Every time I feel the need to buy new equipment, I watch your videos. Afterwards I always realise that I already have too much hardware and software. Great channel!
Appreciate your videos so much, playpm! Put me in the mindset of using what I have instead of scrolling thru reverb wasting time wishing I had something else. It really is a revolutionary and democratic time to make music. The barriers have fallen away! Thank you for keeping us on track!
My MPC Live died last week. I’m not liquid atm to afford another another and this helps have a creative solution in the interim. It’s also a healthy reminder to rage against my inner “I’m daw-less, and therefore better/cooler” ego. It’s just a tool in the tool belt. If I can’t push myself creatively in a given setting, the limitation isn’t the hardware or daw, it’s me. Thank you for this video! Although, a reason I do appreciate having hardware is that I’m easily distractible. I try to leave my phone elsewhere when using hardware so I can focus, and having access to the internet while using a daw makes me more prone to distraction.
The TIP about using shortcuts goes way beyond if you're using Reaper. Given the fact that you can create your own shortcuts to do anything. It's just amazing, I'm addicted to your channel now.
I'm gonna shout out Sunvox for this very purpose. Free, modular, no need for plugins, tracker workflow so it feels different from piano roll Daws, qwerty keyboard and tons of shortcuts, customizable retro looking UI. The thing is just amazing, inspiring, and the lowest cost entry into the hobby while still being very hardcore and virtually limitless, especially if you get into sampling and resampling with it. You can also run it on anything. Just wild something like that exists, and I just wish I knew about it years ago when I first started with music.
One type of DAW that I think does a good job of making your computer feel like an instrument is a tracker. They've been around since before conventional DAWs but they were explicitly built to write music mostly with a keyboard and Renoise and OpenMPT are still mostly keyboard-driven today. Renoise in particular is great if you want to live record some loops and it's entirely possible to live perform with it using the keyboard shortcuts. It's also a great choice if you just have a laptop and don't want to have to click & drag with the trackpad a ton.
I've had so much fun with Renoise, such a cheap and powerful sampler! Also, there is a free tracker called Sunvox which focuses more on modular synthesis rather than sampling, so lovely too.
Your videos are great!! They inspired me to start a VILAS therapy series (Virtual Instrument Library Acquisition Syndrome). I built a free sampling tool that anybody can use their own samples and save money. I think your advice is priceless. It allows consumers to reframe concepts that music tech companies exploit for profit.
@@playpm @Jazzmasterer I did a walkthrough of the tool, and explained the concept in my latest video. You can find the download links for the "Chromofonic's Sampling Assessment Tool" in that video. The tool was built in Kontakt but will also work in the free Kontakt player (requiring restarting every 15 mins). However, within that time, one could resample the resulting sound for use in his/her sampler of choice.
Industrial Designer here, I feel you! I started my journey with youtube videos from Doctor Mix, Claudio is an awesome Musician, sparkling, but too deep into hardware. Great tolearn the classics Next, I found Venus Theory, a quieter but fun to watch sound designer and musician who shows free stuff and how to make sound. And then you, the professionally unsatisfied product manager, stripping the tools to its core, keeping it simple. But not too simple. Altough your music is limited by not using 88 piano keys (look at " hello foe" for what you can do with a simple 2 octave midi keyboard), I share your puristic attitude that 1 CPU per houshold should essentially be sufficient. For me, my truth is somewhere between the youtube channels I named above. At least 2 octaves of piano keys, good software and creativity and fun before a steep learning curve and skills. And some music theory now and then from Andrew Huang does not hurt. What a wonderful time to be alive to learn from so manybrilliant people! Keep up the good Work, you rock!
You came out with this video as AKAI just dropped the MPC Key 61. And I instantly thought of what you said about how stand-alone software is a weak computer and how many producers still have to finish in a DAW. I think most people may need a good midi keyboard with pads and a pretty decent laptop and they’re good. This was another good take
@@playpm yep and it still doesn’t even have the arranger mode that Akai gave the Force, which makes the Force the only actual piece of hardware where you can do something from start to finish. I find that at most, you only need one piece of gear and everything else comes down to your imagination and ability to manipulate sound
yeah, getting an actual midi keyboard was HUGE for me. i come from a guitar and keyboard background, so having something tactile made using a daw feel much more natural.
@@FuZZbaLLbee While it's not ideal, having something like an MPK Mini is great for this. Same footprint as my laptop keyboard so I can take it out with me and pop it on top of the laptop keyboard and work away. Does mean you're limited to mouse control as opposed to mouse & keyboard, but it works pretty well! Helps if you can configure the MIDI controller to take care of transport controls and some basic MIDI mapping for common parameters like envelope & filter params
You are SUCH a LEGEND! I Love this and stand shoulder to shoulder with you and your philosophy!!! I am SO GLAD I found this channel, thank you Michael!!!!
You are rebuilding my approach to music with every video I watch. I used to be a DAW and free plug in person exclusively and then I reached a point where I started branching out with gear. I forgot the fun and experimentation in those free resources.
it's also really daunting to look at that when you don't have a ton of money and are on a budget -- you see these guy's with these insane, costly setups and gear -- it's discouraging
After years of not recording and producing my music you have inspired me to get back into music production. I will do it all without using hardware. Thank you for these great videos. I salute you Sir.
