Korg Kronos and Roland Aira Resources

Posted on June 15, 2014 by polyatomic

Here are some awesome resources that I’ve been using over the past few weeks:

Korg TV – Some instructional and inspirational videos
Qui Robinez – Lots of free sounds and patches, tutorials
Korg Forums – User forim about Korg devices – Lots of great tips and tricks
Roland Clan – User forum about Roland devices – Again lots of great tips and tricks.
BTMusic.com – I’ve been a big fan of BT’s and seeing his Facebook and Twitter feed shows how amazing his ideas are!
Analogue Monologues – I’m not a huge analogue guy, but if I’m looking to get into trance and such, I need to learn how to use the MS-20 and PolySix on my Kronos. Vince Clarke is *the* man on analogue. And knowing that BT has learned from Vince says a huge amount.

And one of the videos that pushed me over the edge to get one of these beats – Spike Edney from Queen:

Tips and Tricks

Posted on June 15, 2014 by polyatomic

For an experience producer, writer, etc… this is not going to be new, but here are a few tips and tricks that I use.

1. Standardize Your Template

In both Reason and Logic, I’ve setup a template that includes every audio input from my various devices, and I’m starting to add and test the MIDI tracks too. This will help to speed up my time to start creation, and less time fiddling around with what track is on what device and what input, etc…

2. Capture Audio and MIDI

I want as much information in my project as possible so that if I upgrade or change equipment in the future, I can map sounds and tracks to another device easily. It also helps me retain the original track audio – which you will want anyway, when you’re finishing your track, mixing, mastering and bouncing anyway.

3. Stereo or Mono?

Some of the devices I have are monophonic, some are stereophonic. I’m still experimenting whether or not I want my left and right channels on different channels or not, similar to what I have above. Admittedly, I am learning towards using one track with a stereo signal for my stereo devices such as my Kronos and Triton.

4. Record as high as possible

This one is one of those items that goes back and forth. My Steinberg UR44, TR-8 and TB-3 all support 96khz. The UR44 can even go higher. You definitely want to have as much resolution in your sound as possible. It can be challenge because what happens when you do convert that track to an MP3?

5. Test your sound

Test your sound, your track, on multiple kinds of speakers. Your monitors, your home amplifier, your car, your friend’s car, with ear buds, with DJ headphones, in a CD player, on an MP3 player. Make tweaks and you’ll sound great for everyone.

6. Your environment makes you creative

I’m not talking about the tools you’re using, per se. I’m talking about your studio space. It has to be conducive to writing and tinkering. It’s actually one of the reasons why I haven’t written much in 7 years, averaging half a track per year in that time.

What sparked my enthusiasm is looking at my space, setting up my TritonLE in front of a window in my ‘man cave’ and realizing that would work if I changed my chair and had some form of small desk to the left. It created a very clean space that’s really sparked my ability to write.

Even on the road, I have something to inspire me to write.

I am going to have some problems with space when my Roland Aira System 1 arrives, but I’ll figure that out too.

Keep it clean too, because that will keep you coming back for more. Admittedly, I hate seeing wires everywhere, it’s distracting for me.

Crashing the studio

Posted on June 15, 2014 by polyatomic

I added a new keyboard to the studio this week, a Korg Kronos X. What a beast, it sounds awesome!

I had a problem though, it seems to keep crashing my Mac when using Reason 7.1 or Logic Pro X. What gives?

First thing I noticed is that Logic seemed a lot more stable, though still with some issues including the sound being distorted on the Kronos, or even on my TR-8 and TB-3.

Above is my setup of my aggregate audio device that has all my USB enabled equipment setup. It’s mostly greyed out and you’re not seeing all the ports as I’m writing this disconnected from my studio.

In short, both Logic and Reason were somewhat wired up incorrectly. For some reason I had two audio tracks hooked up to the exact same device and exact same input. While at one level Logic handles it much better than Reason, it doesn’t make for good results.

The only way around this is to go through each track and ensure you’ve got the right ports hooked up.

I am actually a very big fan of the way Apple handles the aggregate device in CoreAudio. But there’s a down point to it. Your devices are not always guaranteed to be setup properly each time you plug in. For the most part they are. So this necessitates going into Audio MIDI Setup, double checking the setup, then you can start your DAW.

