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With all the threads about how do I make X, I'm going to try to make a megathread with all the information I can compile. Hopefully, if the thread gets awesome enough, it can be stickied. I'll try not to overlap too much from the home recording megathread, since it deals more with recording in general, and this deals specifically with electronic music. This thread isn't mean to be a perfect "this is how you make X", it's more meant to give enough of a direction that someone interested in making music could get a decent foundation to explore on their own. This has been contributed to by many people, and as such, referring to "what I do" is a reference to the author of that given part. The images provided are for reference only. I'm not endorsing any of these products specifically. Do your own research before you buy any gear. Or just ask here. Anything with a  is taken as a critical point for beginning. You pretty much have to at least have an understanding of these parts in order to do anything. Part I -- Gear and poo poo  What you must have A computer Anything within a few years old is fine, either PC or Mac (although on the PC side I'd use XP over Vista). OSX has better support for audio and MIDI routing, but either platform is pretty much going to be identical. It doesn't have to be top-of-the-line, especially considering most software has resource management built-in. Software You will need DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software. This is going to be your musical workbench. You will record and mix in it. A list of different types of software are. When I refer to "software", I'm referring to your DAW software, not your OS or software a device might be running, unless stated otherwise. Monitors (speakers) Actual monitors are sold by many companies. These are speakers designed to give flat responses so you can gauge what your mix sounds like. Any speakers will do, but remember that some speakers may color (give different frequency responses) your sound and that needs to be taken into consideration when mixing. Also, I've found it helps to have a shitass pair of desktop computer speakers, and a pair of cheap earbuds. Most people aren't going to be listening to your mix on $5000 Genelecs, so you should keep that in mind when you mix. Remember: A solid mix will sound good on any speakers. If your mix sounds great on your desktop but sounds like rear end (EG, it's muddy, you can't tell instruments apart) on your iPod, it needs work. What you don't have to have but helpsMIDI controller A MIDI controller is typically a keyboard, but instead of producing sounds, it sends data to your computer and your software interprets that and does something. For example, if you start recording in your software and play notes on your controller, the software will track those as a series of notes (not audio), to which you can then attatch a Synth, Sampler, or other device or plugin to to play that sound. More on MIDI later, you'll learn to love it. Some controllers (like this Axiom) have other features, like buttons or knobs or pads. These can be assigned in your software to do things. For example, you can assign a knob to change a filter, or volume control, or a parameter on an EQ.  M-Audio Axiom Headphones Not a neccessity, but it's always nice to have them to use as either a reference (to make sure your poo poo doesn't suck once the speakers are an inch from your ears) or maybe you want to want to sketch out some ideas without waking up your What you may or may not need depending on styleMicrophone / Preamp If you plan on singing, or recording something. Mic's and pre's are almost entirely subjective on what's good and what sucks, although the Shure SM-57/SM-58 are regarded as good all-around mics for about $100-$120. Refer to the recording megathread at the bottom for mic suggestions. Outboard gear Computers and software have advanced to the point where they match outboard synthesizers as far as sound goes. The sonic difference between software instruments and hardware is negligible. However, there are still many reasons why people still like having physical gear (physical manipulation, playing live, taking a load off your CPU, resale value, "classic" instrument). Using or not using outboard gear is almost completely subjective; some people swear by it, and some people have everything they need contained in a laptop. If you're going for outboard gear, you will need.. Audio Interface An audio Interface is a box that gives you multiple I/O's (inputs and outputs) which lets you hook gear and other poo poo up to it. It hooks into your computer either through USB, FireWire, or an internal bus (like PCI). Obviously, if you're hooking up outboard gear, you will need some sort of interface to hook it to. Remember that for outboard effects you will use up twice as many I/O's (one for the send and one for the return), and stereo also uses double. Here's a few examples of what gear takes up how many I/O's: 1 I/O: A microphone, a mono synth 2 I/Os: A stereo synth, a mono effect 3 I/Os: An effect with a mono input and stereo output (Reverb for example) 4 I/Os: A Stereo effect Any time you're sending an audio signal out of or in to your computer, you will be using one I/O per channel, or two I/O's for stereo. Actually, your computer already has at least two outputs built in--your headphone/speaker output. In a way, you can also think of an interface like giving you a lot more of those, as well as more of those line-in jacks most computers have too. Say you want to use your fancy-rear end mono delay box sitting on your desk, and you want to add delay to a snare drum you recorded in your DAW. In your DAW, you change the output routing of the snare track, and instead of it going to your master fader (and out your headphones/speakers), now it's going to shoot straight out one of your outputs on your interface. Now, you just plug in a cable from the interface output you choose, to the input of your fancy-rear end delay box. The snare is heading out of your interface, but instead of going to your speakers or headphones like the other tracks, it's getting routed to that fancy-rear end delay box. Set your delay box to make a pretty sound, and then run a cable from the output of your fancy-rear end delay box to an unused input on your interface. In your software, make a new audio track, and then set that channels input to whichever input your delay is coming from. So, your signal is going [Interface > Fancy-rear end Delay Box > Interface], and all your DAW does is assign the right tracks input and output to make sure your snare track is the one going out, instead of your tambourine track. These are the basics of any send and return. If your box has a stereo output, you use two cables, two interface I/O's (well, three if you count the signal heading in to the box), and you make two audio tracks instead.  