CosmicEquilibrium Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 Just discovered on synth in Logic Pro much more suitable for oldschool psytrance then Retro Synth, the ES2, it sounds with a bit of dirt but I think it's fault of the reverb and delay quality and it sounds a bit repetitive and loopy I still have to work on that tell me what you guys think? And the drums were made with drum synth that some people say it's not very good, maybe I will replace it with samples later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 I'm pleased you're still making music. I saw your web page was down. I think this is a bit better than your earlier stuff so keep at it. The bass and overall sort of rhythm to the track sound good to me. I like the bleepy sounds near the beginning but to my ears they repeat later in the track too often without changing, and as you say the whole thing is very repetitive at the moment. The synth does sound good for psytrance but listening to the whole track I get a feel that most of the sounds are quite low down plus the occasional high pitched sort of whilstley synth sounds and my ears are left wanting something more melodic in between in the sort of middle octaves. But then I don't listen to much progressive psytrance so maybe that's my love of goa talking. The drum patterns sound OK. It could be my terrible messed up headphones, but the drum sounds themselves sound sort of muffled to me. Not sure if anyone else is hearing that? I don't know if that is the quality of the drum synth like you said or a filter you've got on it. Where I'm also learning to make this kind of music, I find it's a constant struggle not to make something that sounds too generic or formulaic, to keep my creativity and originality but still make something that will be recognizable to fans of the genre. Do you find that too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicEquilibrium Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 Yep I still try to make psytrance and I have fun, I'm here to learn too, this version has better sound quality in my opinion, still need a lot of fine tuning in the arrangement and in automatisations, more drum patterns variations I will check it later, the track lacks of story and needs to make more sense, I will get into that later. Anyone can get Vital it's free and start to follow a lot a YouTube tutorials and sound generic and with good sound quality and non sense tracks full drops and what else, but for now I will keep the more old school sounding some distortion in synths may add some mystery to the tracks and I don't have any music theory, and I just have notions about synthesis, mixing and mastering and my creativity, if you use your creativity and build your own story in the tracks then you will start to develop your own style if you want I guess. Do you have some track of yours to share I would like to hear it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 On 2/5/2024 at 12:28 AM, CosmicEquilibrium said: Do you have some track of yours to share I would like to hear it OK then.... Have a look here: https://www.psynews.org/forums/topic/77953-slightly-tribal-goa-track/ I'll have a listen to your updated one tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 On 2/5/2024 at 12:28 AM, CosmicEquilibrium said: Yep I still try to make psytrance and I have fun, I'm here to learn too, this version has better sound quality in my opinion, Yeah I'm not sure what you did but it already sounds a lot better, to me at least. The synth phrases stand out more and sound more interesting. I especially like the synth that goes into the breakdown from about 2:59 - it sounds a bit more melodic. I'm sure you already know by the later stages of the track it still sounds a bit repetitive, but that's easily solved as you develop it more. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 On 2/5/2024 at 12:28 AM, CosmicEquilibrium said: and I don't have any music theory, About the music theory, I've just been learning what I can as I go. I'm no expert, very far from it, but just following some tutorials to understand scales (and modes), the chords of your chosen scale, and importantly how different intervals between the notes sound, give you most of the tools you need to start writing melodies and harmonies. This https://feelyoursound.com/scale-chords/a-harmonic-minor/ lists all the chords in the A Harmonic Minor scale which is basically the same as E Phrygian Dominant (just with the notes in a different order), commonly used in Goa and psytrance. It's an easy scale to remember because it's all white notes apart from the G# and you can always transpose your music to other keys later. After the above topics, this https://music.tutsplus.com/the-contemporary-musicians-guide-to-counterpoint--audio-4630t is a good tutorial for learning counterpoint which is useful to keep in mind if you want layers of melodies. