Who said "99% of psytrance is made ITB"?

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GregR

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Hey guys, first up, peace! Not trying to start a war here - just have a legit question.
Where does this whole idea of "99% of psytrance is made with software" come from?

Firstly, there is no official source of psytrance producers and the gear they use. It seems that some people take to heart what they read on forums and assume it to be truly representative of the masses, even though it's often posted by mr. anonymous.

Second, there's the threads like "Studio Pics...." on this forum, and "pics of your slutty setup" on the GS forum (not limited to psy, I know). The pics in these threads are full of hardware. And whenever I've come across info on well-known psy producers, there's always at least a Nord, Virus, or Basstation, etc. in their gear list.

I have no doubt that there ARE producers out there working 100% ITB, but to say that 99% of peeps are using only software is a bit over the top methinks.

As a Virus B owner, there's no software TO MY EARS that gives quite the same punch as hardware. Unfortunately, I've had to resort to working ITB due to my living circumstances and am finding it really frustrating using software only. Anyway this is not about me - I'm just interested in the real-world numbers (if that's possible!?), not whether software X can sound just as good a hardware Y etc.

So share what you know!
 
Are you sure anyone has actually said 99% of psytrance is made in the box?

More importantly, why would you be arsed what someone else is doing to make psytrance, if your view differs? Just crack on and make music how you want. Problem (if there ever was one) solved.
 
bez23 said:
Just crack on and make music how you want. Problem (if there ever was one) solved.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Nothing more need be said...

J.

[PS. For the record, my electronic stuff is all done ITB - in part because I already own too much guitar-related gear but mainly because you don't really need masses of hardware for electronic music these days.]
 
Where does this whole idea of "this whole idea of "99% of psytrance is made with software"" come from?
 
In terms of the overall quality of sound, I reckon it depends on what plug ins you are using.

Some soft synths and plugins are a bit plasticy and cheap sounding and a mix full of these will sound weak, and that gives ITB work a bad name. However some decent soft synths and high quality production software, properly mixed, will help to make a decent sound, all in.

For sure there are some synths like the SH-5, that haven;t been replicated in software, so you can;t say that software has hardware beat, but conversely there;s a lot of software that isn;t available in hardware format either.

For me where the hardware comes to the fore is during the creative period. When the juices are reflowing it;s much nicer to grab a few knobs and tweak away than fidlle with a mouse. it;s more immediate and more visceral. User friendliness counts for a lot I think. No matter how well implemented things like automap get I am not sure they can ever quite match the immediacy of a decent analogue / or even a well laid out VA synth,

I did move for a while into complete ITB work but then when I bought a few synths for live work, I ended up rebuilding a little tweakable studio and I realised what I had missed out on. Damn that novation bass station does it for me.
 
mixing ITB is another matter though. it took me quite a long time to feel like a had mastered it to any sort of degree.

I think a lot of weak sounding ITB mixes come from the fact that people are mixing with their eyes and not their ears. Working in a DAW can look all very exciting and complicated and you can fool yourself into thinking you;re doing something oh so very clever. This applies to soft synths too.

i recetnly listened to an album by a very good producer whose previous work I have enjoyed and thought the album sounded small and weak and dull, and I had to turn it off in the end. I imagined that they had gone ITB completely and been bamboozled by it. Turned out that they had indeed gone completely software.

Once you get over this and start really listening to the mix on it;s own merits you end up only using the decent plug ins and, if you have a weakish sounding soft synth, adding a bit of tape saturation here and there.

If you add a decent tweakable set of hardware synths to that equation then you have a good formula I reckon.
 
Which soft synth would you say has a similar sound to the virus?

My friend used one and I remember it having a kind of spikey edge to the sound .
 
Using
GregR said:
Hey guys, first up, peace! Not trying to start a war here - just have a legit question.
Where does this whole idea of "99% of psytrance is made with software" come from?

Firstly, there is no official source of psytrance producers and the gear they use. It seems that some people take to heart what they read on forums and assume it to be truly representative of the masses, even though it's often posted by mr. anonymous.

Second, there's the threads like "Studio Pics...." on this forum, and "pics of your slutty setup" on the GS forum (not limited to psy, I know). The pics in these threads are full of hardware. And whenever I've come across info on well-known psy producers, there's always at least a Nord, Virus, or Basstation, etc. in their gear list.

I have no doubt that there ARE producers out there working 100% ITB, but to say that 99% of peeps are using only software is a bit over the top methinks.

As a Virus B owner, there's no software TO MY EARS that gives quite the same punch as hardware. Unfortunately, I've had to resort to working ITB due to my living circumstances and am finding it really frustrating using software only. Anyway this is not about me - I'm just interested in the real-world numbers (if that's possible!?), not whether software X can sound just as good a hardware Y etc.

So share what you know!
Click to expand...

If you're low on space maybe a controller / audio interface / synth is a good idea? I use a novation x station like that.
 
For me hardware and software debates is similar to asking if the woofer cones used for the tracks mix were kevlar or polypropolene ? Or "I wonder if the producers seat was leather or fire retardant polyester?" It has as much bearing on the track as that. Typically your own taste alone makes hard/soft pale into insignificance.

I think psy trance producers and maybe all electronic musicians can sometimes have a sensation in the back of their mind that feels like they are missing something. It is understandable, we listen in awe to the incredible depth, power of the bass, punch of the kick, rhythmic perfection, deep warm, spacy and edgy leads, intricate production that never gets in the way of the tracks flow, super loud, fat, clear, wide and present sound stage and it all holds up together as a world class psy trance production.

Then we wonder why our own tracks do not quite hold up on all accounts. You might have ticked 3 out of 5 boxes and miss the last 2. So next track you make a tune and you get 3/5 again missing the other aspects. If you have not got a Virus you can think to yourself... "If I had a virus I would have 2-3 better front leads per track and then my mixes would be richer". We have all been there. That elusive sound you have yet to achieve.

A thought process of thinking whatever it is that your are missing is down to not owning gear X. We can call it "Gear X Syndrome"

Largely this comes down to your own ability to synthesize sounds, program or play melody, rhythmic lines form a good track progression and mix it and blend it in context of your tune. I have more than enough synths I need to make psy but I am under no illusions that the 5-10-15-20-25 years experience others have over me is the difference to why they make incredible tracks. And even then some artists make an absolute stormer of a tune which you hold as one of your all time favourites and then their next track is no where near as good in your mind. If you can make 1 track which is an absolute masterpiece, you are doing well IMO.

Don't get me wrong, you do need a few decent synths as they all have a slightly different character to each other but maybe even that is a statement that does not hold much water as you can change the sound by other means.

Psy trance is probably one of the most technically complex electronic music forms and as such this is not music you can typically master over a few months or even years. It is a sonic journey of some significant challenge thankfully.

If you want a passionate musical hobby to get your teeth into for a long while and you connect with the energy of the music then psy trance production is probably a good call if you want to be busy and head scratching for a quite some time.

Long may that head scratching last !

Being a forum member is a good thing as there are some people on here who clearly know their onions.
 
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