Rear of the MOTU Traveller, you can see the different I/Os Software The lowdown on software: All of the "big" software suites are going to give you virtually the same end result. The difference mainly lies in three things: OS, workflow, and proprietary devices. Your OS of course is going to limit what you want to use. Although most software is cross-platform, certain things (like Logic) are usable only on one OS. Your workflow is how easily or how streamlined things are in your software. It's 100% subjective. Being able to smoothly record, edit, mix, and tweak is a sign of good workflow. If you feel like you're constantly "fighting" with your software to get it to do what you want, your workflow sucks. All software is going to feel like it has a crappy workflow when you first start, because you're not used to it. If it still feels like that a month later, you may need a change. Proprietary devices are devices that only work with one specific piece of software. All software have these for minor effects like compressors and EQ, and some have them for things like synths. If there's a specific proprietary device you can't live without, you are going to have to use that software (or ReWire, discussed later) If I remember right, most goons are using Logic, Cubase, or Live, but many also have Reason as a second client. Cubase FL Studio (Win) Live Logic (OSX) Pro Tools Reason Sonar (Win) The major free software suites are Audacity, or Garageband (OSX) There are also many other software suites available, like Nuendo, Project5, ACiD or Audition. Unfortunately here, due to differences in software, there's no universal way to say "to do X you do Y" (to add an effect you click here). The ideas are all the same, in the sense that the way devices are chained together stays the same, but the exact method of going about doing it (EG, which menu to go into) varies. Some software suites come with built-in tutorials, too, and there are many online for anything you can think of. I'm a broke motherfucker but want an SSL Yeah, you'd wonder why manufacturers then bother to make anything expensive, right? Anyway, when you are looking for anything and you're starting out or you have already some experience, specify the following: - A BUDGET IN NUMBERS OF EUROS OR DOLLARS OR GP. I cannot stress this enough; we don't know what you mean with "cheap" or "not too expensive". Give us a hard number and we'll give you a shopping list. - poo poo YOU ALREADY OWN. This saves everyone the trouble of trying to spend your cash on the gear twice. This includes any computers. - DIRECTION AND PURPOSE - Do you want to play live or just in the studio? Do you dislike computers for making music? Do you live in a refrigerator box and can't buy anything larger than a jar of mustard? Do you want to record guitars, drums, vocals or will you handle everything with synthesizers? Are you a guitar player and you want to make something like Radiohead, NIN, The Prodigy? PluginsA plugin is a device (instrument or effect) that is added to software to expand it's functionality (Note: Reason does NOT support Plugins). They come in three types: VST, DXI, and AU. DXI plugins are Windows-only. AU plugins are OSX only (and must be universal binaries to work on intel Macs). VST plugins are for either platform, although they must be specifically used on whichever platform they're made for (EG, a Windows VST wouldn't work on a Mac and vice-versa). If you aren't using outboard gear, plugins are going to be your instruments. My advice on plugins it not to overdo it. "BUT KAI", you say, "WOULDN'T HAVING 300 PLUGINS GIVE ME MORE OPTIONS THAN HAVING JUST THREE/EIGHT/N?" Yes, and no. With the complexity of many modern plugins, it takes practice to be good with them. Unless you're content with just clicking through the stock presets, you're probably better off to learn how to create whatever sounds you want out of only a few plugins, and slowly expand. Of course, this (like everything) is subjective, and if you want to scroll through presets, go for it, it's your sound. Part II -- Transgenred people GenresWHO CARES. Make what you want. Electronic music is only second to rock in the number of bullshit genres people make up. I could get very in depth about how genres technically are made, but that sucks. If you want to make trance and you end up with a house track, who gives a drat? If you want to make DnB and you end up with god knows what, why does it matter? This list is just to give a general "sense" of what some genres feel like. It's not a perfect and unquestionable list covering everything, and the songs picked were the result of a whimsical dart-toss. This section mainly exists so that instead of saying "I WANT TO MAKE MUSIC THAT SOUNDS LIKE AQUA", you can tell what genre you're interested in, which may help to know when it comes down to some musical or technical aspects (EG, a trance lead is programmed differently than an ambient lead). Ambient (Enigma - Eppur Si Muove) Glorified elevator music. Very airy, very floaty, may or may not have a beat structure. Breaks (DJ Icey - Moving Days) For the people who think 4-to-the-floor sucks. Drum n Bass (Concord Dawn - Morning Light) Fast and percussion-oriented with more chops more than a Japanese chef. Electro (Fisherspooner - Emerge) Take 80's fashion, glam rock, drum machines, dudes dressing like women, and give it a spice of new wave, and mix on high for six minutes. Eurodance (E-Rotic - Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex) Doesn't have to be from Europe, but they get the blame. Generic, happy, "poppy", and a pile of cheese, either some of the most addicting cheese you've ever had, or poo poo so nasty you don't want to be within 100 feet. House (Deep Dish - Say Hello) "Groovier" than trance, usually has walking basslines with less focus on leads. Bouncing is for E addicts and trance fans, House cats groove. Techno (Mr Deviant - Surrounded by Evil) Less musically structured than other genres, may or may not even be musically "correct" in regards to chords and progressions. Also the genre that most people clump all electronic music in to. Trance (Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight) The euphoric, hands-in-the-air genre. Big builds, big leads, DJs with big egos. Trip-Hop (Portishead - Humming) Date stood you up? Raining outside? Found yourself in a smoky, dimly-lit lounge? This is the music of your life. Whateverthefuck (Aphex Twin - ∆Mi-1=-a∑Di[n][∑Fij[n-1]+Fexti[n-1]]) Whatever goes in here. Experimental, "my cat sat on my gear and this is what happened" and "noise" music, things like that. Call it what you like. If you really get into a genre, you can pick apart the differences between putting adjectives in front of a genre, like club, underground, progressive, tech, anthem, or whatever. Just keep in mind that chaining adjectives together makes you sound like an elitist prick. "Yeah, I make ambient tech rave noise beat core.. not that you'd know anything about that" If you're ever stuck and absolutely have to nail a genre on it, I usually go with "dance" or just "electronic". Seriously though, don't worry about your genre. Make whatever you feel like. You want to add an overdriven guitar to your ambient track? Do it, see what happens. Who knows, maybe it'll catch on. Part III -- Technically speaking.. MIDI If you're making electronic music, you need to know MIDI. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is basically a way of sending digital musical information to your computer, or other devices. For example, let's say you hit a key on your MIDI keyboard. Your keyboard is going to send out what key you hit, how hard you hit it, and how long you held it for. If your software is recording at the time, you can play whatever you feel like, and your software will interpret that and create a score that you later can assign an instrument to and make music. This is important in electronic music, because it's going to be what your software reads to determine which notes to play. In that sense, you can think of MIDI as being like the sheet music of electronic music, sort of like how a player piano plays a roll of punched-hole paper. Also, MIDI files can be loaded into your software and assigned to instruments. If you're into remixing, loading up a MIDI of the original song, or maybe just a certain part or some riffs, can help you get an idea of what the song is like, what key it's in, note progressions, etc. Just don't slap on some synths, add reverb, and call it a remix; you aren't going to be able to sneak it in under the radar. MIDI can also send messages from gear when knobs are turned or buttons are pressed. Because of this, you can assign things in your software to be controlled by your MIDI device. For example, you can assign a knob to a filter cutoff, and