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs with this, but it might be useful for others reading this as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicEquilibrium Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Yes I already start watching a tutorial about music theory for keyboard players, let's wait if it helps, I already knew about that used scale for Goa the also called gipsy Spanish, but thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 No worries. I figured you knew some of it but decided to share the links as they help me. I use the list of chords to help write my arpeggios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 The first one barely has a kickdrum. Sounds a bit weird. The second one you posted sounds completely different.. 🤤 I vibe with it. Not bad at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Nvm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriestof Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 it's becoming better and better add some spice (some sparkling 303) in the middle of your song, to koop the flow going and i would add some atmospherique sounds to make it more rich and more of a psychedelic feeling and i recommend learning to play some piano or keyboards, that's so useful, you don't have to be able to play the goldverg variations from bach, but you understand what i want to say.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicEquilibrium Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 What about this version, I changed the bass the delay and reverb, now the bass is less full on and more Goa Trance in my opinion, I prefer this version, I have to add more atmosphere sounds and an 303 and some music theory, I'm trying to figure out which logic delays and reverbs sound better and more Goa like and now I used the stepfx ones they are simple and do the job. I use the delay and reverb trying to create a space ambience, but yes the bass in version 4 have more quality, but I'm trying to achieve some olschool sounding doing everything with the same synth ES2, to make it sound more consistent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 On 2/11/2024 at 10:00 PM, CosmicEquilibrium said: What about this version, I changed the bass the delay and reverb, now the bass is less full on and more Goa Trance in my opinion, I prefer this version, I have to add more atmosphere sounds and an 303 and some music theory, I'm trying to figure out which logic delays and reverbs sound better and more Goa like and now I used the stepfx ones they are simple and do the job. I use the delay and reverb trying to create a space ambience, but yes the bass in version 4 have more quality, but I'm trying to achieve some olschool sounding doing everything with the same synth ES2, to make it sound more consistent. Yes I like this one even better than version 4. It definitely feels like it's got more sort of space and depth to it. The quality is really nice and everything sounds well defined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolyLight Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 On 2/11/2024 at 11:00 PM, CosmicEquilibrium said: What about this version, I changed the bass the delay and reverb, now the bass is less full on and more Goa Trance in my opinion, I prefer this version, I have to add more atmosphere sounds and an 303 and some music theory, I'm trying to figure out which logic delays and reverbs sound better and more Goa like and now I used the stepfx ones they are simple and do the job. I use the delay and reverb trying to create a space ambience, but yes the bass in version 4 have more quality, but I'm trying to achieve some olschool sounding doing everything with the same synth ES2, to make it sound more consistent. I'm gonna take a listen since I'm very much into Goa Trance. For nice Goa delays in Logic, I would recommend that you get Native Instruments Replika XT: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/replika-xt/ This is one is really really good if you wanna get those Alesis Quadraverb type ping pong delays which were, and are still very much an essential aspect of the Goa sound. You can fine-tune it by importing for example any track from Hallucinogen or Astral Projection from that era into logic and listen to how long their delays are and how much stereo spread they have. As for your track, what is the target sound you're aiming for style-wise? Any particular slant? For reverbs, you can use Logics own ones, they are not bad. But if you can, preferably Valhalla Reverbs. Their delays are also God-tier for Goa. I'm working on a very old schoolish sounding Goa Trance tune myself now, I could show a sample later if you want. For scales if you want a really nice one that is tried and tested and which isn't the Pleiadian one. It's more what Astral Projection used. Try this: in the key of E.(E-F-G#-A-B-C-D) Transpose to whatever key you like, but I recommend staying in E for 145 BPM. This scale is a major one, so it's very glorious/victorious. Works very well for Nitzho-Goa/Uplifting, and euphoric Goa in general. However you can have a dark atmosphere and it will still work. Listen to Astral Projection-Time Began With The Universe for example of how this scale sounds in action. If you want a really Dark Goa Trance scale try this one in Em: (E-F#-G-A#-B-C#-D) Which is dark and still keeps the oriental ornamentation., it's a minor scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicEquilibrium Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 Alright thanks for the suggestions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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