So at first I thought this said duck waves and I was initially disappointed at the lack of ducks. But the track is so grand and makes me feel like I'm about to go on an adventure. I think the first flute riff and the third one fit really really well in this track, the second one did get a little muddy but still a great listen and would love to hear your finished version.

So at first I thought this said duck waves and I was initially disappointed at the lack of ducks. But the track is so grand and makes me feel like I'm about to go on an adventure. I think the first flute riff and the third one fit really really well in this track, the second one did get a little muddy but still a great listen and would love to hear your finished version.

Well, I'm glad you liked it, despite the lack of ducks, though interestingly tag:duck music does have a none zero number of tracks... h.t.

.  Also its interesting that you mentioned "adventure"... I have been messing around with Mixolydian I -> VII a bunch this week and it gives me like a strong Zelda vibe... but I'm not sure why... I'm glad I'm not just crazy. 

[quote=dewdrops _tunes]So at first I thought this said duck waves and I was initially disappointed at the lack of ducks. But the track is so grand and makes me feel like I'm about to go on an adventure. I think the first flute riff and the third one fit really really well in this track, the second one did get a little muddy but still a great listen and would love to hear your finished version.[/quote] Well, I'm glad you liked it, despite the lack of ducks, though interestingly [b][color=blue]tag:duck music[/color][/b] does have a none zero number of tracks... h.t. [quote=offbrand]offbrand[/quote]. Also its interesting that you mentioned "adventure"... I have been messing around with Mixolydian I -> VII a bunch this week and it gives me like a strong Zelda vibe... but I'm not sure why... I'm glad I'm not just crazy.

this is lovely, well done. nice mix of software instruments that still sound pretty natural, and electronic beats. my only suggestion is that we need more ducks next time. it's time for the duckwave revolution.

this is lovely, well done. nice mix of software instruments that still sound pretty natural, and electronic beats. my only suggestion is that we need more ducks next time. it's time for the duckwave revolution.

Lofi beats to camp in the backwoods to. Very nice! The flute lead is chef's kiss.

Nitpick: the piano needs some velocity humanization to sound more natural. Here I think you recorded without velocity and the result is a bit mechanical due to that + the quantization.

Lofi beats to camp in the backwoods to. Very nice! The flute lead is chef's kiss. Nitpick: the piano needs some velocity humanization to sound more natural. Here I think you recorded without velocity and the result is a bit mechanical due to that + the quantization.

So upbeat and joyous! I hear the Zelda/adventure vibe for sure. The viola and flute melodies are great over the beat and the main piano. Thinking about rplktr's comment, this didn't stand out to me upon first listen, especially once the piano is in the background. I think a more consistent volume/tempo piano has its own effect that isn't inherently objectionable. I think I hear what you mean about the flute, I think especially for lower notes or when it's behind the viola, it has a harder time. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it without your note.

So upbeat and joyous! I hear the Zelda/adventure vibe for sure. The viola and flute melodies are great over the beat and the main piano. Thinking about rplktr's comment, this didn't stand out to me upon first listen, especially once the piano is in the background. I think a more consistent volume/tempo piano has its own effect that isn't inherently objectionable. I think I hear what you mean about the flute, I think especially for lower notes or when it's behind the viola, it has a harder time. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it without your note.

Def feeling the adventure is about to begin vibes.  Like I just watched the opening cinematic and just getting control of my character to explore the village and dungeons ahead.  Or even plant some crops ala stardew valley   Piano sounds great too

Def feeling the adventure is about to begin vibes. Like I just watched the opening cinematic and just getting control of my character to explore the village and dungeons ahead. Or even plant some crops ala stardew valley :) Piano sounds great too

Thanks, I always struggle to get natural sounding performances from VSTs, strings in particular.  Though a lot of the credit here goes to the instruments themselves, the Cremona Quartet libraries "virtuoso" articulations sound pretty good right out of the box. And, all the Aaron Venture Infinite instruments are built specifically to squeeze realism out of performances.  Like the articulations automatically change based on how you play note with regard to expression, modulation, and velocity.  I still have A LOT of practicing to do to get them sounding how I want them (clearly), but they are a little bit of a "cheat code" on getting more expressive performances from VSTs.  I kind of can't wait for Infinite Strings to drop... I have a feeling it will quickly become my core strings library. 