then spin the knob to adjust it instead of clicking and moving your mouse. You can assign faders to your volume control, and do all your mixing without touching your computer. Some MIDI controllers also have motorized faders, so if you adjust something in your software, it will move the fader assigned to it on your gear. MIDI from external gear can be transmitted via 5-pin MIDI cable, or via USB, which most devices are using nowadays. MIDI does not make sound. Never. Not once. When you play a MIDI file on your computer, your computer is actually interpreting the notes contained in the file, and assigning a sound to them that your computer has stored on it, based on what "instrument" a given track in the MIDI file says it has (EG, piano, kick drum). A huge collection of electronic MIDI files can be found here, and there are many places online to find them as well. MixingMixing is so complicated that it could warrant it's own thread, and everybody has a different opinion on how to do it. However, one of the thing in electronic music (dance specifically) is that the kick is far stronger than in other genres (like rock), and it's what drives the song. This is how you get a kick that can knock down a wall, but still sits nice with the rest of the track. Over everything that isn't the kick or the bass, and that plays at the same time as the kick (EG, a pad that only plays during the middle of the track when no kick is present is fine to leave without it), put a high-pass filter at around 200-500 hz or so. Basically, you should be able to mute your kick and bass, stick your toe in the little hole in your sub and not feel a thing while the song plays. This frees up your sub to focus only on the kick and bass. EQ carving is also very important especially in electronic music, where you may have many, many elements playing at the same time. Say you've got a really high squeaky supersaw arpeggio playing. Put a high-pass filter on it, then play your entire mix (don't solo the track). Crank up your filters cutoff point higher and higher until you start to hear it cut into the supersaw, then bring it back a little. Oftentimes, a sound will have a very wide range of frequencies, but only a certain range is pronounced when you combine it with the other elements in a song. By removing those elements that get hidden behind other sounds, you're opening up space for other things in your song to sit. This isn't mixing a rock band, where you've got your bass, drums, guitars, and vocalist. You might have 15 different things going on and you need them all to sit well together. Not saying that this isn't important in other genres, but the more elements you add, the more carefully you have to balance them. Depending on style, you might not want a wall-breaking kick, you might want something softer. Keep your genre in mind when mixing. MasteringMastering is a combination of EQ, compression, excitement, widening, reverb, and dynamics (could be more, could be less, but usually these in general). It is applied over the entire mix to give it that "finished" feel. A lot of new cats think that mastering is the magic wand of music. that it turns anything good. Not really. Mastering is more like the polish on the car. If your paintjob sucks, polish isn't going to save it, although it may help to accentuate the lovely parts. However, with a solid mix, mastering it will make it shine. Always master your tracks. Better yet, if you can get someone else (who knows what they're doing) to master for you, it'll usually help, since they've got a more neutral ear to the project. In regards to a CD, it can also include making sure your levels from track to track are even and other technical details (like Redbook Audio standards). Master FaderDon't touch it. Really. I know it's tempting, but unless you're really sure of what you're doing, leave it alone. If your mix is too loud, turn your other channels down, not your master fader. Also, when you're rendering your mix, make sure you never go above 0dB on your master bus. Digital 0 is the "highest" level you can achieve without clipping. If your mix touches 0, it's fine, but at 0.1 you've got problems. The little red lights usually turn on then, too. ReWireReWire is a technology developed by Propellerheads that allows you to route audio and MIDI from one application to another. Say your favorite instrument is a proprietary instrument and it's in software you aren't using. Through the magic of computers, ReWire lets you route channels between each other, regardless of what program they sit in. This allows you to take a MIDI file, shoot it to a synth in another program, then have that program output the synth's audio back into your main program. Awesome. When ReWiring, one program is the master, one is the slave. The slave program just follows the master, in regards to things like tempo, and it doesn't output it's own sound, instead, relying on coming in on a channel in the master program instead. Think of ReWire like an internal send/return system. It functions the same way, but instead of audio running through cables on the floor, it runs from program to program through the magic of computers. SidechainingAs soon as some pretentious kids from Paris discovered that you can apply compression to a sound triggered by the emergence of another sound, they stumbled upon probably one of the greatest production innovations of our time. Sidechain compression. Sounds quite complicated, right? It's really not. The EQ is one of the most important tools a good producer/engineer has. A proper EQ job can change the entire quality of your sound, and your track. EQs also make producers more aware of how their different tracks relate to one another. It makes us realize that most of the time, multiple sounds exist in the same frequency range. The most common culprit? The bass and kick drum. ESPECIALLY in House music. When two loud sounds exist on the same frequency range, it causes master peaking. This is very bad, because it creates noise and makes your track sound like poo poo. The producers of the past would combat this by either turning down both sounds so they don't peak, or (in House's case) keeping the kick drum huge while syncopating the bass line so they never interact. This is why a lot of early House had syncopated bass lines. Nowadays, we can use a Compressor (used normally to prevent peaking on a track) to "squeeze" a track down so we can keep the volume on everything except the frequencies that peak. All you need is a compressor that takes a key input. Your "key" track is the sound that you want to be over top of everything else in the mix. So if I were making a house tune, I'd probably make my kick track the "key". In Digital Performer, and in traditional studios, I would assign the kick to an Auxiliary send, which is basically a carbon copy of the track which doesn't make any noise in the audible mix. In your compressor, set the "Key Input" to either the track you want (if your DAW allows this) or the Aux Send for which you sent your kick track to. This compressor will now only function if a kick drum sound is present. Maximize your compression ratio and begin playing the track. Now, slowly lower the threshold until you get the desired amount of sidechaining. The sound that you've just sidechained should appear to "duck" out of the mix every time the kick drum is hit. Sidechaining isn't limited to one track, you can sidechain with the kick drum as a key input for every track if you'd like. There's no limits! Now, you don't have to necessarily turn the ratio ALL the way up every time you sidechain. Changing the ratio also affects the sound of your sidechain, but turning it up all the way ensures that you'll hear the effects of the compression. Now that you know what to listen for, it's easier to detect. Sidechaining also doesn't necessarily have to be with the