xfer Records - Cthulu VST

[mthrfnk]

So this is Steve Duda's new plugin:

http://www.xferrecords.com/products/cthulhu

For those who cba reading/watching it basically generates chord structures for you (which can be arp'd), based around single note inputs, which can be routed or printed to midi for use in synths/samplers.

From the sounds of it (literally) this has been how deadmau5 has been doing most of his chords/arps for years and now it's become commercially available.

Just from testing it, it seems pretty neat - it still requires you to have a decent ear to know whether what it's generating actually sounds good opposed to just being musically/technically correct. Personally I think it's a nice tool, because coming up with decent chord structures outside of the "standard" progressions is something I struggle with. However it also introduces the whole "cheating" aspect where the software is making up for you're lack of formal music training and/or knowledge.

Discuss.

[blinx]

Looks cool to me, anything to speed up and create better sounding music is good in my book.

[speakerjunky]

Hey that's David. He's the owner of http://www.learn2produce.com/A production school in Los Angeles!

[alphacat]

Funny, was just reading 'bout this yesterday. I'm a sucker for aleatoric songwriting aids.

[mthrfnk]

Funny, was just reading 'bout this yesterday. I'm a sucker for aleatoric songwriting aids.

Word of the day

[Kit Fysto]

I think its rad. It is really easy to fall into a routine of similar chords and/or progressions and I could see this inspiring some great melodic ideas you wouldn't have otherwise thought of. If you are trying to rely on this to practically write a song for you, that would be lame, but I could see it as a great source of inspiration for furthering melodic ideas for sure.

[big_lurch]

this looks dope...gonna have a play with it after work. what are the demo restrictions?

[Hircine]

When I think Cthulhu I think big ambiences, evolving soundscapes and subs. Not chords, but whatever, gotta give it a try. Price is really reasonable.

[Artie_Fufkin]

^haha I was thinking clashing subs going into reverb.

I don't know about you guys, but if I used this and it came up with some I liked, I would want to learn what it was so I could do it on my own. What you said about "cheating" you could say for sampling, too. If whoever you're sampling knows theory and you don't but you make good music with it, it's not cheating. It really just comes down to using your ears or not.

I had an idea kinda similar to this. I was gonna bounce a whole bunch of different chords on piano and then play the chords as samples (like how people fiddle with garageband loops ) and see what sounded good. However, I got overwhelmed with how many different ways you can play the same chord with different voicings and inversions and I would have to do this for all the notes and it just made learning how to play them and memorize the patterns seem much easier in comparison lol.

[rindy]

could anyone get this working on Fl?

[mthrfnk]

It's really easy to get it working in FL, just click the settings wheel on the Cthulhu pane (top left) and set midi out to a number then on your synth do the same but alter the midi in number to match. Then just play away in Cthulhu and the midi is routed to your synth.

[big_lurch]

i'm absolutely loving this plugin so far....anyone else snagged it? it's really upped my chord/melody game a lot. so dope!