neil (spatialize)

Bloody technology keeps you on the upgrade carousel these days. Stop I want to get off!! :-D

If you have a synth where you can load in audio into a oscillator slot (omnisphere, absynth, alchemy are good examples for this) then you can more really make it part of the sound. It's all about motion and making sounds change and morph. Found sounds,abstract audio and Natural sounds often inherently have this. You can also achieve a similar effect through wavetable synthesis. The oscillators not only move through long complicated waveforms in a user controllable way (imagine 4 of these) but you can also make the audio signal morph dynamically between these oscillators so the sound is constantly shifting or evolving. Korg wavestation (loved by Ozrics) and waldorf blofeld are a couple of examples.

have you tried different usb leads? different usb ports on the MBP? it;s a long shot.........but worth ruling out maybe?

like any creative process, when the creative impulse is not there, that is the time to learn new stuff about your craft so that when you're back in the creative zone you're not spending that time working out how to use a new compressor or synth etc... background research. read your nord manual ;-) I've read the manual of every bit of hardware i ever bought from cover to cover. sometimes before ever turning it on. :-)

Any other software where you can check the controllers. Ableton had very good controller implementation imo. Make sure that the latest version of traktor does not require el capitan ( I'd be shocked if it did but it's worth a check). Wonder if it's anything to do with the usb ports or even a cable. Try a different cable and different port perhaps? Process of elimination leads to illumination :-)

are you running the latest version of traktor? maybe check the specs of your version of traktor against the OS you have? do you have any other software you can check controller assignements? if it works ok in other software then it may be traktor that is the problem? weird that it loses its assignments after a while though,,, mmmmmm

are your drivers and firmware up to date on the hardware?

i'm not sure if your problem is model sepcific or just an OS problem. I did read somewhere though that the new Macbooks are doing very well in terms of build reliability though. I guess this is because they are welding the components in now. So maybe you did do the right thing.. I also went for the old one beacuse it has firewire and I have a firewire hard drive and audio interface already. USB3 is probably the most useful connection now.

https://vimeo.com/25946407

I would get in touch with matt Ishq for those mikkel.. He recorded the impulses himself and charges only a very small fee for them so I think it's fair to get them off him. :-)

Instead of routing stuff out onto a mixer and adding reverb there I use reverb impulses from an eventide hd8000 inside logic's space designer. Hardware sound in software format :-)

within the legacy package there is a plug in called legacy which is not a synth as such. it's like a set-up that allows you to load a two synths, a polysix and/or an ms20 along with a mixer and inserts and send effects. very much like a combinator in reason as you have a centralised controller section where you can route controller changes, but with just those two synths. you can set your own keyboard splits or assign each synth a different midi cahnnel. i use that live as I can call up a sound with a program change, complete with effects. it will take in the control changes from my aka ldp8 and because each patch remembers the link between the front end controller setting and the ongoing routed synth settings, with one knob on the LPD8 you can control a filter one second and then an envelope next. or control multiple settings with one knob. really brilliant for live sets. I usually have the top line of lp8 pads assigned to an ms20 for filter sweeps and lfo's and the bottom pads assigned to the polysix for juicy high res LPF drones. then at the flick of a program change i'm controlling the filter/res on a sequenced ms-20 riff section with the knobs. fookin love it.

the ms-20 is not really a pad machine. more of a gnarly techno and abstract sound machine. like an Oscar on coke.

that's interesting about omnisphere. i don;t own it. i have only read people's review and seen the vids. but arent; most of the oscillators sample based though? surely the oscillators just sound as good as the sample? and if trillian is anything to go by then the samples should sound fantastic. trillian's sample based oscillators are stunning. because the raw sample itself sounds impeccably well recorded. and yes the ms20 is a learning curve for sure, paricularly the patch bay.