Here is another tip I’d add to the list: build a template (or a few templates) that serve as a ready platform for you to create within in seconds. It’s cool to use different sounds, effects, 10:10 and instruments, but having to pick each of these every time when you have a simple new idea in your mind kills spontaneity. If there is a bass and a drum sound you like a lot, have them instantly ready to go. Most albums we love have the same basic sounds throughout and the artist creates within that setting. I also think that having a good midi controller is an easy way to make a DAW far more tactile.
yeah taking some time to make the templates for your favs and create some lists in your daw for whatever you "usually" use is quite a time saver and will help keep the flow when trying to compose and create!
Music gears demographic: Room full of keyboards: happily married Room full of eurorack: married/miserably single Room full of modular: relationship status "complicated" Dawless jammers: boyfriend/girlfriend DAW & Software users: happily in a relationship/happily being single
Right on brother👍....ive been trying different BPMs/Tempos and shuffling and swinging rhythms to get away from my normal workflow. I actually came up with one of my best tracks recently by thinking outside the "box"😋....great video and good tips as usual✌
The most interesting thing to me out of this video is about tactility with instruments and DAW's; this was really a huge reason I went back to hardware after working on a computer all day for a living. This gives me something to think about deeply between my relationship with hardware and software, thanks!
great points… although i do use a push 2 for my ableton for live improvs and it made me 1000% more productive. but for decades i was using computers only, no hardware controllers at all.
Playing piano, playing a synth (or midi keyboard that doesn't have piano keyboard features) and playing a QWERTY keyboard are different skills, with different expression capabilities and different techniques. All 3 can bring something unique to your music, if you get good enough with those techniques. I would say, that having a skill of playing some instrument is worth the time you put into learning. I play electric guitar, I play synth and piano to a degree (to a degree when I suck, but I'm good enough to play the lines myself instead of using piano roll) and now I'm learning finger drumming (with velocity turned on, I payed for a velocity sensitive pads, I'm using those shitters). The process of picking up an instrument is really inspiring. Specially if you on the early stages of mastering the instrument, but already trying to make some music with it. And it's not really hard, 15-30 minutes per day spent practicing and you gonna be much, much better player in 12 month, just don't compare yourself to an unrealistic playing standard of an internet stars.
Awesome video. And thank you for contributing to the community by writing plugins. You’re so right about velocity settings. I am a piano player, and on all my midi controllers except for my Nord, I have the velocities all set to the same level. No curve. When I play something expressive, I use the Nord. But my synths and stuff, I want them to always play the same level - so the computer keyboard totally works too!! Z and X change octaves in Ableton Live, in case anyone is using that.
Nice to meet a man with similar music making philosophy as mine. Amps take lots of place and are too loud, so I switched to software ampsims. Real synthesizers are huge and expensive, so I use a tiny midi-keyboard and cool free synths in Logic Pro and VSTi.
Your channel is an inspiration. I’m learning to code with JUCE and FAUST, because real hardware is just too goddamn expensive for me a citizen of a third world country.
@@playpm Hahaha why not do a collab instead? I’m an electrical engineer graduate, I’m working to create a VST version from my paper soon (it’s about serial dynamic EQ)
Thanks Micheal, your channel has really helped me out a lot. I love the gear I have but through this channel have fallen in love with my computer again and see no reason to buy anything more than I already have.
Great video! The reality is music comes from the heart No piece of gear can make a person less or more musical, or give them better musical ideas I'm typing this to also remind myself, a severe GAS case 😢
i was watching vinyle villians and this dude sampled a record straight into his computer and made the dopest beat never used hardware laptop only ...... Great video save me some money for gas geesh lol
Great video, very inspiring. I would also say there's a middle ground where you can pair DAW with various midi controllers. I have a novation launchkey mini mk3 and when paired with my laptop and ableton it is very neat and portable solution for 80$.
On one hand, I really respect your unique perspective and anti-consumerist angle. On the other hand, I just don't think I would ever make music at all if I was always stuck in a DAW. Your recommendations are always good, but there's still an itch that even the best plugins can't scratch. Maybe it's my own bias towards hardware.
One amazing fun non-daw is LMMS, free for mac/windows/linux and runs on arm linux, it has more sounds than any groovebox out there but is as much fun as a groovebox. While it doesn't have swing it does support triplets for old X0X fun without paying roland $20 a month for their cloud plugins.
so true with the midi keyboards, I lost the control of my modulator knob 😥. But go with what you got, right. And of course the library of some programs are so vast I get lost to see what sound I want to use. Like you I am a 80's man. retro is awesome. Have a good one and keep upi the great work. PEACE😎
If someone needs tactile feel, get a midi keyboard that pairs well with the daw. Most minis are $100 new and much cheaper used. You’ll get your pads, keys, knobs, transport controls, etc
For me the "fun" of hardware is mostly because of two things: tactility, obviously, but also the lack of distractions. This also explains why it's more "fun" to use the same music apps on an iPad than on a laptop. Knowing this, one can come up with strategies to reduce distractions even on a computer, like disabling notifications, not allowing oneself to switch to other apps, and so on.