kick. If there's too many high-ends going on in my mix, I will sidechain the snare drum so the tune doesn't clip every backbeat. Part IV -- Tricks for a dolla Using Softsynths (VSTis)If you've chosen to go the softsynth route, there's something you need to remember: softsynths are instruments. Let me just repeat that: softsynths are instruments. Treat them as such. A lot of beginners (myself included) treat softsynths as nothing more than magical music generators. They'll surf through presets, find themselves annoyed that a certain free VSTi doesn't have the sounds they're looking for in its sound bank, and download a new one. Don't do this. Treat each VSTi like a hardware synthesizer that you dropped hundreds of dollars on (and if you're dealing with commercial VSTis, you may very well have spent hundreds on it). Learn the ins and outs of how to program it before you move on to a new one. The same goes for effects: learn how to use what you have before moving on. You should be treating your DAW like a real studio. Learn the ins and outs of each plugin as though it was a real piece of hardware. Play with it. Twiddle knobs. Ignore the presets, except when you're really stumped for inspiration or when you're just starting to play with a plugin and not sure what it's capable of. My personal suggestion is to start off with one nice, flexible commercial VSTi and one or two free ones, along with one of each common effect (flanger, chorus, reverb, etc). A suite that comes with these things already, like FL Studio, Logic Pro, or Reason, is an alternative to buying them piecemeal. Get to know your instruments. You'd be shocked by how much one can do with very little. Once you reach their limitations-the point when you just can't do what you want to with the plugins you have, not "I can't figure out how to make it sound good"-then buy or download some more. For an example of how flexible most softsynths are, I made a really quick (and sloppy) demo using nothing but Native Instruments FM8. The demo is nothing exquisite, since I made it specifically for this post about 10 minutes, but it should give you an idea of what's possible using one single plugin and no effects:  If one can do that with just FM8, a synthesizer I'm unfamiliar with and (ironically) often have to turn to presets to use, imagine what one can do with FM8, another VSTi, and a couple of effects. Personally, I didn't come to this realization until recently, but if you avoid the pitfall of surfing through presets and downloading new plugins constantly you'll learn how to make original sounding music a lot faster than I have. Learn from my mistake: all of my preset use and abuse means that I know far less about production than I should. Don't hamstring yourself in the same way. Synthetic Vocals - the Cher effect (Daft Punk - "One More Time") - that's the Antares Auto-Tune. Pretty infamous, not only because every no-talent jackass uses it but also because the producers of Cher lied through their teeth in a Sound On Sound interview to protect their "secret". This myth persisted for several years, and Sound On Sound eventually rectified it. - the Zapp & Roger effect (Daft Punk - "Digital Love") - that's the Talkbox. How to make one for really really cheap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EIQxwotn3k - and a demo of the improved version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APgzky3RujA - the vocoder (Kraftwerk - The Robots, ELO - Twilight, shitloads of more songs). There are several plugins for this, but the Prosoniq Orange Vocoder is pretty good for software (and was most likely used in Chicane ft. Brian Adams - Don't Give Up - a Speak & Spell - (Kraftwerk - Numbers). This was a toy - a talking calculator made by Texas Instruments. Prices went up like crazy when people figured out what you could do with this in a musical context. - an Atari (U96 - Das Boot). For this, see AnalogX SayIt > http://www.analogx.com/CONTENTS/download/audio/sayit.htm - a Mac - (Hrvatski - Vatstep DSP.) - this is a slightly "whiny" voice. VIDEOGAME SOUNDS Early consoles had limited audio hardware. If you want to make convincing chiptunes, 30 tracks with EQ and convolution reverb are not what you need. Yes - you can use multiple tracks, as long as you take care that no more than N sounds "overlap" at the same time, where "N" is the number of "voices" or "tracks" the system offered. This means you have to plan stuff in advance and think of creative voicings and solutions since chords just don't work that well. Emulation To study it, just playing the game on your old-beaten up console is not enough. Try to find GYM (Genesis) SPC, (SNES) and NSF (NES) sound files and listen to them without the effects. Many of these can either be converted to plain old MIDI files or have MIDI equivalents, which makes it easier for you to make remixes of any kind (hey, who cares if you're tonedeaf anyway, right  ).Possible consoles NES: 2 channels of pulse waves, 1 triangle wave (it has this high overtone because of the bandwidth. Fake it with a bitreducer), 1 noise channel and one channel that can do PCM (samples) and other tricks. C64: SID chip, pretty advanced. Has filters and extensive modulation options. Can do samples, too, with creative hacking. 3 tracks plus a noise channel that could do some weird stuff. The C64 has a richer sound palette and a radically different way of doing sounds than the NES; not so much because the NES couldn't do C64-like stuff (check the game "Solstice" for this - I suspect the programmer wasn't unfamiliar with the C64) but because the entire culture was different. SNES: sample-playback. Just get a lo-fi sampler, 8 bits, mono, 22khz, and pick short, looping waves or extract these from SPC files (SNES sound files) and you'll be fine. However, it's hard to do convincingly, unless you use a SNES soundfont. Check the link for a funky demo and the Reason files. You know I mentioned limitations: keep your samples as small as possible. This presents yet more of a challenge as you have to keep it below 64 kb for all the samples (some games get around this by loading soundsets from the cartridge every time they need it). If you need a capable sampler, check [urlhttp://vemberaudio.se/shortcircuit.php=]Vember Audio ShortCircuit[.url]. Genesis/Megadrive: has the Master System soundchip plus a 6-voice 6-part 4-op FM synthesizer. This makes all those bright, metallic and glassy sounds. DiscoDSP Discovery or Native Instruments FM8 (just don't use the last 2 operators or the filters) will help you out. For hardware, there's the cheap-as-chips, tough-to-program but true-to-structure 8 voice 8 part 4-op FM synthesizer called the Yamaha TX81z. It's got the advantage of having more waveforms than just the sine, so you could make some 1-operator saw or square wave presets that would take up the role of the Master System sound chip. Master System: Sort of like the NES, only different. Everything newer: gently caress you, those things use CD audio. Polyphony Of course, back then that limit sucked, too, so here's how they got around it: - arpeggio - this is the typically "blippy" sound of the Commodore 64. - fast switching - this works especially well with drums. In the old age they basically switched presets (the settings) really really fast on a single track or left miniscule gaps to give the illusion of multiple instruments playing at the same time. Chorus Some sounds have this shimmering chorus effect. That's simply sacrificing 2 tracks so they play at the same time, but detune one oscillator subtly from the other. This, combined with hard left and right panning, gives you pseudo-stereo chorus. Delay This is simply repeating the same note after say, 1/8th or 3/16th note with a lower volume. Make sure that you don't overlap stuff too much; respect the track limit. Reverb This is perhaps the tricky one, but you can