Electronica fans, go!

Caitlin Black · Nov 26, 2017

Hey. I'm trying to figure out where to find new electronica artists. That is, there's a huge music community on YouTube, and I've found loads of new bands on there - within the metal and dark electro genres, at least. But electronica in general? All I can really turn up are compilations people have put together of their favourite songs. Surely the electronica community must hang out *somewhere* online, but I can't seem to find it.

I want to find new artists to enjoy, but I also want to meet more people who are into this sort of music. I just don't know where to go, really. Any ideas?

*twirls glow-sticks in an arcane display of solidarity*

Xelebes · Nov 27, 2017

There are reddit communities. These have largely replaced the old messageboards it seems. I used to post on t-raves.ca (Toronto party page), etownravepage (local party page), speedcore.ca, gabber.ca, ush.net (UK hardcore), usb.de (schranz & German techno), partyflock.nl (dutch gabber) and so on. These have, if not completely, mostly folded. Reddit has stepped in pretty nicely, being a primitive version of Nexopia (local social media website that predated Facebook that represented Western Canada.)

What's useful nowadays is that today, you can follow record labels more easily. So the question is: what do you want? Blues-touched stuff? Hiphop? Jazz doodles? Hard shuffling music? Endless loops? Mash & grind? Music to glass to?

Caitlin Black · Nov 27, 2017

Thanks!

For what I want... I'm coming from a black/death metal background, but with interest in dark electro such as Centhron, Noisuf-X, God Module, that sort of thing. I'm open to any form of music, though. That is, I'll give anything a chance, even if I do wind up being picky about what I choose to listen to a second time.

As for Reddit... Could you provide some more info about where the electronica crowd is? I'm asking this for a fairly selfish reason, to be honest. I'm interested in making some electronica, and all the advice I've seen about selling creative products says to become a member of the community you're selling to. I'm not interested in just finding an audience and saying, "Buy my shit!" I want somewhere I can engage with others like here on AW - as an actual person, rather than a product. I've never used Reddit before, so any help you could give would be amazing.

And thanks again! I was starting to think this thread would die a slow death with 0 replies.

Xelebes · Nov 27, 2017

These are the sub-reddits I follow.

Electro-swing https://www.reddit.com/r/electroswing/
Industrial techno https://www.reddit.com/r/Industrialtechno/
Acid techno https://www.reddit.com/r/acidtechno/
Happy hardcore https://www.reddit.com/r/happyhardcore/

And the more general one: Electronic Music https://www.reddit.com/r/electronicmusic/

Caitlin Black · Nov 27, 2017

So... Am I to understand that Reddit is basically a way of linking to other things that the Reddit group in particular might like? (Seriously, I have no idea... Is it possible to have conversations on Reddit? Or is it just a matter of links?)

Thanks again!

Caitlin Black · Nov 27, 2017

Oops, never mind. I just used some YouTube-fu and found that there's a comment system attached to all links posted. (Also found out about upvoting and downvoting...)

Hooray!

onesecondglance · Dec 1, 2017

Hey Cliff Face, saw you were looking at plugins over on the SFF party thread, but didn't want to derail that.

What have you got and what were you thinking of getting?

Caitlin Black · Dec 1, 2017

I've got FL Studio 12, which comes with a bunch of free plugins. The one I'm happiest with is GMS, but I also like Autogun, BooBass, Reeverb2, and Fruity Chorus. The one that was a demo version in FL that I want to buy is PoiZone - sounds absolutely awesome. I was also looking at Toxic Biohazard and Morphine as demo versions - they're both fairly versatile. Morphine does some nice trance type stuff for the higher frequencies, while Toxic Biohazard is sort of a less-good version of PoiZone (in my opinion anyway - they do operate differently, but I prefer the soundfonts on PoiZone).

The expensive one I was looking at is Nexus, though I was also mildly interested in Sylenth1 and Spire - though those 2 were great in the first video I saw, but kind of "Meh" in other videos.

At the moment, I can do stuff close-enough to Nexus via GMS's various soundfonts for free. Morphine would also do a lot of the same type of stuff as Nexus, from what I can gather. Though given that Morphine is also a tad pricey, I'd probably just go straight for Nexus when I can afford it. But PoiZone is the one I'm thinking of buying right now.

At some point I'll likely upgrade the reverb, delay, distortion/compression and chorus plugins, but for the time being, the free versions that came with FL Studio will do the job. (I mean, they're kind of afterthoughts anyway. The bulk of the success of the songs will come from the noise-making plugins and good songwriting.)

