What do you struggle with most in your tracks?

What do you struggle with most in your tracks?

Thought this was worth asking as i spend yet another night battling with a selection of keyboards and synths trying to get a simple melody for a track i am in the middle of.

The last few tracks i have done have been mainly drum tracks, though i am trying to add some melody to it to give it a slightly different type of sound, though at the moment am finding it really difficult to get something that seems to work.

I keep on thinking i nearly have something that sounds okay, though either i make too many 'slight changes' which ends up being a totally different sound to what i started with, or i leave it and come back to it and decide what i had was shit, and start over again

How about everyone else? Is there one thing that you currently find difficult, or am i the only one who regularly comes close to sticking his head through his monitor?

Bit of everything for me. I have a track in my head when i start, but when it comes to making it i find sounds that i like more... so it ends up not sounding like what was in my head lol

i would find making music better if i had some1 to bounce of in the studio , as at themo ive always just created noises and been happy , i can create fantastic drums using the 909 , but as the smoke thickens in the loft i get stuck in a loop and before u know it its 1am , time for bed..

basslines with the 303 have recently became a pain to program as the unit doesnt function correctly , not a happy man.

getting every thing to sound right inthe mix is another fuck on , so selling digital desk and moving back 2 a mackie -

Basslines. Getting there but its certainly been the hardest thing to master imo.

Exactly the same!!!

Rich - if it's the buttons doing double notes and stuff when you press them for the timing, then you can get them replaced - it's a common problem with them. Not that expensive to get the switches on ebay, about 10-20 quid. If you're handy with a soldering iron can be done, fairly straightforward, but plenty of people about on the net to do it if you don't trust yourself.

I'm a complete novice. I've played about with Ableton and the free software with Computer Music magazine, but kind of give up before I've even started.

I'm the type of person that needs to be shown the basics before I can go off on my own and start on a new track.

i cant program notes into it , as i go up the scale the note stays the same , il try again tonight as i usualy just program thru cubase but im fucking all that off and going into programming from the roland kit direct , for some proper sounds of the underground - but thanks 4 the idea of where to get new bits , i am a dab handed with the old iron too

im glad i got alot of my kit when i did , its doubled in price now , am more of a collector of analog now . sad but true

Actually finishing anything, ever.

same always get sick of listening to things on loop for ages changing tiny little things

and mastering - not really got much of a clue were to even start

putting melodies into my tracks, i can bash something out (wahay lol) quite decently on a keyboard but when it comes to putting it in my tune it all goes a bit tits up, other than that im quite competent at everything else - just about

Does it play different pitches when triggered with cv or is it the internal sequencer, or both? I take it from above you must have it fitted with cv/gate ins?

When you're trying to program it is the cv plug still plugged into it? If so, unplug it and try again.

I can totally relate to that like, i am forever making melodies that are okay though just not right for the track. At the moment as well i just sack them off and delete them, though i think after i have finished what i am working on now i am going to spend some time working on getting a few melodies i like, then build the track around them rather that doing it the other way.

I think its about time i invested in a copy of 'playing keyboards for dummies' i wanna learn to play anyways but its gotta be a million times easier making your own melodies when you know exactly what you're doing with regards to what fits with what and how its all meant to come together, luckily i have managed to make some pretty good tunes just bashing about with notes in cubase like

i struggle with my shit computer freezing all the time and generally being dump!

Would you not be better off saving the melody and when ever you struggle to find a melody for the track your working on, you'll have a bank them and one may just fit the tune your working on at the time, just a suggestion?

Major and minor notes is a good place to start, it's easy and adds depth to a track, look it up.

pitch mode direct from 303 wont work , just 1 tone , its had a kenton conversion done when i got it , i think its a gash jobs . realy could do with a local nerd to invesitgate - or a devil fish conversion ( have already inquired)

Devilfish is nice, but fucking expensive, plus I'm not too keen on sending it all the way to oz with a courier.....

The reason I ask if the CV is still plugged into the input from the kenton, when you're trying this, is because this controls the pitch (as you probably know), and if it's still plugged in, it probably won't be able to change pitch, as it's looking to receive the pitch info from the external cv, not the internal cv produced by the machine's sequencer. I'm pretty sure this happens with the 101 cv in.

If the same thing happens without the cv plugged in, I would say it's an issue with the conversion and maybe somethings fucked up there.

Anyway, best of luck resolving it!

on FL studio i struggle big time with VST's and making synth sounds looked into online tutorials but not found anything to that much use just yet

yes ithink its the conversion , i may remove or at least find a convident elctro nerd , but who would wonna work on a tb ? all leads unplugged its still does it , so cant do proper live stuff yet.

cheers chris - hope the dam is a fruity place

also can u sugest a good reverb , distorsion , etc fxs units or pedals ? ditiching the digital desk an going to mackie so wont have built in effects anymore

cheers man

Reverb - TC Electronic or Lexicon - lots to choose from depending on budget, pretty sure you'll be able to find somewhere to listen to them in town to choose. Analog - EMT plate

Delay - TC Electronic D-Two is really good for the money. Older analog things - WEM copycat, roland space echo. Can be pricey but can pick them up on ebay from time to time

Distortion - Guitar pedals

Which mackie you getting, the 8 bus?