Want to create electronic music....how?

buck65

Looking to buy a program for the laptop that I can experiment on and create music/sondscapes. Nothing serious just for own pleasure. Where to start - are there programs available in the basics of this? Can play piano and guitar (not very well) but most of my listening tastes these days are ambient or dub.
Is this the way to go or is there something else I should be doing?

Scubadevils

I've been meaning to do this for ages too but lack of time and money keeps going against me!

Best bet is to head over to the Dance Music Production forum (they should really have called this the Electronic Music Production forum), they know their stuff over there... (I'm sure lots know their stuff here too, but thats the forum specific to production :pac: )

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1225

Terry Cotta

I use Renoise. Its a tracker which makes it more suited for messing around with samples. Its really good for making weird soundscapes. I've often sat down to slice some breaks and ended up making a completely ambient tune. Download the demo for free - you can save you're projects in the demo.

Martyr

you might like Rob Papens Blue blue demos - Albino is also good.

Absynth 4 or FM8 by Native instruments are also very good for soundscapes once you get to know them.

there are others of course, but those are my favourites.

if you can already play piano, you'll love these programs

iamhunted

back in the day there was Rebirth though these days Reason would probably be a nice all-rounder. made by the same people

rcaz

If you've got LOADS of time to dedicate to this cause, Pure Data is completely free and incredibly powerful - behing Max/MSP only in terms of user-friendliness. It's essentially a programming environment with a view to making music, though, so it takes lots of study and work.

Download it here


Learn it here

I've been trying to learn it myself for ages. It's pretty intimidating to start, but it starts to make sense soon, and then you have to just work and work and work... Great results are possible, better than any commercial software.

masherella88

audacity is free and i think it's quite fun...apart from when it crashes! but i think it's pretty cool

rcaz

masherella88 wrote: »

audacity is free and i think it's quite fun...apart from when it crashes! but i think it's pretty cool

That's just recording and really simple editing/mixing etc., though.

EddyC15

If you want to make some acidy kind of stuff check these out:

A drum machine: http://www.d-lusion.com/ProductsDrumstation.html

And a bass synth: http://www.d-lusion.com/ProductsRubberduck.html

They're pretty easy to use. You get a rake of examples of work with the synth too. Good for messing around with. The site has other stuff on it too. I've only used these.

Dragan

First you need a host program , like Renoise, FL Studio, Ableton, Logic, Reason etc. If you just want to mess around to start with, try out the Demo versions that you find, or the freeware programs.

Personally i use FL Studio, i just like the way it works, plus after you shell for the program (which isn't much anyway, as these things go ) it's free upgrades from then on.

After that, you need to find VST's, programs you load through the host that basically create sounds. Loads of good ones out there, the one's i use most are Albino 3, Blue, Absynth and Massive. Take the time to LEARN the synth...figure out what everything does and how it affects a sound. Learn how to manipulate things to sound like how you want, not just finding another VST that has a preset that is close.

Finally, downloading odd packs and samples, percussion kits and one hits adds a lot to the depth and feel and vibe.

Learn about Mastering and Mixing, Panning, EQ's, Compression and all that other good stuff. It has a huge impact on the sound.

Finally, tutorials. The net is full of them, follow them and learn things, then apply these things to your own sounds with your own twists.

Making music is very rewarding, so put in the effort and all the best mate, i hope you have a great journey.

For an example of music created with FL Studio and the VST's i mentioned above, here is a track i just finished up this morning.

http://soundcloud.com/shatterfreak/a-sudden-fear-of-being-alone

EDit :

Here is a link to one of the best sources of free VST's and music programs i have found. Some excellent stuff on here.

Gersic

Norrdeth

Not sure if it's too late but, check out this basic production course...
http://www.ruared.ie/makingmusic.html
It uses Logic Pro 8, which is very handy for getting started writing any kind of computer music.
Not sure if there's still places left tho.

mike65

Grab some demos of Absynth and Eve One. Download Synth1 (free), a nice free reverb and you can get going straight away without it costing a penny or using any real CPU cycles.

Orizio

Although I don't make a whole lot of music right now, I always enjoyed using Ableton when it came to software, very straightforward and flexible in compariosn to Reason, Fruity Loops etc.

Shanannigan

my advice would be to take a look at a couple of the electronic music magazines you might come across in the likes of easons. I won't mention titles cos i don't want to be advertising but if you look in the magazine rack near either the audio mags or the computer game mags, you'll spot a couple of them. those mags usually have a DVD with some free software as well as online resources which will direct you to free open source software that can be every bit as intuitive and user friendly as the top name programs. one of those mags i got a while back had an "all you need to start making music now" bundle on the free cover mount DVD. if you want to look into electronic music without shelling out spondoolas thats a handy way to go.. or you could bypass the magazine rack altoghether and google "open source electronic music programs" or something along those lines and see what you might come up with.

jiltloop

As above I would go for computer music magazine, thats the mag that provides loads of free software and samples. I'm sure its ok to mention the name of the mag, its the only one which gives out free software every week. You get a DAW (Reaper), an audio editor (Audacity) and countless plugin instruments and effects. If you excel at them then you'll know how you want to progress after that.

18AD

Dragan wrote: »

First you need a host program , like Renoise, FL Studio, Ableton, Logic, Reason etc. If you just want to mess around to start with, try out the Demo versions that you find, or the freeware programs.

Personally i use FL Studio, i just like the way it works, plus after you shell for the program (which isn't much anyway, as these things go ) it's free upgrades from then on.

After that, you need to find VST's, programs you load through the host that basically create sounds. Loads of good ones out there, the one's i use most are Albino 3, Blue, Absynth and Massive. Take the time to LEARN the synth...figure out what everything does and how it affects a sound. Learn how to manipulate things to sound like how you want, not just finding another VST that has a preset that is close.