Daws and computers are the way to go for sure. Im always going back to use them whenever i have bought hardware. Ill be sitting there, using the daw to control the gear and thinking to myself what a jackass i was. Its a totally different exp when you go and make your own gear though. DIY gear is very personal and cool, but its totally a different topic.
Great tips! GB is an excellent tool for composition (it does have limitations around external gear, obviously). After many years, I moved from GB to Reaper, but all your tips here apply even more to that DAW as well. If you want a song to sound like a performance, then try using your DAW to record you performing your song. 😀
What a great concept for a video! We want the gear, sure but most of all we want to be inspired and creative. You'd think that a tool as powerful as a DAW would free us but no. We can't handle the freedom D:
Computer keyboard has one serious downside when playing music on it - it's called "keyboard ghosting" and it means that (due it's wiring design) you are unable to play certain combination of keys at the same time. This can be a problem with chords. MIDI keyboards on the other hand does not suffer to these problems because they are wired in different way. However when no MIDI keyboard is in sight using computer keyboard to make music can be fun too, but you need to be aware of it's quirks.
Thanks Michael. Very clear and you make a LOT of sense. I wonder are a lot of Influencers trapped having to flog products sent to them, so they have to push a way of making music that isn't natural or logical?
Appreciated, I'm not sure about that, what I am sure is I'll never use hardware gears if I'm working on a commercial track, GarageBand is way easier for the mission 🧑💻
Like many others I am impressed by your general outlook. The part of your video I most enjoyed was where you played the Q keyboard over a backing track. It simulated the process of inventing vocal melodies over a chord structure, giving plenty of options but not so many as to be paralysing. One thing I’d love to know your take on is weather it would be possible to put control of songs back in the hands of their creators by inventing a digital encryption devise that would stop files being copied or otherwise reproduced. What do you think? Meanwhile than you for your thoughtful and suggestive work.
Appreciated, but sorry I didn't get your question, do you mean people copy others work? Maybe put audio watermark into the song then report to the platform?
@@playpm Actually I was thinking of something a bit more radical, though your watermark analogy is exactly the right kind of thing. I wondered if such a watermark might have the effect of distorting or otherwise invalidating the track musically, so that anyone who wanted to hear it properly would have to buy it from the songwriter or their publishing company. Thanks so much for giving thought to this!
@@playpm I agree, in the current climate. I suppose I am wondering what would need to happen in order to restore public awareness that making music requires work and should be fairly rewarded. Vinyl and cassettes are retrograde, but, in their time were valid. What would a modern equivalent look like?
I recommend Zoom R24. it is great for songwriting, it has a sequencer, drum machine, sampler and much more. You can also use it as an 8-channel recording interface with your computer.
@@playpm No, a DAW is still much more powerful than any digital recorder that I know of. However, for small things I use a Boss Micro BR which isn´t much bigger than a pack of cards. Mostly I record ideas with the single track mode on the BR but once in a while, when travelling for instances, I might record some multitrack stuff with it. We live in a wonderful age of recording technology. I remember buying my first cassette four-track recorder. Wow, how things have changed.
Next step would be using free software (really free, not like free beer) … getting rid of OS X and Windows … and after that getting rid of proprietary hardware
For many who work in industries that require them to be at a computer all day, more time spent at a laptop screen, isn’t conducive to creativity. Also, sure the laptop is great but not portable, I’ve had several stolen on public transit. So for me, I’m all about iOS these days, leaving the computers at home and work. I understand thwarting the GAS, but if me buying some new gear, is going to make or break my relationship, the relationship wasn’t worth it. Your partner should revel in the gear acquisition with you, and be happy to go on missions to get new gear with you. I picked up an Arturia Beatstep Pro this weekend and it was the first new piece of hardware since Christmas. My girlfriend took me to get it, several hours away, making a road trip out of it, treating it like an adventure. This is me combating GAS lol. As far as the App acquisition goes, I’ve been rationalizing making new synth purchases by waiting for them to go on Appsliced and also, curating a custom preset bank in each, so hopefully I can make an E store one day and sell to other mobile producers.
Use a monitor with 640 x480 resolution, black and white, and plug a usb numeric keyboard into it. Limitations are creativity. Turn off your big monitor and don't use a mouse or a full size keyboard.
Tools are tools, just use whatever works. DAW vs DAWless is a meaningless hipster argument by idiots. Thanks for being another voice of reason in these idiot times.
I prefer hardware over DAW (although many hardware machines are DAW's with pads or keys) mainly because I prefer having knobs, pads and sequencers at your finger tips for instant feedback... with DAW I am lost in piano rolls and lost in clips or arrangement views and then there's the "what's happened to my sound?" and them having to configure soundcard or sound drivers and route the audio to even hear what's going on? very frustrating.
