Oh, man. I may never go back…
Just unpacked my first Xmas present to myself, a 49-key MIDI controller that plugs into my MacBook via USB. Jacking the Fender Twin Reverb into the MacBook and launching Garageband opens up a whole new universe of NOISE, glorious noise! I’m in heaven. There are normal instrument sounds, synthesizers, sound effects, all kinds of stuff to play with, and I just realized I’d spent the whole morning without reading a single post at Daily Kos, Huffington Post, or any of ‘em. Thank God for that, eh? And what do you know, the sun still came up anyway.
No, my wife wasn’t in the house, which is just as well, because real musicians will hate me for what I can do with this thing. Not because I’m better, oh no, not at all, just louder and stupider. Compared to what she can do with a fine piano, the sampled sounds in Garageband as played by me come off like a troupe of psychotic whores on acid. The real secret is decibels, probably. A cow mooing louder than a 747 at takeoff is something idiots like me want to play over and over (the cow sound is middle C on the keyboard, just three notes up from the bleating sheep). There’s a fabulous bugling elk sample, too, that sounds hilarious blended with seagull cries and cathedral organ!
Oh yeah, I can do strings and guitars and stuff, too. Geez, I don’t want to do website work or anything else. (Hey, I wonder if I can figure out how to play “96 Tears”??) If you have any keyboard experience at all and own a recent Mac, you have to get the MIDI thingie, less than a hundred bucks at the Apple Store. But you’re going to want a real musical instrument amplifier, unless you already have one hell of a stereo system. Now I need my own studio, a place to write and produce podcasts where I won’t drive my sweetie insane.
Life is loud and getting better.
Comment by Pascale Soleil
1 December 4, 2008, 3:43 pm o'clock |
Headphones.
Comment by Dennis Moser
2 December 5, 2008, 5:01 am o'clock |
(Smiling … and points to http://audiozoloft.com/ToHear/31V2K8_hi.mp3)
… done live with Garage Band being driven by a MIDI-interfaced Godin xtSA guitar … it got some help from some other serious hardware between the guitar and Jan’s MacBook, but the last stop for the signal before it went out was through Garage Band and the custom synth patches I’d created there.
Have fun and DO get some good headphones …
Comment by Number 6
3 December 5, 2008, 11:57 am o'clock |
ah, now you’re speakin’ my language!!! ^_^
(of course i’ve been messing around with synthesizers and computers and the blending thereof for over 25 years now…. man, a quarter century - when the hell did THAT happen??!?!?!)
but seriously, if you ever need any advice about gear, software, etc. you know where to find me.
and the above posts are right: headphones!!! the best (for me anyway) is the AKG K240s (be sure to get the 240s and not the 240m - the “s” is for “studio” and they have a much lower impedance suitable for everyday use. the “m” model stands for “monitor” and was the original version of the 240, made for pro studio applications, and have a much higer impedance. they’d still work fine, but you’d have to crank the volume *really* high, then you forget to turn it down before you unplug them and BLAMMO! blown speakers. i speak from experience.). a good alternative to the AKG is the Sony 7506.
Comment by John H. Farr
4 December 5, 2008, 5:57 pm o'clock |
What IS this obsession with headphones??
How can you feel the vibrations with headphones? To me, headphones provide the idea of the music, not the actual music. And how can I scare the cats by wearing ‘phones?
Hmmphh.
Comment by Number 6
5 December 5, 2008, 9:18 pm o'clock |
don’t misundersand, i agree with you: there’s nothing like FEELING the sound (my modular analog synth pumping low frequency filter resonance though the subwoofer shaking the walls & rattling the doors & windows is soooo much fun!)
i think their point was headphones are a good stopgap so you “won’t drive my sweetie insane” until you *can* find a place to really cut loose at 11, and i was just trying to make some specific recommendations.
and you’re right: headphones put the music “inside your head” figuratively and literally, whereas full open amplification gives you that full body resonance visceral effect.
Comment by John H. Farr
6 December 5, 2008, 11:03 pm o'clock |
I understand about the headphones, obviously.
But I live for “that full body resonance visceral effect.” Very well put, incidentally.
Since my wife now has her own separate studio, when she’s there, I can make all the noise I want here.