ReasonTalk.com

It's BORING. They made it SO EASY. TOO easy. It's BORING. I can get a 32 beat loop going in 20 seconds with my eyes closed.

It's like if you're a painter you throw huge blobs at the canvas at once, and somehow it just works, and then you get to the details by shaving things off here and there.

Back in the day you had to paint everything with a tiny brush and that is how art is shaped. Not like this. This is bullshit. I hate it.

But…
You don't HAVE to work that way.
Grab your tiny brush and get to work, my friend - "make even more art":

I mean if ones goal is to just make a decent sounding loop, then sure it might not be very hard with current tools. The hard part is putting together a full track that's interesting to listen to from start to finish.
Like Selig said you can choose your own preferred method of creating music. There's no need to follow current trends or using modern technology.
For example I recently got so tired of all the current AI crap that I decided to purchase a bunch of unusual acoustic instruments. Just to get back to basics of playing physical instruments again. I'm currently playing and practising everyday in some way. I wouldn't be surprised if they become part of the music I make in the future, once I've become more skilled at playing them.

TritoneAddiction wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

The hard part is putting together a full track that's interesting to listen to from start to finish.

And this is exactly what I could do when I was just using an Amiga or a W30. Or early Reason. I just can't do it anymore. I get distracted by the whole plethora of instruments and whatnot.

so stop using so many tools and instruments. figure out what your goal is and find the tools that suit that, and ignore, put away, or uninstall the rest.

that’s not a problem with making music—it’s a problem with your specific approach to making music.

Writing to picture is never boring - come to think of it I am never bored in my studio - I am living my dream!

fullforce wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

TritoneAddiction wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

The hard part is putting together a full track that's interesting to listen to from start to finish.

And this is exactly what I could do when I was just using an Amiga or a W30. Or early Reason. I just can't do it anymore. I get distracted by the whole plethora of instruments and whatnot.

You could always use the favorite lists function. Select just a few instruments and effects you want to work with for a while. Limit your options. It helps.

I can tell that my music making has become to a point that I do things off, without a proper vision of what I am or what I should be, while it used to be based on focusing, working hard and knowing my thing.
I have some kind of a vision that what I should do/be, but yeah, I think I'm also a bit re-checking my "cards" atm.

I think it's important to set goals. If it's aimless then the challenge goes, procrastination sets in etc.

My goals in music is to create an emotional reaction (other than "turn it off" ), to tell a story, to foster nostalgia and to celebrate synthesizers!. And the process of doing so is cathartic, gives me 'caving time' , distraction from my other life priorities.

What are your goals?

raymondh wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

What are your goals?

Mine after a long self-research: Danceable/groovy techno-pop for the "9th floor" maybe.

Heigen5 wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

raymondh wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

What are your goals?

Mine after a long self-research: Danceable/groovy techno-pop for the "9th floor" maybe.

Not sure what the 9th floor is but it sounds like a great goal!

raymondh wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

Heigen5 wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

Mine after a long self-research: Danceable/groovy techno-pop for the "9th floor" maybe.

Not sure what the 9th floor is but it sounds like a great goal!

By 9th floor I mean 9th floor of the maximum 10. I want it to be almost perfect.

Heigen5 wrote: ↑

18 Feb 2024

raymondh wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

Not sure what the 9th floor is but it sounds like a great goal!

By 9th floor I mean 9th floor of the maximum 10. I want it to be almost perfect.

Ah, an almost perfectionist!

challism wrote: ↑

18 Feb 2024

Heigen5 wrote: ↑

18 Feb 2024

By 9th floor I mean 9th floor of the maximum 10. I want it to be almost perfect.

Ah, an almost perfectionist!

Yea, I think 9/10 is a fashion by it's own.

I would say that once you are proficient with an instrument then it’s always been too easy to make dull music. Professional songwriters can crank out Muzak with barely a second thought.

The challenge has always been in crafting a memorable piece of music. Our new toys have not made that any easier, but they have made it easier to create Muzak.

fullforce wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

It's BORING. They made it SO EASY. TOO easy. It's BORING. I can get a 32 beat loop going in 20 seconds with my eyes closed.

It's like if you're a painter you throw huge blobs at the canvas at once, and somehow it just works, and then you get to the details by shaving things off here and there.

