Editing Fun with Arturia Minibrute

Tomorrow's video is practically live performance. I performed it during rendering of the audio. I told earlier about problems I had when I added effects and automation after shooting the video. This time everything happened as I shot the video. All automation was done beforehand. I would like to do automation afterwards. It is easier when you don't have to guess what kind of sound effects will get. Maybe if I plan the performance better but that wouldn't be as fun.

I do some planning and test how patches work to get familiar how everything works. But the performance is always improvisation. This time it was so fun I kicked tripod little. I didn't realize it at the time. Camera moved so little I didn't do the performance again.

I tried to learn Davinci Resolve's automation with one effect. For some reason it didn't work as I expected. There will be some effects but I couldn't adjust them like I wanted. On color page values didn't change between keyframes. They snapped to new values at the keyframe even when I used dynamic keyframes. I must have done something wrong. That is not how it should work. I checked tutorial videos where they used keyframes same way I used but for them they worked.

Arturia Minibrute 2S is it

I planned to not buy synths this year. That plan is gone now. I preordered Minibrute 2S. If I sell MInibrute this could count as upgrade but I am probably not selling it. With this and Rackbrute with few select modules I get most of what I planned getting from bigger eurorack. That sequencer looks amazing. I hope you can use additional tracks even when you take notes from midi. Might not be possible since they share patch bay slots with aftertouch and velocity. 

Rackbrute with Wogglebug, couple envelopes and mixers, SEM filter and additional oscillator would be good start. There is still room for other modules. I haven't checked what I could have with 6U Rackbrute. I don't need much more to have everything I want from eurorack. Some more modules from Make Noise and probably some Erica's Fusion modules if there is enough power and space. Minibrute will come first. Rackbrute or new eurorack have to wait.

Minibrute 2 announcements inspired me to make Minibrute video. You will hear few reasons why I am so excited by these new synths. They are what I wanted improved in Minibrute and much more. I hope there won't be coming too many new as interesting synths from NAMM.

I am now on Vimeo too

You could have expected this after last post. I am now on Vimeo too. I got https://vimeo.com/kvesti url. There are few places I can't be Kvesti. Vimeo is not one of them. At first I will upload older short movie style videos. I am not sure if I keep weekly schedule after I have uploaded those. I have a feeling Vimeo is not like Youtube which demands constant uploads.

I started with free account so I won't upload more than one video a week and I can't do anything fancy or see proper statistics. Youtube isn't making profits. Vimeo looks like it has solid business model with paid accounts and different monetization model. I would like to get some money from music and videos. Youtube was easy when they did everything for you. But now limits are higher I my channel is not growing. It was time to check something else.

It seems like you have to sell something to make any money from this hobby. I don't expect to make it even or get reasonable money per hour put into this any time soon if ever. But little something would be nice. With pro account you can sell videos in Vimeo. Just have to think what those videos could be. You have to be found for that to make any sense. Being found seems to be the problem here.

Return_of_Black_Christmas from Marko Kovanen on Vimeo.

Editing Lux Helsinki 2018

Tomorrow's video will be from Lux Helsinki 2018. It will be first video where I didn't use auto ISO. I don't remember using manual ISO in previous videos. I am going more and more into everything manual. I still use auto white balance. Everything else is manual when ever it makes sense. Lux Helsinki 2018 was shot using auto focus. It is better option with zoom lens or longer focal lengths. You just need to plan where to set focus points.

Auto ISO let you have darker video without it getting lighter when you didn't shoot at lights. New Year's eve video had one shot where image got brighter when I panned. I couldn't cut that part away. Maybe I should have cut the whole shot but it is there because I liked it too much otherwise. That shouldn't happen in future. Manual ISO wasn't as hard as I expected. Auto ISO is still useful when you want to have same brightness when lighting conditions change. Sometimes you want to show lighting conditions changing.