fake reverb-like effects by putting a sound at a high volume, then you reduce the volume to 15-20% and leave the sound playing. So you get a LOUDquiet kind of thing per note. On the Megadrive this is easier; as you reduce the modulation of the FM, the sound is more like a sinewave, so you get a free filtering-like effect thrown in with it. EQ On the NES, you could fake this with pulsewidth. The square waves offer 50%, 25% and 12.5% "duty cycles". The names "square" and "pulse" are interchangeable like "square" and "rectangle" are. As you can see here, the part of the wave that's "up" and the part that is "down" isn't equal. If they are, then it's called a "50% pulsewave", or a 50% "duty cycle". A narrow wave will sound more nasal and "thinner", so if you want to make filter or EQ-like effects, use that. Variation Don't play the melody with the same sound all the time. Vary it - like, play the chorus with a 50% pulse, play the verse with a 25% pulse. Use arpeggios to make people think more instruments are playing than actually are. Don't put everything at the same volume; many composers had classical backgrounds and the limits forced them not only to be really creative with thinking of melodies that didn't make you want to ram your head through the TV but also with dynamics. Expression Imagine a violin player; usually they at a little "trill" (vibrato) to the end of a note (not every time, because that just drives you nuts and it's unnecessary flourish). This is done by routing an LFO to the pitch, and using a delay (or automating the influence of the LFO with the modulation wheel or a knob). Just play the note and let the LFO gradually kick in. Coin/Mushroom Listen to slowed-down versions of sound effects to figure out what exactly is happening. These are little sonic artworks, short 3 or 4-tone melodies transposed up and down with volume changes, sometimes atonal. Can't catch this crap in 16th notes, no sir. Generic computer sounds These bleeps and bloops are made by putting a so-called S&H LFO routed to the pitch. This one has a randomized waveform that looks blocky and is either signified by the icon of such a blocky wave or the text "S&H" (which means "Sample and Hold"). See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsLIHfG9UwU (the first 30 seconds or so). NES sounds As you can see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NES#Audio the NES' audio hardware isn't that spectacular. The above linked YMCK plugin can do the trick nicely, but for some sounds you might want to use a sampler with a bit-crusher that reduces sample frequency to 11khz and 4 bits (resulting in typically "raw" and noisy sounds). Genesis sounds FM synthesis is not straightforward, but then again, people don't associate chiptunes or VGM with FM that much, so you can do whatever you want here; again, just keep yourself to the limits of tracks and operators. Part V -- HALP ME PLZ :science::science::sun: What bit/sample rate should I use? It doesn't matter. Technically speaking, you lose some audio fidelity when you downsample (say if you started in 48khz and bounced your mix in 44.1), but the truth is, as long as you're not using some god-awful converters nobody is going to be able to tell. Stick with whichever bit rate works the best with the gear you're using, or which reflects what you want the final bounce to be. Just remember it's going to sound crazy as poo poo if you bounce it to something other than 44.1khz/16 bit and put it on a CD. :sun: I don't have sound! You can't really do much if you're not getting any audio. Presuming your poo poo is hooked up (eg, your speakers aren't plugged into the ethernet jack), your problem is likely with your signal flow. This especially happens with new Reason users, since it has the most "manual" routing of other software. 1) Is the device on? It sound stupid, but some things you have to engage before they work (EQ's are the worst at this). You could turn knobs all you want, but unless that button to engage is is pressed, nothing will happen. Also make sure your output volume is up, some devices may start muted or start with the channel fader down. 2) Is the device I'm trying to produce sound getting input from somewhere (EG, a MIDI file or a keyboard?) I've pounded away at my keyboard wondering why I couldn't get something to work, only to discover I set it to the wrong input channel. 3) Is the device outputting it sounds anywhere? If you're sure you've got 1 and 2 down, check where your device is outputting is sound too. Anywhere? the master bus? Another channel? Make sure it's going the right direction. This is mainly an issue when dealing with Reason or outboard gear. :sun: How do I make sound XYZ If you can pull a sample of it and post it, somebody is bound to know. :sun: Where to buy poo poo online Musicians Friend Sweetwater zZounds MusicStore Thomann Nova Musik :sun: Other resources Home Computer Recording Megathread Sound on Sound techniques articles KVR Audio: Huge database on software and plugins Native Instruments Plugins The Dance Music Manual -- Book learnin' PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 10:06 on Jun 8, 2010 |
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Mar 7, 2008 01:14
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Last edit: Minor edits and clarifications. PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 10:04 on Jun 8, 2010 |
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Mar 7, 2008 01:14
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Great thread, and I'm glad someone stepped up and made one. This is pretty basic info, but absolutely critical info nevertheless. A great addition would be an in-depth mixing walkthrough with soundbites and screenshots as it seems this is what everyone gets caught up in. I know it comes with time, practice, and experience, but something more than general advice in this area would be simply amazing.
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Mar 7, 2008 01:22
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First Time Caller posted:Great thread, and I'm glad someone stepped up and made one. This is pretty basic info, but absolutely critical info nevertheless. I was thinking this, but the thing with mixing is that it's so general, it'd be hard to piece it down. Aside from telling someone how to push faders, mixing is almost all preference. How loud do I make this snare? Well gently caress if I know, how loud do you want it? Should you compress it? I don't know, what does the rest of the track sound like? That's the reason I was trying to keep it really technical. I tried to cover the EQ carve in the OP, but aside from little things like that, I'm not sure how to go about posting mixing help. edit: I was considering adding "this is what a compressor/filter/gate/whatever" does and how to use it, but that could make the post REALLY loving huge unless it's just going to cover a few devices, which I'm not certain which ones are "important" enough to add. PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Mar 7, 2008 |
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Mar 7, 2008 01:30
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A small issue with Reason: I'm trying to get all my USB MIDI stuff working right, and I have an Axiom with those little pad deals, I want to somehow use them to change which pattern is selected in Redrum. Like if I hit the first pad, it starts up pattern 1. First I tried using the remote override function, but the pads just send notes to the buttons, so every time I hit 'D2' on my keyboard it will activate pattern 1, even though the keys and the pads are on different channels. I found some deal in the MIDI chart that says CC3 controls pattern select, but I can't figure out how to get that working either. I don't know if it's supposed to toggle between all the patterns or what.
