Dirtywave M8 Tutorial #1: Basic Introduction and Workflow Walkthrough
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- A bunch of folk asked about how the Dirtywave M8 was laid out, and how you put together music on it - in particular - what kind of differences there were in the workflows between that and the Polyend Tracker. To answer some of the common questions, I've put together a basic tutorial on the set up and music creation workflow which explains what the various screens and features do, as well as some of my own tips (for all that they are worth).
If you've used LSDJ before then this will all be very familiar. If you have questions, feel free to ask... though I am still finding my way around the various bits and pieces, and running the M8 Headless for now. If you're curious to find out more, I'd recommend checking out the Discord here: / discord
If you are interested in song files for the M8 to see how exactly I make my songs in practice, these are posted to my Patreon: / allmyfriendsaresynths
See this playlist for all of my Dirtywave M8 tutorial videos: • Dirtywave M8 Tutorials
Get access to all my sample packs, music, and other exclusive stuff: / allmyfriendsaresynths
Download individual sample packs here: gumroad.com/al...
Find me on Instagram: / allmyfriendsaresynths
My blog with music and write ups: unexpectedbowti...
My DIY tape label, Cow Tongue Taco Records: cowtonguetacor... I post all of the music I make, including WAV stems; sample packs; Dirtywave M8 song bundles; collections of video textures; early access to videos; and a whole pile of other stuff on Patreon. I know I know, I hate doing this as well, but if you like what I do and want to get more of it, while also helping me offset some of my ludicrous gear purchases, this is the best place to do it:
/ allmyfriendsaresynths
If you just want to hang out and chat with me or other (nice) folks, drop by the Discord: / discord
If you just want individual sample packs or downloads of video footage to use in your own projects, get them on Gumroad here: gumroad.com/al...
If you're in the market for new gear, my favourite place to find new and interesting synthesizers and other electronic music gear is Signal Sounds. They are based in Glasgow, but ship all over the place and often have stuff nobody else does. Find them at www.signalsoun...
If you're in the US and shop at Perfect Circuit, you can click through to see what they have in stock just now through my custom link. I get a small commission for any purchases made, which keeps me stocked up with whisky and beard oil. link.perfectci...
and a whole pile of other stuff...
Instagram: / allmyfriendsaresynths
My main photo and video art blog: allmyfriendsare...
The band I play guitar and sing in: closetorgan.ban...
The band I play bass and sing in: hogwyld.bandcam...
My DIY tape label, Cow Tongue Taco Records: cowtonguetacor...
My occasional music blog: unexpectedbowti...
Get in touch for possible collabs/offers of large sums of money, etc: allmyfas at gmail
Wow, I was literally thinking, “I just bought an M8, I should watch some tutorials on it.” Then BAM, TH-cam pops this video in front of my face. Thanks TH-cam, you read my mind.
God bless the algo!!
Just ordered my M8. Estimated to arrive in July, so for now I’ll read the manual and watch your videos. After watching this one 2 times I think it’s finally starting to click. Would appreciate if you can keep posting more beginner friendly M8 tutorials, but I’m sure it takes quite a bit of time to make these. Thanks!
Hey Alex! Glad this is helpful :) I'll gladly put together some more, though I'm a tad stumped as to what would be worth covering next. I've done Tables and Live Mode as well, so any other areas in particular that you'd be interested in, give me a shout!
@@StephenMcLeod I’ll check those both out a couple more times and keep track of any questions I have. Thanks for the reply!
Ordered mine for September, in the same boat. Will definitely be checking out the how tos on this channel!
I couldn't wait anymore, and set up a headless M8. I've been a Renoise user for years, but never used LSDJ. This tutorial is great. Thanks so much! The M8 is so good!
Oh awesome! Glad it was useful. The M8 is a beauty indeed!
whats headless m8?
@@michaelrodriguez350 you can just buy the teensy model used in the m8 and load the firmware. Hooks up to your computer and can use m8 that way.
