From John Counts Sent Thu, Jun 10th 1999, 06:04
From John Counts Sent Thu, Jun 10th 1999, 06:04
Ha- your profile is so close to mine it's creepy. I too am a poor
college student who has an insatiable love of listening to and creating
IDM. My computer is only a P166 with 32 MB of RAM. Limitations
notwithstanding, I've made some rather interesting music simply by
spending days and nights exploring only a few software titles. Here is
what I use-
VAZ- A software emulation of the old analogues
that is actually credible
Hammerhead Drum Sequencer (Freeware!)
Goldwave- Best Grass Roots Sound Editor IMHO
Multisequencer- a laughably simple program that
allows you to put your tracks
together
WinBPM- a handy BPM counter that uses the space
bar so everything will match up beatwise
Only two items of gear:
Yamaha DJX and the classic PSS-170
Yes, to the common IDMer this stuff will look sophomoric and cheesy.
But it's not what you own, it's how you use it. For example, Hammerhead
is admittedly a campy program but try putting in sound files that don't
adhere to the RAW/Mono/16 bit format that it requires. The result?
gritty, industrial blips that are right at home in LP5 or a Funkstorung
release. Or better yet, force Goldwave to accept a text file or an icon
and listen to the digital chaos that ensues. That mess can be edited to
create phenomenal breaks and even melodies. As far as the machines go,
the combined cost of the Yamaha synths is about $400 and enough
flange/delay/distortion/etc. can make anything sound like...well,
anything. The DJX is also a little campy, but its on-board DSP,
cutoff/resonance filters, synth pads, and drum kits have surprised me
with their potential. All of the software can be found at
www.hitsquad.com (Shareware Music Machine)All synths at your local Best
Buy. Threw in a CD-R burner last month for only $200, so all music can
be burned in glistening 44.1 kHZ (or whatever the value is). So, there
you go. Tell me how things progress. What's your degree going to be in?
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