As always, a lot of awareness and mindfulness on your advices. Great video, and thank you for providing them to us I'm curious to know what are your thoughts about touchscreen on laptops, like Asus Zenbook Duo (that has 2 touch screens and a precision pen)? That's something that has been on my mind for a while, because, in addition to a QWERTY keyboard, it will provide users the tactile feedback that they look for on Gear. Instead of looking to a screen, we can be interacting with a screen. But i don't see much people talking about it, unfortunately
Maybe they're just too expensive. Touchscreen without physical restrictions like knobs and buttons will also let you make mistakes easily, image using modular on your ipad and accidentally swiped a little bit.
YO! I love your channel and I'm inspired by your advice. I don't have money for fancy hardware but have some hardware things. I just get way too much latency using Ableton, so it isn't fun to jam away on it. Any tips for getting a very weak laptop that is just barely within the recommended specs to run Ableton with very little latency on MIDI input?
Appreciated. Sounds like you're on PC, install ASIO4ALL first, then choose it as audio device in Ableton, set latency to be within 512 samples then you're good to go. If still not, I would recommend any second hand MacBook, no latency issue at all.
@@playpm I think a second hand macbook might be the way to go. If I go below 1028 samples, even the test tone chops in and out at like, 110 bpm lol. Thanks so much for the response, I appreciate it! Love your channel.
midi controller(s) with knobs also help to pleasure the filthy knob-tweakers out there.. i know i still do :P Patching cables you say? hmm.. there is prolly people out there that found ways to connect things in software via real cable panels... like the (now legacy) little korg ms-20ic midi controller... Midilar Knots for VCV Rack maybe?
Honestly, I use hardware now as opposed to in the box because working in one spot and staring at a screen. It’s a deep dark hole sitting at your desk. It’s also just not healthy.
@@playpm for me my neck is always bent down unfortunately, but I get you man. I honestly wish there was a perfect in between. But I know when I’m sat at my computer I get massive ADHD spurts come up and cause me actual physical discomfort. I know it’s not common, but I’m sure other people must feel this way too sometimes.
For whoever hurt this guy, thank you. His pain is our blessing.
his asian ancestors struck him with the lifestyle of frugality
@@psyduckseggs391 hahahahha
Your channel is really refreshing. "GAS Therapy" is a well deserved name! Also, your beats are always amazing.
Appreciated!
That joke took me out!!!! "I'm not a native English speaker but I'm sure these two things are called keyboard for a reason!" - Genius
Every time I feel the need to buy new equipment, I watch your videos. Afterwards I always realise that I already have too much hardware and software. Great channel!
Appreciate your videos so much, playpm! Put me in the mindset of using what I have instead of scrolling thru reverb wasting time wishing I had something else. It really is a revolutionary and democratic time to make music. The barriers have fallen away! Thank you for keeping us on track!
Learning keyboard shortcuts has improved my workflow a ton.
And since I learnt how to code, I'm gonna make QWERTY keyboard great again.
My MPC Live died last week.
I’m not liquid atm to afford another another and this helps have a creative solution in the interim.
It’s also a healthy reminder to rage against my inner “I’m daw-less, and therefore better/cooler” ego. It’s just a tool in the tool belt. If I can’t push myself creatively in a given setting, the limitation isn’t the hardware or daw, it’s me.
Thank you for this video!
Although, a reason I do appreciate having hardware is that I’m easily distractible. I try to leave my phone elsewhere when using hardware so I can focus, and having access to the internet while using a daw makes me more prone to distraction.
Turning your WiFi off definitely helps the isolation 🤫
I like the cheerfulness of your videos. It is like you are bringing back the fun of making music on the computer.
The TIP about using shortcuts goes way beyond if you're using Reaper. Given the fact that you can create your own shortcuts to do anything. It's just amazing, I'm addicted to your channel now.
Good stuff, bro 💪
I'm gonna shout out Sunvox for this very purpose. Free, modular, no need for plugins, tracker workflow so it feels different from piano roll Daws, qwerty keyboard and tons of shortcuts, customizable retro looking UI. The thing is just amazing, inspiring, and the lowest cost entry into the hobby while still being very hardcore and virtually limitless, especially if you get into sampling and resampling with it. You can also run it on anything. Just wild something like that exists, and I just wish I knew about it years ago when I first started with music.
One type of DAW that I think does a good job of making your computer feel like an instrument is a tracker. They've been around since before conventional DAWs but they were explicitly built to write music mostly with a keyboard and Renoise and OpenMPT are still mostly keyboard-driven today. Renoise in particular is great if you want to live record some loops and it's entirely possible to live perform with it using the keyboard shortcuts. It's also a great choice if you just have a laptop and don't want to have to click & drag with the trackpad a ton.
I've had so much fun with Renoise, such a cheap and powerful sampler! Also, there is a free tracker called Sunvox which focuses more on modular synthesis rather than sampling, so lovely too.
What's a tracker?
I started out on trackers back in the late 80s. Midi was well outside my reach economically, I was still in Jr Highschool.
Your videos are great!! They inspired me to start a VILAS therapy series (Virtual Instrument Library Acquisition Syndrome).
I built a free sampling tool that anybody can use their own samples and save money.