Thanks for these videos. After watching this one the M8 finally clicked with me, and after watching the Tables video my mind started running with all of the possibilities. Really excited. I'm so glad that the headless M8 is available so I can mess with this right now.
Oh awesome! I'm really glad they were useful :)
You hit the nail on the head with this tutorial. Really wanted to see the workflow. This is great!
Thanks a lot! I am glad it was useful :)
Thanks for this! I came here from Elektronauts as have been following the M8 thread with interest. You've helped me take the the plunge with a Teensy headless setup that may one day be joined by a physical M8!
Amazing! Thanks for watching. How are you liking the headless? That's the gateway drug that got me into it also haha.
I think one thing that’s really interesting here is to consider how modern DAWs especially Ableton are like a fancy front end with something like this scrolling away in the back end (not literally, but conceptually).
Yeah! I find Ableton etc too difficult to grok. I've ended up using the M8 for most of my music production lately.
Its funny too cus, DAWs are supposed to 'pretty up' of a tracker and yet.... Even seeing the project files for say sum generic edm song will look like a massive 10 track unreadable clusterfuck.
The programmatic nature of a tracker definitely makes more sense to me.
Totally. Bitwig is very similar, as are hardware boxes like some Digitakt. They definitely work like a tracker, just with a different interface
Literally the first ~8mins of this saved my sanity😃
I'm glad it was useful!
Was desperately waiting for this video, thanks.
Glad it is useful!
The only thing harder than learning this box is having it explained to you in a thick Scottish accent :)
Very much kidding, love your tutorials and your music. Thanks so much!
Mine arrives in a few days. Excited!
I was limbering up for a wee fight there but you pulled it back. :D Luckily TH-cam has subtitles... Good luck with the M8!!!
@The Snipecatcher clearly you have not heard a REAL thick Scottish accent. This fella is clear as day by comparison
@@roryjineffect - I’ve been to Glasgow many times. Truly, I was just joking around :)
@@thesnipecatcher116 no hate here, had to deal with a REALLY Scottish guy on the phone once, looking up band merchandise. I almost cried.
@@roryjineffect Quite right!
Thanks for all this. Super helpful!
Really glad it was useful!
Hi! Great tutorial! Bought the M8, simply based on the videos of yours. 😁
Oh nice one! Thanks for watching. I should get some kind of commission damnit. :D Just kidding. I am sure you'll love it.
@@StephenMcLeod You should! 😎
X only needs one more letter and you have what it stands for. Thanks for this, it's a huge help. I noticed the M8 isn't as easy going as the Polyend Tracker.
Glad it was useful! It's definitely more in-depth and the learning curve a bit steeper, but it's worth it.
Great video for m8 starters! Thank you for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this! I will have to see about getting this running. I saw the full hardware thing with a pretty hefty price tag and didn't realize you could run it as software
Yeah. I wasn't all that keen on running the software as I prefer hardware, buuuuuuuuuut it's been great. Definitely worth a look!
@@StephenMcLeod do you know if LSDJ introduced this workflow or did it borrow it from a predecessor?
Also, still can't get my head around the price difference between running this headless vs the hardware unit. Do you think the pricetag is justified by the hardware unit?
@@Two-Eyed_Boy On the first question: I'm not 100%. There's lots of different trackers around that inevitably have similarities. I'm not entirely sure how much of LSDJ's is 'original' in that sense. What I do know is that the M8 is based on the LSDJ workflow specifically.
In terms of the price difference... I hear you. It can be difficult to balance the two out mentally, but I would think about it like this: If you were just paying for the hardware version (with no open source version available), then the price of the handheld is great for what you get. It's similar to the Polyend Tracker etc. The reason it seems inflated is because the software is open source and can be run for free... but really that's an added bonus. It's a philisophical decision that's been made to open up the availability of the system... which doesn't take away from the cost of development or hardware of the physical product. It's similar to how Mutable Instruments software is open source, but the Eurorack modules are still seen as expensive.
