pouët.net

creative tracks in demos?

category: general [glöplog]
tracking has obviously gone downhill, mainly because there are less great musicians doing it - so many have given up. so the quality of tracking output is less good. much of the tracked output which is considered top notch today really saddens me. a few years ago it would be considered shit, but thats what lack of competition does for it, eh.

anyway, its down to the abilities of the people using the program, not the program itself. great musicians who are still using trackers will make better work than the many who have moved to "more powerful" software, but dont have talent to match.
dats da truth.
added on the 2002-11-05 12:48:21 by smash smash
that's a fact and smash spoke the truth!!!
tho there is two kinda trackers who passed away using better proggies to my mind:

the bad tracker who think that using reverb and echos will improve their sounds
and the good talented trackers who now explored the trackers from a to z and want to improve their sound...........but they already know how to improve a song with a tracker.
DSP is not just ear candy. There was a time when breaking your back trying to emulate it with tracked formats was as laudible as trying to size-opt code, but things have moved on and creativity or the lack of it has crap-all to do with it. What is the obsession with continually re-inventing the wheel anyway? The *real* heroes are the people coding their own soundsystem to run size-opted tracked-style music with all the proper DSP shit done on the fly.
added on the 2002-11-05 14:04:26 by MrMessiah MrMessiah
it would be a bit silly to limit oneself to pattern sequencing only when one is able to code a complete audio synthesis framework
added on the 2002-11-05 14:25:43 by _-_-__ _-_-__
Hmm . You know people have been saying since some thousand years b.c that :"wow, now stuffs really bad, the only thing that can be worse is the future, lets go back to the old days when everything was great." These kind of statements has hampered human progress and set civilizations back into the stone age or dictatorship numerous times. I dont really think we've ever had better sounding music in the demo scene than we have now, and lets move forward into still improving audio software/hardware instead of moaning about the skills of current people using trackers...

But I'll still code amiga, and listen to 4ch mods or 4k fm-synth crap.. so there.. contradiction caught me.. argh.
added on the 2002-11-05 15:29:12 by loaderror loaderror
i wasn't talking about nostalgia ehehe
of course it's cool to have so good proggies to make pro sounds. But when you have to make a song for a 64k, here is the challenge!
i agree, this is more technics than music.
it's quote time!

from the 8-bit warrior (i'm guessing it's bogdan raczynski) (digital.it):

"thinking that music which is tracked is any lesser than music which is not tracked is idiocy and ignorance in its strongest form. quality is a fading ideal, don't be left behind. "

ooh! good!
i'll bet that the reason you like the old stuff, old chiptunes and 4ch songs you listen to now, is because they have a great melody or are good pieces of music. thats not nostalgia.. its a timeless thing. and not much to do with sound quality.
perhaps on chiptunes etc people concentrate more on melody and not nice samples/instruments, or sound effects or whatever. cos you dont have that available. thats also why chiptunes show up bad musicians so easily, who otherwise would get away with it through using good sounds.

anyway, my point is not that we should to stick to trackers forever.. just that, using some fancy package wont instantly make you a good musician, sorry.
and im sure we'll still be listening to those old chiptunes and 4chs in 10 years (maybe burned to some other format by then heh), and most of the stuff released today that has nice sound quality but is totally shallow, hollow to listen to (and in 10 years when we have something with much better sound quality will be totally revealed as that), will be forgotten. so its time thats the real test of something good.





added on the 2002-11-05 18:58:07 by smash smash
i don't think (and i don't think you hold that opinion) that chiptunes are the ultimate deciders of wether one is a musician or not..

there is so much more in music than just melody

added on the 2002-11-05 19:08:24 by _-_-__ _-_-__
Mainly 'coz most scene musicians can't compose melodies...
Tracking is Phun. But combining it with sequencing is even more phun :D
added on the 2002-11-05 19:50:58 by Virgill Virgill
thom can you say that again?
added on the 2002-11-05 21:14:41 by _-_-__ _-_-__
in my opinion the great number of orations on trackers, sequencers and whatnot,
so often available for one's reading pleasure on various forums is an alarming
indication of lack of will to experiment outside the sphere of computer aided
sound/music production.