I think your advice is priceless. It allows consumers to reframe concepts that music tech companies exploit for profit.
Appreciated! Any chance we can take a peek on your sampling tool?
Yea, I would like to see this as well
@@playpm @Jazzmasterer I did a walkthrough of the tool, and explained the concept in my latest video. You can find the download links for the "Chromofonic's Sampling Assessment Tool" in that video. The tool was built in Kontakt but will also work in the free Kontakt player (requiring restarting every 15 mins). However, within that time, one could resample the resulting sound for use in his/her sampler of choice.
GAS
VILAS
..what other music gears acronyms exist?
Just quit AAS (App Acquisition Syndrome) for a few years, but not sure if it's a commanly used name.
Industrial Designer here, I feel you!
I started my journey with youtube videos from Doctor Mix, Claudio is an awesome Musician, sparkling, but too deep into hardware. Great tolearn the classics Next, I found Venus Theory, a quieter but fun to watch sound designer and musician who shows free stuff and how to make sound.
And then you, the professionally unsatisfied product manager, stripping the tools to its core, keeping it simple. But not too simple.
Altough your music is limited by not using 88 piano keys (look at " hello foe" for what you can do with a simple 2 octave midi keyboard), I share your puristic attitude that 1 CPU per houshold should essentially be sufficient.
For me, my truth is somewhere between the youtube channels I named above. At least 2 octaves of piano keys, good software and creativity and fun before a steep learning curve and skills.
And some music theory now and then from Andrew Huang does not hurt.
What a wonderful time to be alive to learn from so manybrilliant people! Keep up the good Work, you rock!
You make so much sense that it's crazy that this advice is actually so rare
You came out with this video as AKAI just dropped the MPC Key 61. And I instantly thought of what you said about how stand-alone software is a weak computer and how many producers still have to finish in a DAW. I think most people may need a good midi keyboard with pads and a pretty decent laptop and they’re good.
This was another good take
This time it's called MPC OS 🪴
@@playpm yep and it still doesn’t even have the arranger mode that Akai gave the Force, which makes the Force the only actual piece of hardware where you can do something from start to finish. I find that at most, you only need one piece of gear and everything else comes down to your imagination and ability to manipulate sound
yeah, getting an actual midi keyboard was HUGE for me. i come from a guitar and keyboard background, so having something tactile made using a daw feel much more natural.
Yeah playing chords on a computer keyboard probably might not work.
But you don’t have to take anything but you laptop with you on the go.
@@FuZZbaLLbee While it's not ideal, having something like an MPK Mini is great for this. Same footprint as my laptop keyboard so I can take it out with me and pop it on top of the laptop keyboard and work away. Does mean you're limited to mouse control as opposed to mouse & keyboard, but it works pretty well!
Helps if you can configure the MIDI controller to take care of transport controls and some basic MIDI mapping for common parameters like envelope & filter params
You are SUCH a LEGEND! I Love this and stand shoulder to shoulder with you and your philosophy!!! I am SO GLAD I found this channel, thank you Michael!!!!
You are rebuilding my approach to music with every video I watch. I used to be a DAW and free plug in person exclusively and then I reached a point where I started branching out with gear. I forgot the fun and experimentation in those free resources.
It's my pleasure to help, keep evolving 🪴
the automatic subtitle accordlingly writes "wow [music]" at 7:45 ... very nice once again!
“We just want to look cool as soon as possible”
Oh yes
Thank you so much for your work. Your videos are always refreshing, informative, fun and funny. Love the editing and humor.
Keep going, your message is desperately needed!!
Great videos Im so tired of synthfluncers cramming everything down our throats.
it's also really daunting to look at that when you don't have a ton of money and are on a budget -- you see these guy's with these insane, costly setups and gear -- it's discouraging
Nailed it again.
We appreciate you ❤
After years of not recording and producing my music you have inspired me to get back into music production. I will do it all without using hardware. Thank you for these great videos. I salute you Sir.
You’re doing the Lord’s work with this channel and series! #GAStherapy
Here is another tip I’d add to the list: build a template (or a few templates) that serve as a ready platform for you to create within in seconds.
It’s cool to use different sounds, effects, 10:10 and instruments, but having to pick each of these every time when you have a simple new idea in your mind kills spontaneity. If there is a bass and a drum sound you like a lot, have them instantly ready to go. Most albums we love have the same basic sounds throughout and the artist creates within that setting.
I also think that having a good midi controller is an easy way to make a DAW far more tactile.
yeah taking some time to make the templates for your favs and create some lists in your daw for whatever you "usually" use is quite a time saver and will help keep the flow when trying to compose and create!
Thanks for the inspiration once again. I like the flute lead you played, went so well with the bass line. God bless! 😊🙏🏻❤
You always offer such great wisdom, Michael! Thanks for the vid.
man you are speaking my language in these videos
Music gears demographic:
Room full of keyboards: happily married
Room full of eurorack: married/miserably single
Room full of modular: relationship status "complicated"
Dawless jammers: boyfriend/girlfriend
DAW & Software users: happily in a relationship/happily being single
But eurorack is modular?
