Okay, so I am a bit tempted to comment on Ableton as a music composition and instrument tool, one because I love playing around with these sorts of things, but haven't had modestly speaking a whole lot of production experience...I'd put caveats to this however...since I were a kid I used to love playing around on my old Korg sampling synthesizer (including creating new synth sounds and the like), and I've like to mess around with sound production likewise, having some access to recording equipment.
I've played around thus far with some DJ production aspects of Ableton which is nice, but have at the moment been more interested in creating my own custom samples/instrument banks and writing material from scratch (although I've liked at times to use percussion/drum samples already constructed and modify these accordingly...and then use some existing sound/texture samples likewise). Mostly though I've spent time just gaining some familiarity with the set of instruments themselves. If you had little composition experience (like me), it might help resorting to existing composition sets for structural guidance, or at times working with any sort of template framework which helps a bunch, but then I've been looking for a more free form approach here, not always saying producing within a distinct genre necessarily (if this were the best choice of words). Here, I've found more often owing to patience and time working from a principal of simplicity...unfortunately, I don't how many times I've run into the problem of sound clutter and sound overload, and then when it seems like novelties wear thin, I don't know if the best rule of thumb from the productions aspect could be more so if inspiration weren't forthcoming right away, or at least when something hadn't for the hundredth time wore one's ears out...or sometimes, I've found walking away and returning to something the next day sometimes can be an excellent test here?! Haven't you ever come back to something and asked? What was I hearing?! :)
Anyways for any sort of workstation software that I've ever used, Ableton rocks there. If you wanted to do stuff with prefabbed stuff, Ableton packs are a good start...albeit I'd say if you hadn't had a whole lot of synth or piano experience, may help to have some music lessons (not that we all couldn't actively keep up with our learning here). So as a primer to working with synth instruments if this were new territory for you, I'd provide a little advice...sometimes certain composition styles work really well around certain sounds with others (aesthetically) seem not to work as well in terms of tonality and expression...some obvious things you might learn right away...things, like working with pads for pieces that need rapid development where the pads themselves have high attack may not be so good. :) Another recommended thing here outside of using created sounds, is to work in creating a sound to an instrument sound that you've heard before, or at least try to approximate it. This gives you a good working grasp in controlling the sound or shaping it as necessary in terms of a desired composition structure. Anyways, the good news with modern Synth packages and music production software like Ableton is that there is a lot of versatility. The bad news is...if you are new, you can get lost easily, or feel intimidated (at least I have at times), but still has been a great experience for me. I've found myself also recently wanting to create stuff that's mellow to me, and secondly wanting to use incorporate more silence into the structure of my music (often times it seems a lot of modern stuff is quite frenetic these days).
As to music experience personally, nothing formal on my part honestly...generally have worked through scales and stuck with stuff that appeals to me in general, or at least has reminded of other stuff that I've accumulated in terms of listening experience.
I like dorky stuff, and muzak (elevator music) btw. :)
Some other stuffs that I am working on:
Step sequencers like the Mono sequencer or nice especially for creating variations on a given rhythmic pattern, or at least this is an added tool. I've used the Mono sequencer with midi arrangements on kits which can alter an existing rhythm, as well as adding breaks, fills and much else.
I've found sequencers tend to work well with certain genres of music: House, Techno, and others. The cadence structures tend to be rhythmic and in some cases might sound awkward in other types of genres especially where humanized patterns are neither so rigidly defined. Trying playing a note the same way over a simple beat, and you may be surprised to see variations in velocities alongside slight micro timing differences in terms of cadence (these sorts of effects become noticeable audible to ears often over time). Sometimes, it may help to simplify and be subtractive as opposed to additive also. Sequencers on 1/16 timing tend to sound very mechanical while slower ones tending to whole note timing tend to sound less mechanical. Dropping less notes on the sequencer in a given measure may seem to integrate better with more humanized compositions and structures, unless you have midi recorded structures that are already humanized (either by hand or using midi effects which variate both velocity and micro timing signatures).