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Mar 7, 2008 05:53
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Something for Section III: Sidechaining: As soon as some pretentious kids from Paris discovered that you can apply compression to a sound triggered by the emergence of another sound, they stumbled upon probably one of the greatest production innovations of our time. Sidechain compression. Sounds quite complicated, right? It's really not. Since I'm not privy to all of your DAW situations, I'll try and describe it as conceptually as I can... The EQ is one of the most important tools a good producer/engineer has. A proper EQ job can change the entire quality of your sound, and your track. EQs also make producers more aware of how their different tracks relate to one another. It makes us realize that most of the time, multiple sounds exist in the same frequency range. The most common culprit? The bass and kick drum. ESPECIALLY in House music. When two loud sounds exist on the same frequency range, it causes master peaking. This is very bad, because it creates noise and makes your track sound like poo poo. The producers of the past would combat this by either turning down both sounds so they don't peak, or (in House's case) keeping the kick drum huge while syncopating the bass line so they never interact. This is why a lot of early House had syncopated bass lines. Nowadays, we can use a Compressor (used normally to prevent peaking on a track) to "squeeze" a track down so we can keep the volume on everything except the frequencies that peak. If you don't know how a compressor works, learn about compression first. It's much too in-depth to discuss here. If you do know how compression works, read on! All you need is a compressor that takes a key input. Your "key" track is the sound that you want to be over top of everything else in the mix. So if I were making a house tune, I'd probably make my kick track the "key". In Digital Performer, and in traditional studios, I would assign the kick to an Auxiliary send, which is basically a carbon copy of the track which doesn't make any noise in the audible mix. In your compressor, set the "Key Input" to either the track you want (if your DAW allows this) or the Aux Send for which you sent your kick track to. This compressor will now only function if a kick drum sound is present. Maximize your compression ratio and begin playing the track. Now, slowly lower the threshold until you get the desired amount of sidechaining. The sound that you've just sidechained should appear to "duck" out of the mix every time the kick drum is hit. Sidechaining isn't limited to one track, you can sidechain with the kick drum as a key input for every track if you'd like. There's no limits! Now, you don't have to necessarily turn the ratio ALL the way up every time you sidechain. Changing the ratio also affects the sound of your sidechain, but turning it up all the way ensures that you'll hear the effects of the compression. Now that you know what to listen for, it's easier to detect. Sidechaining also doesn't necessarily have to be with the kick. If there's too many high-ends going on in my mix, I will sidechain the snare drum so the tune doesn't clip every backbeat. I hope that was informational enough, let me know if there are any discrepancies with what I just wrote. That is the way I learned how to sidechain.
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Mar 7, 2008 08:10
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Kai: might want to add https://www.thomann.de and https://www.musicstore.com to the list of where to buy poo poo for us eurofags . This can be added to the starting post. I want the best but it should be cheap Yeah, you'd wonder why manufacturers then bother to make anything expensive, right? Anyway, when you are looking for anything and you're starting out or you have already some experience, specify the following:- A BUDGET IN NUMBERS OF EUROS OR DOLLARS. I cannot stress this enough; we don't know what you mean with "cheap" or "not too expensive". Give us a hard number and we'll give you a shopping list. - poo poo YOU ALREADY OWN. This saves everyone the trouble of trying to spend your cash on the gear twice. This includes any computers. - DIRECTION AND PURPOSE - Do you want to play live or just in the studio? Do you dislike computers for making music? Do you want to record guitars, drums, vocals or will you handle everything with synthesizers? Are you a guitar player and you want to make something like Radiohead, NIN, The Prodigy? "The best" does not exist. "The best in your situation" is what exists. "Professional" exists, but it's not like using Cubase will make everything magically sound better than FL Studio; in fact, if you're used to FL, your Cubase stuff may sound worse for the first few months as you're busy figuring stuff out that you already knew in FL.
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Mar 7, 2008 08:32
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Alright, I want to get started in making electronic music. This thread is perfect. I already own a macbook, so I am one step closer to achieving this goal, however that is the only piece of equipment I own. After doing a bit of looking around at stuff to buy, I stumbled upon the microKorg. I must preface this by that I have zero technical knowledge in what I am talking about, but does the microKorg have what I need to get started? I still haven't grasped what a midi controller is (to me, midi's are those really crappy polyphonic ringtones, so this is a bit confusing), but the microkorg says it is a synth/vocoder but it looks like every other midi controller I have googled. The microKorg seems to have everything I want to do but I am not sure if that is the only thing I am going to need. Also, I know that guitarist and poo poo have amps and big cabinet speakers and such, but am I able to get away with just my computer speakers or do I need an amp and all that jazz? I have some pretty alright speakers (logitech z-530s, for reference) but then again I don't want to blow them up in the process. I draw alot of inspiration from Daft Punk and the bigger trance DJs such as Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Paul van dyk, armin van buuren, etc. Typical trancetard stuff, but I digress. I essentially want to make some sweet trance music as well as gently caress around with daft punk like effects, which is why the microKorg has intrigued my interests since it has a built in vocoder. I don't want to be some huge DJ or anything I just want to make some trance beats and poo poo by myself that I will enjoy. So basically, to sum it up: What are the goon opinions on the microKorg? is it right for what I want to do? are there better alternatives for what I want to do?
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Mar 7, 2008 15:25
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So MIDI is just like the roll on a player piano, or sheet music. It's just instructions of what to do. So if you press middle C on a midi controller, that sends a signal to the computer or synth saying "make the sounds of middle c!"
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Mar 7, 2008 15:37
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ManoliIsFat posted:So MIDI is just like the roll on a player piano, or sheet music. It's just instructions of what to do. So if you press middle C on a midi controller, that sends a signal to the computer or synth saying "make the sounds of middle c!" Oh, well, I guess that is a lot simpler of an explanation than what i've been googling. Looking at all these zany devices that look like pianos to me but with all these crazy buttons is a bit intimidating.
