Chillstep tips?

[brandystarbrite]

Hey all but the real question for me is, what sound effects should I use for chillstep? Which preset would I be better off with when making "any" type of chill song?

Sorry this isn't specific enough. I am really looking in any direction for chillstep

To add to what everyone else have told you so far.
I have noticed that these chillstep songs, have an unusual mellow sounding ambient pad sound, playing in the background.
I hope that helps.

PS: Oh crappys! Snarf and myself mentioned ambient pads on page one. Sorry about that.

[The Chill Fox]

haha no worries xP

Yeah I've noticed that, too, but the question is where could I find an effect like that? Second, I want ambient elements in the background of my songs. (Rain, wind, walking, crickets, etc) Any ideas where I could get a vst for that? I tend to hate using .wav files cause when I want to use .wav files, I would have to avoid making seriously drastic changes in pitch (cause that will horribly effect the speed.) Why doesn't other presets follow this rule about the speed with pitch? Why can I make the tripleosc go as high or low as possible yet it would have the same speed?

[slipstick]

I tend to hate using .wav files cause when I want to use .wav files, I would have to avoid making seriously drastic changes in pitch (cause that will horribly effect the speed.)

If you use the right software, e.g. Audacity, you can change the pitch of a ,wav file without changing the speed. That's exactly what the "Change Pitch" effect does. But it's not something LMMS can do on its own.

Why doesn't other presets follow this rule about the speed with pitch? Why can I make the tripleosc go as high or low as possible yet it would have the same speed?

That's difference between using an instrument like tripleOsc or ZynAddSubFx that CREATES the sounds from scratch and using sample .wav files which just PLAY A RECORDING of an existing sound.

Steve

[Snarf]

Yeah I've noticed that, too, but the question is where could I find an effect like that? Second, I want ambient elements in the background of my songs. (Rain, wind, walking, crickets, etc) Any ideas where I could get a vst for that?

I don't know of any vst or effect for nature noises or the like (although there are some soundfonts). They are mostly going to be audio samples like .wav or .ogg so you will have to use the audiofile processor plugin. This shouldn't be too much of a problem, because should mostly play back these kinds of samples at their native speed to sound the most natural. Sounds of weather and/or animals don't really need to be put in a specific key; they're just background sounds IMO.

I tend to hate using .wav files cause when I want to use .wav files, I would have to avoid making seriously drastic changes in pitch (cause that will horribly effect the speed.) Why doesn't other presets follow this rule about the speed with pitch? Why can I make the tripleosc go as high or low as possible yet it would have the same speed?

Basically, the 3xOsc (or other synthesizer plugin) actually generates a tone by making waves at a specific frequency, while a sample is fixed so if you change the pitch, you also change the speed. For example, if you play an A on a synth, it generates a 440 Hz fundamental frequency with its internal oscillators, and if you play a C it makes a wave at 523.25 Hz. These notes can be sustained as long as your envelope allows. On the other hand, if you have a sample that plays at 440 Hz for 4 seconds, but you shift the pitch an octave up to 880 Hz, the sample has to play twice as fast in order to double its frequency so it will only last for 2 seconds.

TL;DR because physics

[brandystarbrite]

haha no worries xP

Yeah I've noticed that, too, but the question is where could I find an effect like that? Second, I want ambient elements in the background of my songs. (Rain, wind, walking, crickets, etc) Any ideas where I could get a vst for that?

Hmmm. This one is a toughy.
There are quite a of handful vst's on the net, that can do almost what you want.
Unfortunately, those vst's have a price tag on them.
And some of them, the weather effects etc. don't sound all that good either.

But there was a free nature site, with tons of buttons etc and a fancy GUI, where you could make your own
weather effects etc. Believe it or not, the site, actually looked like a giant Vst. Lol!
For some strange reason, I can't seem to find it.
But if I do, I'll post the link here, for you and the others to check out.

[musikbear]

I just searched -once- and
http://www.freesfx.co.uk/sfx/ambience/
There are gazillions of those :p
One thing though. Do scan for malware and vira!

[brandystarbrite]

Wow!
I didn't know there was a Chill out re-mix version of The Bay.
Maybe this would help you Chill Frog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjCD-70IE7U
I love the birds and other animal sounds in the background.
After listening to it, I understand, why you want nature sounds so badly.

I am not a fan of Progressive Trance music.
But I found the original version of The Bay, last year August and it sounds very cool and relaxing.
A bit too romantic sounding for my taste.
But still, I find that it sounds cool.
Here it is, the original version of Peter O'ski The Bay. It's very relaxing too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uybzg1rb83s

Maybe you might want to put on some shades, lie or sit down on a beach chair, on the lawn or on the beach
and sip on a cold glass of iced tea, or coke zero.
While listening to both of these tracks, and watching a nice morning or sunset evening sky.

Hopefully, these two versions, will give you some more ideas and inspiration.
I must say, both the original and chill out remix sound really beautiful.

[The Chill Fox]

Maybe you might want to put on some shades, lie or sit down on a beach chair, on the lawn or on the beach
and sip on a cold glass of iced tea, or coke zero.
While listening to both of these tracks, and watching a nice morning or sunset evening sky.

haha I see where you're going with that.
lol! yeah those songs are really good. And I will never stop committing to making ambient/chillout songs to get that feel of on a summer day having a cold drink in one hand, an old sony walkman in the other and enjoying the afternoon sun B)
I'll let y'all know of my progress with my song. Tough but it'll be worth it.

MusikBear, yes, I have looked at that website before. I'll probably give it a shot but it does look a tad bit sketchy if you know what I mean xP
Also, I need to know, since I'm already asking loads of questions, what's the difference between soundfont and audio file processor asides from using different file formats?

[musikbear]

what's the difference between soundfont and audio file processor asides from using different file formats?

Well as i see it mostly encapsulation The creator of a soundfont takes control over the way you, as enduser, can utilize the preset. You need specialized software in order to open the sf, and i believe the author even can 'lock' you out(?)
The advantage is that the enduser has a 'finished' product, so it simpler in usage, and also smaller, but if you can find similar wave-files with same quality, then you have more ways to manipulate and customize the raw file.

[The Chill Fox]

Uh oh, back for more questions

Ok I have everything - ambience, vocals, percussion, piano but I'm missing something critical: Pads. For example, this guy on youtube did a tutorial. It wasn't funny and kind of annoying because he kept it vague, but I'm using this video to show what I mean by pads. Near the beginning of the song he puts up pads but when I look at pads in LMMS, they don't work as well. They are too thin and when I use VSTS like DSK's pads, they just don't have that higher pitch. Thanks! <3