If you play in genre, say house, techno, you may find an increased rigidity in terms of timing signature for instruments that are played...the more rigidly structured the cadence is seems to put greater demands on other things like vocals to be recorded more rigidly to such cadence (otherwise, you may sense or feel the difference between the mechanics of a rhythm/melody overlay and the other stuff). Seems like 1/16 cadence is very common in the stuff that I've worked around when attempting things like House, Techno, and other styles like this...may help when organizing structures using other non synth instruments.
I like arpeggiators but I'd also recommend actually playing them by hand or learning how to play one without mechanical aids. One its an extension to writing melody patterns and chording. Chording it seems to me structurally may help to form a backbone to a song, but if you are able to play and work with your own argpeggios, you'd likely be able to extend this into melody pattern writing (not that I am a wizard or anything at this sort of thing ) ...
Hmm so other things... variations of cadence when using alternate sound instrument/structures in the flow of a song may help here...whether setting up break beats or breaks in general. Breaks can be excellent bridges for otherwise dissonant or cadence disjoint structures. Really in terms of music theory, it seems if I play note structures either with a similar cadence/pattern wise structure I could move in and out of many different keys from the improvised standpoint but if start to change cadence of notes themselves or keep unsteady tempo and cadence, it becomes quite apparent to the ears. Thus, I couldn't stress timing more in composition.
Sometimes I personally have found it helpful to work creating what I would call snapshots...instead of writing something entirely at once, maybe you start by writing something really simple as a starter, but you'd tire or find what you had written alone monotonous after the nth time hearing it, so then you delve deeper into compositional structure. Maybe here if you are working with the simplicity of melody and chord patterns, you work break this by building on chorus (very typical in traditional music for chorus and refrain for structure), or maybe you work towards more dominant structures relative to refrain?! Sometimes in this regard I've expanded from intervals to chords or 4ths, but adding complexity in terms of 4ths,5ths,6ths,...and so forth start to box you in more terms of progressions (or at least you might find yourself required in having more theory knowledge) to advance likewise. Sometimes it helps to work within the framework and boundary of existing structures and then work to improvise from these.
Okay so I've talked more about some theory as opposed to Ableton alone on this point, namely, the instruments can help expand in some ways grammar and vocabulary (in terms of composition) but writing these things down in a way that you were looking for can be difficult at times. Echoing another person in comment, it helps to have knowledge here. Also helps having a personal library of music that you like in reference also. I'd also mention while Ableton does provide nice features such as search finding a midi melody and harmony patterns for a given sample. There can be many ways to harmonize/chord from an existing melody structure. Thus while Ableton can provide options here...I'd say still having the knowledge of chord structure couldn't be more important. You might wonder why you ever learned circle of fifths, but at least at some point if you were fiddling around articulating on scales you might have developed something of an ear for the keys and progression here.
5/1
Relaxing...experimenting with sounds. Feel like I have much to learn on the sampler instrument as well as I'd like or I'd like it to be able to do other things that I haven't grasped full control over yet. Namely, without shifting the key of the sample, I'd love to be able to control the speed of the sample...not sure how to do this if it were possible without some MAX instrument interface...which could be another goal since I have a little Python under my belt. I've worked recently with a new Audio instrument effect called Corpus which I hadn't messed around with so much...which seems like a potential synth collision stack on top of an existing sampler track...hmm...not sure how I feel about it...like it more then ring resonator effects alone (would prefer Collision and Tension instruments before I resorted to this effect) but Corpus has an easier accessible feel relative to tweaking on Tension or Collision, believe its a single variable tone resonator joined with filter types...using for more percussive qualities Membrane. Also I've felt that Simpler might have some advantages over the Sampler instrument here?! Namely, when searching larger sample batches and attempting to use a refined partition of a sample, it would seem control scan functions on Simpler are more readily available, hadn't determined if midi assignments, for instance, could be structured similarly in Sampler...thus scanning say at a fixed partials length over the series of the sample itself. Thus, if you found a particular sample partial segment that you liked, it seems you could in theory transfer this found result to sampler, but you might have to have something of diagnostics provided from Simpler (on say sample start and end times alongside crossfades and anything else which be structured in the partial selection). Re listening to stuff that I had worked on in the past, sort of amazing myself, since in retrospect now well enough removed from the work leading into, I'd find a whole of things that seem complex enough in listening. One method leading into a writing exercise that I hadn't thought of before were the collage method here...namely, within a key range, keyed progression, working on a collage of motifs and instrument sounds, then seeing if these might gel into something. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but sometimes you might be surprised what you are able to produce?!
