First LSDJ track!

I'm going to edit this post after class with detailed cc, give me an hour.

EDIT: Alright, here we go.

First I'm going to say something a lot of people need to hear: pro sounds aren't required to write quality lsdj tracks. Quality lsdj tracks come from a combination of good post processing, good production, and good songwriting. I'm going to break each of these down separately.

Overall I don't have an issue with your songwriting. You seem to have way more knowledge of musical basics than I did starting out. One thing I did notice was the arpeggios and melodies sticking together. I tend to leave at least an octave of space between the seperate pieces of my song, except for special cases (two channel instruments and such.) Leaving space makes it easier to discern the main idea you're trying to send to the listener. Listen to the Fighter X remix of "Massive Damage" by Sabrepulse to get a better idea of what I mean, from 1:38 onward the melody is in the midranges, the bassline is rarely above octave 3, and the arpeggios stay around octave 6. This makes it easier to hear the melody, while keeping the song complicated. Your melody is good, But everything can always be improved. Your drums stood out to me the most, most beginner lsdj tracks have the same drumbeat throughout, but you put in good fills and changes. There's some production stuff you could use help wih, but I'll edit that in the next break I get. Expect to read more of this.

Edit2: Production.
Your instruments need work. All of your pulse instruments are plain old 25-50% waveforms. There's nothing wrong with simple intruments, basic pulse instruments are the foundation of good chords in 2xlsdj, but you're using one gameboy. That means each instrument has to carry its own weight. Use commands inside of tables, specifically W and V commands to give texture to lead instruments. VF2 makes even a 50% pulse wave sound raspy and angry. A W25% followed by a W50% in a table gives your lead an echoey pluck sound. These are good starting points, but always be experimenting with effects, they let you transcend what people think a gameboy 'should' sound like. The more complex your instruments are, the more interesting your song sounds in general. Zef is the master of this, go listen to his song "Glitch" for a good idea of what I'm trying to say. Set instruments are always changing throughout the song, giving the impression of effects automation; the effect that makes electronic music so different from traditional music.

Production part 2: that's right, this deserves two paragraphs.

Remember what I said about your drums? They could be even better. Try using a kick in the pulse or wave channels. Your kick as of now is just a low pitch noise instrument, and that doesn't reall provide the "Thud" most songs need to have a clear beat. Your noise kick blends with your bass and that's a problem. The other problem with your noise channel is the volume. The percussion overpowers the pulse channel because of its volume, and the pulse channels are overpowering the wave channel. My pulse and noise instrument a rarely go louder than 8. Some other lsdj users even consider that too loud. Listen to "Dreaming" by TreyFrey. Once the song drops, the pulse instruments never become louder than 6 (approximation, I haven't seen the save.) Because of this volume, his wave kick and bassline are front and center, giving this song the "holy fuck there's no way this is one gameboy" sound. This also allows the quiet high pitched pulse instrument to seem delicate in comparison to the wave. The pulse and noise channels will always overpower the wave if you're not careful, and the wave channel is the most sonically interesting channel in the gameboy. Edit 3 will come during my bus ride most likely, sorry I can't do this all at once.

Last edited by Dire Hit (Apr 30, 2014 8:17 pm)

Yeah i didn't know how i would do the ending and my original idea would require me to double the bpm and change the whole song to fit that speed

How should I fix the noise channel? And what would you suggest to do when two drums should play at once?

I didn't really think about chorus / verse etc. and i guess that's part of why the melody is hard to follow? Thanks for the feedback