Back in the day you had to paint everything with a tiny brush and that is how art is shaped. Not like this. This is bullshit. I hate it.

Welcome the Model:02 - A significant update to the beloved M8 Tracker. Same brains with improved physical features including:

New machined aluminum design
Larger 3.5" IPS TFT display (from the original 2.8")
Improved battery - Up to 12 hours of battery life
Built-in microphone for sampling
USBC (device-mode only)

Looks like a fun tiny brush. Almost like an Amiga tracker + 8 stereo W30s. Focused. No internet.
I've heard the battery sucks (model 01) but I don't own one so I would not know.

Yeah it's a problem, having all this stuff and the capacity to do almost anything musically.

This is a problem that can only be solved by buying more stuffz.
The more you spend the better you will feel.

Can confirm.

Why got stuck in a 16 or 32 loop, try a 6 bar loop for example. If it sounds good.. this is what it feels like from Armin v Buuren isn't a standard 8 or 16 bar loop, neither is tiestos remix of Williams orbit adagio for strings for example.

For me, my most creative years musically, was when I was playing in bands creating music out of thin air. A bunch of guys or gals just jamming and spit balling ideas in real time to create something that just minutes before didn't exist. The collaboration was what drove the music and creative process forward. The sum greater than its parts. Now I create music tucked away in my home studio, doing it all in the box under headphones. No one to spit ball ideas off in real time or to be told hey, that's a great idea or hey, that's a terrible idea or the ensuing arguments that would spring up during the creative process. All of that and more was a contributing factor to the creative process. I miss those days and the creative interaction's between actual human beings, playing real instruments, in real time. In my current musical bubble everything I create is either complete rubbish or it borders on genius. Genius, if I JUST MAKE some tweaks to the arraignment, the melody or harmonic structure or any number of fill in the blanks changes. Tweaks that never come AND SONGS THAT ARE NEVER FINISHED. But as soon as I post this I'll open up reason and the struggle will begin anew. Happy Sunday to all my brothers and sisters out there creating music out of thin air.

fullforce wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

TritoneAddiction wrote: ↑

17 Feb 2024

The hard part is putting together a full track that's interesting to listen to from start to finish.

And this is exactly what I could do when I was just using an Amiga or a W30. Or early Reason. I just can't do it anymore. I get distracted by the whole plethora of instruments and whatnot.

Now you see, to my way of thinking that's more of a "you" problem then a "whole problem"...

I don't know what the problem is in general, but FOR ME it's definitely too much flexibility and choice vs. limited time (on Earth, and also during the day). Every modern DAW nowadays - well, maybe except Reaper? - has enough: sounds, instruments, effects, tools and workflows that one can do almost any type of music, for as long as they live. Literally. But then you have other DAWs, plugins, hardware gear, monitoring equipment, room treatment solutions, tutorials, forums, etc... taking the precious time and attention.

All of the above are for me ME manage.

I now removed all other DAWs from my computer, disabled plugins in Reason, have one controller hooked up, uninstalled all social media from my phone, ordered a Kindle to start reading - actual stuff worth reading - more, will offend some mods & users here to get banned for good, soon(ish)

In general, though?

The way music is now produced, distributed and marketed also puts lots of people in a very narrow stylistic niches in artistic and technical terms, which makes the tracks difficult to distinguish and anyone sounding differently is viewed as sounding "wrong". Short attention spans promote the music that's immediately catchy and simple / easily accessible, "obnoxiously" grabbing the attention that's rarely lasting and memorable. Production values greatly overshadow artistic qualities - the DAWs make the "cutting-edge" techniques like parallel-processing, side-chaining, saturation, multiband compression, dynamic EQing, limiting, maximization, etc. easily accessible to everyone, but since nowadays a musician is their producer, mixing & mastering engineer, a manager, a PR person, an IT tech, a graphic designer, a lawyer, etc. - there's not enough time left for the actual music. And you have to produce fast, pump the stuff out often, so that your "audience" doesn't lose interest and that you could build that "passive income" library...

Obviously, there's lots of awesome music out there, still!

It's just more difficult to find in the sea of highly-polished, formulaic and soulless "shit".

Will you offend me, I like being offended?

miyaru wrote: ↑

20 Feb 2024

Will you offend me, I like being offended?

That's all I can offer on a short notice