proteus banks and load one of mine on top.  See, i never stop thinking about you guys and how you will use this disk.  The Build yer own Cybr Kit, Bank 08,  has all the drum samples but few presets, so its perfect for constructing your own kit out of the 250 drum sounds

Looking like we are on target for the deadline of March 9, but it will be tight

3/8/01 11:30pm

There is 24 hours till my self imposed deadline and I intend to keep it.  Tonight is the last tweak on every preset and the final burn.  So come back in about 24 and pick one up!

3/9/01  Midinight

Time for me to let go of the project, and time for you to have fun with it!

We are burning and shipping Post Indie right now!

SCSI problems hampered the final burn and my system again went down to blue screens, broken scsi drivers and I have enough coasters to decorate a Xmas tree.  But this afternoon I isolated and corrected the problem and we had a perfect burn and successful drive image made. The burn from image was also perfect, and now l and I am printing covers and burning disks!  I can have on in the mail to you tomorrow!

Because I haven't yet sent the info to my normal credit card server, I have given you the option to pay via PayPal.  Its very simple and safe, and you don't have to have an account with them to pay by credit card if you live in the USA.  If you are outside the US you do have to set up an account, but its all free either way to you.  (I have to pay them a percentage). 

3/11/01  Revised the manual and put up the final preset list and uploaded the logic environment.  Other sequencers will be supported soon.  Thank you all for your support. 

3/16/01  The regular secure server is updated

Its time for me to take a break! 

Sound development and the quest for truth and beauty are one.  

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