I've played around thus far with some DJ production aspects of Ableton which is nice, but have at the moment been more interested in creating my own custom samples/instrument banks and writing material from scratch (although I've liked at times to use percussion/drum samples already constructed and modify these accordingly...and then use some existing sound/texture samples likewise). Mostly though I've spent time just gaining some familiarity with the set of instruments themselves. If you had little composition experience (like me), it might help resorting to existing composition sets for structural guidance, or at times working with any sort of template framework which helps a bunch, but then I've been looking for a more free form approach here, not always saying producing within a distinct genre necessarily (if this were the best choice of words). Here, I've found more often owing to patience and time working from a principal of simplicity...unfortunately, I don't how many times I've run into the problem of sound clutter and sound overload, and then when it seems like novelties wear thin, I don't know if the best rule of thumb from the productions aspect could be more so if inspiration weren't forthcoming right away, or at least when something hadn't for the hundredth time wore one's ears out...or sometimes, I've found walking away and returning to something the next day sometimes can be an excellent test here?! Haven't you ever come back to something and asked? What was I hearing?! :)
Anyways for any sort of workstation software that I've ever used, Ableton rocks there. If you wanted to do stuff with prefabbed stuff, Ableton packs are a good start...albeit I'd say if you hadn't had a whole lot of synth or piano experience, may help to have some music lessons (not that we all couldn't actively keep up with our learning here). So as a primer to working with synth instruments if this were new territory for you, I'd provide a little advice...sometimes certain composition styles work really well around certain sounds with others (aesthetically) seem not to work as well in terms of tonality and expression...some obvious things you might learn right away...things, like working with pads for pieces that need rapid development where the pads themselves have high attack may not be so good. :) Another recommended thing here outside of using created sounds, is to work in creating a sound to an instrument sound that you've heard before, or at least try to approximate it. This gives you a good working grasp in controlling the sound or shaping it as necessary in terms of a desired composition structure. Anyways, the good news with modern Synth packages and music production software like Ableton is that there is a lot of versatility. The bad news is...if you are new, you can get lost easily, or feel intimidated (at least I have at times), but still has been a great experience for me. I've found myself also recently wanting to create stuff that's mellow to me, and secondly wanting to use incorporate more silence into the structure of my music (often times it seems a lot of modern stuff is quite frenetic these days).
As to music experience personally, nothing formal on my part honestly...generally have worked through scales and stuck with stuff that appeals to me in general, or at least has reminded of other stuff that I've accumulated in terms of listening experience.
I like dorky stuff, and muzak (elevator music) btw. :)
Some other stuffs that I am working on:
Step sequencers like the Mono sequencer or nice especially for creating variations on a given rhythmic pattern, or at least this is an added tool. I've used the Mono sequencer with midi arrangements on kits which can alter an existing rhythm, as well as adding breaks, fills and much else.
I've found sequencers tend to work well with certain genres of music: House, Techno, and others. The cadence structures tend to be rhythmic and in some cases might sound awkward in other types of genres especially where humanized patterns are neither so rigidly defined. Trying playing a note the same way over a simple beat, and you may be surprised to see variations in velocities alongside slight micro timing differences in terms of cadence (these sorts of effects become noticeable audible to ears often over time). Sometimes, it may help to simplify and be subtractive as opposed to additive also. Sequencers on 1/16 timing tend to sound very mechanical while slower ones tending to whole note timing tend to sound less mechanical. Dropping less notes on the sequencer in a given measure may seem to integrate better with more humanized compositions and structures, unless you have midi recorded structures that are already humanized (either by hand or using midi effects which variate both velocity and micro timing signatures).
If you play in genre, say house, techno, you may find an increased rigidity in terms of timing signature for instruments that are played...the more rigidly structured the cadence is seems to put greater demands on other things like vocals to be recorded more rigidly to such cadence (otherwise, you may sense or feel the difference between the mechanics of a rhythm/melody overlay and the other stuff). Seems like 1/16 cadence is very common in the stuff that I've worked around when attempting things like House, Techno, and other styles like this...may help when organizing structures using other non synth instruments.