@@Taeodoestech Eurorack is a modular format developed by Doepfer. The Doepfer A-100 is the well known modular synthesizer that kicked off Eurorack.
Right on brother👍....ive been trying different BPMs/Tempos and shuffling and swinging rhythms to get away from my normal workflow. I actually came up with one of my best tracks recently by thinking outside the "box"😋....great video and good tips as usual✌
The most interesting thing to me out of this video is about tactility with instruments and DAW's; this was really a huge reason I went back to hardware after working on a computer all day for a living.
This gives me something to think about deeply between my relationship with hardware and software, thanks!
great points… although i do use a push 2 for my ableton for live improvs and it made me 1000% more productive. but for decades i was using computers only, no hardware controllers at all.
This is great! I enjoy GAS, but I also enjoy common sense, and I need to work on my music and not spend my life shopping. So I appreciate you!
Appreciated, enjoy your life~
Relationship saving . Thank you sir .
you can blink your eyes my friend. your channel is awesome, take it easy:)
I think we just synced our blinkings wirelessly 😉
Playing piano, playing a synth (or midi keyboard that doesn't have piano keyboard features) and playing a QWERTY keyboard are different skills, with different expression capabilities and different techniques. All 3 can bring something unique to your music, if you get good enough with those techniques.
I would say, that having a skill of playing some instrument is worth the time you put into learning. I play electric guitar, I play synth and piano to a degree (to a degree when I suck, but I'm good enough to play the lines myself instead of using piano roll) and now I'm learning finger drumming (with velocity turned on, I payed for a velocity sensitive pads, I'm using those shitters). The process of picking up an instrument is really inspiring. Specially if you on the early stages of mastering the instrument, but already trying to make some music with it. And it's not really hard, 15-30 minutes per day spent practicing and you gonna be much, much better player in 12 month, just don't compare yourself to an unrealistic playing standard of an internet stars.
Awesome video. And thank you for contributing to the community by writing plugins.
You’re so right about velocity settings. I am a piano player, and on all my midi controllers except for my Nord, I have the velocities all set to the same level. No curve. When I play something expressive, I use the Nord. But my synths and stuff, I want them to always play the same level - so the computer keyboard totally works too!!
Z and X change octaves in Ableton Live, in case anyone is using that.
Nice to meet a man with similar music making philosophy as mine. Amps take lots of place and are too loud, so I switched to software ampsims. Real synthesizers are huge and expensive, so I use a tiny midi-keyboard and cool free synths in Logic Pro and VSTi.
Your channel is an inspiration. I’m learning to code with JUCE and FAUST, because real hardware is just too goddamn expensive for me a citizen of a third world country.
Let's see who launch a plugin first 🧑💻
@@playpm Hahaha why not do a collab instead? I’m an electrical engineer graduate, I’m working to create a VST version from my paper soon (it’s about serial dynamic EQ)
💪
Why not! Hit me at mengmeng1203@outlook.com~
@@playpm I’ve sent you an email! Let me know if you’ve received it :)
Thank you for this therapy!
Thanks Micheal, your channel has really helped me out a lot. I love the gear I have but through this channel have fallen in love with my computer again and see no reason to buy anything more than I already have.
Great video! The reality is music comes from the heart
No piece of gear can make a person less or more musical, or give them better musical ideas
I'm typing this to also remind myself, a severe GAS case 😢
Love your channel concept, love your presentation style, and your production quality is spot on. Thankyou mate. All the best Aussie Paul 🦘👍
i was watching vinyle villians and this dude sampled a record straight into his computer and made the dopest beat never used hardware laptop only ...... Great video save me some money for gas geesh lol
Thanks for your inspiration ❤
Great video, very inspiring. I would also say there's a middle ground where you can pair DAW with various midi controllers. I have a novation launchkey mini mk3 and when paired with my laptop and ableton it is very neat and portable solution for 80$.
Amazing as always 👍
On one hand, I really respect your unique perspective and anti-consumerist angle. On the other hand, I just don't think I would ever make music at all if I was always stuck in a DAW. Your recommendations are always good, but there's still an itch that even the best plugins can't scratch. Maybe it's my own bias towards hardware.
Awesomeness
One amazing fun non-daw is LMMS, free for mac/windows/linux and runs on arm linux, it has more sounds than any groovebox out there but is as much fun as a groovebox. While it doesn't have swing it does support triplets for old X0X fun without paying roland $20 a month for their cloud plugins.
🙌🙌🙌 I tried quite a few times but still can't get me click with it 😅
The new freebie on the block is Bespoke Synth that might click with you more and it's the best price -- free!
Thanks for sharing, it's attempting!
I would have dumped alot of money into sequencers. I'm glad this is an option. Thank you.
so true with the midi keyboards, I lost the control of my modulator knob 😥. But go with what you got, right. And of course the library of some programs are so vast I get lost to see what sound I want to use. Like you I am a 80's man. retro is awesome. Have a good one and keep upi the great work. PEACE😎
It's a very important tips thank you.
