[ Hypnos Forum ]

Hi TWK,

I live in North Olmsted on the West side. I don't know of any ambient-friendly venues in town. My favorite place to see shows is the Beachland, but they tend to like things loud there. Or at least singer-songwritery.

I can't even put together the small list of ambient shows that you've attended... this area seems to not be big on ambient, or the scene is completely underground. I suspect the former.

Let me know when you or your band play out and I'll do my best to make the show.

Good luck!
Mark

Saul Stokes - Villa Galaxia
Highly regarded in this forum, and for good reason. This album represents next steps for ambient/electronic music, while somehow paying homage to 70s-era electronic music as well. To say it sounds happy is going too far, but it has a positive vibe. If you don't already have this album, you need it!

Lemongrass - Ambient Land EP
Very good, non-boring drone-y 5-song EP. The fact that this album is an EP shows Lemongrass' restraint; I'm certain he could have stretched it out to a full-length album, but he didn't, and that demonstrates the tastefulness that you'll feel/hear throughout this EP.

Loscil - Strathcona Variations EP
Loscil can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. This 3-song EP is nearly 20 minutes long, but every time I finish it I think "Is it over already?" Again, restraint in regard to duration as well as arrangement makes for great ambient listening, and this EP doesn't disappoint.

R. Carlos Nakai - Canyon Trilogy
Meditative, beautiful, echo-y flute. It took me some time to get over my embarrassment for liking this - I heard it in too many 'nature' stores to take it seriously - but I'm ready to admit now that this album has become a desert island selection for me. If you're scoffing now, reconsider the album - you might like it.

Forrest Fang - Phantoms
Just got this one, and I'm listening to it now for the first time. This album is also highly recommended in this forum, and I'm enjoying it so far. Great ambient, interesting instrumentation. I think I'll be spending a lot of time with this one.

Just listened to the Untitled Improv... nicely done! 

Indeed, the Untitled Improv is very nicely done, indeed!

Too many sounds = paralyzing for me. I don't like having so many options! This is something that my musician friends don't typically understand, but I like a limited palette. Too many options and I spend too much time exploring and not enough time playing or recording. Sometimes I think this comes from being a lazy, plug-in-and-play guitar player. Other times it feels like a built in Oblique Strategy.

All this said, I think I will subscribe to Puremagnetik. I'm looking for some tabla and sitar, generally any kind of traditional Indian instrument plug-ins that I can use with Ableton. Do you happen to know of any other than SwarShala (they're out of my price range right now)?

Listening now, almost done in fact, and likely to start it over again when it's finished. Great music again, Evan, thank you!!

Hi Mike,

I just downloaded 'Dreamscapes' - thanks for making your music available for free download. I admit, I'm not generally a fan of dark ambient, but your music avoids whatever it is that I don't like about it. Maybe 'Dreamscapes' will help me define what I don't like about the subgenre by showing me what's good about it. I'm only a few tracks in right now, but I like it.

I'm thinking about buying Technosphere and maybe some of the 8-bit sounds as well. Still very much trying to figure Live out - there is so much functionality there that I feel that I'm probably jumping the gun by buying additional sounds. I'm just scratching the surface with plug-ins, just getting started, and I have a lot to learn about digital recording in general. I've been playing for a long time, but just recently got the itch to record again - first time since the early 90s - and, of course, everything is different now.

Yeah, the band days are most likely over for me too. I find that I have less of a desire to play structured band-type tunes nowadays. Working at home, alone, suits me best anyway, I think.

Quote from: MarkJohnson on December 16, 2007, 10:17:01 AM

I just bought Ableton Live, it's the first DAW I've spent money on and the first one that I've felt I understand. I've been playing for a long time but only recently decided to get into digital recording. Ableton Live has made the move to digital very easy. I'm only just starting to get familiar with the feature set, so I can't comment there, but the built in help and the ease of use are far beyond Live's competitors in my opinion. Cubase and Pro Tools made me feel that DAWs were a club that I didn't belong to; Live has welcomed me in and is giving me a tour...

I got a great deal on the software as well. I installed Live Lite 6 from a friend's trial disc, upgraded to the full version of Live 6 for $269 directly from the Ableton web site, and, at least as of a week ago, the full version of Live 7 is included as well.

Nice! Did you get Session Drums as well as EIC 2 with it? I would assume yes. I haven't really dug too deeply under the hood but the application is amazing with things you can do with it. Mind boggling at times. I am glad my buddy has been using this for awhile as I pick his brain regularly when I haven't used Live much. Getting back into the trenches of it so more lesson viewing and all to go through and check out the new instruments and drum samples.

I got the 'Download' rather than the 'Boxed' version and Session Drums and EIC 2 were not included. It still came with a number of sounds, however, and the cost savings was worth it, I think, as I can now spend money on exactly the plug-ins I want rather than those that Ableton thinks are essential for me.

Lesson viewing... the Ableton user's favorite past time...

I just bought Ableton Live, it's the first DAW I've spent money on and the first one that I've felt I understand. I've been playing for a long time but only recently decided to get into digital recording. Ableton Live has made the move to digital very easy. I'm only just starting to get familiar with the feature set, so I can't comment there, but the built in help and the ease of use are far beyond Live's competitors in my opinion. Cubase and Pro Tools made me feel that DAWs were a club that I didn't belong to; Live has welcomed me in and is giving me a tour...

I got a great deal on the software as well. I installed Live Lite 6 from a friend's trial disc, upgraded to the full version of Live 6 for $269 directly from the Ableton web site, and, at least as of a week ago, the full version of Live 7 is included as well.

Saul Stokes's Fields is in regular rotation for me, and I have trouble saying why I like it as well. It's a great album.