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Mar 7, 2008 15:49
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MIDI isnt all that hard to understand. MIDI is note information, not music, its the electronic "sheet music" that tells whatever device you're plugging into what notes to play. lovely cellphone ringtones sound like that because the cell phones device sounds like poo poo, nothing to do with the actual notes themselves. If you were to take the same MIDI file and plug it into something decent it could sound incredibly different A midi controller is a device that outputs MIDI, but does not itself make sound. An integrated keyboard/synthesiser like the microkorg contains both a controller plus a synthesiser, so it can output sound, or just midi data if you wanted it to. So, potentially by wiring up devices you can do all kinds of stuff. You could use just the controller aspect of the microkorg and play another instrument remotely, using the mk. You could use just the synthesiser of the microkorg and let it BE played remotely from the midi notes your computer or another controller gives it. You dont really need an amp unless you're playing with a band or some other situation where lots of volume is totally neccisarry, in which case you can buy dedicated keyboard amps. A dilemma for you though is whether an external keyboard/hardware setup is really what you want. It has its benefits of course, but I was in the same situation of not really knowing what to get a little while back and leaning towards something like a microkorg until I found that most of the sounds I want are much easier to get, or can ONLY be got, with a computer based setup. To expand further, a couple months ago I was looking at getting a hardware synth like a microkorg to start off with. However (and this may be contentious, I dunno) I found that part of what makes electronic music sound the way it does is the very fact that it is "programmed" rather than "played". I find when I play a bassline or lead line on a synthesizer it tends to sound like absolute poo poo, until I go into the program and start doing some quantisation and stuff, then I can loop it and it takes on the familiar, machine perfect grove I asscoiate with the records I listen to. A hardware keyboard would give me the ability to play leads and basslines and pads live with a real band, but I dont want to, because none of the stuff I ever tap out with my own meat hands ever sounds as good and polished as the stuff that comes out after tweaking around with a sequencer for a bit. And you dont have the ability to chop up and play samples with a straight synthiser, you need an external sampling device for that and thats a whole nother headache. In short, I think a microkorg would be fine if you plan to play with a band and just want some synthy sounds with as little messing around as possible and dont ever intend to take a laptop to a gig. For the actual buisness of making music though its unneccissary, a straight midi controller keyboard, some soft synths and a DAW are all you need. E: Also for a the vocorder, although I'm sure there are software synths for that as well but again, its just simpler. Man vs Child posted:Oh, well, I guess that is a lot simpler of an explanation than what i've been googling. Looking at all these zany devices that look like pianos to me but with all these crazy buttons is a bit intimidating. Yeah, the buttons and knobs and stuff are just more ways out outputting information. MIDI can handle controller data as well as note data, so you can set knob Y on the keyboard so it turns up your filter/resonance/pitch/whatever. massive spider fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Mar 7, 2008 |
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Mar 7, 2008 15:56
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Man vs Child posted:midi's are those really crappy polyphonic ringtones quote:What are the goon opinions on the microKorg? is it right for what I want to do? are there better alternatives for what I want to do?
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Mar 7, 2008 16:13
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I've been looking to get my first hardware synth so the discussions about the MicroKORG and R3 are great. Any other opinions on a good first synth? (Less than $500 would be great.) I've got an old, crappy MIDI keyboard I use right now but I have to do all my synth programming via Live. It'd be nice to have actual hardware to play with if I don't want to stare at the computer screen after a long day of work.
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Mar 7, 2008 18:43
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Gary the Llama posted:I've been looking to get my first hardware synth so the discussions about the MicroKORG and R3 are great. Any other opinions on a good first synth? (Less than $500 would be great.) The Alesis Micron is really nice too, but also suffers from a lack of knobbiness. You can probably pick up better synths second hand if you scout out eBay, but if you insist on new then it's a good bet.
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Mar 7, 2008 19:21
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squidgee posted:The Alesis Micron is really nice too, but also suffers from a lack of knobbiness. You can probably pick up better synths second hand if you scout out eBay, but if you insist on new then it's a good bet. I don't mind second-hand gear, I just don't want to get screwed over since I'm a newb to hardware synths.
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Mar 7, 2008 19:26
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Kai was taken posted:Autotune and a vocoder. Autotune is what makes the pitch suddenly shoot around like a boy going through puberty. The Vocoder is what gives it a "robotic" sound. If you are vocoding a voice you don't need autotune. The pitch of the output signal will be the pitch of the vocoder's carrier wave.
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Mar 7, 2008 19:59
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Zaxxon posted:If you are vocoding a voice you don't need autotune. The pitch of the output signal will be the pitch of the vocoder's carrier wave. Yeah, I'm pretty sure Daft Punk doesn't use a vocoder and autotune at the same time. Nor does anyone. They use autotune on "One More Time" and a vocoder on almost everything else.
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Mar 7, 2008 20:26
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OP updated. Some information was trimmed because it was already stated, or to clean it up a hair. I also siren'd things that are very important to know. Also adding youtube links to the genres, and switching a few songs for ones with videos.Zaxxon posted:If you are vocoding a voice you don't need autotune. The pitch of the output signal will be the pitch of the vocoder's carrier wave. I put them in separetly for the sake if simplicity. I think it's easier to understand it if you look at it in two parts, one to modulate pitch and one to affect tone. Plus, vocoders aren't the easiest things to learn when you're just starting out, anyway. I have that article on Synthesis I wrote that I can append, but I'm not sure how I should go about the audio clips. It seems kind of suckass to have a bunch of clips on tindeck. Gary the Llama posted:I've been looking to get my first hardware synth so the discussions about the MicroKORG and R3 are great. Any other opinions on a good first synth? (Less than $500 would be great.) You could try a JP8000 if you like 90's trance. Or, just drop some money on a good MIDI controller, if you're not that worried about sound. PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Mar 7, 2008 |
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Mar 7, 2008 21:05
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I'd really appreciate any tips on using crash and splash cymbal samples. Maybe I'm using the wrong ones, but I just can't find cymbal samples that I like. They all seem to sound rigid and harsh, or thin and lifeless. I'm sure there must be some tricks to working these into your mix, any insight would be really helpful. Great thread BTW!