If someone needs tactile feel, get a midi keyboard that pairs well with the daw. Most minis are $100 new and much cheaper used. You’ll get your pads, keys, knobs, transport controls, etc
For me the "fun" of hardware is mostly because of two things: tactility, obviously, but also the lack of distractions. This also explains why it's more "fun" to use the same music apps on an iPad than on a laptop. Knowing this, one can come up with strategies to reduce distractions even on a computer, like disabling notifications, not allowing oneself to switch to other apps, and so on.
love you ❤
Love ur beats
Appreciated 🙌
i like that marshmallow man with his O-O face
bravo! thank you for your work. you are very cool!
Daws and computers are the way to go for sure. Im always going back to use them whenever i have bought hardware. Ill be sitting there, using the daw to control the gear and thinking to myself what a jackass i was.
Its a totally different exp when you go and make your own gear though. DIY gear is very personal and cool, but its totally a different topic.
Thank you so much, man!! 🙏🏻❤️
Great tips! GB is an excellent tool for composition (it does have limitations around external gear, obviously). After many years, I moved from GB to Reaper, but all your tips here apply even more to that DAW as well. If you want a song to sound like a performance, then try using your DAW to record you performing your song. 😀
Appreciated, I'm learning reaper too! SWS, reapack, etc, I already made reaper a dawless daw, I'll share it in the future~
Just broke in half my macbook and threw the screen in the garbage. Creative at last.
That's a popular mod actually, I'll do it if my cat breaks the screen, if I have a cat in the future.
What a great concept for a video! We want the gear, sure but most of all we want to be inspired and creative. You'd think that a tool as powerful as a DAW would free us but no. We can't handle the freedom D:
Computer keyboard has one serious downside when playing music on it - it's called "keyboard ghosting" and it means that (due it's wiring design) you are unable to play certain combination of keys at the same time. This can be a problem with chords.
MIDI keyboards on the other hand does not suffer to these problems because they are wired in different way.
However when no MIDI keyboard is in sight using computer keyboard to make music can be fun too, but you need to be aware of it's quirks.
Exactly! I'm also planning another video around this topic, it's more suitable for melodies and rhythms.
Facts 👍🏼
Akai just release their new MPC key and they try to avoid calling it a daw. In reality it is a daw just an inferior one.
It's NOT a DAW!!! It's MPC OS 🤯
DAW DAW DAW DAW!
@@playpm It's actually a Linux OS for ARM running an MPC app. So it's not really different from a computer.
🤫
Solid video. Inspiring
I can also recommend to use a midi controller to be closer to the hardware feelings. Ableton Push might be a good choice.
That'll be another therapy topic, we'll get to that 🤫
Appreciate your videos; thank you.
Thanks Michael. Very clear and you make a LOT of sense. I wonder are a lot of Influencers trapped having to flog products sent to them, so they have to push a way of making music that isn't natural or logical?
Appreciated, I'm not sure about that, what I am sure is I'll never use hardware gears if I'm working on a commercial track, GarageBand is way easier for the mission 🧑💻
Cool videos! What about not only gear videos, but also music-making?
Definitely! What's the purpose of having gear? Making music to satisfy somebody at least oneself! New strike's coming, stay tuned~
Like many others I am impressed by your general outlook. The part of your video I most enjoyed was where you played the Q keyboard over a backing track. It simulated the process of inventing vocal melodies over a chord structure, giving plenty of options but not so many as to be paralysing. One thing I’d love to know your take on is weather it would be possible to put control of songs back in the hands of their creators by inventing a digital encryption devise that would stop files being copied or otherwise reproduced. What do you think? Meanwhile than you for your thoughtful and suggestive work.
Appreciated, but sorry I didn't get your question, do you mean people copy others work? Maybe put audio watermark into the song then report to the platform?
@@playpm Actually I was thinking of something a bit more radical, though your watermark analogy is exactly the right kind of thing. I wondered if such a watermark might have the effect of distorting or otherwise invalidating the track musically, so that anyone who wanted to hear it properly would have to buy it from the songwriter or their publishing company. Thanks so much for giving thought to this!
Ok, but if one's music is that hard to listen to, then people won't even try at all, like releasing vinyl or cassette in 2023, gotta find a balance.
@@playpm I agree, in the current climate. I suppose I am wondering what would need to happen in order to restore public awareness that making music requires work and should be fairly rewarded. Vinyl and cassettes are retrograde, but, in their time were valid. What would a modern equivalent look like?
I recommend Zoom R24. it is great for songwriting, it has a sequencer, drum machine, sampler and much more. You can also use it as an 8-channel recording interface with your computer.
Used to own it, returned it and stayed with the R8, to be honest it's still not as efficient as a DAW 😅
@@playpm No, a DAW is still much more powerful than any digital recorder that I know of. However, for small things I use a Boss Micro BR which isn´t much bigger than a pack of cards. Mostly I record ideas with the single track mode on the BR but once in a while, when travelling for instances, I might record some multitrack stuff with it. We live in a wonderful age of recording technology. I remember buying my first cassette four-track recorder. Wow, how things have changed.
You can also turn on airplane mode so you don't have any notifications showing up.
