# Collaborations?



## beyondspecies (Feb 4, 2009)

The possibility of collaborations with others on here are probably pretty slim (due to software incompatibility, difference in styles, etc.), but I'm keen on the idea of creating electronic music- the mellow kind that you can throw on and chill out to, not the kind they play in dance clubs.

Is it easier to have some sort of a protocol or process to follow? Like, it starts with someone writing a 2-4 measure loop, they send it to someone else, who makes the piece longer and adds more tracks, sends it back to the first person and/or on to yet another person, and they add more, etc.

I'd really like to meet someone I can do this with on a semi-regular basis. We could send each other a loop, which in itself would be the request for a collaboration, and the recipient will respond with a "yes" or "no thanks." I'm thinking it would be fun to have a small virtual band, group of composers, etc.


----------



## protocollie (Feb 4, 2009)

a lot of folks do this. 

2-4 measure loop is a bit silly - one option (if you're a windows user) is FL Collab which restricts you (unfortunately) to fruityloops but lets you screen share and work together.

Something called ninjam works too but I forget if it carries midi clock. If it does, that's an option too.

Other than that, posting skeletons or project files with a general concept laid out is the established protocol, particularly for remixing. Finish a project file, send it to someone else to tweak to bits, then do that back and forth until you're both satisfied.

ableton's launching something like that in live 8, though it'll mostly be 'cloud storage' and a unique way of packaging tracks that you can access directly from the sequencer from what i've seen.


----------



## beyondspecies (Feb 4, 2009)

Yeah, I see your point. Maybe I didn't explain myself well, but what I was trying to get across is that you could basically splice loops like in Garageband, but you'd be more free to create your own sounds and sequences.

I figured a program like Audacity would make it easy to arrange and repeat the loop samples, and since it's multi-platform, it doesn't matter what the main software you are using is. You can also throw in sound effects for certain tracks on whatever part you want. That is why I thought starting with a concept (2-4 measures) would be good. You can export it to WAV, convert it to MP3, then use Audacity to copy/paste as many times as you wish, or cut it in half, or whatever.

I used to play with FL back in the day, and screen-sharing sounds like a cool feature. I wish they had something like that for Reason, it has unbelievable potential as stand-alone software. I prefer Reason because it has a device in it that acts like the entire FL program, and the arranging window is very nice.

Thanks for the input, I will keep my eyes open for the Ableton updates.


----------



## protocollie (Feb 4, 2009)

i don't think most people would ever want to be producing music in audacity - it's just not that good for it. reason i'm not huge on but a lot of people have it and it packages up its files neatly, so.


----------



## beyondspecies (Feb 7, 2009)

It seems that a collaboration is not likely after all. I agree with you on Audacity as production software. It's good for editing samples and what not, but producing music with it would be a lot of work, though I'm sure it is possible. In the end it seems better to just buy some production software.

I checked out Ableton. Reason 4 is comparable in quality and features. I've been using Reason for years and it is unlikely that I will change software. However, I may decide to open a digital studio one day, and having a multitude of software and programs for people to use would be nice.


----------



## protocollie (Feb 7, 2009)

Well like I said reason has a good way of packaging up song files so it's pretty easy to shuttle around. I think evol intent does all their tracks forwarding .rns files to eachother, so. That said, if you think ableton and reason are even slightly comparable you should totally look again, ableton's on another planet ;D

If you're planning on a studio, we use pro tools at the one I engineer at (which is standard) but apple logic is the top choice for electronic music (ableton's something some people like and some people hate.)


----------



## Lyxen (Feb 8, 2009)

were all toucan sams here,, u could get a free version and start having fun!


----------



## protocollie (Feb 9, 2009)

Lyxen said:


> were all toucan sams here,, u could get a free version and start having fun!



We definitely don't all use fruityloops.


----------



## Lyxen (Feb 9, 2009)

come on, bet the first time you stepped it, it was on fl3. and .flp files are so common it's almost impossible not to collab with somefur.


----------



## protocollie (Feb 9, 2009)

Lyxen said:


> come on, bet the first time you stepped it, it was on fl3. and .flp files are so common it's almost impossible not to collab with somefur.



Nope. Started on cubase. Moved to sonar. Then to pro tools. Now I run logic and ableton live.

I had a windows machine at one point and ran FL on it but it was never a primary production environment for me ever. I used it as a drum machine via VST, that's about it.


----------

