Mind you I don't sample and I don't want to buy any new gear- SHOCKING, I KNOW!!!

Although I am looking in to this little baby...

Any ideas about this Griffin? I know you're into synths proper...

When I get it, I want to do something different with it.

maybe I need to invent a new genre or bend some rules. I'm just tired of my same old ouput. Slagging out the same tunes over and over again.

@Lady Jane:

Could you check your IMs. I want to check out the link for the Access VST and want to know how you're getting on with it. Also I want to add a gearlist like Jane - who should I ask about permission?

Hook it up Dun Dun.

Pro Tools, Ableton Live 7, Absynth 4, Z3TA, Alesis SR16, Roland JP-8080, Juno 106, Korg MS2000

Pro Tools || Ableton Live 7 || Absynth 4 || Z3TA || Alesis SR16 || Roland JP-8080 || Juno 106 || Korg MS2000

I'm hoping it sells well enough to make the Stromberg a reality. No physical pictures yet, but I think it will be crazy considering how good the Bloefeld sounds.

The VST Ti is the Nucleus Soundlab Viral Outbreak 

http://www.nucleus-soundlab.com/viraloutbreak.htm

It's also in the next issue (along with the Access Music TI Snow).

It's going to get steller review [with samples of the TI, how could it not?]

The obvious downsides are the loss of actual patch editing and original patch creation.

So if you're more into slangin presets, then this is a must buy. If you use reason Refills this is a must buy. It's 129USD for both VSTi and Refill. And to be honest it will make you appreciate the TI. Using IK SampleMoog made me look into the Moog Voyager.

I would use the Voyager and SampleMoog side by side without batting an eyelash.

I already told Jane the TI could easily be her signature piece-- easily. If she can't lay that kind of bread down for anything Access Virus; the Viral outbreak is the next best thing, well, it's the real thing with the normal 'sampled content' limitations.

She did pick up a copy now that I think about it...

--------

As far as the slump is concerned- you don't have to always make msuic. Take a break. I think you need to make an album. Something with a beginning, middle and end. Something cohesive with a theme- and I don't mean a title with the word Ambient in it.

That makes a goal. Something to build toward. I find just making beats without purpose or direction gets old really fast and even feels pointless sometimes. Maybe, just maybe you might want to explore a different kind of sequencer so that it can add some spice to your production with some unexpected twists. I don't see any sort of hardware sequencer in your set up (which seems to change pretty often ???). maybe you should explore that option. You said you do a variation of experimental IDM, which I thought was industrial, but you say Intelligent??? um...okay.

Look at this (also in this next issue) I'm facinated and I thought the Zendrum would be the last inspiring-hands on-type-thing. maybe you gotta go backward to go forward.

http://www.genoqs.com/

This is defintely on the list. I just see it pulling something new out of me.

Plus I like the idea of setting it up and only looking at one interface for the whole composition.

It's expensive.

Going backward to go forward...

What do you think about this?

http://www.future-retro.com/xsimages.html

Look at the video too. Makes for a similar combination of sounds and sequencer.

Pro Tools || Ableton Live 7 || Absynth 4 || Z3TA || Alesis SR16 || Roland JP-8080 || Juno 106 || Korg MS2000

Seemed like more of a 'topper synth' or a finishing touches type tool.

The only propblem I see with sequencers like that (or perhaps how it was being used) is- it seems like a lot of effort to create something I could play easily and even with more human variation. Maybe some kind of random melody maker is in order.

I would have to know that sequencer really well to move it forward or push it or...

Know it very little and just turn knobs to see what happens. That might be the only way to get past myself on that.

http://www.monomachine.com/

The Monomachine is a multiple synthesis keyboard synthesizer and advanced pattern based sequencer.

or the Dave Smith LinndrumII

Pro Tools || Ableton Live 7 || Absynth 4 || Z3TA || Alesis SR16 || Roland JP-8080 || Juno 106 || Korg MS2000

The Lindrum II will remain a mystery until I hear audio clips. I don't doubt the design and its feature set BUT the sound makes or breaks a product for me. They said it's an original analog sound-- something different.  I'm curious as to what that would be. And I can't wait for the raging debates between the digital version and the analog version.

A PM from Griffin to Oscar and back to me from oscar and Jane with permission from Griffin to share...Jane gets credit for 5 and 6.

1. Rearrange the studio.

There's always someothing you can do to improve it. Reconnect something that's not being used or eliminate a piece that's never used and in the way.

2. Learn a new function on a current piece.

I've opened the manual to a random page and decided I'm going to learn whatever this chapter is about. Master one new feature at a sitting.

3. Listen to (your own) music.  Sometimes I can hear a tendency or maybe a weakness by listening to my own tracks. I get an overall sense about what I wish was stronger or perhaps missing.

4. Study other artists.

This is different than trying to copy or reverse engineer a sound. I find ideas for different arrangements by listening to other genres. I heard a song with a 4 bar rest before the chorus and thought it might be kind of cool to try it out on my own track.

5. I look up the history of my music style. who did it first and how it started.

6. I listen to recent club mixes to see what's current in music.

7. Create more of your foundation.

If you use samples...sample, not necessarily going out and buying more records, but begin to make a library of usable samples.  Not every piece that's worth sampling/using needs to be pulled in as you're making a track. Make drum kits. Make more presets.

8. Finish an unfinished track

It's obvious advice to revisit a track and hear it again with fresh ears. I have a few tracks where I think 'All it needs is a Bassline and it's done.' I spend too much time searching for a an appropiate bass that never comes. I then push it to the side with a promise to return. I've even re-opened the session much later (after purchasing a new toy) and think 'Now I can finish it' and still nothing right comes. It might be only after I drop that direction that I can come back and hear it anew and realize it doesn't need a bassline or something else is keeping the bassline from fitting (usually a very heavy element that's stepping on the bass notes).

9. Rework an average track.

This is different than just 'picking up where you left off'. Usually there was something that inspired the track and it's good to sometimes strip the track back down to the basic raw stuff that imparted feeling. It could be a nice melody but the instrument selection was wrong.

*I omitted the stuff that wasn't production related like call another producer or spend time with family (sorry Jane). Update your user profile was also kinda corny. Myspace is really, really played out now. Focus on another aspect of production like Mixing was good and digging in to a technique was good too. Learning EQ is something you do anyway, not just when you're bored so we stop at nine...