Caitlin Black · Dec 1, 2017

Oh! And if you know plugins, maybe you can answer a question for me. I can't figure out how to make a certain type of sound. Basically, the scratchy, this sound is attacking itself sort of chaotic synth, where there is usually 2 notes with every beat. That is, the sound might ring out for 2 seconds, and there's the starting note, but after the chaotic middle part, there's a second note that comes in (or so it seems). It sounds awesome to me, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to make it. Don't even know what such an effect would be called, which makes searching a bit difficult.

onesecondglance · Dec 1, 2017

Sounds like that's a patch with more than one oscillator, where the second oscillator has a slower attack (hence comes in after). You can also mildly detune the second osc so it clashes with the first... and/or use an LFO to modulate either or both oscs. The other possibility (hard to say without hearing an example) is a long attack filter sweep.

FL studio supports VST, so the world is your oyster when it comes to good synths. Hands down the best free synth I've tried is the TAL Noisemaker. It's massively versatile and very easy to program. I've also heard very good things about TyrellN6 by u-he (also free).

If you're willing to spend money, the classics for the kind of sounds Poizone creates are Native Instruments Massive and Rob Papen Predator. A slightly cheaper option may be NI Razor - I think it's fantastic and not too expensive. It's well-named and gives you super sharp, very modern sounds. I love it - there are hundreds of presets to spark inspiration and it's very tweakable. It's far too complex for someone at my skill level to program a great patch from scratch, but starting from one of the presets you really can't go wrong.

For effects, keep an eye on Soundtoys. They do extremely high quality plugins, and occasionally they make them available for free to tempt you in. With enough patience you can upgrade your basic suite to something really good. Do not underestimate the power of a good reverb, though - pretty much everything sounds better with a great reverb. Glaceverb was my go-to free reverb and is still very good. I also have Stillwell Audio plugins on lots of my tracks - I love the 1973 EQ, and Rocket and Bombardier are very good compressors.

HTH...

Caitlin Black · Dec 1, 2017

*brain overload*

Thanks for the tips! I'll look into such things soon, I expect. At this point I'm definitely thinking "Pay for PoiZone because I loves it preciousssss, but use free plugins for everything else to start with."

Oh, and I'll try those tips about oscillators and see if that produces the effect I have in mind. If not, I'll hunt down a YouTube video that uses the sound in question and post a link (and time stamp) here.

Thanks again!

Caitlin Black · Dec 1, 2017

Okay, I've had some time to check out some of this stuff now. Of the plugins listed, the only one that tempts me away from my current plan would be Predator. But even then, I'd probably spend a bit extra and get Nexus instead. Thanks for the ideas, though. The more demos I hear of more plugins, the better I am able to understand what is actually going on with any given synth.

As for the oscillators or filter sweep... I played around with that for a little while in FL, and it still didn't give me the sound I was going for. I'm pretty sure it's actually related to a particular plugin or type of plugin, rather than a way of effecting something else. I'm trying to find an example on YouTube to link to, but the internet is being stupid for some reason. *sigh* Link pending, basically.

Oh, and I seem to have skimmed over this little detail when I first read your post: "I also have Stillwell Audio plugins on lots of my tracks". Links please? Band name? YouTube channel? I'd very much be interested in hearing your work.

(And hey, if I can find an example of the sound-type I'm struggling to make in your music, we can guarantee you'll know how it was made! :tongue

) ETA: Ha, just checked your sig. I'll be listening soon.

Caitlin Black · Dec 1, 2017

Hmm... You know what? After some searching, I've realised that the sound effect I'm looking for is probably just a mix of stretching a note to the point of distortion, while also having it end in a somewhat different pitch than it begins. Now, the latter I know I could do with some pitch-bending automation. Pretty sure I can also stretch a note to the point of distortion with automation, but that part I'm not certain of. But if I could do those 2 things, plus start off with a fairly chaotic-sounding synth, I'm pretty sure that would work.

I didn't notice this particular sound in any of your songs, though. But yeah - pretty sure pitch-bending and time-stretching a chaotic synth would do the trick, now that I've thought about it some more. I'll have to look into that next time I play around in FL.

ETA: Bonus round! I just played with pitch-bending and chucking in a higher note at the end of a sound, and yeah - didn't really achieve what I was hoping it would. So... Really not sure at this point. I'll keep playing around and looking for good examples. It's entirely possible that this type of sound/effect really isn't necessary in making good music. It's just kind of vexing that I can't figure out how to make it myself!

*stops spamming own thread*

onesecondglance · Dec 2, 2017

Instead of bending the pitch, try automating a filter. Often a big resonant filter sweep can sound like rising pitch (e.g. Josh Wink's Higher State of Consciousness - that's actually all the same pitch, it's just a resonant filter sweep).

Caitlin Black · Dec 2, 2017

Thanks for the tip! I'll play around a bit later.

Caitlin Black · Dec 3, 2017

Eek! Just bought and unlocked PoiZone. Shit's getting real now! *panics*

Electronica fans, go!

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Xelebes

Delerium ex Ennui

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Xelebes

Delerium ex Ennui

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Caitlin Black

Wild one

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Caitlin Black

Wild one

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Caitlin Black

Wild one

onesecondglance

pretending to be awake

Caitlin Black

Wild one

Caitlin Black

Wild one