Is anyone out there, creating music on his/her PC (mainly electronic)?

I'd like to try it by myself and I'm not sure where to start.
My aims are:
1. create samples
2. create music with samples and loops
3. mix existing music to a new song, combining it with my creations.
4. edit the whole song with filters.

There is a similar thread here where Grand Dizzy made a list that brings my needs out pretty good but it's old and the title wasn't very specific.

I know I need a music creator and was lucky to try Propellerheads Reason but this 'Virtual Studio Rack' is quite difficult to work with. THERE ARE TO MANY CHOICES.
My flatmate tries Sony ACID right know and the start seems pretty simple.
Others are swearing on FRUITY LOOPS
But I'm not rich enough to "trial and error" with these progs.

For editing I know Sony Soundforge and that's pretty simple to use...as I understood it's for cutting and using filters on samples or whatever. Or is there a better choice?

What else do I need? I didn't quite understand what "Mastering" means..


The puzzled JD


edit: changed link

This post has been edited by John Doe: Apr 16 2004, 15:58

There are free alternatives, as someone mentioned in the other thread. You should look into these. N-track, for instance. Otherwise try them ALL. Download the demos and tinker. There's no substitute for raw experience. Watching someone whip around on some DAW software can be humbling, but remember that they were once just as lost as you.

Reason is fun and powerful, but I mostly just use it as a glorified drum machine. There's not enough hours in the day to do everything... unless you're some lucky bastard that gets paid for it. Keep chugging.


It's the last stage. You can't let your product out the door unless and until it has been properly mated (for lack of a better word) with the release media of your choice. For instance, if you're releasing on CD you'd want to take advantage of the most of the 89dB (dynamics) that you can... in theory. In practice it seems that many mastering folks want that hammered tape sound. Oh well.

The "making music" process has three stages:

* Recording, which many call tracking because that's what you're essentially doing until you've had enough.
* Mixing down to stereo or other multi-channel format.
* Mastering your mix to proper dynamics and frequency spectrum.

I personally use Adobe Auditon (formerly called Cool Edit Pro). It is ~$249-$299 and it an excellent package for recording and editing. Mutli-track composition and many included filters. I have previosuly used SoundForge (before Sony bought it) and liked Adobe Audition/Cool Edit Pro better. You might get a cheap copy on eBay or an Academic version at a reduced price, if you qualify for it.

Depends on your budget and will to (not) use "not very legal" software...
ModPlug - tracker with all its advantages and disadvantages. Sound quality is OK, but price ($0) is a good argument. Solid and good instrument if you know, "how it works".
Buzz Tracker: powerful and flexible instrument for creating electronic music. Quite buggy and has some usability issues. Free.
Psycle: close to above. Less buggy, but a bit harder (for me) to use.
ACID: simple and stupid music "drawing" based on samples (last time I saw it).
F Loops: quite a good alternative to modern trackers. Not too hard. I'd say it's good for electronics.
ReBirth: i used to write music on it for a while, 'till I finally understand, that it's just garbage: not flexible and quite expensive. (some guys still manage to create excellent tunes on it).
If you need cheap solution, try modern trackers. Thay might be better, than you think. If you have some money to spend: get something more "professional".

the tracker that most people use nowadays is http://www.renoise.com/
has effects and VST/VSTi capability.

I've used "trackers" to make music for a long time. A tracker is like a really advanced sampler with a unique sequencer. You can make some really elaborate rhythms using it. However, its ability to mix loops and stuff is there, but it's not the most convenient. I've used Modplug Tracker for a while, but as far as trackers go it's really outdated.

I've used Propellerheads Reason for a while too. It's fast. You can sketch down stuff really quickly, so it's nice for spontaneous creation. You can use a small app "Propellerheads Recycle" to import various music loops into Reason, since that's the sort of thing you want to do. Although Reason looks daunting, if you just read the help file and documents you can learn it pretty fast.

I'm also trying out Cubase using virtual instruments (VST/VSTi) to make music. It's very freeform and powerful, and you can get some great sounds out of it (depending on which VSTis you use), but the interface is not as convenient and zip-zip-zip as Reason's. But then again, I'm not Teh Mast0r at it yet.

I also use Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit Pro)... it's good for post-processing, mixing, recording, mastering, and general wave editing. You can make a multitrack project, and put audio loops into it, and apply some filters and stuff (it supports directx plugins, but not VST)... but I wouldn't call Cool Edit Pro's interface particularly musical. This is why I use it for only "post"-production, and creating audio samples, editing waves, etc.

This post has been edited by seannyb: Apr 16 2004, 02:21

Sek'd Sequoia
http://www.samplitude.com/de/seq.htm

Not for the faint of heart.

The software, or the price ? Or both ?

http://site.magix.net/index.php?9550

Both, definitely.

@mobius
It's not about "free" it's about usability: Should be as intuitive as possible.
Of course: experience is perfect but why while away my time with the wrong software. Mankind improved due to sharing knowledge! (big words! not meant to be serious :-)
If there are three different steps you probably need three kinds of software, right?
-Recording with a Tracker/Drum machine; a part of it is creating loops right?
-Mixing with an Editor or with a tracker?
-Mastering with ??? and Editor as well?

@guest0101
Do you know the advantage of Adobe Audition in comparison to Sony Soundforge?

@SacRat
Sounds like you'd want to propose Fruity Loops as a good one for beginners?
What is the difference again between a tracker and ... mh what to compare it with?

@seannyb
I checked the website and was quite surprised about the price. Maybe thats the reason why it's well known?!
Because I tried Reason already I'd like to learn it as well even though I think it's made for professionals how used to work in a studio with analog equipment.
As I understand: ReCycle is a tool like ACID or Fruity Loops?! AGAIN, I'm confused - to much input!! :-)
I conclude that Audition is better than Sony Soundforge? Or is it an anti global company thing?

@rjamorim
That looks like a REAL professionals tool? (Looking at the price!) But is it easy to use as well?


CONCLUSION:
I have to learn some things first!

Before anyone answers to my weird questions:
Could you propose a good "beginners guide" for music creation where all the expressions and tools are explained? It's annoying and awkward to ask here and it would spare some time!

I don't understand your bias. I find that most free tools contain only the core functions to do the job and are typically unclouded by needless layers of abstraction.