If I view it as a straight comparison hardware wise between the M8 and similar devices, the price is great. If I consider that the software has also been released open source, that's another bonus which adds to its value, rather than cheapens it... imho!
@@StephenMcLeod absolutely true! I guess I just haven't heard too much about the specifics of the hardware. Definitely would love to see this trend become more common in the industry though!
@@Two-Eyed_Boy yeah agree. I thought it had hdmi out which I was very excited about, but it turns out that was wrong hah. I'll see what it's like when it turns up! I am blind so the screen might be too wee for my failing eyes.
Understood about a third of this, watched it all the same.
A third more than I understood!!
Understood it better on second viewing. Looks like Elektron have taken a lot of inspiration from trackers in relation to per-step editing.
Also - can you copy data (sequence/chains etc) between tracks (sideways)?
Fascinating. It's the sort of thing that programmers would like, so I do. Remind me a bit of Sonic Pi.
There was a lot of crossover between the chip music world and programmers, which is probably how we ended up with things like this! I haven't seen the Sonic Pi. I'll need to check it out.
Super bonkers! Love the way that the architecture and the sound used here is closely related to gaming. That will seem naive but I never got near that tech so it's an alien even exotic world to me. 808 and 606 and then lofi all sounded tinny to me, totally unable to appreciate them at all. Strange in a way because I was always in love with the random sounds of analogue synths doing 'Sample and hold'. You get remarkably close to constructing that vibe during the process of rushing note events into the demo.💕
Yeah! I love the sound and feel of the simple sound generation of the old gaming consoles. I learned to make electronic music on the Game Boy, so this feels right at home.
thank you!
Glad it was useful!
I just got my shipping notice! Woot!
Amazing! It'll be with you soon then. Enjoy it!
Hopefully this clears up my confusion on the concept of trackers..edit ....ahhh this makes sense starting to understand it now
I'm glad it was at least a wee bit helpful!
Thank you so much for this! Also, I’m in the US and your accent is super easy for me to understand. People hating on you can go watch another fucking video then.
Haha quite right!!! I'm glad it was useful. Cheers for the comment!
At 6:34, "X" is probably short for "FX", which is of course "Effects": Chorus, Delay, and Reverb.
Smart!
Thank you for this!
Thanks for watching!
...mine just arrived. Total noob so about to watch your M8 👍Tutorials 😃
Awesome! Hopefully they are useful.
Thanks 4 this
Hope it's useful!
@@StephenMcLeod It is just good to see the M8 in action. Maybe another vid on tables??
@@yepuh8828 plz! It's awesome how this overview directly applies to LSDJ
@@yepuh8828 Once I learn about the tables! :D
@@StephenMcLeod got u...thanks
Great video! I've not seen another video that explains the workflow so clearly. Thank you.
Cheers David. Glad it was useful!
@@StephenMcLeod will you be getting the hardware version?
@@DavidDeLuge Yeah! I have one pre-ordered.
@@StephenMcLeod Nice. I tried but all sold out and so have to wait until Octoberish to pre-order again. It looks worth the wait though.
@@DavidDeLuge Hang out in the Discord... that's where they announce if cancellations happen! That's what I did and managed to grab a pre-order. :)
I can’t find any instrument called braids. Every TH-cam video (not just yours) refers to using the braids? Do I download that from somewhere?
Braids is the name of a Eurorack module made by Mutable Instruments. The creator open sourced the code, so that it can be used in other devices. The code has been used in the M8 for the MacroSynth. It is already included in the M8, so you just need to choose it from the list of Instrument Types.
I know late to the party, great tutorial!
Though seeing what shortcuts you press would have been actually better...