Yeah, (>▽<) I get that comment a lot on my school assignments too...¯\_(ツ)_/¯, though in pretty much all the cases where I get "this is took locked into the grid..." type comments, it's always on things where I played in the notes, velocities, modulation, and expression, and usually where I had very little quantization (⌒_⌒;).  Probably because when I draw in those things, I make a point to run "humanization" algos, but I don't think to care so much about that when I played everything myself, and I tend not to play with much rubato. Though I think what your hearing (or not hearing in this case) is more a result of compression.  I have four different compression stages on this piano to help it cut through the drums without changing the panning, and given the whole "last minute lofi" of it all, I couldn't be bothered to put automation on the compressors, for the intro and outro to give them a little more dynamic range. So if I do more work on this track I may ease up the compression on those sections to make the performance a little more delicate. Thanks for the note, constructive critique is always welcome. 

Yup, you hit it right on the head, I tweaked all the compressors specifically for the sections where all the other instruments are playing... so I'm glad it sounded good there d(>_･ ).  Also good to hear your thoughts on the flute... it's always hard to not hear the little things that maybe others don't even notice... and I spent a LOT of time fussing with that flute, to never get it to where I wanted it.

Oh I like that imagery, it's always encouraging to hear what my pieces spark in peoples imaginations.  Messing around in Mixolydian has been kind of unexpected, I didn't expect it to feel so "The adventure begins..."  But I guess it makes sense, in that it's like the darkest major mode... so things are still bright, but it alludes to challenge and hardship to come, maybe? ʅ(°_°)ʃ

[quote=sansashark]this is lovely, well done. nice mix of software instruments that still sound pretty natural, and electronic beats. my only suggestion is that we need more ducks next time. it's time for the duckwave revolution.[/quote] Thanks, I always struggle to get natural sounding performances from VSTs, strings in particular. Though a lot of the credit here goes to the instruments themselves, the Cremona Quartet libraries "virtuoso" articulations sound pretty good right out of the box. And, all the Aaron Venture Infinite instruments are built specifically to squeeze realism out of performances. Like the articulations automatically change based on how you play note with regard to expression, modulation, and velocity. I still have A LOT of practicing to do to get them sounding how I want them (clearly), but they are a little bit of a "cheat code" on getting more expressive performances from VSTs. I kind of can't wait for Infinite Strings to drop... I have a feeling it will quickly become my core strings library. [quote=rplktr]Lofi beats to camp in the backwoods to. Very nice! The flute lead is chef's kiss. Nitpick: the piano needs some velocity humanization to sound more natural. Here I think you recorded without velocity and the result is a bit mechanical due to that + the quantization.[/quote] Yeah, (>▽<) I get that comment a lot on my school assignments too...¯\_(ツ)_/¯, though in pretty much all the cases where I get "this is took locked into the grid..." type comments, it's always on things where I played in the notes, velocities, modulation, and expression, and usually where I had very little quantization (⌒_⌒;). Probably because when I draw in those things, I make a point to run "humanization" algos, but I don't think to care so much about that when I played everything myself, and I tend not to play with much rubato. Though I think what your hearing (or not hearing in this case) is more a result of compression. I have four different compression stages on this piano to help it cut through the drums without changing the panning, and given the whole "last minute lofi" of it all, I couldn't be bothered to put automation on the compressors, for the intro and outro to give them a little more dynamic range. So if I do more work on this track I may ease up the compression on those sections to make the performance a little more delicate. Thanks for the note, constructive critique is always welcome. [quote=Cursory]So upbeat and joyous! I hear the Zelda/adventure vibe for sure. The viola and flute melodies are great over the beat and the main piano. Thinking about rplktr's comment, this didn't stand out to me upon first listen, especially once the piano is in the background. I think a more consistent volume/tempo piano has its own effect that isn't inherently objectionable. I think I hear what you mean about the flute, I think especially for lower notes or when it's behind the viola, it has a harder time. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it without your note. [/quote] Yup, you hit it right on the head, I tweaked all the compressors specifically for the sections where all the other instruments are playing... so I'm glad it sounded good there d(>_･ ). Also good to hear your thoughts on the flute... it's always hard to not hear the little things that maybe others don't even notice... and I spent a LOT of time fussing with that flute, to never get it to where I wanted it. [quote=Tone Matrix]Def feeling the adventure is about to begin vibes. Like I just watched the opening cinematic and just getting control of my character to explore the village and dungeons ahead. Or even plant some crops ala stardew valley :) Piano sounds great too[/quote] Oh I like that imagery, it's always encouraging to hear what my pieces spark in peoples imaginations. Messing around in Mixolydian has been kind of unexpected, I didn't expect it to feel so "The adventure begins..." But I guess it makes sense, in that it's like the darkest major mode... so things are still bright, but it alludes to challenge and hardship to come, maybe? ʅ(°_°)ʃ

