Project 8- Ringtone

Time to take a break and do something light, fun and quick.

The ringtone buisness is huge. Cellular News reports sales of ringtones topping $750 million in 2009. There's really no reason for you (or anyone else) to spend a dime on a ringtone when you can make your own for free.  Here's how.

All you have to do is convert your music into a format that your phone understands.  For my IPhone it's the M4r format.  Your phone might be different, but we can get to that later. After you have the correct format, you have to get the audio file into your phone.  I'll by syncing with ITunes to accomplish this, but some of you may be able to receive the file in a text message.

There are a bunch of sites that will do the conversion for you, and most of them are free.  The one I like is www.myxer.com.  It's very intuitive and you don't even need an account. I won't describe the step by step instructions here because they are on the myxer web site and you need to follow the instructions for your specific phone.  Warning- if your cell service plan are charges you for text messaging and you elect to have your ringtone texted to you, you will probably be charged for the text message (since you'll be texting yourself)- not the ringtone. If you'd like to avoid the charge, opt to download the ringtone.

Creating a ringtone is different from creating a song or other loop in a number of ways. First, the ring will probably only be listend to for a few seconds.  No long introductions please.  Get the tune rockin' right away. Second, phones (even my IPhone) have crummy speakers.  The majestic bass sound that you hear in your monitors on your computer will not translate well to your phone. Expect some bass frequency loss, and don't make your ringtone completely dependet on success of the bass freqency.

After you have used FL Studio to create your ringtone, convert it from a .flp to a .mp3 and upload it to myxer.  Follow the remaining steps on the site to get it into your phone.

Congrats!

Project 7: Synth Design Part II

This project is an extension of the previous project.  In project 6, you needed to design a synth using Sytrus, starting with the default setting, and I walked you through it. This time, you need to design your own from the ground up.

The most important part of this project are your blog posts. I'm changing the way I grade for this project to reflect that. Previously, 100 points were issued for your music file, and 100 points were issued for your post and comments.

This time 150 points are going to your post, and 50 are going to the actual music file.

I'm confident that all of you can write a solid music file at this point. What I'm after is your expertise in synth design. Make sure that by the time you post your audio file, your daily posts have touched on this basic information about your synth :

1. The shape of the wave(s) that you use.
2. Any adjustments to the shape of the wave (using the sliders next to the wave shape).
3. Which operators and how many of them did you use (1-6).
4. Filter settings.
5. FX Settings.
6. Any envelopes or LFO used to modify the wave (pitch, volume, panning, cutoff filter frequency, etc.).
7. Balance of your loop: Rhythmically busy vs. rhythmically simple and high pitched instruments vs. low (bass) pitched instruments.
8. Form. Is it AABA? ABACA? ABCAB? Blues? Vamp? Trance? Describe how the parts are organized.

Good Luck!

 Example of project 7 post:

I started with a triangle wave synth using 100% of operator 1 and 60% of operator 2 Operator 2 is set down an octave. I used a low pass filter, chorus with an order of 6 and a touch of reverb. I backed the decay of the reverb way down. No other tricks were used. I wanted to keep the bass part rather simple.

When I entered it into the riff machine, I got a rather pleasing motif right away.  I wrote drums for it using the hip hop kit, and i made the hi-hat sound really busy.  I also made sure that my kick drum was accenting the strong notes in the riff machine riff.

Next, the chords you hear are a sine wave with a slow LFO applied. The chords follow the bass line harmonically, and I intended to keep it sustained and simple. There are a few variations of this pattern, and I designed it primarily to serve as the backdrop for a lead synth sound. The form is theme and variation on an 8 bar progression that repeats.

This form is separated by a drum fill, and a sustained note by my second synth.

 For the lead sound, I mixed in a bit of operator 2 with operator 1. Operator 2 is set at 6% and is a bent saw wave set down an octave.. Operator 1 is a saw wave with some chorus (order of 5) and a default delay setting. I recorded this using the recod function in FL studio.  Simply hit the record button and play the keyboard. I did a big sweep of the white keys and then ended up the in the high register to play a little melody (all white keys).

I have my first synth in the low register doing the opening theme, my second synth is right in the middle of the keyboard playing the midrange chords, and my final synth sweeps up the keyboard into the extreme upper register. I like the rhythmic interplay of the bass pattern and the sustaned midrange synth.  The lead synth floats over the top with long sustained notes. I could have developed this lead part into a more explosive solo, but opted for a simple line.

I also opted for a simple ending. The piece fades out.

