Here is the link below to a new song, "I Like a Man Who Grins When He Fights," recorded over the weekend (total time to create: about 5 hours from first riff to final mix) that shows off how the Oasys can get a big guitar sound. I was harkening to Yes and ELP in 1974, with some 1980s Rush guitar textures, and a dash of The Who (particularly the thrashing drumming on the chorus in the style of Keith Moon).
But you may hear some completely different influences and elements.
The title is a quote from Winston Churchill. This song is from my newest collection, pieces inspired by Churchill.
Greg
http://www.gregorysidakmusic.com/compon ... lbum_id,6/
What OASYS can do: "I Like a Man Who Grins When He Figh
Moderators: Sharp, X-Trade, Pepperpotty, karmathanever
What OASYS can do: "I Like a Man Who Grins When He Figh
My website contains more than 150 songs recorded on the OASYS in a variety of genres--from hard rock and jazz to orchestral and country. Please visit: www.gregorysidakmusic.com
"I Like a Man Who Grins When He Fights"
Thanks, Charlie, for those comments and questions.
The ELP influence (to my ears) is the fat, chorus-delayed analogue brass playing the melody. Keith Emerson owned that sound in the 1970s. Wakeman, Banks, Jobson, and the others did not really use it much. Emerson was my favorite progressive rock keyboard player for many years (not any longer--Eddie Jobson is numero uno).
The song is 100% Oasys. That is why I say, "This is what the Oasys can do." I get tired of folks complaining about the instrument's limitations, including the sequencer. My attitude is that the Oasys is like a vintage Les Paul. Of course, the instrument cannot do everything, but that merely challenges the composer and performer to work harder. WWFZD?
I used only the internal sequencer. No external sequencing or signal processing was used. No audio tracks were recorded. Only 16 MIDI tracks on the Oasys.
Karma has been a huge benefit to my composing and arranging. I used many different Karma patterns in combination. I suggest NOT trying to use Karma the way it is laid out on the Oasys. Try to break the rules intentionally. There are some great surprises waiting.
The drums are a combination of Karma and individual programming. It takes a bit of effort to get a good Keith Moon cymbal crash on the Oasys.
I almost never program my own sounds. Life is too short to spend programming instead of composing.
Greg
The ELP influence (to my ears) is the fat, chorus-delayed analogue brass playing the melody. Keith Emerson owned that sound in the 1970s. Wakeman, Banks, Jobson, and the others did not really use it much. Emerson was my favorite progressive rock keyboard player for many years (not any longer--Eddie Jobson is numero uno).
The song is 100% Oasys. That is why I say, "This is what the Oasys can do." I get tired of folks complaining about the instrument's limitations, including the sequencer. My attitude is that the Oasys is like a vintage Les Paul. Of course, the instrument cannot do everything, but that merely challenges the composer and performer to work harder. WWFZD?
I used only the internal sequencer. No external sequencing or signal processing was used. No audio tracks were recorded. Only 16 MIDI tracks on the Oasys.
Karma has been a huge benefit to my composing and arranging. I used many different Karma patterns in combination. I suggest NOT trying to use Karma the way it is laid out on the Oasys. Try to break the rules intentionally. There are some great surprises waiting.
The drums are a combination of Karma and individual programming. It takes a bit of effort to get a good Keith Moon cymbal crash on the Oasys.
I almost never program my own sounds. Life is too short to spend programming instead of composing.
Greg
My website contains more than 150 songs recorded on the OASYS in a variety of genres--from hard rock and jazz to orchestral and country. Please visit: www.gregorysidakmusic.com
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Kevin Nolan
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Re: "I Like a Man Who Grins When He Fights"
Absolutely brilliant - not just this but all of your tracks. I said it before and I'll say it again - you write fantastic music and produce 'eerily well' on just an OASYS. Shouldn't you be famous already?
Here I disagree! -
- you make it sound like making sounds is a chore. Yes many synths (including OASYS) can make this a very drab experience - but something truly pivotal and IMO absolutely vital happens when you craft sounds on an analogue/virtual analogue synth (or programmed/significantly-edited in a digital synth) - you take ownership of the sound and it becomes an altogether different playing / composing experience. And when you think in this way, you craft a set of sounds within a piece that gel in a unified way. This is why so many classic tracks (including from the likes of ELP) sound so good - Keith Emerson was crafting / tweaking / manipulating the sounds in as natural away as playing notes. So I heartily recommend that, even if just for analog-synth sounds in pieces - use Polysix-EX and edit, tweak and perform the sounds live and it will be an altogether enlightening experience.
In my setup of many analogue synths, at times this experience becomes almost transcendental - you aren't thinking parameters, you're listening to sounds and any programming/manipulation can become very instinctive and creative. I only wish this was more central to current electronic music - and indeed OASYS offers excellent 'modern' opportunities in this regard especially when compared to computer soft-synths (and is why the V-Synth GT is so utterly magnificent). So I suggest that not programming / creating your own sounds is a massive lost opportunity.
For many of us, the creating of sound is equal / linked-at-the-hip to the composing process; and not some necessarily-evil to be overcome before composing starts - you can't separate the sound from the music too rigidly - even when such an awesome sound set as in the OASYS is available. Surely no great instruments (or pieces) would have emerged - either acoustic or electronic - if the sound creation and composing process were not seen as inextricably linked and engaged as one, over the ages?
Having said all of that - you are an exquisite musician and you really do have a very impressive identity within your music - so well done again on all fo those tracks - they're absolutely great.
Kevin.
come on - you've done enought tracks for now - please take a break and write a quick 'tutorial' / 'hints and tricks' on what you mean here - I know the point is to be individual and do it yourslef but you have a lot of incredible insight to share a little of.jgsidak wrote:Thanks, Charlie, for those comments and questions.