You do need to make sure that each device is in the correct order too otherwise your DAW will be out of sync.

You might need to check your DAW track setup, especially if you’ve been working on the road.

My recommendation to Apple and the various companies that create DAWs – Please come up with a nice user interface that clearly shows and easily allows you to clean up track connections easily. Not all of us have dedicated systems for DAWs so connecting and reconnecting is common.

The Mobile Studio in Dallas

Posted on June 13, 2014 by polyatomic

Surprisingly this is working well in Dallas this week.

Beats Pill Bluetooth Speaker
Korg Microkey 25 – I’m finding I’m getting a lot of latency on this. Good for programming so far, but not so good for playing live.
Apple MacBook Air
Apple iPad for beat inspiration with the Electribe. I also use Korg Gadget on occasion, though it’s difficult to setup the mini studio when flying US-based airlines. Thanks American for your new half-the-size tray functionality on your Airbus A319s.

Yes, I have been working on a new track that uses the TritonLE, TR-8, TB-3 and even Reason’s Subtractor, NN19 and NN-XT. Anyone who follows me on Instragram will have heard a small piece of it.

As for the full studio (minus the Korg Kronos and Roland System 1) –

Roland Aira TR-8, TR-3, Propellerheads Reason 7.1 and OSX Mavericks

Posted on June 13, 2014 by polyatomic

[metaslider id=17]Originally posted at: http://iain.mathan.ca/2014/05/25/roland-aira-tr-8-tr-3-propellerheads-reason-7-1-and-osx-mavericks/

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there about how to setup instruments that can connect to a DAW such as Propellerheads Reason over USB, with MacOS X Mavericks. Most tutorials start having completed the setup process already.

Here is a tutorial about how to setup a Roland TR-8, Roland TR-3 with MacOS X Mavericks (10.9) and Propellerheads Reason.

I am currently using the following equipment:

Roland TR-8 Rhythm Performer
Roland TR-3 Touch Bassline
MacBook Air

I am also using a Korg Microkey25 and a Kaossilator Pro which were setup quite quickly.

The high level steps for this are:

Download the drivers.
Setup your audio devices
Setup Reason’s preferences
Setup the audio tracks

Download Drivers

The first thing you have to do is to download the drivers for your TR-8 and TR-3. If you gave the drivers installed, then you can setup your audio devices to talk to CoreAudio, Apple’s technology for interfacing everything audio on your Mac.

Setup your audio devices

Do this via Go > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup and you should see your TB-3 and TR-8 setup on the left side.

What I noticed in Reason was that I could select one of the TR-8 or the TR-3, but I could not play and record both at the same time, which is not really all that helpful. I also noticed the same in Logic.

You need to setup an Aggregate Device:

Click the ‘+’ button and select “Create Aggregate Device”
Select the Built-in Output, TB-3 and TR-8
Select the Clock Source as “Built-in Output”
Let the sample rate be 96 kHz. The TR-8 and TB-3 both are high resolution audio devices, though some may argue that one doesn’t need to sample that high. Your call.
Rename the Aggregate Device – I set mine to TB-3&TR-8 (yes, I mistyped it in the image above).
Right click on the new device and select “Use this device for sound input”.
Ensure your actual Built-in Output is setup for sound output. If not, right click and select “Use this device for sound output”. You can also select, “Play alerts and sound effects through this device”.
You’re done with this part! Take note of the output channels for the Mac’s own Built-in Output, you’ll need this for the next step. In my example, above, here is how to read the inputs and outputs:

TB-3 has the first two input and output channels
TR-8 has inputs 3 through 16 and outputs 3 through 6
The Mac has only outputs 7 and 8

You want to add the Built-in Output in the Aggregate Device so that you can select it as the outbound device within Reason. You’ll see this in the next step.

Setup Reason’s preferences

Load up Reason and do this via Reason > Preferences > Audio.

Select the Audio Device as the device you created in the previous section. This is what stumped me, I was looking for separate audio in and out and out fields.
Click the Channels… button next to Active Input Channels, select all of the Inputs.
Click the Channels… button next to Active Output Channels, and select only the output channels
You’re done with this part!

Setup the audio tracks

Now you want to go ahead and create the audio tracks. Everything should be virtually wired up and ready.

