Free EP (or at least, donation with no minimum - feel free not to pay if you don't want to).
Jet Jaguar - My Life In The Bush At The Back Of The Garden
All 6 tracks were done in Mulch (admittedly with plenty of VSTis), happy to answer any questions on how bits were done.
Cheers,
Michael
Someone asked for some info on the mulch-discuss mailing list... I figured I'd post it here as well.
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For the sequencing of harmonic / melodic stuff, I did use a thing called Phrazor quite a bit, which is a piano-roll style MIDI sequencer that can be run as a VSTi and can host VST synths etc. inside it. The synths / samplers / whatever I used are all free ones - happy to give examples if you want to ask about particular sounds.
Since switching to Mulch 2.0 I've also been using a smaller, simpler piano roll sequencer I forget the name of, to send MIDI to VSTs hosted directly in Mulch... It's been great for automating parameters. [url=http://www.audiomulch.com/content/free-midi-sequencer]The one I'm using is mentioned on the Mulch website under the PC plugins forum.[/url] (It unfortunately doesn't sync that well with Mulch's clock)
On most tracks I export a lot of the above stuff and bring it back into Mulch in LoopPlayers.
That allows me to do things like in 'Octo Test', where I wrote a sequence for those arpeggiating synths, exported that, re-wrote the sequence backwards, exported that and then reversed the exported WAV. So I've got the same progression playing on two different loops, but one sounds reversed.
Another example is the chords in 'Gomennasai' - the original sequence plays the first chord once, but I was playing around and found I liked having it loop at the start of the phrase. So I set up multiple presets with the same WAV but different phase amounts and then automated them. I then re-wrote the Drums and Bassline sequences so they repeat in a similar fashion.
The rhythms were almost entirely done using native Mulch stuff - Drums contraptions and occasionally LoopPlayers where it was just something triggering once a bar or so on. The only example I can think of where I used a MIDI sequence was the acoustic sounding drums in 'Miles and Miles and Miles Away', because of the swing (it was done in 1.0, when the Drums contraption was less flexible) plus the original samples are in stereo.
I use the Arpeggiator quite a lot - e.g. the chords in 'Gomennasai'. That and 'Dub Outside (In The Rain)' have Mulch Bassline basslines too. From memory 'Outside's is two Basslines playing the same progression but one's square wave and one's sawtooth.
I use SouthPoles a lot to shape and gate Basslines and (particularly) Arpeggiators.
The flute bit in 'Outside' was done by loading bar-long samples (some free Mellotron samples) into a bunch of LoopPlayers and then switching around between them using presets on an 8x8 Matrix Mixer. That creates the arpeggiating effect.
The last track, 'Barberpole Rhythm', doesn't use exports because of the constantly changing tempo. That was the first thing I did in 2.0, just larking about with the new ability to automate tempo. :) It starts at 500bpm and ends at about 12, but I'm constantly introducing things that are double the speed of the previous elements.
OK, I'm going on and on. ;)
I only listened to the 1st tracks but it sounds cool. It's has a hiphop-dub influenced sound to it. Will listen to all of it later on.
Have you tried energy xt VST for sequencing or recording midi in mulch? I've been using v1 and v2 to overcome what's missing for me in AM.
Yeah, I collaborate on [url=http://www.maltymedia.co.nz]a project[/url] with a [url=http://www.virb.com/aquaboogie]friend who uses Energy XT in Mulch[/url] so I've had a bit of a play. It looks pretty clean and straightforward ot use, I've just been reticent to spend extra money. :)
Are you using Mulch 2.0? Can you easily send MIDI to VSTs hosted directly in Mulch? I really like being able to use Mulch's automation on VST parameters.
Sometimes I do wonder what the hell I'm doing with Mulch over some more generic "DAW" (never been comfortable with that acronym for some reason!) but I enjoy it and it stretches me to do all kinds of things to achieve what I want.
Yep mulch 1 and 2. I'm mainly using xt2 to send midi to vstis inside mulch 2. It's basically to record midi in mulch or to sequence something like a drum sampler. It's basically just a piano roll.
I like the fact that AM has somewhat of a limited toolset but it's all there and due to the modular nature of the software, there's always a new way of doing things. I always come up with interesting sounds and I'm not fed-up yet. I can't wait to see some new contraptions, Ross is very inventive in that field. I'm also waiting to see improvements to the drum contraptions such has velocities, multiple outs, pitch per note and sample, panning.
I know what you mean though about DAW. That's why I use Ableton live also. There's just some things I'll do faster in a "daw" then in AM. I flip wavs from one to the other.
They are both my favs tools though, my mind is set on them for a long time. If I had the money though, I'd get something like Samplitude to arrange or mix the final product.
Enjoyed your tunes. Keep it up.
Hey, curious about how you made those bassy keyboard rolls in "Litzldorf"?
Hey, thanks for commenting. :)
The bassline is a free VSTi called ss2bass, sequenced with a sequencer called Phrazor that can also run as a VSTi inside Mulch.
Hi there Jet (Michael), I've been enjoying this EP immensely over the past few days and it's interesting to hear about your methods. I have a few ?s:
1. Do you mix any programs besides Audiomulch (ProTools, Logic, Reaper, etc...), or is everything laid out and captured in AM? I'm curious as to your mixing/mastering process.
2. Your bass sound is great, is that ssbass2 on "Gomennasai" and "Dub Outside"? Do you add any effects to make it so...*ahem*..."phat"?
That's it for now I guess...there's a lot of dizzying things going on here in your music, I'm impressed! You've already shared some great VSTs, some I've used before and loved (basic64), but there's some you introduced to me to, could you share anymore? Any cool effects in particular?
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the kind words. :)
1. I do all the mixing and mastering in Mulch. I do some trimming, EQing, transposing, a bit of time stretching in a wave editor before loading individual sounds into Mulch, but once they're in there I don't really use anything that can't run inside Mulch. For the Malty Media stuff, Stuart and I have done mastering using Ozone in Mulch itself. I don't have a copy, so for this EP I just made do with compressors, etc. I've never used anything like Pro Tools long enough to get used to looking at waveforms in a multi-track environment.
Once I start mulching, about the only thing I can think of that I do to manipulate sounds outside Mulch is just reverse things, as described in my original post in this thread.
2. Gomennasai and Dub Outside are actually the ones that don't use VSTs for the bass! In both cases I used two instances of Bassline playing the same notes - one with the waveform set to square wave, the other to sawtooth. I used preset automation to change the pattern where required. I set the cutoff to maximum and then used a SouthPole to filter them - more flexible that way.
Since you mention basic64 I take it you read that interview with me elsewhere on the site? The only other thing I can think to suggest, in terms of VSTs, is TinyGod's set of plugins which are a few years old now, but built for Mulch, I believe, and in particular Pegger's a lot of fun. The developer, Russell Borogove, used to post on the mulch-discuss mailing list a fair amount...
Thanks for the response! It's even more impressive that everything comes out of Mulch. I wish I felt like I could pull that off like you do. I also completely underestimated the power of AM's bassline, it sounds so good in those two songs. More proof of the greatness of this program!
So how is life in that bush? Nice and bushy, I assume?