Karma has been a huge benefit to my composing and arranging. I used many different Karma patterns in combination. I suggest NOT trying to use Karma the way it is laid out on the Oasys. Try to break the rules intentionally. There are some great surprises waiting.
Greg
jgsidak wrote:Thanks, Charlie, for those comments and questions.
I almost never program my own sounds. Life is too short to spend programming instead of composing.
Greg
Here I disagree! -
- you make it sound like making sounds is a chore. Yes many synths (including OASYS) can make this a very drab experience - but something truly pivotal and IMO absolutely vital happens when you craft sounds on an analogue/virtual analogue synth (or programmed/significantly-edited in a digital synth) - you take ownership of the sound and it becomes an altogether different playing / composing experience. And when you think in this way, you craft a set of sounds within a piece that gel in a unified way. This is why so many classic tracks (including from the likes of ELP) sound so good - Keith Emerson was crafting / tweaking / manipulating the sounds in as natural away as playing notes. So I heartily recommend that, even if just for analog-synth sounds in pieces - use Polysix-EX and edit, tweak and perform the sounds live and it will be an altogether enlightening experience.
In my setup of many analogue synths, at times this experience becomes almost transcendental - you aren't thinking parameters, you're listening to sounds and any programming/manipulation can become very instinctive and creative. I only wish this was more central to current electronic music - and indeed OASYS offers excellent 'modern' opportunities in this regard especially when compared to computer soft-synths (and is why the V-Synth GT is so utterly magnificent). So I suggest that not programming / creating your own sounds is a massive lost opportunity.
For many of us, the creating of sound is equal / linked-at-the-hip to the composing process; and not some necessarily-evil to be overcome before composing starts - you can't separate the sound from the music too rigidly - even when such an awesome sound set as in the OASYS is available. Surely no great instruments (or pieces) would have emerged - either acoustic or electronic - if the sound creation and composing process were not seen as inextricably linked and engaged as one, over the ages?
Having said all of that - you are an exquisite musician and you really do have a very impressive identity within your music - so well done again on all fo those tracks - they're absolutely great.
Kevin.
I'd like to see such a tutorial on the usage of Karma, too. I used to work a lot with the O-sequ and making drumtracks using Karma was fun. And I had to add my own drum-stuff, too. So it would be great to exchange some experiences.
Regarding "Life's too short for programming sounds": Kevin, I agree with you. But I don't think he meant it that way ("It is not worth/fun spending the time on sound-programming"). If I remember correctly jgsidak works full-time in a completely different area. If you have not so much time for your beloved music you'll have to choose, what you use the time for. When I was younger and studying I had plenty of time for music and used to program lots of sounds (even sold them
), but now I have to choose: Will I spend 2 hours on composing, recording and making a song using some of the 1000nds of sounds available (many of them being great and ready to use)? Or shall I spend the time for shaping my own sounds? Here I'm with jgsidak: I'd rather spend the time for composing and recording. 
Regarding "Life's too short for programming sounds": Kevin, I agree with you. But I don't think he meant it that way ("It is not worth/fun spending the time on sound-programming"). If I remember correctly jgsidak works full-time in a completely different area. If you have not so much time for your beloved music you'll have to choose, what you use the time for. When I was younger and studying I had plenty of time for music and used to program lots of sounds (even sold them
), but now I have to choose: Will I spend 2 hours on composing, recording and making a song using some of the 1000nds of sounds available (many of them being great and ready to use)? Or shall I spend the time for shaping my own sounds? Here I'm with jgsidak: I'd rather spend the time for composing and recording. Charlie is correct. I have a day job. So, when I have time to spend on the Oasys, I want to spend it composing.
Thanks, Kevin, for the kind words. Given my time constraints, I could not begin to write a tutorial. Also, is the question one of composing or of getting sounds from the Oasys? With regard to the former, it a matter of when the muse visits. There is not much that I can say about the process. One kind of idea comes to me late at night, a different kind of idea comes to me on a Saturday morning when I am rested.
I will say this: I approach composing on the Oasys now in a more mathematical manner. I don't use pre-existing combinations so much as I did a year or so ago. I sit down and say, for example, "I would like to write something in 5/4 today." I rely heavily on pentatonic structure. It is the lingua franca across rock, blues, country, folk, Vaughn Williams, Copland, Barber, Holst, et al.
Thanks, Kevin, for the kind words. Given my time constraints, I could not begin to write a tutorial. Also, is the question one of composing or of getting sounds from the Oasys? With regard to the former, it a matter of when the muse visits. There is not much that I can say about the process. One kind of idea comes to me late at night, a different kind of idea comes to me on a Saturday morning when I am rested.
I will say this: I approach composing on the Oasys now in a more mathematical manner. I don't use pre-existing combinations so much as I did a year or so ago. I sit down and say, for example, "I would like to write something in 5/4 today." I rely heavily on pentatonic structure. It is the lingua franca across rock, blues, country, folk, Vaughn Williams, Copland, Barber, Holst, et al.
My website contains more than 150 songs recorded on the OASYS in a variety of genres--from hard rock and jazz to orchestral and country. Please visit: www.gregorysidakmusic.com
I think Kevin meant a Tutorial on how to use Karma "differently" as you hinted at in your original comment. Not on composing (though that's interesting too 
).
Anyhow, I'd like to hear some of this stuff too. What do you do differently here? How do you use Karma differently? How do you integrate it into your recordings etc.? Just a few sentences will already provoke new thoughts and ideas. I understand a Tutorial takes too much time.
).Anyhow, I'd like to hear some of this stuff too. What do you do differently here? How do you use Karma differently? How do you integrate it into your recordings etc.? Just a few sentences will already provoke new thoughts and ideas. I understand a Tutorial takes too much time.