Go to Create > Utilities > Audio Track and an audio track is added.
Expand the device on the rack and under Audio Input select the input for your device.
If you want, rename the Audio Track to be more representative of the device you are adding.
You’re done.

Hit the Start/Stop button on your device and you should hear everything come out of your Mac’s speaker.

Pain Points and Tips

There are definitely some pain points to this setup. What I have found is:

After turning off your devices and existing Reason, it may be possible the devices get forgotten by MacOS X, or it may be the way the devices boot up.
Reason might forget which devices belong with which channel or that channels should be enabled. You may have to go to Reason > Preferences > Audio to set this up.
Be sure to save a default file with the audio tracks setup. This will save you time, and name the devices after the device and sound.
The TR-8 will send out a stereo signal on the first two channels, one for left and one for right. The remaining channels are for the individual sounds if you want to capture the individual audio tracks separately.
The TB-3 will send out a stereo signal, as well, on the first two channels. One for left and one for right.
This one is a big frustration point for me. The USB plug into the TB-3 and TR-8 are FRAGILE and they can be tough to plug in. Specifically, I actually broke the plastic post on the USB port of my TB-3. Thankfully it still works, but I need to get some glue to fix it. I’m not pleased with how cheap the ports are.

And there you go. Hopefully I’ve taken away some of the pain that I had setting up my equipment.

(Feature image courtesy of Roland Canada)

Tips & Tricks

Posted on June 13, 2014 by polyatomic

Not only will I be providing updates on new tracks and old tracks, I plan on providing some tips and tricks as I work with the new equipment, links to tools and such.

Originally posted at: http://iain.mathan.ca/2014/06/02/experiments-with-the-roland-tr-8/

After a week of sitting in my make-shift studio, I finally got some time to play around with the Roland TR-8 I picked up. Wow, what a machine. It totally to me to my late-80s/early-90s techno roots. What a phat beat pumpin’ beast.

Forget the basic Roland TR-808/TR-909 sounds it emulates, add the scatter functionality and you’ve got a beast that doesn’t just drum for you. If you’re not a strong beats guy like me, and you get stumped, the scatter functionality can help create breakbeats and fills to way more than satisfy my beat needs. Tie in, not just the audio over USB, but throw in the midi data and you can create some out of the world beats with your DAW drum set (Reason, Logic, etc…)

Check this sample out.

(Feature image courtesy of Roland Canada)

New Inspiration

Posted on June 13, 2014 by polyatomic

Welcome to the new Polyatomic website. It’s been about 7 years since I’ve written anything of substance. I’ve had some old tracks I didn’t know what to do with, that finally got some love and attention, and they were finally released over the past few weeks:

Mmm Babe featuring Mr. Majors – Definitely not safe for work
8-Bit Los Angeles

It kind of kickstarted me into a frenzy of getting my studio back in order. In short, Scott and I moved into our new condo 7 years ago and I never had the space to setup the studio properly until now. The studio is now called “Solarium” as it overlooks our balcony that has a beautiful south-west view and sun steams in. On top of these two tracks, I got super excited by Roland’s new Aira TR-8 and TB-3 which are digital versions of the Roland TR-808 & TR-909 Rhythm Composers, and TB-303 Bassline. Yes, this started in a spending spree of new equipment with additional purchases of

Korg Microkey25 so I can play and program in my hotel room.
Steinberg UR44 so I could sample my Korg TritonLE – finally allowing me to use this amazing synth, the sounds I’ve only used a handful of times. It also lets me sample the Korg Kaossilator Pro.
Roland System 1 digital-based analog synth.
Korg Kronos X, an amazing Linux based synth with 9 engines including a Korg MS-20 and PolySix, and that doesn’t scratch the surface.
Yamaha HS5 Studio Monitors – Using my laptop speakers just doesn’t cut it.

I am super excited about turning this leaf. I’ve needed to get to being creative more. The ultimate goal? I’ve already have one track available on iTunes. How about that elusive goal of creating an album? Yes, it’s about time I wrote a complete album. Truth is, I did have more than a full album of material but I released it all for free. Lucky for all of you out there. In the meantime, as we get this place sorted out, enjoy my SoundCloud page.