Members Crappymonkey Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 Does anybody know how they're getting their synth sounds? I saw them live a couple of weeks ago (and will again this Friday) and all I saw on stage was the girl singing, a drummer, and the guy with a Microkorg. I've read somewhere that he somehow had an Atari chip put into his synth to get the sounds. Is that even possible? Could they be using the Microkorg as a cotroller for softsynths? Any idea which ones might be used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Metrosonus Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 overrated? oops sorry i thought we were playing word association.as far as ive heard it's all chopped up samples. the micro is used as a vocoder.dont get me wrong, their cool, but I think they focus too hard on a gimmick and tha tkinda turns me off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Allerian Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 Sounds like all Monomachine to me. Second one sounds like a bunch of Machinedrum-UW in the mix as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 I saw "Crystal Castles" in the thread title and thought, "Cool, someone's gonna talk about that old arcade game..." How disappointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Metrosonus Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 thatd be a good call ... but who knows ive been suspcious for a year or so that there is a producer in canda churning out these indie pop bandsback on topic, there were a few videos over at matrix synth that sounded really similar, with some guy semi nude in a top hat. you could be onto something.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Allerian Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 This is one of my favorite inspiring bits of game-style music - enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sleepykeith Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 i thought i read something about them using a gameboy... but maybe they were just referencing the 8-bit tones in general. i actually enjoy their album. haven't seen them live though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 Originally Posted by ElectricPuppy I saw "Crystal Castles" in the thread title and thought, "Cool, someone's gonna talk about that old arcade game..." How disappointing. Me too. That was a fun game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crazycarl Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 This article has the producer claiming he put an Atari 5200 sound chip inside a keyboard he found in the trash. That'd be cool but this band is surrounded by so much hype I have a hard time believing it. There are a lot of software emulations of sounds like this, and people have already mentioned the MonoMachine which has a hardware implementation of these types of sounds. And you can always sample old video games too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members robotsquid Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 Softsynths + Monomachine. They like to make stuff up in interviews, but who doesn't?If you want that sound check out quadraSID, works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jjdugan3 Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 I'm seriously not getting the hype on this "band",the Pitchfork crowd( I read it everyday so.. ahem)eats this {censored} up.Is it that interesting,new,innovative..why is this so special?...someone please clue me in! I listened to it and was mildly annoyed by my misspent 2 minutes at hearing game music with a girl caterwauling over it.I like Diamanda Gal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sleepykeith Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 for me it's the raw anxious quality of the tones and vocals... it's that marriage of technology and human emotion, it's microchips and circuit boards but the way it's all mashed together makes it sound alive. yeah, they're completely hyped up right now. the album will likely sound dated in a few years, but right now it sounds exciting to me. maybe it's because i don't know how to achieve those kinds of tones and programming so the mystery of it hides the mediocrity you're hearing. also, i'm not saying these guys are my new fav band... but it's fun brainless music that has it's place. JMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 Originally Posted by crazycarl This article has the producer claiming he put an Atari 5200 sound chip inside a keyboard he found in the trash. That'd be cool but this band is surrounded by so much hype I have a hard time believing it. Quoth the article: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sleepykeith Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 okay, that article pisses me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gordonwiebe Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 I saw them live a year or two ago and from what I could tell 95% of the music was coming from laptop (with a dramatic flourish the guy would press enter every four bars or so). Microkorg for vocoder maybe and some other tones and an old yamaha pss for a few things. I absolutely hated them, but could see how the band and others could have some fun with it. The hype machine is absolutely ridiculous on this one - but, no need to get mad at a couple of kids making a joyful noise who are getting chewed up by the aforementioned machine and spit out at you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goominim Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 i like them a lot...but dont buy into their myth.....but i like lots of electro/dance stuff like fischerspooner and ladytron oddly enough their best song is the guitar song with no beats or synths Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sleepykeith Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 just a tidbit from a friend of mine at microsoft... he likes the band too, so i forwarded the article to get his input. it's as follows:"This is pretty much 100% bull{censored}. The Atari computers and consoles(from the 5200 on or so) all used a custom POKEY chip. They wereactually really famous for it since it could do polyphonic sound, etc.before anyone else was doing that with home PCs or consoles. Not onlythat, the POKEY was a weird chip in that it was kind of ananalg/digital hybrid. It has certain pins for makins sounds, etc. butsome pins were actually potentiometers so you can have a variableamount of voltage going in to make it do different things. My parentsbought me an Atari 128XE as my first "real computer" (I had a TI 99/4abefore that, that you had to store programs on audio tape) so theprogramming model for making sounds, etc. with those chips is one ofthe first things I learned.So unless his keyboard he found in the trash had a slot for the exactnumber of pins as the pokey, in the exact same configuration, he is100% lying. He could've made some sort of custom bridge between thetwo, but there's no way he did " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elhardt Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 The first one sounds like two year old idiots making a bunch crappy noise and the second one sounds like a two year old trying to create music for other two year olds. It's ridiculous that no matter how talentless somebody is, and how idiotic the childish crap is they create, people come along and try to talk it up like it's out of the ordinary or something great. That really puts a bad light on those who think that and shows they know nothing about music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members robotsquid Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 You guys are too hung up on the Atari chip thing. I bet he told an interviewer how he controlled a SID with a cheap crappy midi keyboard and the interviewer just {censored}ed up transposing it into the article. They do it all the time, the first time they do it to you you'll understand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kooki_sf Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 sounds like a bad dat politik rip off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ElectricPuppy Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 Whether it's the artist or the journalist, the bull{censored} level overpowers whatever talent might be lurking underneath.Also, you can't just control a SID with a keyboard, either. The SID requires microprocessor to operate and software that knows how to address its registers. So no matter how you slice it, it's BULL{censored}. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Goominim Posted March 25, 2008 Members Share Posted March 25, 2008 Originally Posted by ElectricPuppy Whether it's the artist or the journalist, the bull{censored} level overpowers whatever talent might be lurking underneath.Also, you can't just control a SID with a keyboard, either. The SID requires microprocessor to operate and software that knows how to address its registers. So no matter how you slice it, it's BULL{censored}. Probably a SidStation and an ignorant reporter. I've been misquoted a few times in my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members robotsquid Posted March 26, 2008 Members Share Posted March 26, 2008 Originally Posted by Goominim Probably a SidStation and an ignorant reporter. I've been misquoted a few times in my life. Thanks, that's what I meant. I forget how pedantic some people on this board can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crappymonkey Posted March 26, 2008 Author Members Share Posted March 26, 2008 I figured that the Atari thing was BS. I've only seen a Microkorg on stage and I know it can't be making all the sounds live. The group does have a {censored} load of hype but I do like some of the songs on the new album and they put on a good live show. The synth dude, Ethan Kath, used to be Ethan Deth from the Toronto metal/punk band Cheerleader 666 which later changed its name to Kill Cheerleader. I don't know how he made the jump to electronic music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yoozer Posted March 26, 2008 Members Share Posted March 26, 2008 Originally Posted by Crappymonkey I don't know how he made the jump to electronic music. You jump to the place where the money is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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