Pieces of Eight

[icepulse]

Once again, not a full-fledged composition... just two short jams mixed together and manipulated in Cubase SX like a MOFO!!! I'm beginning to think a man can truly love a program. The more I twaddle with Cubase, the more I realize that it was worth every cent. Basic tracks (2, drums and guitar) were mixed as a stereo .wav file in Sound forge. Then, when you drag it into Cubase, it asks if you'd like to split it into two mono tracks. Brilliant!!! After that, all tinkering, panning and FX are handled beautifully (and stably) with Cubase. It's truly unparalleled, but it's the [glow=red,2,300]PS5[/glow] that makes me want to hit "record" in the first place. My goal is to get my chops together a little more, and string together about 50 min. of ambient noodling.... to create a nice mood CD. No gaps between songs, pure continuity. One for drifting off to. Here's the link:

www.soundclick.com/bands/5/presumedfonkymusic.htm


First track. "Pieces Of Eight".

[JimDurand]

Ice,

Cool sounds. Were the drums recorded without effects and the effects added in Cubase? or did your Roland provide the drum effects? Nice clean drums.

Jim

[mcarp555]

Yeah, it's got a nice groove throughout. I like the phasing on the drums; gives it a nice close-miked sound, even tho it's electronic. Very full sound considering it's just drums & guitar.

[Rob]

very cool. and yeah, unbelievably good sound with just dn'g...so cubase is good eh? tell us more...like how you use the program with the ps5 and a bit about what it can do then...im ignorant...but interested....

[icepulse]

I used a standard, slight reverb from the PS5, combined with the basic "room" ambiance provided by the Rolands. You really need this "ambiance" from the Rolands, or they don't sound like real drums. Real drums, obviously, have real "bounce" from both the size, shape and material of a room and it's walls. The signal from a hit to a drum pad has none of that. it is a pure sample, and must have a basic room ambiance in order to sound natural. The Guitar has no PS5 reverb, but some FX patch or other from the PS5. The Rolands, with just the standard "room" ambiance sound identical to a wood trap kit (or whatever else I choose to have it sound like). The SECOND part of the song, I'm using an 808 drum sound, so it was supposed to sound like old-school electronic drums, NOT a real wood kit. The first part uses a natural kit sound.

Once the two jams (of 2 tracks each) were merged together and saved as a .wav, a la' "MIXMEISTER 5" (a DJ mixing program), I dragged it into Cubase, splitting the stereo file into 2 mono tracks (I had panned the drums hard left, and the guitar hard right on the initial mixdown to .wav). Then I was free to add whatever effects I liked to D & G separately. My laptop has a kick-ass sound card, an ECHO INDIGO I/O. www.echoaudio.com/Products/CardBus/IndigoIO/index.php

I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone. It has no MIDI capabilities, but I don't give a rat's fanny about MIDI anyway.
Both music and DVD sound AMAZING on the card. The sound-floor is so low, you can have headphones in, volume cranked, and hear NOTHING until a song begins. Try that with a standard laptop sound setup. [glow=red,2,300]Hiss HELL[/glow]. It has an 1/8 inch stereo IN, and I simply run the line-out from the PS5 into that, hit play, and use the PS5's levers to mix the track, on the fly, to a stereo .wav.

The card is relatively affordable, but CUBASE is a pricey proposition. However, I feel that I have a really clean, competent recording environment, with those investments behind me.

As far as what CUBASE can do.... well, everything you really need it to do, and the biggest draw is that it's ROCK SOLID stable. Try the demo. It's really only second to PRO TOOLS, in my book. I don't have THAT kind of dough. I got CUBASE used on Ebay for pretty cheap.

[icepulse]

icepulse said:

Once the two jams (of 2 tracks each) were merged together and saved as a .wav, a la' "MIXMEISTER 5".....

I should clarify. I mixed the two parts into 2 separate .wav files, SEPARATELY, using SOUND FORGE. Then, I mixed those two separate jams (wavs) into ONE .wav with MIXMEISTER PRO 5. THEN the Cubase action.