We are the music makers - producers?

I really like the Octatrack, no experience of the digi's but I think they're quite similar. It has taken me 2 years to begin to learn it properly though. And a printed manual!

Yeah very similar since the last big OT update which added conditional trigs.

Independent track length and tempo scaling, microtiming, midi CCs, probability and conditional trigs, it’s pretty powerful. OT has song mode and midi arp which the Digitone doesn’t.

It's a big step up from the 1st gen Elektron sequencers. For a long time I have been using the 909 as a midi master but I'm sticking with the OT for the moment. The implementation of microtiming and the sampling on top, just wish I could learn it faster.

When I first got the SFX-6 it was like a rubiks cube, so many combinations.

So the moody Waves complete bundle i've had since 2012 (?) has finally followed my 16 bit Softube stuff and been borked by the last OS update.

Been looking at buying different bundles to buy but not sure I really need most of what's in them. Think i'd rather cherry pick a few quality bits and buy them as standalone vst's.

What I need is:

• A decent vintage style compressor. My old favourite was the Softube Tubetech CL1B (Pultech) and FET compressor but I also used various Waves Fairchild and Pultech vsts. Edit the CL1B is £300 on its own! ouch.
  
• An L1 or similar peak limiter. Cheap and cheerful
  
• A nice mastering compressor (my old go-to) was the Waves Puigchild 670 (the "lavyne mastering glue" preset was on everything I did!)
  
  

I used to use SSL channel strips a fair bit too so have been looking at them as you get some nice eq and compression options on one handy place.

Nice to haves would be a tape emulation (used to use the Kramer one for mastering and for fun echo-effects). Would also like some utility things like X-noise, X-hum etc, which were great for cleaning up imported i-phone memos and stuff like that.

Any ideas for a bundle that covers that lot and not much else?

Slate Digital Everything bundle

I don't have any bundle suggestions, but for compression I really like U-He Presswerk. Not 1:1 simulation of any specific piece of hardware, but flexible and still feels quite intuitive. Comes with a good selection of presets, and has alternative views/skins aimed at different uses. Should cover quite a bit of ground by itself, and has a fully functional demo available. Though as a Linux user I'm probably easily impressed just by having access to some decent plugins.

I really rate izotope ozone, really nice vintage eq, compressor , limiter and tape emulation (although the tape doesn't have flutter etc, it's quite subtle but really nice for mastering). The other modules in there are really great as well and I think you can demo it unrestricted for 10 days.

The things I would recommend from my own use/experience:

EQ: Fabfilter Pro-Q

All-round compressor: Fabfilter Pro-C

Bus comp: the UAD API2500 is full of character but the Waves SSL G master buss comp is also very good.

Channel strip: the UAD SSL is amazing, I don’t know of one outside of UAD and Waves that quite does that, but you can surely pick up the Waves one on its own. However: the Lindell 80 is really really good, a Neve console emulation so a different flavour but it’s great:

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/lindell_80_series.html

For colour/saturation: Kush Omega and Reddi series (also the UA preamp sims but those are tied to the hardware obvs). Also Fabfilter Saturn. Also Soundtoys Radiator

Delay: Soundtoys Echoboy

Reverb: Valhalla Vintageverb and Valhalla Plate (I also like the waves Renaissance verb for small spaces)

I use pedals quite a lot for delay and reverb though. Strymon Dig, Meris Polymoon, Mercury7 and Eventide Space get the most use.

For what you’ve mentioned I think it might be worth investing in an Izotope bundle or two when they’re on offer. RX, even just RX Elements is phenomenal for fixing problems and saving recordings. The vintage style comp is really good and the Tonal Balance plugin is a game changer (was for me anyway) but like most of their best plugins you need to stump up for the higher grade bundles to get them.

Fabfilter for utilities IMO. Izotope for the most complete bundles. Soundtoys and Valhalla for effects.

Seriously. Slate Digital! It has everything you've specified. VMC and VCC plus the VTM Tape plugin are amazing

I get their emails but I can’t remember what I ever bought from them 😂

@EB sold on the Slate route. Looks like a model that works for me and yeah has everything I need.

@Regal thanks man. I already have Pro Q and Pro C and yep, they're great! Also have Valhalla Vintage Verb which is awesome. I did like the SSL strip in Waves so maybe i'll see what's in the Slate Everything bundle before I buy anything else.

I'm enjoying writing and recording again so much!

belated new years resolution to work less and play more.

testy test work in progress basic track of new tune

1 Attachment

• Wait for the Light - April 2021.mp3

Sounding great!

In a completely different style, here’s an electro track I’m working on. Some additional/different parts and a lot of tweaks and editing still to do.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/owc6bx8yxns8he4/OF_Project_004%20v05.mp3?dl=0

Nice dude only listened I n the phone so far. Will crank it on something beefier later.

Really nice vibe, sounds nicely balanced for sure

Very nice! Early Carl Craig/Drexciya vibes! Love that lead synth

@Fatberg @EB thanks a lot! The main bassy synth line is a eurorack patch using a Dixie 2+ into the ALM MUM M8 filter. The higher-pitched melody that comes in later is the Novation Peak.

Asked my producer friend about the Slate stuff and he reckoned they’re pretty good but couldn’t bring himself to use them because Steven Slate is such a twat. I asked him why and he sent me this: first minute is pure gold... https://youtu.be/_rzzoFCm8qk

Totally agree, Steven Slate is a complete douche. However the guy that does the modelling is really clever

Oh wow.

Yeah I’m totally subscribing. My first recording will be a cover of that vocal ^^^

Dredge of minor length, but did you ever sell that Tascam?

Msc mkrs should I buy 'The NDLR' from conductive labs?

I actually buy music that sounds like the output from one of these things but is there a much better one around that I've not discovered yet?

I think it looks really interesting. Pyramid maybe? Or the Torso T1, but that looks a little limited maybe.

I think the OP-Z does some interesting sequencing stuff but just has so much baggage that comes with it (no screen, shit build quality etc). Elektrons can do nice probability, polymeter and scale multiplier stuff but only the OT does midi arp. You could probably also design something in eurorack to do a lot of it, which would be eye-wateringly expensive.

So yeah, I've not seen a direct competitor to the NDLR, def not in hardware, def nothing that is clearly "better".