Techno compo on a lazy Sunday? Hell yes!!!

logikz said:
i fucked it up and posted the wrong link to the sample pack and all haha so it wouldnt have worked anyway

but we can still do this, ill post the real link to the pack and we agree on a weeks deadline? maybe together with the grid on doa who also seem up for it, if we can coordinate?
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In
 
xiris said:
you want me to make techno logikz? TECHNO?
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hey buddyyyyyyyyy, come on buddy! we all need to pitch in, and do our part for the war effort. even if that means doing a bit of techno.

be a guy, buddy! be a techno guy , budddy!!

Fluff said:
I spent half an hour last night having a play and will try and have another go tonight.
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thats what im talkin bout, big man! but we didnt say any rules or deadlines yet, did we?

or did i say both, maybe.

turns out i can barely post anything without mentioning rules of some sort and a deadline.

but did i?
 
logikz said:
hey buddyyyyyyyyy, come on buddy! we all need to pitch in, and do our part for the war effort. even if that means doing a bit of techno.

be a guy, buddy! be a techno guy , budddy!!



thats what im talkin bout, big man! but we didnt say any rules or deadlines yet, did we?

or did i say both, maybe.

turns out i can barely post anything without mentioning rules of some sort and a deadline.

but did i?
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what's a techno? and how do i do it?
 
xiris said:
what's a techno? and how do i do it?
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THATS THE BEAUTY OF IT BUDDY, ITS SHIT EASY

look, a techno is just these four simple steps:
1. set bpm to 130
2. kick on every beat
3. open hihat in betwen every beat
4. 303 (so a looped saw wave) doing some squargle wargle 3 note jig with LFO

et voila, A TECHNO! dont you see, we can live like kings

Fluff said:
Just had a quick listen. Some nice Basic Channel vibes in there
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thanks big man, thats exactly what i dream of doing, but im not quite there yet, in fact, thats my first dub techno diddy haha
ive played around with making little loops here and there, but ive never gotten further than a single 7 second pattern.
if i dont have constraints or deadlines or something, if i can just use anything and anything forever, i dont want to do anything.
hence the compo brody!

to arrange a techno track though, i came to realize just how instrumental the volume sliders on the mixer have been for techno,
you hook the machines up to the 16 channels, 2 x 303s, an 808 and a 909 with the different drum hits to individual channels,
the loops are running constantly all at once, but you arrange the track by fading them in and out and playing with fx sends.

this may be common knowledge, but to actually do it, is a different matter altogether. a bit like sex, theoretically its fine,
but practically, boy oh boy, thatll illustrate the difference between theory and practice for you.

but ive had feedback from others, pretty big producers (i PM terrorize them on here and doa) and whereas its not basic channel (yet :) noone hates it, as such, most seem to kind of like it, actually, but it obviously has its problems, its made in a few hours with a sample pack from another tune i found on youtube. althoug, like i said, to me the limitations are inspiring.


Sulihin said:
Is the sample pack available yet?
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didnt i change the link? to the sample pack? i did on doa, i must have fked it up on here, brb


Fluff said:
I reckon I spent about 6 hours on my track. I've stuck it on my Soundcloud



Quite fast at 156bpm

Also posted on the DoA thread
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OOOOOOOOOH YOURE ALREADY DONE, I WILL LISTEN ASAP!!!!!!!
 
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logikz said:
to arrange a techno track though, i came to realize just how instrumental the volume sliders on the mixer have been for techno,
you hook the machines up to the 16 channels, 2 x 303s, an 808 and a 909 with the different drum hits to individual channels,
the loops are running constantly all at once, but you arrange the track by fading them in and out and playing with fx sends.
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Well I think its pretty good for a 1st effort. Keep working at it!

I think that tracks like this can work better if you make them quickly to a tight timescale. I know that personally the longer I spend working on a tune the more I worry that its not interesting enough and start trying to shoe horn in different sections for variation that then lose the original vibe. Automating or adding/removing subtle layers is definitely the way to go with Techno tunes that maintain interest without straying too far.
 
