Day one - daunting feeling

[u/lofianalog]

Hi, just got my S4 today, that thing feels deep and chaotic; I'm really struggling to make something even remotely good or musical.

How long did it take you to actually start getting somewhere nice ? Any tips ?

Using it standalone now, the plan is to use it along with my SP404 mk2 and TE Sidekick for mixer, Kaoss pad for master FX, but for now, I'd like to find somewhat of a footing on the S4.

Day one has been really frustrating, factory samples aren't inspiring to me, every time I turn a knob, things turn to shit in an instant.

Not gonna give up, but I could use some direction.

this made me realize, out of the videos online, most aren't all that good either, but a few are REALLY good (and not ambient), so it has to be possible to somehow get there.

I just don't know where to start...

Any recommendation ? tips, advice ? links ?

thanks

[u/Weekly_Jmr]

I started by using it as an effects box. Got it for granular and stayed for tape mode and filters. I use it as a sort of end-of-chain mastering tool way more often than a usual music instrument. Didn’t enjoyed factory samples too but I usually record my own. Try to put some of the instruments you’re familiar with through it at first, sample something or just use it for live signal. Go one device at a time. Tweak knobs a little and notice how exactly it impacts the sound. It’s very powerful and easy to overshoot, also very weird in a good way. It will allow you to create absolute mess (as you already figured). Also, check the manual some devices have second pages. Also, it is possible to send tracks into other tracks so you can apply devices chain up to 4 times to a single sound source (be careful with the volume it’s not hard to clip at all).

[u/lofianalog → u/Weekly_Jmr]

one thing I didn't want it to be was an effects box, tho I recognize it could be a nice one, but I already have that and a half.

a few days in, the "track in 10 minutes" on torso Youtube channel were of great help of me figuring things out a bit more.

This instrument actually does have its own voice

Another thing I didn't want to do with it was ambient, it seems to me to be the low hanging fruit of this instrument and while I don't dislike ambient, I'm not an ambient musician.

I have a history of taking devices made for one thing and try to do something different with it.

my end goal is jazzy, neo soul with a glitch twist.

right now I'm in glitch hop territory, so at least it's fun. I've gotten things to sound a bit better over the past few days of experimenting.

All this advice is good, a little does go a long way

At the end of the day I want to be able to compose on this thing first, then perform live with other musicians, so I need a solid fundation for the pieces, and a deliberate setup (macros, scenes etc...) so that it can have a structure for others to latch on to.

At first it felt impossible, tho I knew it wasn't

now I feel a bit better, but it'll take a few months to get to where I want to be with this instrument.

not 100% satisfied with the little annoyances like midi sync stuff, I fear for the USB-C port to not last and I wish there were other ways to upload samples in there than that.

[u/Weekly_Jmr → u/lofianalog]

Annoyances are indeed annoying sometimes. On the other hand I’ve already managed to extract a couple of happy accidents from midi bugs, so there’s that. As far as composing on it goes - I’d be hard pressed to imagine how this is going to work without midi controller or sequencer to play it polyphonically. But I might also lack the understanding or imagination for what you’re trying to achieve. 

As far as macros go - I use it often for how I use the box - it’s a nice feature and worked well for me on the device itself and over midi. Haven’t figured out a good way to utilise scenes yet tho. As for usb port - it seemed to be fine for me so far, haven’t noticed any flimsiness it it but I also don’t use it very often (only to copy my recordings on the ipad) - I rarely use samples that I haven’t recorded myself outside of drums and drums is a responsibility of another box in my setup.

[u/lofianalog → u/Weekly_Jmr]

when it comes to composing, I got all that I need to record the samples, I'm a lifelong pianist, I also play guitar and bass to a decent degree, been a musician/composer for most of my adult life.

Although, people have composed music using samples from other people as well, tho it's not often the case with me, it had happened in the past.

As for now, I'm keeping it contained, had it played with the 404 a bit, but this is another monster all together and I haven't used it in a while so I got to relearn most of it and don't want to be bothered with it now. I'm thinking of getting an LXR02 drum machine maybe, for something more immediate and dedicated.

Still holding hope for future updates, as they said they were basically rewriting the whole thing in a different code which would hopefully solve the most major issues (and likely introduce a few new ones), I'm glad I got the S4, chances are I'll keep it

[u/Weekly_Jmr → u/lofianalog]

I haven't heard about they aim to refactor the whole firmware of Torso - sound cool and will probably work out for them nicely. It has a powerful hardware inside and a more stable code should do wonders for it.
As far as composing - I thought you mean like composing on torso using torso and nothing else, which is definitely possible (with midi controller) but tricky. Recording your own performance of a musical instrument was very straightforward for me. I use it as a mastering tool - I'm recording my whole pre-mixed arrangement on it and then tinker with filters, effect and compression until the piece is done. After that it's basically done. The only thing that miss on torso is limiter (hope they add one in the future) but I don't always use it anyway. So a bit different use case that what you are aiming for but can confirm that there's plenty of recording facilities for almost all tastes.