Digital Music Creation

[SkyBum]

Lately I've become infatuated with the idea of creating music through software. I've downloaded demos of Reason 3.0, Fruity Loops Studio 6, and Sonar 6 Producer, but to say the least I'm overwhelmed and have no idea what the hell I'm doing.

I have several questions:

1: For a noob like me, what would you suggest for a starting point. Dive right in to the professional level software, grit my teeth and learn it from the ground up? Or start with something simpler like a consumer level application?

2: If I were to purchase one of the above 3 applications, which do you think would be the best choice? Am I missing any obvious choices which I should also consider?

3: Could you direct me to any links which might help me to get myself up to speed with regard to digital music creation in general or application specific guides for the above software? Video guides would be especially helpful....

I can't remember the last time I felt so excited about something, thanks for any suggestions you care to offer.

SB

 

[Ika]

Personally, I tried out FL Studio and felt like it wasn't too overwhelming. The user's manual does a decent job of teaching you, and there is a built-in tutorial. I stopped after a few weeks of messing around, but if you really want to get into it, it shouldn't take too long. Practice does make perfect when you're talking about music creation, though.

 

[NanoStuff]

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode=re...ee=1&sf=0&receptor=&de=0&sort=1&rpp=15

You can get free sequencers/editors, if you search the site, you will also find many free plug-ins and other software. Like anything else, starting can be confusing. Just keep at it I suppose. Be sure to go trough the documentation as a first thing, it's boring as ****** but necessary.

I got into it for a while, it's pretty damn interesting to say the least. But I decided to pursue web development/programming instead, for a number of reasons that shouldn't discourage you

 

[SkyBum]

Thanks for the link, I'll be spending some time browsing those forums for sure....

 

[Imagination]

Hi SkyBun,

OK.. first, you will need a sound card. Since your starting out i won't go telling you to get a MOTU 828MKII or a ProjectMix I/O. I would reccomend the Audiophile 192.

Creative Labs or Onboard audio will not work simply because you need ASIO drivers for the lowest latency when working w/ Midi Controllers and such. I'd also Recommend getting either the Keystation 88ES or the Keystation Pro 88
The Keystation pro 88 is nice because of the knobs and faders which work nicely in reason.

I would say start out with Project5 2.0 which is by Cakewalk. Also go and get Reason 3.0. Both those programs will get your up and running rather quickly. Don't go after Sonar 6 as thats the "flag ship" and you will get pretty confused very quickly. Project5+Reason would be nice to start out and then later on go to Sonar 6 or go and buy ProTools LE (requires different hardware though).

Also visit the cakewalk forums and the propellerhead (Reason) forums and everyone is very good at answering questions.

Also Ableton Live 6 wouldn't be a bad idea if Project5 doesn't float your boat.

If you have a local SamAsh store near you, you could go in there and ask them qustions also.

 

[tweakmm]

Imagination is spot on.

I also second the Reason 3.0 suggestion.

 

[SkyBum]

Thanks Imagination.

Few more questions:

Will my Audigy 2 ZS suffice in the short term (just while I can save a bit more, the software and KB is going to clean me out for a bit...) or would I be better off to upgrade my audio card beforehand? I was hoping the 'ol ZS would get me by for a bit while I get through the learning curve a save a few more bucks for hardware.

Also, I'm a huge gamer. Am I safe in assuming that a card like the one you linked to could co-exist with my EAX card?

I was thinking more along the lines of a mini controller like the M-Audio Ozone or M-Audio 02 (partly because I don't play keyboard at all, and partly because it will fit comfortably on my desk). Now I'm a bit confused between a full sized or mini.

Thanks for the advice on Reason, after playing a bit with all 3 demos, Reason seems by far the most intuitive for me and I've already made some interesting progress with the Re-drum and Pattern Sequencer. I think I'll make that purchase right away so I can start working with the full application.

SB

 

[Malak]

I'm so bookmarking this thread.

 

[Imagination]

Hi,

it "may" for a wile. The big thing is latency. ASIO drivers are built for low latency vs WDM drivers. Here is an example. Say your in front of Reason and you have the Malstrom synth loaded and you have a midi controller (like the one I had shown you up top) in front of you. With your current sound card you may hit a key on the midi controller. You will not hear the sound the second you hit that key, the latency of the ZS will be to high and you will not hear that note for another 2-3 seconds. You can try lowering the buffer size in Reason to get it to almost sound like as soon as you hit the key you hear the sound but then you will get a "clipping" sound and it will drive you nuts. ASIO drivers are built for this very purpose. It doesn't really matter the buffer size, you will always get almost zero latency when you hit a key.

To answer your other question, yes you can have 2 sound cards in 1 PC. In windows control panel you just have it set to the WDM driver of your ZS and in Reason or any other production type software you can set it to default to the ASIO drivers of what ever card you have. Currently I have a ProjectMix I/O that I use sole for these programs using the ASIO drivers and I use my motherboards Onboard sound for games and other stuff.

The M-AUDIO Ozone is nice. I heard a lot of great things about that one too.

The thing I like w/ M-AUDIO is that fact that they got bought out last year. The music industry pretty much runs Pro Tools. Its a industry standard but runs on specific hardware and very expensive. You can't run Sonar or Cubase on ProTools HD equiptment. They do have a "LE" version but that too runs on specific hardware and also only allows you to run ProTools, no other program unless its a RTAS plug-in. Last year the parent company (DigiDesign) bought out M-AUDIO and started coming out w/ drivers that will run ProTools LE (which they call M-Powered) on all M-AUDIO cards wile also being able to still run Sonar and Cubase.

I myself love Sonar 6, but I have a few friends that are just driven by ProTools LE (i can get on the advantages and disadvantages between the two later) So in order for all of us to get along, i went w/ the Project Mix and then got M-Powered. So that if my friends do a project they want me to hear or want to use some of my hardware synths that they don't know, they just bring the project w/ them and load it on my system.

EDIT: ASIO details

 

[Mesix]

As far as midi controllers go, I like the axiom way more than the ozone!

 

[BladeVenom]

I would spend a lot of time playing with free software before I'd start buying into some expensive programs. I can't really recommend anything since I got bored of the Fruity Loops demo fairly quickly. Doing a quick search of Soureceforge I'd almost be interested in Zynaddsubfx, or Hydrogen, a synthesizer, and drum machine. Anyone have a favorite from Sourceforge?

 

[Mesix]

Pay some money and get a real DAW. I settled on Ableton Live and Cubase 4


I should also point out that some of the programs you listed are better for different things. Reason is more focused on MAKING music while Sonar is more for MIDI sequencing and arranging.

FL Studio is crap if you ever hope to turn out a usable product.

 

[SkyBum]

My god this stuff is fun! I used to jump out of airplanes to get a rush......never realized until now that you could catch the same buzz in front of a desk!

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

I would not say fruity loops is crap. I made a song out of it and my friend who loves techno was amazed by it.