I like arpeggiators but I'd also recommend actually playing them by hand or learning how to play one without mechanical aids. One its an extension to writing melody patterns and chording. Chording it seems to me structurally may help to form a backbone to a song, but if you are able to play and work with your own argpeggios, you'd likely be able to extend this into melody pattern writing (not that I am a wizard or anything at this sort of thing ) ...
Hmm so other things... variations of cadence when using alternate sound instrument/structures in the flow of a song may help here...whether setting up break beats or breaks in general. Breaks can be excellent bridges for otherwise dissonant or cadence disjoint structures. Really in terms of music theory, it seems if I play note structures either with a similar cadence/pattern wise structure I could move in and out of many different keys from the improvised standpoint but if start to change cadence of notes themselves or keep unsteady tempo and cadence, it becomes quite apparent to the ears. Thus, I couldn't stress timing more in composition.
Sometimes I personally have found it helpful to work creating what I would call snapshots...instead of writing something entirely at once, maybe you start by writing something really simple as a starter, but you'd tire or find what you had written alone monotonous after the nth time hearing it, so then you delve deeper into compositional structure. Maybe here if you are working with the simplicity of melody and chord patterns, you work break this by building on chorus (very typical in traditional music for chorus and refrain for structure), or maybe you work towards more dominant structures relative to refrain?! Sometimes in this regard I've expanded from intervals to chords or 4ths, but adding complexity in terms of 4ths,5ths,6ths,...and so forth start to box you in more terms of progressions (or at least you might find yourself required in having more theory knowledge) to advance likewise. Sometimes it helps to work within the framework and boundary of existing structures and then work to improvise from these.
Okay so I've talked more about some theory as opposed to Ableton alone on this point, namely, the instruments can help expand in some ways grammar and vocabulary (in terms of composition) but writing these things down in a way that you were looking for can be difficult at times. Echoing another person in comment, it helps to have knowledge here. Also helps having a personal library of music that you like in reference also. I'd also mention while Ableton does provide nice features such as search finding a midi melody and harmony patterns for a given sample. There can be many ways to harmonize/chord from an existing melody structure. Thus while Ableton can provide options here...I'd say still having the knowledge of chord structure couldn't be more important. You might wonder why you ever learned circle of fifths, but at least at some point if you were fiddling around articulating on scales you might have developed something of an ear for the keys and progression here.
5/1
Relaxing...experimenting with sounds. Feel like I have much to learn on the sampler instrument as well as I'd like or I'd like it to be able to do other things that I haven't grasped full control over yet. Namely, without shifting the key of the sample, I'd love to be able to control the speed of the sample...not sure how to do this if it were possible without some MAX instrument interface...which could be another goal since I have a little Python under my belt. I've worked recently with a new Audio instrument effect called Corpus which I hadn't messed around with so much...which seems like a potential synth collision stack on top of an existing sampler track...hmm...not sure how I feel about it...like it more then ring resonator effects alone (would prefer Collision and Tension instruments before I resorted to this effect) but Corpus has an easier accessible feel relative to tweaking on Tension or Collision, believe its a single variable tone resonator joined with filter types...using for more percussive qualities Membrane. Also I've felt that Simpler might have some advantages over the Sampler instrument here?! Namely, when searching larger sample batches and attempting to use a refined partition of a sample, it would seem control scan functions on Simpler are more readily available, hadn't determined if midi assignments, for instance, could be structured similarly in Sampler...thus scanning say at a fixed partials length over the series of the sample itself. Thus, if you found a particular sample partial segment that you liked, it seems you could in theory transfer this found result to sampler, but you might have to have something of diagnostics provided from Simpler (on say sample start and end times alongside crossfades and anything else which be structured in the partial selection). Re listening to stuff that I had worked on in the past, sort of amazing myself, since in retrospect now well enough removed from the work leading into, I'd find a whole of things that seem complex enough in listening. One method leading into a writing exercise that I hadn't thought of before were the collage method here...namely, within a key range, keyed progression, working on a collage of motifs and instrument sounds, then seeing if these might gel into something. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but sometimes you might be surprised what you are able to produce?!
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