HELP with Covertably Numb

rockinroll_mister · Post by **rockinroll_mister** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 8:02 pm

I'm tryin to cover comfortably numb and I'd love to add drums and synth to it. But Im really just a guitarist, I dont spend alot of time learning how to do ochestrations and stuff. What programs would I use to do a string section and a drum section??

I've Dled fruity loops and i dont have the patience to learn it unless I know its the right prog to use. I also have one called vegas but I dont know much about it either.

Thanx fer any help ANYone can give me....

if anyone wants to do the strings and drums 4 me, i'd love that

Post by **mosespa** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 8:12 pm

My suggestion (depending upon your budget) would be to either buy a keyboard which has drum sounds among the voices, or buy a keyboard and a drum machine.

Then, apply your knowledge of the guitar fretboard to the keyboard and pick out the string parts that really stand out in your listening. Emulate them.

This is what I do. My keyboard only cost something like $150 a few years ago and has decent enough drum sounds in the voices to make it worth my while to still be using.

The string voicings are pretty good...and with a little imaginative use of effects, the bass sounds on it substitute adequately for a bass guitar if I mix them right.

rockinroll_mister · Post by **rockinroll_mister** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:16 pm

That sounds all fine and dandy but I wont be able to get anything like that until at least jan, I got interest payments to make to the bank and every month they take $100 just in interest. So im lookin fer a program I can DL illegally and get a crack for so that I can use it for free.... then eventually buy it if its good.

I have a shit keyboard thats done me no good already. I might just use my piano for the strings part, I have a really nice one that my folks bought about a year ago. But i still need the drums.....

dswain81 · Post by **dswain81** » Wed Dec 03, 2003 9:27 pm

Try Madtracker, it is free and might be the solution to your problems. Just go to madtracker.org to download it. Once the program has been downloaded, download some madtracker-made songs so you can use the instruments in their songs. Or, you can just use the links section at their site to find sound samples of any instrument you want, from cellos to bagpipes, drums, etc. It is not hard to learn how to operate and can be quite rewarding if you give it some time.

Hope this helps.

rockinroll_mister · Post by **rockinroll_mister** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 5:54 am

that is the hardest program ever created to use.... none of the keys do what you'd expect them to.... to play a C, you type Y and if you type c you get an E?!?!?!?!

Is there another simalar program that wasnt made by ppl on drugs? Nothin against druggies (I am one myself at times) but they shouldnt be involved in designing interfaces.

dswain81 · Post by **dswain81** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 7:24 am

Madtracker is not that bad. Like I said, it just takes some getting used to. If you would like any pointers on running the program, I will do my best to help. It can be an extrememly useful program once you get it down.

Later yo!

simpledumbpilot · Post by **simpledumbpilot** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 7:41 am

Does your **** keyboard have a midi out? If so you can pick up a lead to run it to the game port on your PC and use it as a controller. You should then be able to play all the sounds on your PC by using your keyboard rather than having to type C to play E etc. That should make Madtracker a lot easier to use.

rockinroll_mister · Post by **rockinroll_mister** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 9:08 pm

sadly no, i have no high tech audio gizmos or peripherals of any kind. Madtracker is just a basically messed up program, i know I can prolly figure it out, but its really annoying.

If I just wanted to make a simple drum beat... what would I need to start with? Would I need wav samples of each of the drums that I could load in as instruments?

And how does the ticks/beats thing work? When I load samples of sounds on my comp... they loop but i can never get the loop to start right after it stops. If the window in the top right says the loop is 16.67 beats, then I but 16 or 17 in and it doesnt work. I suppose after I do it right it will make perfect sense, but from where i am now, its pretty fooked.

thanx fer any other advice you can lend

dswain81 · Post by **dswain81** » Thu Dec 04, 2003 11:42 pm

rockinroll_mister wrote: If I just wanted to make a simple drum beat... what would I need to start with? Would I need wav samples of each of the drums that I could load in as instruments?

And how does the ticks/beats thing work? When I load samples of sounds on my comp... they loop but i can never get the loop to start right after it stops. If the window in the top right says the loop is 16.67 beats, then I but 16 or 17 in and it doesnt work. I suppose after I do it right it will make perfect sense, but from where i am now, its pretty fooked.

thanx fer any other advice you can lend

Yes, you need samples of each drum you want to use (bass drum, snare, high hat, crash, maybe a tom). Any easy way to get started is to base everything on 4s or 8s. For a simple beat, place the bass drum every 8 ticks; place a high-hat every 2 ticks; place the snare every 4 ticks; and add crashes at 00 and 32 (make sure that each different instrument is in a differect column for easy volume and effect manipulation). Keep in mind that this is the easiest beat that you can make. If you download other people's songs at Madtracker.org you can see how people who know the program build beats and that is a good place to start. In fact, you could just "steal" their beat for your own song if you wanted.

As for the 16.67 thingy....a lot of times a loop will have dead space within the sample. Just double click on it to see the sound wave...then see if you can take out any dead space that will not alter the beat (make it off-beat). Most of the drum loops that I have work fine without any alterations. Although, if I can't make them work by altering them, I will just hide the transitions with a crash, which works some of the times.

Oh, and make sure that the loop samples are every 16 ticks, then just ajust the BPM of the song till it works correctly.

If you want I can send you some drum loops in email, just to get you started.

Hope this helps.

rockinroll_mister · Post by **rockinroll_mister** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 4:22 am

send me some drum loops in an email eh.....?????

if you would be so kind

[email protected]

thanx mate. I'll owe you one.

dswain81 · Post by **dswain81** » Fri Dec 05, 2003 5:39 am

They should be in your mailbox now. Good luck!

dswain81 · Post by **dswain81** » Sat Dec 06, 2003 9:36 am

This is the email that I received after sending the loops via email:

"If I was a breakdancer I would LOVE these loops!!!!
But Im NOT! They suck.
Thanx fer tryin & you should really delete all of those loops on yer comp."

A simple "thanks" would have been sufficient.
I guess this is what I get for trying to be nice.

Best of luck with your project. No hard feelings.

rockinroll_mister · Post by **rockinroll_mister** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 4:46 am

why would i say thanx.....

im not a kindergarden teacher, I dont give stars to losers man... you sent me rap beats that the fresh prince would use.... we're on a floyd forum.... not some ghetto zone hip hop page.

Post by **Keith Jordan** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 4:55 am

rockinroll_mister wrote:why would i say thanx.....

im not a kindergarden teacher, I dont give stars to losers man... you sent me rap beats that the fresh prince would use.... we're on a floyd forum.... not some ghetto zone hip hop page.

classic!!! play nice you two.

dswain81 · Post by **dswain81** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:04 am

rockinroll_mister wrote:why would i say thanx.....

im not a kindergarden teacher, I dont give stars to losers man... you sent me rap beats that the fresh prince would use.... we're on a floyd forum.... not some ghetto zone hip hop page.

One word, couth. Oh well, whatever. Good luck, you are going to need it.