:-D

that's exactly what i did. last model macbook pro before retina mac and with 8gb ram and 512gb SSD.

http://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_legacy_collection/ 5 class act synths covering every aspect of atmospherics (and great for every conceivable genre of electronic music)) for $200

also try not to use reverbs too much on the insert of the track. set up a bus or two with diferent reverbs with different qualities and send to them via the bus. if you have 4 or 5 different sounds all with their own reverb sounds on the insert then things can get metallic quite quickly. if you have a bus reverb set uo then not only are you maximising your cpu by allowing more than one source sound to use the reverb, you're also giving more than one sound the same reverb sound which helps things sound like they are in the same space. if you want a 100 per cent wet pad sound, instead of an insert reverb, you can turn the bus send to pre fader send, turn the track volume down and then control the volume via the bus send (if that makes sense?) and you;ll get a super wet sound. if there are rogue frequencies don;t forget you can install an eq after the reverb to tame it out a little. use an eq with a spectral analyser and you will be able to see where the reverb is spiking. you can cut these spikes out with very shapr, focused eq cuts.

i agree with the poster above. lauge uses a virus a lot for his pads and his stuff is very nice omnisphere 2 would utterly completely and utterly sort you out. but that's a significant investment. i have avoided getting this because it;s just soo good...possibly too instantly amazing....and making nice pads is part of the fun for me. your comment sayin that your pads are coming out too metallic makes me wonder whether you are using too much reverb. oodles of reverb can work nicely in some spots but if you put certain sounds through certain reverb the frequencies can multiply horrendously and you get a metallic sound. You can eq that to a certain extent but you might be better off trying a different setting or a different reverb. valhalla shimmer reverb is ridiculously good for spacing out pads, or anything you throw at it. also consider using delays sometimes instead of reverb. delays eat up less mix space and you don;t get that frequency multiplying thing going on so much. if you;re looking for that warm pad sound then some sort of analogue emulation (or real analogue) synth will provide you with the bed. personally i think the plug ins sound great and that you on;t necessarily need the hardware gear, but hardware gear does get the juices flowing. i've spent quite a bit of time with ishq in his studio - and we know that he is the padmeister. Korg pads from Kronos / Z1 through tonnes of reverb are a consistent part of his set up. korg digital pads are known for their ethereal wafting quality. so if you want that korg sound in software form you could go for the legacy plug ins. I think it's a great deal financially. you get an MS-20, a polysix (very nice warm pad sounds from this particularly with a bit of PWM), an M1, a wavestation and monopoly. you also get a legacy cell plug in which I use live. it;s a bit of a learning curve all that but that bundle contains all the sonic elements you need to make an epic atmosphere or a subtle beautiful one. it's even got the wavestation for wavetable synthesis (to create long evolving sounds). one thought is to make sure that there is some movement in the sound. assign the filter to a slow smooth ramping LFO. if the pad is too static then the reverb frequncies can start to multiply all too quickly. if you don;t know how to assign the filter to an LFO then let us know which synth you are using and between all the people in here giving very good advice we should be able to point you in the right direction. also make sure you are experimenting with the different filter types. Low pass will give the smoothest results and retain body. Band pass and High pass are more useful to stack sound on top of the body of the track from the mid towards the higher registers. think of it like a spectral rainbow that you are going to fill. also use a keyboard to play in the pads. i try to stagger my notes on / notes off to help create a sense of movement. lastly, try to add some non synth sounds in there. a real world sample (running water / logs crackling pitched down / anything!) will just help to make the whole palette more real.

when thinking about limiting i usually like to remember that dark side of the moon is not a loud record at all. and that seems to have done ok.

i try to make the final mixdown peak at -6db but as long as it's not clipping i'm not too fussy keeping plenty of headroom is useful when you're mixing because the volume invariably creeps up while mixing so i start rather low and give myself room for manouvre. limiting on the master? well only when mastering really, and I agree with the comment above about not pushing it more than -4db reduction. I usually aim for just a couple of db.

yeah...which sound? :-) i find the best way to make music is bash the keyboard with my forehead while watching coronation street

Biosphere all winter ;-)

just knock back the effects by 2 x times the latency of your soundcard?

how do you deal with latency with that?