the dawn of DUCK WAVE is upon us!

*great piece, napear! ducks or no ducks   

[quote=dewdrops _tunes]So at first I thought this said duck waves[/quote] [img]https://y.yarn.co/5bf416ba-187f-4e4a-967a-14fe27f76b2e_text.gif[/img] the dawn of DUCK WAVE is upon us! *great piece, napear! ducks or no ducks <3

Finally Duck ARP will get their moment to shine... and it only took three years...
This is DuckWave

Thanks, I'm glad it you liked it.

[quote=jwh][quote=dewdrops _tunes]So at first I thought this said duck waves[/quote] the dawn of DUCK WAVE is upon us! *great piece, napear! ducks or no ducks <3[/quote] Finally Duck ARP will get their moment to shine... and it only took three years... [url=https://duckarps.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-duckwave]This is DuckWave[/url] Thanks, I'm glad it you liked it.

That lead is so lovely! I  get the "starting the adventure" vibes, or even just moving along. Hanging with ducks and dusk. I'm inspired to play something in mixolodian. Four stages of compression, I'm curious about that.  Do have have like four different compressors in the chain?

That lead is so lovely! I get the "starting the adventure" vibes, or even just moving along. Hanging with ducks and dusk. I'm inspired to play something in mixolodian. Four stages of compression, I'm curious about that. Do have have like four different compressors in the chain?

Thanks, and if you end up making something in mixolidain ping me for it, I would love to hear what you come up with.

And yeah, turns out it's actually 5 (...or 3, depending on how you want to think about it), 3 on the piano directly and 2 in the mastering chain....  It's a trick I picked up off one of my professors. When you really heavily compress a sound with one compressor it smashes the hell out of the sound, which can be a cool effect in it's own right, but it's more of an Effect proper, than it is like a dynamics adjustment.  In this case, I just wanted to unmask the piano in the mix, so doing multiple stages of really gentle compression still gets it pretty compressed, but it sounds much more natural.  There is one compressor in the VST on the samples before any effects... then it goes through a convolution reverb, then an EQ, then a sculptor, then two more compressors, (and a second reverb send) then off to the mastering chain ... which is long and complicated... but it has to adjacent compressors, that are each split and effecting different frequency ranges (low, mid and high) differently. 

[quote=miraclemiles]That lead is so lovely! I get the "starting the adventure" vibes, or even just moving along. Hanging with ducks and dusk. I'm inspired to play something in mixolodian. Four stages of compression, I'm curious about that. Do have have like four different compressors in the chain? [/quote] Thanks, and if you end up making something in mixolidain ping me for it, I would love to hear what you come up with. And yeah, turns out it's actually 5 (...or 3, depending on how you want to think about it), 3 on the piano directly and 2 in the mastering chain.... It's a trick I picked up off one of my professors. When you really heavily compress a sound with one compressor it smashes the hell out of the sound, which can be a cool effect in it's own right, but it's more of an Effect proper, than it is like a dynamics adjustment. In this case, I just wanted to unmask the piano in the mix, so doing multiple stages of really gentle compression still gets it pretty compressed, but it sounds much more natural. There is one compressor in the VST on the samples before any effects... then it goes through a convolution reverb, then an EQ, then a sculptor, then two more compressors, (and a second reverb send) then off to the mastering chain ... which is long and complicated... but it has to adjacent compressors, that are each split and effecting different frequency ranges (low, mid and high) differently.