Next step would be using free software (really free, not like free beer) … getting rid of OS X and Windows … and after that getting rid of proprietary hardware
FYI: qwerty keyboard :) Thanks for the video!
For many who work in industries that require them to be at a computer all day, more time spent at a laptop screen, isn’t conducive to creativity. Also, sure the laptop is great but not portable, I’ve had several stolen on public transit. So for me, I’m all about iOS these days, leaving the computers at home and work.
I understand thwarting the GAS, but if me buying some new gear, is going to make or break my relationship, the relationship wasn’t worth it. Your partner should revel in the gear acquisition with you, and be happy to go on missions to get new gear with you.
I picked up an Arturia Beatstep Pro this weekend and it was the first new piece of hardware since Christmas. My girlfriend took me to get it, several hours away, making a road trip out of it, treating it like an adventure. This is me combating GAS lol.
As far as the App acquisition goes, I’ve been rationalizing making new synth purchases by waiting for them to go on Appsliced and also, curating a custom preset bank in each, so hopefully I can make an E store one day and sell to other mobile producers.
yorre are right but we love gear and hate computers cause second are for work!
Hello from Saratov Russia, Peace !11
Use a monitor with 640 x480 resolution, black and white, and plug a usb numeric keyboard into it. Limitations are creativity. Turn off your big monitor and don't use a mouse or a full size keyboard.
I did purchased an e-ink black and white monitor recently 🤫
🙏🏻❤️
💪🔥💪
Tools are tools, just use whatever works.
DAW vs DAWless is a meaningless hipster argument by idiots.
Thanks for being another voice of reason in these idiot times.
I tell ya what caustic 3 is still an unsung hero
I prefer hardware over DAW (although many hardware machines are DAW's with pads or keys) mainly because I prefer having knobs, pads and sequencers at your finger tips for instant feedback... with DAW I am lost in piano rolls and lost in clips or arrangement views and then there's the "what's happened to my sound?" and them having to configure soundcard or sound drivers and route the audio to even hear what's going on? very frustrating.
I failed therapy and bought a new amp today.
Shame on you!!!
Kidding, only your neighbor hates you 🤫
Personally I use Ableton with Lunchpad pro MK3. After this combo my hardware synth just resting in the closet. :)
As always, a lot of awareness and mindfulness on your advices. Great video, and thank you for providing them to us
I'm curious to know what are your thoughts about touchscreen on laptops, like Asus Zenbook Duo (that has 2 touch screens and a precision pen)?
That's something that has been on my mind for a while, because, in addition to a QWERTY keyboard, it will provide users the tactile feedback that they look for on Gear.
Instead of looking to a screen, we can be interacting with a screen. But i don't see much people talking about it, unfortunately
Maybe they're just too expensive. Touchscreen without physical restrictions like knobs and buttons will also let you make mistakes easily, image using modular on your ipad and accidentally swiped a little bit.
YO! I love your channel and I'm inspired by your advice. I don't have money for fancy hardware but have some hardware things. I just get way too much latency using Ableton, so it isn't fun to jam away on it.
Any tips for getting a very weak laptop that is just barely within the recommended specs to run Ableton with very little latency on MIDI input?
Appreciated. Sounds like you're on PC, install ASIO4ALL first, then choose it as audio device in Ableton, set latency to be within 512 samples then you're good to go. If still not, I would recommend any second hand MacBook, no latency issue at all.
@@playpm I think a second hand macbook might be the way to go. If I go below 1028 samples, even the test tone chops in and out at like, 110 bpm lol. Thanks so much for the response, I appreciate it! Love your channel.
Forget DAWs. Pure Data.
midi controller(s) with knobs also help to pleasure the filthy knob-tweakers out there.. i know i still do :P
Patching cables you say? hmm.. there is prolly people out there that found ways to connect things in software via real cable panels... like the (now legacy) little korg ms-20ic midi controller... Midilar Knots for VCV Rack maybe?
Hello bro i liked your videos very inspiring...
Do you have an idea how to make music with an old drawing pad of wacom?
That thing is NOT cheap at all... I know what you want to achieve, but I have plugin ideas to achieve it, stay tuned~
"Stop being a fucking hipster", is the best advise to give the anti-DAW guys
Honestly, I use hardware now as opposed to in the box because working in one spot and staring at a screen. It’s a deep dark hole sitting at your desk. It’s also just not healthy.
So using hardware let you working in multiple spots and staring at a smaller screen with your neck bending down is healthier?
@@playpm for me my neck is always bent down unfortunately, but I get you man. I honestly wish there was a perfect in between. But I know when I’m sat at my computer I get massive ADHD spurts come up and cause me actual physical discomfort. I know it’s not common, but I’m sure other people must feel this way too sometimes.
Me wish the same product too, that's why I stepped in and make my own plugin, at least try to make DAW workflow easier.
@@playpm all of your plugins and videos have been massive inspirations man, keep it up
Miss your long hair, dude! :) Another dope vid.
It’s funny how people want the new Mpcs to get a way from looking at a screen to make music hahaha
And new MPCs need A LOT if sight works 😅
And remember, an indoor plant and a stupid figurine are very important whichever music tool you use.