@JoJabes @Manu Forti @xiris @robots777 @SteveR94 @ewan_kerr @fanu @Winslowxyz @Radius @Solace @Fluff @SIRUS @Rounder RG @IV4

come on men, new deadline is this sunday the 4th of Aug, 8 PM GMT! its going to be fun, come with it!!

im actually feeling like we have enough momentum in this silly thread alone to do a real dnb compo offa the back of, should we do a dnb compo soon? with a real sample pack, an actual concept, other than just the general musical style, and a real prize?

im feeling it, what say you?
 
Fluff said:
Well I think its pretty good for a 1st effort. Keep working at it!

I think that tracks like this can work better if you make them quickly to a tight timescale. I know that personally the longer I spend working on a tune the more I worry that its not interesting enough and start trying to shoe horn in different sections for variation that then lose the original vibe. Automating or adding/removing subtle layers is definitely the way to go with Techno tunes that maintain interest without straying too far.
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i agree, the tight timescale definitely works for me, and the vibe gets gone from shoehorning stuff in, but you have to add new elements, so youll always be faced with shoehorning. i automated the volume sliders for the arrangement of my little techno diddy for most of the arrangement, and that was an eye opener, maybe ill try that for when i make my next dnb track. if that ever comes to pass.

great tune btw! we now have two competitors haha!
 
logikz said:
i agree, the tight timescale definitely works for me, and the vibe gets gone from shoehorning stuff in, but you have to add new elements, so youll always be faced with shoehorning. i automated the volume sliders for the arrangement of my little techno diddy for most of the arrangement, and that was an eye opener, maybe ill try that for when i make my next dnb track. if that ever comes to pass.
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What I meant was adding a completely different section/contrasting element because you start getting tired/bored of a track whilst listening to it loop over and over whilst working on it for a long time. I'd really like to be make a D&B track that just rolls on & on whilst keeping the listener engaged. I get part way through and start thinking I'd better switch it up!
logikz said:
great tune btw! we now have two competitors haha!
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Cheers Mr Logikz! Hopefully some more peeps will have a go
 
I’ve never really listened to techno apart from the more popular tunes from some years back. Not a clue what do in terms of making one but I guess I can grab some reference tracks and give it a bash. Not even sure what sort of BPM I should be looking at....
 
robots777 said:
I’ve never really listened to techno apart from the more popular tunes from some years back. Not a clue what do in terms of making one but I guess I can grab some reference tracks and give it a bash. Not even sure what sort of BPM I should be looking at....
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I'd don't listen to much techno apart from a bit of Basic Channel or old The Producer/Clarkee sets from Dreamscape/Helter Skelter. BPM will depend on what type of techno you want to make. I'd say 125-140bpm is the normal range for the core techno sub-genres but for the styles suggested by Logikz it could go up to 200bpm
 
@Fluff i know exactly what you mean, and shoehorning is when that new element doesnt flow with the original vibe, isnt it

i first heard the expression about wonderwomans appearance in batman vs superman, she was "shoehorned" in at the end,
and whereas it, to me, isnt the most flagrant shoehorning ive ever seen (i mean she is a superhero around that part of the world,
so why wouldnt she show up really, would be weirder if she didnt imo, but i digress), it did illustrate the meaning of the term to me.

its something we commonly have to do in compo tunes where you have a time limit, a theme and sample pack to go by.
then shoehorning starts to look real tempting, because its musical content with none to little effort. so in compos, its a staple, really.

like the vocal phrases in this project for example, i didnt want to use a single one (but i did, big time, three, shoehorned in),
who has more vocal phrase samples than actual drummachine and synth samples, anyway?

but you want new elements, fast, and there are loops or phrases in the pack, but they dont fit? shoehornnnnnnnnnnn

for my own tunes musicality is very important, im into minimal, but it has to be meaningful, and there has to be elegant variations,
which is super difficult and means it feels like all i do is shoehorn sometimes.

robots777 said:
I’ve never really listened to techno apart from the more popular tunes from some years back. Not a clue what do in terms of making one but I guess I can grab some reference tracks and give it a bash. Not even sure what sort of BPM I should be looking at....
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my man! hell yeah bro, get you a reference track, here, try something like this (or idk, maybe? just spitballin tbh)

bpm of old detroit is 120-140 i think, this mix is 125 probably, but im just gussing now. anyhow its pretty genius stuff, minimalistic and simple to program but so groovy and awesome. or is it groovy and awesome, maybe its boring and old, i have no idea.
 
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