This was before it was easy to record the keystrokes. I've included them in some of the later tutorials. :)
Thank you for the video. Very helpful. I did noticed that you were copying and cloning instruments and chains but you never explained how to do that. The manual shows the keys but also doesn’t explain how to paste the copied items. I’m struggling on the simplest things with this. Normally I don’t struggle but the little things are tripping me up. Any idea how to get info. All these videos show the same thing. Are there any walk throughs step by step?
Once you've copied a section, you move to the area you want to paste. Press and hold down shift, then tap Edit, and it will paste.
There are other videos out there on the key commands specifically that you can find on the TH-cams. I'm not sure of any specifically though!
Had Fake SID on my Android phone for some time never worked out how to make a single sound. Watched this video and I'm listening to my first track, ok track may be rubbish but it's a start. Now if only my phone had a bigger screen #AllThumbsNoFingers lol.
Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
00 equals "nothing" on the chain. FE equals "fecking empty". Your choice!
Haha I like that.
im having some issue on my m8 hardware where even when notes are entered in a phrase and an instrument is loaded ( works with note preview fine ) the play arrow lights up but does not actually play and scroll through notes like the demo songs , but the strange thing is when i use the same exact procedure to enter phrase notes on my m8 headless every thing plays back fine . I just got the m8 a week ago and im wondering if i inadvertently did something wrong in settling . Do you know if there is a factory reset on the m8 ? im not seeing that in the manual.
Perhaps the MIDI settings? e.g. is the M8 waiting for an external clock?
. I’ll check the midi settings but demo songs play just fine . Ill check it now. Thank you
@@StephenMcLeodHey Thank You that worked great ! I just copied midi settings from a demo then my stuff started playing . I cant believe how cool just one sequence on the m8 can sound . Its very addictive and fun . I just got an mpc live 2 at the same time and i really don’t care for it’s workflow at all . Thanks agin for the help. cheers !
Nice one!! I'm glad I could help.
Does anyone have any knowledge on the default keybinds for the m8 headless?
I don't unfortunately... it depends on the client you are using I believe, but you can set them in the menu down below on each one (or on the left I think on web display?)
I'm pretty familliar with synths but with the M8 I'm stalling at the starting gate, and I've searched the manual and stacks of youtube tutorials to find an answer to this basic question:
How do I change the length of a note, or in other words change the gate time? How do I make a long sustained note? This seems such a basic question but I can't find an answer ... I'm feeling pretty stupid ... I must have missed something. Help ... please!
The note remains on until it is silenced by an effect command like KIL, a new note is triggered on that channel, or the envelope/sample ends. Does that help?
@@StephenMcLeod Thanks, I'll play with that. I guess that makes the envelope without sustain quite useful.
Thanks
Hey thanks a lot! Glad it was useful :)
My M8 is on the delivery truck now, so I thought I’d do some learning before the UPS driver gets here. This video was extremely helpful. Once you explained the Song screen, just about everything else clicked into place in my head. Basically, rotate the M8’s Song screen 90 degrees clockwise and I’m in Ableton Live, looking at 8 MIDI tracks in Arrangement view with a piano roll.
Unrelated question: I like the name, but was Lingua Taco Records already taken?
Thanks for this great video!
Already a subscriber
Hey Daniel, I appreciate it! Glad the video was useful. You'll love the M8... hopefully. Lingua Taco didn't have the same ring... and the whole Cow Tongue dealio was a weird quirk of history haha.
Thank you very much for this, very helpful!! ❤
Could you please let me know which discord chanel are you mentioning? I follow the Dirtywave one but there I only see the announcements…
Kindest regards!
The M8 one! I think you have to emoji react to a message in one of the channels in order to see the rest of them. There should be instructions in a pinned message in that channel. :)
New to trackers and m8!! Learning a ton:). Thx for these wonderful guides.
Question: why can’t there be a shortcut or button command that would fill in all Empty spaces w FE after you’ve finished yer song? Seems like a good feature add. Peace.