I used different stabilization methods in all three Lighting the Darkness videos. This time it was monopod. I had lost my touch with it. I have used gimbal after I got it almost always when I would have used monopod earlier. Monopod still have some advantages on gimbal. Overall gimbal is better. You can move with and panning is more consistent if you have correct settings.

I talked about Analog Four and Analog Rytm on Monday's post. Both were used in the video as was Roland SE-02. I waited for plugin controller for it. I found one last week. I want to automate instruments I use. For some reason nobody has made Max4Live device for it or at least released one. First three boutiques got their quite quickly. You can expect to hear more SE-02 in future.

Getting back to Elektron's machines

I found Dawless Jammin' Youtube channel. She played with Elektron Analog Rytm. It made me interested of my Elektron machines. She had mark 2. My Elektron's are mark 1. Analog Rytm mark 2 gives sampling and more bandwidth. Nothing more if you use it with Overbridge from DAW. I can stick with mark 1 because I don't need Analog Rytm for sampling and there is enough of bandwidth with mark 1.

It is always inspiring to see someone who knows their gear using similar gear you have. When I got Analog Rytm I thought I don't need another drum machine. I still thing that. I have used it like much simpler drum machine. I finally updated firmware and Overbridge. It took almost a year and there might be next update February. Overbridge for mark 2 machines is promised then. Analog Rytms should get something new then. Even the older ones.

I decided learn Analog Rytm little bit better. It is drum machine but you can use voices as chromatic voices. More limited voices than in regulars synths but you can use them and use samples too. Mark 1 can't sample but it can use samples. There are better ways to get synth sounds. Analog Rytm's limitations give you sounds you wouldn't use with regular synths. It is good thing if you are looking for different sounds.

I almost gave up getting bass sound for this weeks video. It was hard to get it sound good. Elektron's mark 1 analog machines were made for certain kind of music. It is not what I usually do. Analog Four didn't originally have polyphony. It came with firmware update when Elektron saw people trying to get polyphony out of Analog Four. I am trying to get some elements from style these machines were originally made for.

I said I won't be getting Analog Rytm mark 2. I might get Analog Four mark 2 next to mark 1. Mark 2 sounds different enough for having both to make some sense. Mark 1 has more underground sound and mark 2 more mainstream. I like Overbridge and Analog Four is really versatile. It also connects well with modular gear. If I buy another polyphonic synth Analog Four mark 2 will be high on list. I need to learn mark 1 one better before I do that.

Editing Fun with Make Noise 0-Coast

Fun with videos are meant to be live performance like. I guess I have to get back to live performances with them. I wanted to add effects later with 0-Coast video. Lot of effects. I shoot video when I freeze the track when there is only the instrument and effects I want to freeze with it. If I add other effects and instruments later sound of the video I shot and the sound of the song coming out of DAW will be quite different.

It is problem when you want to sync them for the final video which is going to be released. Automated sync doesn't work and Davinci Resolve doesn't let you sync audio more than per frame level. I learned that hard way. Luckily I still have Vegas Pro which let you manually sync audio on audio rate level. Bad thing was Vegas Pro didn't have font I use in Fun with videos. Can't understand why it didn't have it.

So I had to first manually sync audio in Vegas Pro and then render the video with synchronized audio and then do the rest in Davinci Resolve. Resolve is free but that audio sync should be fixed in future versions if Resolve wants to be all in one solution. I have started to use Red Giant PluralEyes for audio sync when material has been too hard for Resolve automated sync. This time it was too hard for PluralEyes too. I had PluralEyes as autosync in Vegas Pro because it doesn't have build in auto sync.

Next time I have to shoot the video and play the instrument when I render the audio. At least when I use more effects and instruments. 0-Coast video goes over board with creative effects. It would be hard to do effects automation before playing the instrument but I guess it goes to that if I want to have effect heavy Fun with videos and sync audio automatically.

SoundSpot effects were heavily used in video. I got Oracle and Nebula from end of year sales with pretty good price. Both are good for the price I got them. But I might be bit disappointed if I paid full price for them. Both sound bit too neutral for my taste for normal price.