u/InstrumentalCoffee

Hi everyone,

I need some serious, raw advice from people who produce Techno or Tribe Techno using hardware.

I am completely stuck. I actually started a while ago with Pocket Operators, but I abandoned them because I couldn't understand how to make them work. I fell into the classic trap of thinking: "Maybe it's just these specific machines, I need something better." So I moved on and bought a Roland T-8 and a P-6. In total, I’ve spent around €400 on gear.

Now, after months of total paralysis, I’ve realized the brutal truth: it wasn't a hardware problem. The problem is ME. No machine in the world is going to magically sound the way I want if I don't know what the fuck I am doing.

Every single time I sit down in front of these Rolands, I get massive anxiety. I feel like a complete idiot and I end up turning them off after 30 minutes to go smoke a joint out of pure frustration and defeat.

I know LITERALLY NOTHING about how electronic music actually works or how a track is structurally built on hardware. Every tutorial online is either a piece of shit for Ableton, or a video where the guy assumes you already have a musical background. They toss around terms like Decay, Tune, Levels, Envelopes... there are 3,000 different functions blinking at me, but I have no conceptual clue what they actually mean, how they interact with each other, or how they are supposed to sound "good" together to create a Techno vibe.

There are no books for this. There are no courses for absolute beginners who don't want to use a computer but want to learn the physical language of hardware from scratch. I feel completely locked out.

To those who produce Techno/Tribe on hardware and started with zero knowledge: How did you break through this wall? How did you learn to understand what the knobs actually do to the structure of a track? Is there a mental framework, a specific approach, or a learning method that doesn't treat you like you already know everything? I don't want to give up and I don't want to buy more gear, I just want to learn how to use what I have.
Thank you.

I have 2 different shapes where one is noticeablely louder and the interpolation between them in the middle is noticeablely quieter. What are some ways to fix the volume discrepancies between them. Most wavetables I flip through don't have this problem.

Normalization applied to frames is one way, but I'm wondering if there's more ways that are possible like lowering the amplitude of a shape that's crammed into the top and bottom (like a square)

Thanks for any tips

TLDR: In order to receive a return shipping label... Do I have to pay for a month of prepaid to get access to the account registered under the new phone's number? So that I can then order the return shipping label? I also read that there's no return option for prepaid service which also makes me hesitant. Any guidance would be appreciated. I just want to return this phone!

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I received the phone today. I bought the phone from att.com a few days ago. There was only an invoice in the box and no return shipping label. I've wasted my whole day trying to get a return shipping label. It's disheartening and really frustrating. I feel like I scammed myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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The site says there are two ways to easily return the phone. One is to call and speak to a customer service agent who will then email the return shipping label. The other is to go to a store. I tried the store but they said they could only help if I bought it there. They also told me there was an account under the phone number but that the account wasn't fully created. I tried calling the number listed. I was never able to reach a human that could then email the return shipping label. I reached a call center guy who told me I needed to pay to return the phone. He also sent me to att.com/return which turned into a circular process that seemed to repeatedly go back to the guide page explaining the two simple ways to receive a return shipping label and begin the return process.

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Going on the att.com site sent me in circles to the guide page explaining the two simple easy ways to start a return. I got to a page that asked for the order number and zip code. I thought "THIS IS IT FINALLY" It found the order but listed no option to receive a return shipping label. There was link saying "start a return" which sent me in a circle back to that guide page. Pretty frustrating experience all around.

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Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

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