Finally, downloading odd packs and samples, percussion kits and one hits adds a lot to the depth and feel and vibe.

Learn about Mastering and Mixing, Panning, EQ's, Compression and all that other good stuff. It has a huge impact on the sound.

Finally, tutorials. The net is full of them, follow them and learn things, then apply these things to your own sounds with your own twists.

Making music is very rewarding, so put in the effort and all the best mate, i hope you have a great journey.

For an example of music created with FL Studio and the VST's i mentioned above, here is a track i just finished up this morning.

http://soundcloud.com/shatterfreak/a-sudden-fear-of-being-alone

EDit :

Here is a link to one of the best sources of free VST's and music programs i have found. Some excellent stuff on here.

Gersic

Great stuff!

I've been really interested in making some electronic music, but I don't have a clue where to begin. So perhaps someone could clarify a few things...

Basically, I just have a laptop that I want to create some samples on, wavey background noise, soundscapes etc... I don't have a keyboard, or anything I can hook up to it. I only have a memory bank that I can store and manually access and play back the samples I make.

Are these programs suitable for this setup? Do I need a keyboard or will these work without one?

Cheers.
AD

Anima

You don't need a keyboard but it can help.

studiorat

A keyboard would really be useful though Ableton lets you use the computer keyboard to trigger notes, (it's pretty lame though). A sound card for outputting sound from the computer and speakers will need to go on the list at some stage too!

Then it really depends on how difficult you want to make it for yourself. Someone here mentioned Max or PD, personally if I was just starting out I'd steer well clear of those it's well technical. If you really wanted to go nuts you'd have to get Csound which is also free but a complete head melter, believe me! Other mad sh1t would include Super Collider as used by the live coding nerds. Insane stuff check it out here...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8221235.stm

If you want to learn a new program I'd suggest Logic, out of all of them it really is the best value for money verses quality. Unfortunately it's Mac only.
Reason is grand but at the end of the day it's really just a toy. Most of the sounds on it are everywhere so there's nothing original on it anymore particularly if you want to get experimental. I use it from time to time but I just don't like the sound of it, it was great fun 10 years ago.

Ableton could be worth a try, actually this version lets you use max/msp patches in it so it could be quite useful for experimantal stuff. As well as being able to rig up some pretty funky controllers with Ableton.

But at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what platform or application you choose. It's just down to your imagination.

So I dunno I'd say Ableton or maybe have a look at Reactor...

fabbydabby

I am an ableton fan. I use it for recording and mashing together sounds that I record and sample etc. I have a macbook. Fun fun!

However, a freind told me that if I want to 'get serious' about music production, I should get logic. i asked him to elaborate, but he couldn't, apart from saying it's "everythig you need in one program".

My question is: Is it worth my while paying for and learning a whole new setup with logic when i am already quite competent with ableton? does it offer me anything more?

DIRTY69

I read most of the posts there.

Personally, I have two recommendations.

Simply:
1) Computer music magazine
2) Ableton Live


1) over years i have found this to be the best magazine for inspiring ideas,
knowledge and of course software and samples that are supplied.

2) Ableton Live is my favourite out of any of the programs I have ever used. Its flexibility and strength in the areas of live performance and producing have made it a success around the world and is becoming the industry standard, I believe in digital djing. It feels like its made more for musicians.
And its great for sound design as well.

Lastly here are a few links of my own stuff, to show what I do with Ableton Live. I use it exclusively.

www.myspace.com/boyeightsix

:pac:

rcaz

How do you find Ableton for recording proper instruments?

jimi_t

El Pr0n wrote: »

How do you find Ableton for recording proper instruments?

Next to useless

DIRTY69

jimi_t wrote: »

Next to useless

Why do you say that?

I have an RME Fireface 800 and a macbook. Its had absolutely flawless results for me. Added to that its an open platform of routing ins and outs, AUXs and BUS channels. I record bass, guitars, and use a USB mic as well. as many ins and outs as your hardware can manage.

If you can use it right and know what to do with it its flawless. If you can't or haven't tried, it's useless, simple as that.

old gregg

DIRTY69 is pretty much bang on re recording instruments into Ableton.

I think a key is having a decent Audio Interface to plug into. Relying on your computer's sound card/chip capabilities to play/record music is seldom going to lead to a professional result when working with any DAW.

I've found Ableton a great product for the creative aspects of making music and have recently used it to record an entire album after many years working with FL Studio. My gripe with Ableton comes once the creative making of music ends and the slow, precise work of mixing begins. My personal experience is that Ableton falls down when you rely on it to arrive at something approaching a professional mix.

I've found it best to export out of Ableton at mixing stage and into something more suited to the task like Reaper. I'd never had this issue with FL Studio in the past.

I do find the combination of Ableton and Reaper to be a very nice combination for me anyway.

jimi_t

old gregg wrote: »

My gripe with Ableton comes once the creative making of music ends and the slow, precise work of mixing begins. My personal experience is that Ableton falls down when you rely on it to arrive at something approaching a professional mix

I should of been clearer, thats what I meant. I mean Ableton is ample for recording, but then again so is Audacity and its going to leave you 300 odd quid richer for a nice interface.

DIRTY69

jimi_t wrote: »

I should of been clearer, thats what I meant. I mean Ableton is ample for recording, but then again so is Audacity and its going to leave you 300 odd quid richer for a nice interface.

there are loads of freeware available to do the job but he was asking in regards to abletons performance with recording, which is very good. there is good competition in this area thats for sure: Logic Express is decent enough as well maybe as another suggesion.