What's your favourite use for NS2 automation?
I'm just starting to get to grips wiith the automation in NS2 so far with L R panning and volume changes. Tell me of your favourite uses and tips you've discovered. TIA NS2 fans.
I'm just starting to get to grips wiith the automation in NS2 so far with L R panning and volume changes. Tell me of your favourite uses and tips you've discovered. TIA NS2 fans.
Comments
My favourite tip is to use multiple track lanes to create polyrhythmic automation.... I prefer to automate on the instrument, rather than use track automation, even for track-level automation like filter fades
There you go this NS2 apprentice just learned something right there. Thanks for sharing Audiogus
TtM could you elaborate on multi track lanes to create polyrhythmic automation. Are you able to point me to a tutorial. Much appreciate your tips thanks man
This is my favorite as well.
The idea is to create additional track lanes for a given instrument track. Then, instead of automating instrument controls on the same track/clip as your note data, automate instrument controls on one of the track lanes instead. This opens up a few possibilities.
First is practical: it's easy to mute/duplicate/etc the automation without muting/duplicating/etc the notes.
For a polymetric example, consider an 2-bar bass line. Then, on a separate track lane, you record a 3 bar filter cutoff automation pattern. Now, if you loop both patterns (2 bar notes, 3 bar automation), the sound of each bass line loop will be offset. It will take 6 total bars for the loop to sound the same again. If you were to add a 4 bar decay time automation clip, it would take 12 bars until they all lined up again. Essentially, a lot of sonic variation from very few inputs.
NS2 will let you turn off bar snapping so the automation patterns can loop at any length you like which means you can pretty easily create overlapping patterns that will never really repeat.
You can use the track lane/automation trick to essentially create additional LFOs of any shape you like, pointed at any of the instrument's macros. Or have a few clips for things like a single filter sweep you might paste before your drops...
As for a specific automation target, automating Filter 3 (set to some sort of overdrive) can be really musical. Essentially giving you precise control over pattern 'emphasis'. Along with the variable clip lengths, you can make the same 8 note line punch and groove in a whole lot of different ways.
Will can't thank you enough for sharing this valueable knowledge. I'm from a guitar/bass player background and not new to recording but am new to ios and all the amazing apps. My current project I'm using to learn NS2 and StepPolyArp and acquiring production techniques along the way. What you've described makes sense now you have broke it down. I'm using the the music of Forhiill as a kind of blueprint to what I aspire to create and have good ears to hear the sounds and patterns. Just piecing together how to emulate these ideas. Trial and error and still being curious is taking me down this wormhole. Love it. Thank you NS2 brothers.
@duresq
for clip based automation (automating of INTRUMENT parameters) is also very handy to record automation to different clips than notes (you can add as much automation lanes to same track as you want, or you can have different clips together stacked even on SAME track lane - do you know ?). Then you can move automation itself independently from notes which gives allows you to make a lot of variations and changes with same notes sequence ...
Both those screenshots are essentially same, it's just ob you which way you like more ..
Dendy what a revelation I'm just going to dive in and start experimenting. I thank you for sharing your skills. 👍
Thanks @Will and @dendy for answering so well....!
@duresq I assume you've found how to add a track lane (hold the plus sign bottom left) and then choose "record to this lane" when you want to record into it... you may have to zoom in to see the button.
Good thinking putting a reference to the type of music in. I'd never heard of Forhill, but I'd say NS2 is very capable for music like theirs ("Searching" is playing as I type). Experiment and trust your ears
Listening to that track, I'd recommend:
1. (as @Audiogus says) automate a low pass filter to bring tracks in and out, in preference to a mixer
2. automate panning (as you yourself say!) either manually or with a LFO in Obsidian
3. use random LFOs in Obsidian for small automation of filters and drive and delay feedback and other stuff for any patch which is too static in the mix
Often a well-designed patch will have the most useful parameters to manually automate already on the X/Y pad, so play with that first.... and generally dive into Obsidian and play with knobs until you find what you want to automate.
One more tip: Obsidian has a few parameters you can modulate that are only available on the Mod/FX page (you access this on the left of the Obsidian screen). In here you can add a new modulation with a source of key/rand1 or key/rand2. This can give you an additional random modulation source. Don't overdo it, but the results can be very cool.
Have fun!
TtM again thanks man for taking the time to respond with genuinely useful information and for others that read this. At the moment with the limited time I have I am trying to use a project as a learning tool, experimenting, that opens a new door to look into to explore. Maybe before too long I'll have a flow going on to actually create something worthy of sharing. Have fun....bloody damn right I am. 👍✌
@duresq good to hear! The more you experiment the more you'll achieve in my opinion. Keep going any you definitely will start creating music worth sharing.
@Trigger_the_Monkey said:
No doubt I'll be back with more questions as they arise. Just need to get the Midi Tools: Route to work now to get Rozeta Bassline to record. Thanks again NS2 friends.
Might feel like cheating at first but the NS2 song/midi editor is so good, it doesn't really matter: host Bassline (or any midi sequencer you want to capture to the timeline as MIDI) in AudioBus, or AUM or where ever and record the notes to the NS sequencer using Virtual MIDI. Easy to setup and with AB/AUM presets, easy enough to recall. Can edit and tweak forever after that.
If I'm honest, most of my favorite NS projects came from "throw away" projects where I was trying to learn about or experiment with something or other.
I have AUM Will I'll try that lol man if you were around the corner I'd be knocking on the door to watch your flow. Thank you for the help 👍
I'm trying to get in the habit of taking notes in each project as a memory jog too. It doesn't help that I'm learning iOS as I go having only had the iPad a few months. Becoming a convert though...
It would be hard to see the iPad screen from 6 feet away anyway.![:\](https://blipinteractive.com/community/plugins/emojiextender/emoji/twitter/confused.png ":\")
Strange times Will but because of Covid I have now gone down the ipad music apps wormhole. So in for the ride. Keep Safe