Legacy Hardware

[LucidMusicInc]

I never got to use grooveboxes or samplers. About a decade ago I got started with couple Yamaha and Casio Keyboards and a Roland Multitrack recorder (BOSS) and it had a built-in drum machine and sampler and arranger that you navigated with a jog wheel and LCD screen. The sampler I never understood how to use though I tried very hard to get it working, I think it just copied a few seconds of something and looped it but you couldn't get it to quantize or play on beat like a drum sampler.

In an attempt to produce Techno and Trance I would program rhythm lines into the drum machine and send the midi notes via cable into the keyboards. I would then record, live, the sound back into the multitrack (some different FX could also be applied, mostly delay and various distortion.) Those tracks unfortunately were never transferred to a computer because it lacked a digital export function. They were for a time saved onto cassette.

It's an exciting time in my life again because of the rapid evolution of the Android touchscreen OS and apps like GStomper and Caustic. Caustic and Stomper IMO collaborate very well and their radical differences are what inspire new creative methods and sounds. For example I have found means of using Cautic that I suspect others are unaware of thanks to what I learned in Stomper, and perhaps I do things these ways because of the methods I invented with the drum machine / multitrack recorder.

I wanted to ask though, because I want to do some research on pattern editing and arrangements using the pattern copy framework. I've seen videos of the Electribe and MC909, Stomper looks and feels a lot like an MPC as well. If one were to look for some video tutorials or demos on YouTube what would you suggest?

In other words, If I can ask, what inspired Stomper?

[planet-h]

I wanted to ask though, because I want to do some research on pattern editing and arrangements using the pattern copy framework. I've seen videos of the Electribe and MC909, Stomper looks and feels a lot like an MPC as well. If one were to look for some video tutorials or demos on YouTube what would you suggest?

Hmm, good question. IMHO Pattern editing and song arranging is something that comes more out of feelings. You probably won't find a tutorial about how to write awesome songs (regardless of the instrument). I guess the only way to get better and better in it is to practice. I met many different kind of music creators in the past. Some of them build patterns and songs mainly based on a great technical knowledge, in other words, they know exactly what they want to build and how they want it to sound, AND they know exactly how to achieve the result (with any sequencer, sampler, synthesizer). Others just do it out of the stomach, they listen, move stuff around, do things which they usually won't do, and so reach very unique results with their own workflow. And there are others, who're just gifted with an incredible talent... those just do it;).

In other words, If I can ask, what inspired Stomper?

G-Stomper 1.0 was definitely inspired by classic step sequencer based rhythm composers like the 707, 808, 909, Jomox, Electribes and a few more. 1.0 did not even have a song arranger, the pattern set was just a live arranger, it was in fact nothing more than the main drum machine, the Pattern Set, FX rack and the Timing & Measure section. Beyond 1.0, G-Stomper was inspired by many other aspects, by my own way of creating music with hardware, by other hardware grooveboxes and synths, but most of all by thousands of suggestions of G-Stomper users and by ideas of friends and their ways of creating music. The G-Stomper project wouldn't have come that far without its loyal user base, especially not without the inner circle of inspiring (and involved) users who continuously suggest new ideas.