I'm glad it's useful! I can see why that might make sense in abstract, but in practice it isn't really necessary, as you need to fill up rows as you go to compose songs anyway and keep things in time. When your song ends, if you have lots of empty FE rows after the music, it will just keep playing forever and eventually loop again - so it's better to use a kill command.
i like the power of this tracker and the performance capabilities and screen size of the polyend.....someone make a hybrid of the two plz
Yeah, the performer mode and screen on the Tracker are great. The one thing to bear in mind is that you can plug the M8 into a computer for a remote display option/bigger screen.
OK! Great video thank you. I'm about to chew off my arm. I'm using headless on Mac. All instrument folders are empty. Where can I get hold of these? 😁
I'm not sure if the instruments are included with the headless download. I think there's something on the dirtywave site/faq about getting them though!
Hi, do you know if there is any way to connect any hardware to the teensy. there is asecond usb port on topof the teensy. as far as i know is this usedif the teensy acts as a host. i havent soldered any pins to it butit would be very interresting. same goes for the gpiu ports.the hardware is sold out unfortunately.
Hello! What kind of hardware? I believe it's limited but there may be possibilities. It depends on what you're thinking though
sorry if this has been asked already, but what type of mod files does the M8 work with? i know the Polyend can use Impulse Tracker files. can the M8?
Hey John, good question. I don't believe it does support MOD fils, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I've checked the manual and can't find a reference to them.
Sorry if you mentioned this in the video and I missed it.. Is there a limit on how many instruments/samples that can be loaded per project?
I think I read something about sample length being 'limitless' since it's recalling directly off the SD Card instead of loading them into the RAM. However, I don't recall seeing if there's a limit on the amount of samples.
There are 255 instrument slots, 0 to FE (cuz hexadecimal), and yeah samples and synths share those slots
Sorry, I missed this comment!
@@StephenMcLeod no worries!
@@baileybudlong3655 cool. That makes sense. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the tutorial! Question: how are you able to select a note for the hi-hats considering it's just a .wav file? Is it actually selecting the different wav file for the note or is it just dynamically tuning the single wav file?
It's just pitching the note of the wav relative to the base note :)
@@StephenMcLeod Cool! Figured that's what it was doing. In this case would you suggest that it's probably best to always use the C note wav file? Just so the note displayed matches the pitch?
@@questionyourbeliefs That's what I do generally, though it depends on what the sample is of, and also what the note is. As in, if you have the full spectrum of notes available in sample form, sometimes it makes more sense to use the sample relevant to the note, so if you have C4 and G2, maybe using the G sample will work better than the C for the G2 note... if that makes sense?
Is there a way to hold a note indefinitely? I have one note entered in my song but every time it loops around the note restarts and makes a slight click. I want it to sound like I am holding down a key on a synth.
For a sample or for the built in synths?
@@StephenMcLeod I was trying it with the macrosynth. But I'd be happy if it could be done in either!
@@StephenMcLeod nevermind I figured it out!
@@sedwords I'm glkad you got it sorted!
I'm nitpicking.. but is it not pronounced 'mate'? Instead of the 'M' eight?
Either is fine
When you say: "If You", it sounds like you are saying: "Ef You"🤣
Maybe I am
hahaha all my synthesirs!
synthesisirs
I did watch all of this the other day, the only thing I think I missed....
Does it have a "beat slice" function like the polyend tracker. Where you can chop a break and use the individual chops when making a song? Thanks
Hey! Thanks for watching. Good question... that's more of an advanced section, which is why I didn't cover it. Off the top of my head I believe so yes, though I'll need to double check as it isn't something I've used personally.
@@StephenMcLeod
Ah ok, thanks. Good video, very informative thanks
I am reliably informed that this is possible!
@@StephenMcLeod
Thanks for coming back to reply. Above and beyond there.
Now for serious business, can you get me a chuffing pre-order or ETA on when the next batch is released? (I'm kidding)
Absolute radio silence from Dirtywave on Twitter and email. I'm trying to give them money they obviously don't want.
