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japanese sounding
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:06 pm
by DZA
does anyone know how to get a japanese sounding string affect in reason
cheers
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:09 pm
by djake
a sample
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:14 pm
by blizzardmusic
djake wrote:a sample
yeah,
right on
lock this now
answer gave.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:24 pm
by two oh one
I'm sure you can tweak a Subtractor patch to sound exactly like what you need.
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:47 pm
by tarranjoe1
to get a truly japanese style you want to be using a different scale, im fairly sure that the japanese use a pentatonic scale, this will give it that authentic eastern feel
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:38 pm
by r
man just download a japanese folksmusic album and sample. Hit 1 tone and spread it with your sampler
lock
pentatonic
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:49 pm
by beezle
yeh and put in some gongs and shit yo!
I'm fairly sure that simply using a pentatonic scale isnt going to make it sound Japanese...
That scale is a basis for loads of music... traditional irish music, blues, rock americana etc.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 12:02 am
by auan
Pentatonic scale is also common in Chinese music, believe it or not.
There are quite a few Japanese scales, try these. (Key of A in brackets)
Hirajoshi - 1, 2, b3, 5, b6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F, A)
Kumoi - 1, 2, b3, 5, 6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F#, A)
Iwato - 1, b2, 4, b5, b7, 8 (A, Bb, D, Eb, G, A)
Iwato is my fave. Moody as fuck, but you can't really build chords out of it, it only really works over a root bass note.
Info is from
this book. There's loads of exotic scales for guitarists in there, and loads for keyboardists right
here. My god, actual music theory in dubstepforum!
The actual instruments btw, if you're thinking of the things Kode9 and RZA use in a lot of their tunes (Subkontinent, Fukkaz, Da Mystery of Chessboxin), are called
Kotos (big weird zither type thing) and
Shamisens (more like a banjo). Happy googling.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:22 am
by vadarfone
Yeah, shamisen is probably the thing you are thinking of.
Funnily enough I went to a shamisen gig last night. Was wicked.
Best way would be to record and chop, as you aint going to synth something like this (as with any real instrument).
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:33 am
by __________
i was told eastern music uses different intervals between notes, like 1/4 of a semitone.
is this true or am i being taught bullshit at college? (wouldn't suprise me)
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:43 pm
by auan
Nah it's true, but it's more common in Indian music than Oriental I think. The sitar's tuned to quarter-tones.
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:00 pm
by lukesnarl
Auan wrote:Pentatonic scale is also common in Chinese music, believe it or not.
There are quite a few Japanese scales, try these. (Key of A in brackets)
Hirajoshi - 1, 2, b3, 5, b6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F, A)
Kumoi - 1, 2, b3, 5, 6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F#, A)
Iwato - 1, b2, 4, b5, b7, 8 (A, Bb, D, Eb, G, A)
Iwato is my fave. Moody as fuck, but you can't really build chords out of it, it only really works over a root bass note.
Info is from
this book. There's loads of exotic scales for guitarists in there, and loads for keyboardists right
here. My god, actual music theory in dubstepforum!
The actual instruments btw, if you're thinking of the things Kode9 and RZA use in a lot of their tunes (Subkontinent, Fukkaz, Da Mystery of Chessboxin), are called
Kotos (big weird zither type thing) and
Shamisens (more like a banjo). Happy googling.
excellent post Auan
may I also suggest to DZA88 that they try n track down someone in their community who can play a Koto, Shamisen or chinese violin or whatever they can come across and stick em in front of a mic....
never know how much fun and inspiration you can get from involving another musician - esp one with a different approach/training/headspace etc
go to your local chinese temple or japanese cultural centre....
just an idea...
:L
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:08 pm
by djake
lukesnarl wrote:
go to your local chinese temple or japanese cultural centre....
nearest fing to that we have dwn here is a chinese takeaway
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:16 pm
by lukesnarl
well that may indeed be a good place to start. seriously.
you never know what people with what talents are lurking in your ends.
til you ask....
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:31 pm
by auan
"Portion of spare ribs, king prawn szechuan, fried rice, and you don't happen to play the shamisen, do you...?"

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 2:37 pm
by lukesnarl
heh heh
exactly....
(except that's the japanese instrument and given the invasion circa WWii they may take the question as an insult.... the Gu Zheng or chinese zither may be a better conversational drop in in such a restaurant - see
http://www.philmultic.com/home/instruments/ for more....)
:L
ps at least here in sydney you often see old chinese dudes busking on the street playing the Erhu (2-string chinese violin) - so it seems like a common instrument too.... dunno really....
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:15 pm
by djake
Auan wrote:"Portion of spare ribs, king prawn szechuan, fried rice, and you don't happen to play the shamisen, do you...?"

hahahahahahahaha
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:23 pm
by ascend
Auan wrote:Pentatonic scale is also common in Chinese music, believe it or not.
There are quite a few Japanese scales, try these. (Key of A in brackets)
Hirajoshi - 1, 2, b3, 5, b6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F, A)
Kumoi - 1, 2, b3, 5, 6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F#, A)
Iwato - 1, b2, 4, b5, b7, 8 (A, Bb, D, Eb, G, A)
Iwato is my fave. Moody as fuck, but you can't really build chords out of it, it only really works over a root bass note.
Info is from
this book. There's loads of exotic scales for guitarists in there, and loads for keyboardists right
here. My god, actual music theory in dubstepforum!
The actual instruments btw, if you're thinking of the things Kode9 and RZA use in a lot of their tunes (Subkontinent, Fukkaz, Da Mystery of Chessboxin), are called
Kotos (big weird zither type thing) and
Shamisens (more like a banjo). Happy googling.

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:59 am
by decklyn
Ascend wrote:Auan wrote:Pentatonic scale is also common in Chinese music, believe it or not.
There are quite a few Japanese scales, try these. (Key of A in brackets)
Hirajoshi - 1, 2, b3, 5, b6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F, A)
Kumoi - 1, 2, b3, 5, 6, 8 (A, B, C, E, F#, A)
Iwato - 1, b2, 4, b5, b7, 8 (A, Bb, D, Eb, G, A)
Iwato is my fave. Moody as fuck, but you can't really build chords out of it, it only really works over a root bass note.
Info is from
this book. There's loads of exotic scales for guitarists in there, and loads for keyboardists right
here. My god, actual music theory in dubstepforum!
The actual instruments btw, if you're thinking of the things Kode9 and RZA use in a lot of their tunes (Subkontinent, Fukkaz, Da Mystery of Chessboxin), are called
Kotos (big weird zither type thing) and
Shamisens (more like a banjo). Happy googling.

Yah large post. I'm going to get out of the standar modes for a bit. Always forget to press this direction for inspiration. Also want to learn a bit more about traditional indian 'raga' music, and see if I can work those concepts/scales in.
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:50 am
by crystal_darkness
Had to study this at uni. Each Indian scale (raga) corresponds to an emotion or mood, like happiness, humour etc. Every color or food is somehow linked to a piece of music - provides endless inspiration for a composer.
You could try Chinese samples instead of Japanese as well. There's some beautiful instruments and some of their traditional music sounds a lot like electronica, all repeating motifs intermingling, some of it quite brutal sounds.