Project 6- Sytrus and the Riff Machine

A cool sound can give you a tremendous creative spark. We will be using the sounds that we create from scratch to make an original loop using sounds you make yourself using the Sytrus plug in. In addition to creating the two synth sounds, we will be using the Riff Machine (new to FL studio 9) as the basis for our new piece.

First, create your sounds.

Since the instructions for designing these sounds were done in class, I won't repeat them here. If you missed anything check out part 1:

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs27/f/2008/043/7/8/Sytrus_Synth_Creation___Part_1_by_Blackhole12.jpg

and part 2:
http://blackhole12.deviantart.com/art/Sytrus-Synth-Creation-Part-2-75807999

Next, fire up the Riff Machine!

Select a channel in the step sequencer (it does not have to be one of the synths you created) and send it to the piano roll. In the piano roll drop down menu (upper left corner) select Tools, and Riff Machine. BOOM! an instant riff appears using the sound you selected.
Set the number of bars to 8 (I find that 4 bars isn't enough variation) in the lower left corner of the RM window.
Click the Throw Dice button a few time to see the variations that come at you.  You can select any -or all- of the available features at the top from Progression to Chord to Arpeggiate.  Whatever you like.

Once you have a pattern that you are happy with,    The pattern that the riff machine generated for you should be repeated Add drums and bass, effects, automation, etc.

This is mine:

Project 5: The Vocoder

The first thing we'll need is a good audio sample to send through the vocoder. Set up an account at:
www.freesounds.org
and then search for a vocal sample that you like. Here's one of my favorites:
http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=75129
 Download your favorite audio samples.  Look for short ones, and use good taste.When you have a sample or two, open FL studio 9. This can get tricky, so follow the instructions carefully.

Open the mixer.
Select Insert 1.
Add an instance of Edison in the FX bank (Edison will play back the sample you downloaded)
Click on the disk icon in the Edison window, select load sample.
Browse for the audio sample you downloaded and select open. It should appear in the Edison window.
Use the drag button in edison to drag the sample over to the playlist.  Remember- drag the button itself- not the sample. The sample should go in the top section where the automation clips go.
The clip should now appear in the step sequencer (just like an automation clip).
Select the channel settings for your sample in the step sequencer.
Set the FX to insert 1.
In the mixer, select insert 2 and and an instance of Vocodex.
Choose a carrier synth preset in the bottom part of the Vocodex window.
Select insert 1, then right click the up arrow on insert 2.  A window will pop up.  Select "sidechain to this track". This sends the signal (not the audio) from the audio sample in Edison into insert 2 in the mixer, which is where we have installed the Vocoder.
With insert 1 still selected, click on the up arrow on the master channel of the mixer. This will disable the output of insert 1 to the master.  Now, insert 1 is only sending signal to the vocoder through the sidechain function, and the vocoder is sending the processed signal to the master.
Switch to song mode, and hit play.  You should hear your sample played through the vocoder!  Fun!

Here's my example:

And my sample post:
For this project I wanted to contrast the pure sound of the vocal sample I downloaded with the processed (vocoded) sample.  To acomplish this, I started the piece with a section of pure, uneffected vocals, and then did the next bit throught the vocoder using the default "bright" setting.  I repeated this contrast for the next two clips, and then started a basic groove with a Simsynth bass and a Sytrus organ patch over drums.  I used a reverse cymbal and a default ensemble hit with a lot of echo to add impact- sort of like punctuation to the vocal effects. I plan to lengthen this piece, but for the purposes of demonstration, I think this file gets the point across.

Project 4: Automation

In this assignment, you need to create a loop that utilizes a modulation clip for a parameter of any channel. It sounds more complicated that it actually is. Here's how it works:

1. Come up with a rough idea for a loop. Drums, some bass, maybe a chopped melody, whatever.

2. While you are looking at the channel settings of any channel, hover the mouse over one of the controls (I used volume). If that parameter can take an automation clip, the status window will show a red dot.

3. Right click the parameter and select "Create automation clip". The clip will appear in the playlist on the top.

4. You can tweak this by right clicking on the line in the clip and creating handles so that you can change the shape of the clip, or you can select the clip itself (in the step sequencer) and use the LFO (which is what I did).

5. Tweak away, and listen while you are tweaking.

6. Post as usual. Here' s mine: (note, your post should be this descriptive. Notice I didn't say "Here's my loop. I hope you like it!" because that's lame.




I was inspired by the pad sound "air chorus". I entered one really long note, and selected the volume parameter to create my automation clip. Once it was created, I used the LFO to make the volume go up and down really fast to create the choppy sound you hear. I made another automation clip to control the overall volume of the chanel so I could have a fade in at the beginning and a fade out at the end.

