The process is quite simple: you most likely won’t be able to do what you want to do in real time (IE using the tape machine like an external compressor), because I don’t know of a tape machine (other than a tape DELAY machine) that’s designed to record a sound and play it back, off tape, in the same moment. You’d most likely end up recording sound to tape, then when you’re done recording, rewinding the tape and playing it back into your computer and re-recording there.

So you’d need both a cassette machine and an audio interface with a good quality line level stereo output and input.

I had cassette recorders and hi-fi cassette decks when I was a kid though, and they’re not without problems. For instance, if they’re old or in bad condition, they’ll probably be quite hissy; if the tape’s not high quality and fresh, you might well get unwelcome distortion from the tape degrading; and because the motors & tension components are rarely perfect in non-profesional equipment, you might get audible pitch-wobbling. Like, I used to try to record pianos on consumer cassette decks and it always sounded crappy, because you really hear pitch modulation in a recording of a piano.

Maybe you love all of your cassette machine’s idiosyncracies, but…

Anyway, I’ve got the TB Reelbus plugin on my computer, and I love it - great for fattening up bass. Stick some drums through it, boost levels until you’re just maxing out the meters, then put something after it to tighten up the low end: very good for making a drum mix tougher, heavier…

To be honest I’d start in software - don’t see retro hardware as a silver bullet, it comes with a load of challenges.

+1 for NI Transient Master - it sounds great, and I love the simplicity of the UI.

Before I had Komplete I used Flux BitterSweet which is freeware, sounds fine, costs no money, will have no negative impact on your bank balance, and is freeware.

Quote from: museumoftechno on January 10, 2016, 03:17:08 pm

I made a Reaktor patch that turns circuit hiss on soundcard inputs into feedback drones... the patch listens to how loud it's getting, and adjusts the feedback to stop everything actually exploding. Sounds kind of radiophonic?

this is fucking nuts

Thanks! - if you want it and you have Reaktor 5+, you can get it from the Reaktor User Library... https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/5183/ ... Jeez, that was 7 years ago. Since then I have focused mainly on detuned supersaws  :o

I suggest choosing 2 or 3 notes from whatever regular scale you're using and flatting or sharping them a quarter tone. That should create the interesting effect you want. Play around with it, and be picky about when you use it.

Yeh this can sound really good. I used to have a Nord Micromodular, and one of my favourite patches I came up with was one where one note in the sequence was broken: if you played a certain note (say it was a D) the sound was appallingly flat, and went through extra diodes, DC offsets and saturation. It was like having a part-broken synth, or a guitar with a dodgy string.

With sounds like this you can get quite far with only 2 FM operators (I dunno if that's the "2 sounds" referred to in another reply?)



That's a screenshot of FM8 running a patch not 1000000 miles from the 2nd example you posted.

The grid on the right shows that there's only 2 operators active; "F" goes to the output, and has a medium-length envelope; "E" is modulating the frequency of "F". It has a short envelope, which means there's lots of modulation initially, which dies away quickly. That gives the sound an initial "plucky" quality.

"F"'s pitch ratio (not shown in screenshot) is 0.5 which means it's an octave lower than default.
"E"'s pitch ratio here is 1.6667 which means it's a an octave + a 5th above operator "F"... that's important because the interval between E & F affects what harmonic series you get as a result.

I'd say if you can dial that in, and start experimenting tuning "E" up and down, and playing with the amount "E" modulates "F", you might get close. And remember, the pro's might be layering their FM basses with other sounds too.

Good luck!

This image is connected to dancing but you can substitute that word for literally any artistic skill that requires a lot of time and training:



Your ability to create good work is somewhat linear curve - the more time and effort you put in, the more you get out of it.

Your ability to understand what is good and bad is a fluctuating cycle of peaks and valleys surrounding your ability's growth. There will be times when your ability to know what is good is LESS than your current understanding of how to make what is good. These are the cherished moments of discovery and learning, when you're breaking through a lot of barriers and feeling like you might be onto something. There will also be times when your taste will be much HIGHER than your ability to make what is good for your tastes. This is the real challenge, and where most people stop.

It's important to keep in mind that EVERYONE encounters it, and the only way to get past it is to keep making work even IF you think it's not up to your own standards. The only way you'll know how to make things that sound good is by making a whole lot of stuff that sounds bad. Don't give up!

That's very cool. Here's my personal curve:

There's a plugin by a guy called Aliex Hilton - the A1 Audio A1StereoControl. It has a "Safe Bass" feature, so you can say "Anything under XXX Hz must be in mono", and a "Make everything mono" button, and a "stereo width" control. Drop it on your master out and you can mono your mix very easily to check that what you're doing is stereo compatible.

Some plugins are stereo compatible, some aren't. I think (not 100% sure) Massive's Dimension Expander (and Xfer Recordings Dimension Expander) are designed to add stereo width, but be mono compatible. Meanwhile, be careful of doubling plugins that use the Haas effect to make a mono sound stereo (sending delayed signals to the extreme left and right) because if you collapse the results to mono, you might have accidentally comb filtered your music. Waves Shuffler... I think that works by panning different frequency bands left & right, and I think that's mono compatible.

Basically, if I'm artificially widening a sound, I try to remember to use A1StereoControl to check my mix after I've added the effect, to make sure I haven't messed it up significantly.