it seems that many people have, whilst wading through the seemingly infinite number
of sound producing software, forsaken the innate creativity they hold within and
become fanatic proclamators for a certain (codename: my thang) piece of code.

now, the above litany isn't meant to be taken as B&W as it propably will appear
for some, and no sharp distintion between 'ok' and 'nono' users of a.m. software
is meant to be drawn either.

it just feels that while many wide-ranged tools of production have hit the markets,
boasting their unique and innovative new effect algoritms, there is still a
plethora of conventional, not so elaborative ways of creating patterns of sounds
(and I'm not referring to sticks and stones, (albeit they're fascinating too :)
but to the more traditional instruments and gadgetry) having personality to them.

in a concise form: I myself use a few trackers and several other pieces of software
and have grown attached to the idea of using them. still, I admire e.g. the bigshot
jazz musicians who even after years and years of practise are still trying to find
ways to play a tune with fewer notes and yet stronger feeling. what I'm getting at
(hopefully!) is that it's no wonder there are a gazillion of wannabe trance composers,
when even the poorest software bundle/synthesizer has dirs/banks full of trancey
sounds, trancey effects, HOWTOS on mixing trance tracks and so on.
(the word 'trance' is replaceable)

everything shouldn't be ready-made and half-chewed.
in many cases an original sound has surfaced through a malicious error.

"to err is human" and rightly so.

...I managed to be technofobic, anti-trancist and a blabbing simpleton, didn't I? :D
added on the 2002-11-05 22:59:55 by funktion funktion

Quite frankly, I don't see these types of discussions going anywhere.. means of productions are personal choices.

Express yourself the way that suits you the most, and don't listen
to the naysayers + those who try to make you feel guilty of not doing
this or that. Don't try to compare yourself to others, don't
watch over the shoulder of others to see how they are making their
music. Because it's their music, not yours. Anything else is just
detracting from honest music making.

added on the 2002-11-05 23:17:55 by _-_-__ _-_-__
I didn't mean to sound a spokesman for any particular way of creating music, and what people do with their
choice of weaponry is even less my business.

danger of restricting oneself within a fixed set of options is what I was ranting about above.

in the end only output matters...
added on the 2002-11-05 23:30:47 by funktion funktion
i'd prefer links.
i've always thought outputs were hiding the major part of the iceberg.

send your original tracks !
I was just being silly, so no, I'm not going to say it again.
i hate cops and prefer satanist for whom kindness to those who deserve it instead of love to ingrats.

in the end only revolt matters
* is more important
all demoscene musicians suck!
added on the 2002-11-06 14:50:11 by skrebbel skrebbel
thx
i'm eagerly waiting the first demo featuring swedish dansbandsmusik!
added on the 2002-11-06 19:38:12 by _ _
me too
added on the 2002-11-06 20:04:23 by skypher skypher
well. Scene music is going down the drain.
I can't say that. Dunno. Just know Xerxes, a recent (well, not THAT recent) appearing star..

Well. I am musician and I think I have some talent to show up. But where should I go? All the music sites are filled with music. I can't find a way to place my music.. well, I can write to some groups "hey, do you want my music in your demos.." ok..

It's not easy that day for musicians, I think. Years ago, when a new musician showed up, it was noticed. But today it is quite hard.. I mean, now, you have even to be in a "label".. and you tracks have a cover and so.. I can't really relate to this idea.
added on the 2002-11-07 08:38:31 by phred phred
ah, and knos:
"Don't watch over the shoulder" is a quite bad suggestion to ANY musician. My opinion: I learned the most while trying to copy styles and tunes that were really good (for the sake to improve that is). And that's also how all the great artists have learned it. First you are a learner, then you can do it on your own. The great painters, the great musicians (I mean the "ancient" ones, like Mozart, Beethoven and stuff..) mostly began with copying/imitating the masters. I think it would be an error to do this NOT.

I mean: Copy the techniques, renew the style.
added on the 2002-11-07 08:43:05 by phred phred

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