For the rest of it, the sound that came to mind was a Chinese inspired melody (imagine a pan flute playing this while someone is practicing their Kung-Fu moves in super-slow motion) with a funky bass and drum thing in the background. The guitar sound is the slayer set on auto chord with a chorus effect and a clean tone. It took about 20 minutes.

Project 3: FX

In this assignment, you need to compose a loop that uses effects to enhance the sounds that make up your loops. Your loop must consist of drums, bass and one other instrument. It must also include include at least one of the following three effects types:

1. Some type of Reverb
2. Some type of Delay (or echo)
3. Some type of modulating effect: such as chorus, flanger or phaser.

Be careful not to let the effect take over the piece. Effects are for enhancing songs.

To apply an effect to a channel do this:

In the step sequencer, click on the name of the channel. A dialog box will pop up. Note that in the upper right hand corner is a window that says "FX" and there's a dash in the window. This is the routing number to send that channel to a specific mixer channel when an effect awaits. Set it to "1".

Now hit F9 or go to view-view mixer. The mixer appears. Click on insert 1 (Because we selected "1" from our channel in the step sequencer, it could be any number as long as there's a channel aimed at it.)

On the right hand side of the mixer there are 8 slots that we can put effects in. Click on the drop down arrow and then "select" to see what's avalable.

Try selecting delay because its obvious when it's working. When you play back your song, the channel that you have routed to the insert 1 of the mixer will play back with the effect you have selected on it.

You can do this with any channel. In the example below, I have reverb on the snare drum, a phaser on the bass sound and delay on some of the hits and on the short, high pitched bleep sound.



Here's the criteria:
20 Three different types of effects are used.
20 The blog post explains why these effects were matched with a particular channel.
20 The effects enhance the overall sound of the loop.
20 The loop makes musical sense.
20 Creativity and effort.

Good Luck!

Project 2: The Chop Tool, FPC and Transpose function

The chop tool can take a single note and break it up into a bunch of different pre-set patterns. Try this:
1. Select a generator that will produce a sustained pitch (not a drum) and drop it into the step sequencer.
2. Open the piano roll for that instrument (I used the slayer, channels, add one, slayer) and enter in a long note.
3. In the upper left hand corner of the piano roll window, there is a small icon that looks like a piano keyboard. Select it and from the drop down menu select tools, then chop.
4. Viola! Your note has been chopped into segments. Click on the check mark to accept the changes to your note and give it a listen.
5. So you're not impressed. Fine. Go to the piano roll window again and repeat step 3 (or use the keyboard shortcut Alt u) and select a different pattern from the pattern folder. There are hundreds to choose from. From this window you can also dial the time mul controller to change the population of notes in your window.

The same pattern played over and over again can cause brain damage if you're not careful. Beware of monotony. :-) To add some variation, transpose your pattern like this:
1. In the step sequencer, select the channel with the loop you wish to transpose, and copy it (Right click the channel name, Edit, Copy).
2. Select an empty pattern in the step sequencer, and edit, paste.
3. Now you have the exact same musical pattern in two separate step sequencer patterns.
4. Open the piano roll in one of them, and from the keyboard icon, choose edit, transpose (up or down- doesn't matter) or use the keyboard shortcut- shift, arrow keys.

Your assignment is to create a loop that utilizes the chop tool and the transpose function. form is up to you, but it must be organized in some way- be sure to mention the form in your post.
You will be assessed on your:
1. Use of the chop tool
2. Use of the transpose function
3. Use of drums and bass
4. Descriptive post (see sample post below).


Here's my example and sample post:

I started out with my favorite drum sounds from the RealDrumKits tab in the browser and wrote an up tempo rock beat. Then I added the slayer plug in and cranked up the distortion (double coil pickup setting too) . The chop tool gave me this pattern (trance 6) and I went with it. I added some effect (chorus on the slayer) and that gave me the main riff.
I used the chop tool again on a bass sound (also in the slayer plug in), and found that the two rhythms fit together nicely.

I used the transpose function to change the pitch of the bass and guitar sounds to create an 8 measure pattern, and then layered a melody on top of that pattern with a piano sound (I'm not sure if I really like the piano sound, but I do like the melody).

The for has a 2 measure introduction followed by a statement of the transposed 8 measure sequence in the bass, drums and guitar. That section repeats, but on the repeat, the piano comes in. Then there's an interlude where I used the chop tool again on one note (F), but I wasn't totally happy with the pattern it gave me, so I edited it a little in the piano roll and made the last two hits long. There is a drum breakdown section too. It's all FPC stuff. The song ends with a fade out on the original chop pattern.