making fruity tracks sound less fruity

[MangaFish]

i've heard people rant on about how tracks sound like they've been made in fruity loops (especially percussion). i use all my own samples (by that i mean non from fruity loops). i do run a few fruity fx through (usually free filter with my own settings, compression (again my own settings) and riverb (fruity preset: subtle)) yet people still say it sounds like its been made on fruity loops.

whys this and how can i fix it?

[Barely Human]

Fruity tends to make a mix very muddy. Everything seams to mash together. I find that to get the best results i have to over-exagerate the sepperation between the different elements. be vary wary of clashing freqancies. The render on fruity isnt too hot either, so its best if you can record the output to a different source if you have a decent enough sound card.

[Stu Cox]

which percussion samples do you use? there are a few particular sets that, although not packaged with fruity, everyone seems to have and use.

if the effects you use are having an impact on making your tracks sound more "fruity" it's probably not so much presets as actually the algorithms they use to apply the effects.

also, which synths do you use? for example, the 3xOsc is only available to people who use fruity so can be recognised as being from fruity. synths like pro-53, vanguard and v-station are used a lot by a lot of new producers starting in fruity so can tend to make tracks sound like one another if everyone uses them

at the end of the day, reason and cubase both have a particular sound too (logic probably does too but it's not something i can spot myself cos i haven't had a lot of experience with it) for people relatively new to production and it can take a while to break out of it, i think it's just that there's been a massive influx of people starting to use fruity in the last year or so which has kinda emphasized the case for fruity.

i'm not actually sure if the sound i really recognise now is due to fruity itself as much as the way a lot of the new producers using fruity work, using the same synths, same samples etc... it would be interesting to see if someone tried to duplicate one of their tracks made in fruity in cubase or something, using the same synths and same sequencing etc to see if it still sounded like fruity.

if it didn't then it would suggest that a lot of it is down to the way the different programs render samples (i'm not implying a hierarchy here, just that they will sound different, in the same way that 2 decent hardware compressors may be considered to be just as good as one another but have their own unique sound, for example)

ooooh i'm writing a lot about this one lol, probably cos i've talked to a lot of people about it recently


hope this helps or at least you find what i've said interesting!

[MangaFish]

cheers guys - you've beena great help. no i can blame fruity for my muddy mixes rather than bad workmanship :lol: ;)

damn i need to get logic :cry:

[audioinjection]

doesnt your soundcard also affect how your tracks sound too?

[MangaFish]

i'm only using a sound blaster 128 at the mo

in the process of hunting down a new soundcard though:
http://www.blackoutaudio.co.uk/phpBB...ic.php?t=32541

[eyes without a face]

u cant blame fruity for ur tracks sounding muddy, thats silly, altho i know u were joking im sure there are people who would use that excuse and it doesnt wash im afraid, the tracks can sound how u want them to sound, its just a case of working out how to get that sound, the render on fruity is spot on and if ur only using a soundblaster then unfortunately mate ur not going to get the results ur after, its not a dedicated production soundcard and is a cheap mainstream card for general computer use

try using fruity as just its bare bones, totally discard the synths that come with it and get some professional VST's, the v-station and any of the novation range are superb, Korg Legacy Collection is AMAZING, altho very pricey indeed.... i tend to just use its sampler and sequencer, even the effects i use are mainly wave's, plus various other bits and bobs i have, and yeah a unique and personalised sample library is the key also, alot of people just get hold of Fruity and use what comes with it hoping that they are gonna create something unique and releasable, which is not often the case.... stick at it ul get there no doubt

[Stu Cox]

something i didn't mention earlier, as well as using different soft synths is using hardware synths can make things sound more original, but obviously they really aren't cheap!!

[Jimfish]

tell you what i notice about fruity users is the lack of automation, fileters etc and big lack of mad edits..

[Jimfish]

oh and re. the muddy thing.. no fruity itself sounds crisp and clear like anything else does, but ive heard its mixer is pretty rubbish... a bit Like a cheap hardware mixer doesnt have much headroom i guess

[fresh_an_funky_design]

tell you what i notice about fruity users is the lack of automation, fileters etc and big lack of mad edits..

:clap:
automation and edits to me really make a good tune they just add that final finishing touch

[schlongfingers]

That's a problem with the users, everything in Fruity is automatable :lol:

[loopdon]

tell you what i notice about fruity users is the lack of automation, fileters etc and big lack of mad edits..

yeah, i must admit even though you can do everything, i find it difficult at times to work intuively with edits and stuff in fruity, but you can def. get used to it.

anyone got more details on the mixer issue??

[Stu Cox]

this might be a big part of it actually - the automation issue. as i think i may have or maybe just tried to imply lol, in fruity you do have to go to more effort to create variation (create a whole new pattern if you just want a double kick at the end of a phrase, etc), so the arrangement can tend to be relatively basic.

i personally don't think my first couple of tunes in fruity really had the 'fruity' kinda sound, and this could well be because i always had something being automated (quite often loads of things at once)... took me ages to make the tracks too! lol

[Dan Devious]

too be honest i dont really find the automation thing a problem. ?

[Mirsha]

I still haven't worked out how to automate stuff in fruity to be honest, though I've not really probed the issues. I managed to work it out quickly and easily in Reason but I prefer to use those programs to rip out loops and stuff then fire them through Ableton to arrange them, at which point I can automate effects over a track.

[John Ferraris]

I think that 'fruity' sound comes from using the fruity samples and plugins. Step away from these and you'll be fine. As for the having to create new patterns... ctrl-shft-c duplicates the selected pattern ;) :lol:

[MangaFish]

i've only just worked out how to automate things (as i refuse to read manuals ) and now that i've sussed it its actually amazingly easy

i do find the pattern thing mentioned earlier a bit of an irritation, but what i tend to do is write the basic skeleton pattern in the one pattern then have several extra patterns with the variation alone so i can drag the skeleton over and then on top of that paste which ever variation that is nessisary for that sequence - its the quickest easiest way i've found unless anyone has any better tips?

[eyes without a face]

automation is easy within fruity

excuses excuses..... u get out what u put in!

[sash]

get some analogue in there somewhere