Also.... subbed 👍
@@nickyspacebug Thanks! They are having issues with the initial batch of pre-orders because of component shortages from what I understand, so the first lot won't go out until October or November. If you lurk in the Discord, that's where news of new pre-orders opening up (due to cancellations etc) is posted!
Hi, great video.
Newbie question. Dirtywave M8 or op-z for a synth newbie? I know that they are completly diferent instruments, but since they are on the same price range would like to know your opinion when choosing my first synth.
If you're looking for a 'synth' in the pure sense, then neither of them. Butttt if you're looking for a music production bit of gear that you can make tunes on, both are solid options. Feature wise the M8 is far better and more capable than the OP-Z, but it does take a wee bit more time to learn. I would vote M8 though.
@@StephenMcLeod glad to hear that. I figured that much. And on the plus side for what I could notice the M8 is better built also.
@@StephenMcLeod I'm picking up the headless version to see If I vibe with it and if so, I'll pick up the full package.
would you say its necessary to have a good knowledge of music theory for the tracker method? basically rn i just noodle around on the keys till I find something good and this seems a totally different way of putting together songs but im still so intrigued!
You don't need specific music theory to use a tracker. I don't have one, and you can always use the scale mode etc! I've done a video on scale mode you should check out.
@@StephenMcLeod thanks for your reply, do you find that the music you make on m8 tracker is different from music you make using other synths etc?
@@howva I definitely think that the system you use for composition alters the result, and with trackers I think that is 100% the case :)
Ace
Thank you!
Hi. Can you edit individual slices when using slice mode?
Hey Paul. Good question. I don't know actually. I'll have to take a look and will get back to you.
@@StephenMcLeod that would be great. I own polyend tracker and find the ability to trim slices essential. Great channel by the way🙏🇬🇧
@@paulsanka5575 Thanks! I suspect that the basic trimming like this is possible, but not more in depth editing of individual slices (e.g. sound etc). I'll let you know if I find out though.
@@StephenMcLeod Yes if you can adjust start and end points of sliced samples
@@paulsanka5575 I am reliably informed that there are multiple commands available to edit slices by effect. It isn't the same workflow as the tracker (you adjust start point using an fx command I believe), but should be possible.
Timestamps would be super useful here
I keep meaning to go back and add them but forgetting.
dead interesting
Why thank ye!
…this column shit is absolutely horror…ableton as mentioned…is maybe just an visualization… but thats just the point…sense instead of concept and mind…the fetish driven hipster buying n selling designer toy equipments the artist dream of being an musician instead of a glorified accountant…
Trackers aren't a new thing my friend. They are well established. Before this people were using Game Boys for this workflow. Hardly the latest equipment.
In my very own experience this column goodness is absolutely great, cause it provides an immense, densely packed overview of what is going on. Really fast to navigate and edit, too. This is no hype-thing, but a serious musical instrument. The creator of the M8 is a musician, in fact. And as allmyfriendsaresynths already mentioned - trackers have been around for decades now. Not as long as punctuation, but long enough to have a history. Maybe you just don't understand the tracker thing and that's okay then.
I always make that test, skipping through the video. If I don't hear any music but talking only wherever I skip, it is in my opinion NOT a tutorial. It is more of a talk-about. The first spot I heard sound was at about 29 minutes. Please don't call videos "tutorials" if it's more than 80 percent of talking. Completely irrelevant to me, just saying. Another thing is your pronunciation. I'm not a native english speaker, so it is extremely hard to understand what you are saying - makes it even worse.
Oh stfu. Honestly. You clearly have a warped and incorrect idea of what a tutorial is, and you're grossly offensive. I'm Scottish. This is how we talk. If you don't like it, piss off. I wouldn't dream of mocking you or anybody else for the way you speak. What a goddamn sense of self entitlement.
Just saying.
Guess what: There are written tutorials out there as well. No sound at all... Do you bark at them too?