Hi everyone

[DanielS]

Hi,

My name is Daniel and I am a synth addict. No offence, but I know before hand that this group will not cure me.

To get an undestanding of my age, my first synth was a Jen SX1000, italian mono synth at the age of 15. And I bought it new in a store. Ok, it was mid '80s, now I am 30-something, my hair tends to be replaced by weight.

I only started playing music because of the electronic sound, so piano I never wanted to learn, just synths. Down the road it proved I was wrong. So I got piano lessons because synths do have black and white keys afterall...

I consider pioneers in electronic music Vangelis and Jean Michelle Jarre. Nowdays, I enjoy trance music mostly. Besides electro sound and music, I really like Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Supertramp, Dire Straits, funk and admire those that can play jazz on a piano (though I cannot listen to jazz for more than 5 minutes). Classical music I cannot listen to for more than 10 minutes, though I really enjoy practicing/playing it (is that strange?). Favorites are Chopin and Debussy. I don't consider myself as a piano player.

Equipment wise, I got a Casio VZ-1 the time it got out in '87, my first real synth, after a lot of savings. I never cared about sample playback, so M1 was out of the question. I didn't even consider it a synth, just a hybrid. Next was Alesis HR-16 for drums, Alesis Quadraverb for FX and Atari/Pro 24 as a sequencer. All that at '88-89.

Then I got the Wavestation. Sold it many years later and got Akai S-2000 to explore the massive amount of libraries available and be able to make some money in my free time by scoring a couple of CD-ROMs and documentaries. Sold that about a year ago (computers rendered it obsolete) and got Motif rack for instant sounds.

Ever since I got the VZ-1, I tried to get that analog sound. Yes, it was not the right synth, but far better for sequencing than an analog 6 voices synth (not considered collectable items at the time). Never got any decent sweeps, but created a range of other great and useful sounds.

Is this introduction too long? Anyway, sometime in '92 I got a good deal for SeqCircuits Sixtrak (owner replaced it with the M1), so this is the real analog I own. At some time I got the MS2000, a year later the Virus C.

The music I make(made) could be considered ambient (I don't enjoy making trance tracks myself). Currently, I have made a setup that is ideal for live playing, and at a touch of a button the setup is DAW ready as well (thanks to Edirol UM880, highly recommended). Since I have ended up to be the only serious listener of my music (people do prefer easy listening), I devote my time experimenting and having fun rather to compose full songs.

I have spent numerous hours programming the VZ-1 (kind of FM) and the Wavestation when I still was a student. I am particularly proud of the piano sound I made for the VZ-1. I still enjoy programming, but now that I have the gear I don't have the time. It's either time or money for the hobbyist. However, most of the patches on the MS2000 are made by me. Do I program the Virus? Not as much as I would like. But then again, there are so many great/complex/all kind of patches available for the Virus, that all I really end up doing is refinements to my own taste rather than beginning from scratch. A great thanks from me to all those that share with us the result of many hours of programming.

I'm done for now.

Greetings,
DanielS

[Hollowcell]

Welcome to the forum!

And start programming that Virus.

[Tomer=Trance]

hey daniel.
so what music exacly do you produce corrently,anbient and trance?

[jasedee]

Welcome to Planet Virus!

Im sure the Virus will scratch that synth itch just nicely.........

See ya round!

Jase

[3o3]

Welcome!

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by DanielS

Hi,

Io.

(though I cannot listen to jazz for more than 5 minutes)

Jazz is great, but I don't like traditional acoustic jazz. Try out fusion jazz like Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, etc (avoid 80's productions, total horror). I think you might find music you like from there.

Classical music I cannot listen to for more than 10 minutes, though I really enjoy practicing/playing it (is that strange?). Favorites are Chopin and Debussy. I don't consider myself as a piano player.

Somehow I've never found the big composers' pieces enjoyable except few exceptions. On piano section my favourite is Liszt and Satie. On orchestra section Dvorak is very good. Sometimes I don't lsiten to classical at all and sometimes I don't seem to listen to anything else. I have those waves. Hoho.

Is this introduction too long?

Not at all.

The music I make(made) could be considered ambient (I don't enjoy making trance tracks myself). Currently, I have made a setup that is ideal for live playing, and at a touch of a button the setup is DAW ready as well (thanks to Edirol UM880, highly recommended). Since I have ended up to be the only serious listener of my music (people do prefer easy listening), I devote my time experimenting and having fun rather to compose full songs.

Yay! Having fun and being silly from time to time is a good thing. Dissapointingly few do that. Most people think fooling around is just waste of time and efforts that could be used to do serious music, but I don't believe in that due most of my best tracks are based on totally absurd idea. Some tracks start as an silly idea and end up to a half-serious well working track. And in addition to that by fooling around you'll end up making music and using techniques you wouldn't encounter doing the same stuff you always do. That way you learn new tricks that can be used in your serious tracks.

Maybe we should put up a "pro silliness" campaing and help people to learn. Hoho.

I'm done for now.

Greetings,
DanielS

I think that was longest introduction in the history of this forum. ?hih. Welcome to our jolly clique.

[DanielS]

Thank you all for your welcome.

I know it was a long introduction, but I guess it was a proper one.

What I have missed all those years working with the computer, is just sit and play. Just like a guitar player does. Takes the guitar and experiments. This is what I did before computers and came up with lots of ideas. Now I am back to that. In an evening, when I have half an hour free, I open the synths and play. No computer is required for midi patching.

So, when I play around, it's "trance like" music cause I like doing it "live". When I record things, I use elements of that but not pure trance.

Juho, thanks for your recommendations of recordings. I'll try to check them out.

DanielS