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Mar 7, 2008 23:44
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Gary the Llama posted:I don't mind second-hand gear, I just don't want to get screwed over since I'm a newb to hardware synths. Just something I wanted to throw out there, but if you're willing to look into a vintage synthesizer, the Roland Juno-106 is a very good first-time synth for several reasons. Yes, this is a machine that's pushing 20+ years at this point, but they tend to be quite reliable, and the few problems you may run into are well-documented and relatively easy to fix. That said, if having to deal with an absolute minimum of potential problems is a priority, going vintage may not be for you. However, if you do go for a Juno you will get something that no synthesizer on the market today can offer: basic, real ANALOG synthesis with few bells and whistles but everything you need to make great, honest analog sounds. Also, a couple sites dedicated to hardware synthesizers, for those interested (maybe we could add these to the OP?). Vintage Synth Explorer Sonic State The VSE forums especially are a great resource for getting information about, troubleshooting and even purchasing vintage synths via their classifieds section. Edit: Forgot to mention, Junos can typically be found around the $300-$400 range, so they're within your budget as well. Cyne fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Mar 8, 2008 |
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Mar 8, 2008 01:08
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Additional warning: to find out the value of a synthesizer, completely ignore anything on Vintagesynth or any other synth site, because those haven't been updated in years. Just hit eBay and the classifieds, search search search, and take a sane average.
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Mar 8, 2008 02:08
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Here's my own personal tip for everyone starting out, and it's one that I just figured out: Using Softsynths (VSTis) If you've chosen to go the softsynth route, there's something you need to remember: softsynths are instruments. Let me just repeat that: softsynths are instruments. Treat them as such. A lot of beginners (myself included) treat softsynths as nothing more than magical music generators. They'll surf through presets, find themselves annoyed that a certain free VSTi doesn't have the sounds they're looking for in its sound bank, and download a new one. Don't do this. Treat each VSTi like a hardware synthesizer that you dropped hundreds of dollars on (and if you're dealing with commercial VSTis, you may very well have spent hundreds on it). Learn the ins and outs of how to program it before you move on to a new one. The same goes for effects: learn how to use what you have before moving on. You should be treating your DAW like a real studio. Learn the ins and outs of each plugin as though it was a real piece of hardware. Play with it. Twiddle knobs. Ignore the presets, except when you're really stumped for inspiration or when you're just starting to play with a plugin and not sure what it's capable of. My personal suggestion is to start off with one nice, flexible commercial VSTi and one or two free ones, along with one of each common effect (flanger, chorus, reverb, etc). A suite that comes with these things already, like FL Studio, Logic Pro, or Reason, is an alternative to buying them piecemeal. Get to know your instruments. You'd be shocked by how much one can do with very little. Once you reach their limitations-the point when you just can't do what you want to with the plugins you have, not "I can't figure out how to make it sound good"-then buy or download some more. For an example of how flexible most softsynths are, I made a really quick (and sloppy) demo using nothing but Native Instruments FM8. The demo is nothing exquisite, since I made it specifically for this post about 10 minutes, but it should give you an idea of what's possible using one single plugin and no effects: If one can do that with just FM8, a synthesizer I'm unfamiliar with and (ironically) often have to turn to presets to use, imagine what one can do with FM8, another VSTi, and a couple of effects. Personally, I didn't come to this realization until recently, but if you avoid the pitfall of surfing through presets and downloading new plugins constantly you'll learn how to make original sounding music a lot faster than I have. Learn from my mistake: all of my preset use and abuse means that I know far less about production than I should. Don't hamstring yourself in the same way.
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Mar 8, 2008 04:17
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The Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys and Techniques by Rick Snoman is required reading for anyone getting started with electronic music. This book covers MIDI, basic music theory, synthesis, hardware and software, composition, effects, programming, recording, mixing, genre analysis, and everything else that a beginner needs to know. The book doesn't waste time with nonsense filler like genre histories or boastful artist references, it's just a very straightforward textbook. It's also full of useful tips like mastering one synthesizer before purchasing another, mixing as part of the entire song creation process, evaluating a synthesizer's quality before you buy, practical compression, and lots of other useful guidelines. Seriously, you should stop reading this post and go buy the book RIGHT NOW.
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Mar 8, 2008 09:14
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Kai was taken posted:Some controllers (like this Axiom) have other features, like buttons or knobs or pads. These can be assigned in your software to do things. For example, you can assign a knob to change a filter, or volume control, or a parameter on an EQ. +1 on the little Axiom, I think if you're going to spend any money for hardware at all you should start with one of these as a 25-key controller will always have a home in your rig and I've seen them for well under $100 on eBay. It's just much easier to press piano keys/hit drum pads/fiddle with knobs and sliders than endless mouse gestures.
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Mar 8, 2008 17:33
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Updated OP I threw in a tricks section for just general "this is how I do XYZ and you should try it" sort of ideas, since there's a lot of techniques people use. My idea is to put the "universal" techniques in the main parts (EG, carving out bass and sidechaining), and the personal or unique techniques in the tricks section. edit: I want this to be more of a community-driven collection, so if anyone things that a section should be added, or moved, or something should be changed, it's fine to post that here too. PRADA SLUT fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Mar 8, 2008 |
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Mar 8, 2008 22:25
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oval office Puncher posted:+1 on the little Axiom, I think if you're going to spend any money for hardware at all you should start with one of these as a 25-key controller will always have a home in your rig and I've seen them for well under $100 on eBay. It's just much easier to press piano keys/hit drum pads/fiddle with knobs and sliders than endless mouse gestures. Most definatly! I've always been a knobs and buttons person and vastly prefer having the hands on control of an external controller. Especially when it comes to real time manipulation of sounds (tweaking the knobs and sliders), the mouse is a far inferior tool. On a side note, I'm getting a Roland 505 groovebox next week, followed by a new Dell XPS laptop for music production, probably with a Novation NIO soundcard to interface it all. WEEEEEE!!!!
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Mar 10, 2008 00:51
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squidgee posted:Here's my own personal tip for everyone starting out, and it's one that I just figured out: I highly recommend that anyone just starting out go the software/softsynth route. Save the hardware for when you're a baller. Keeping a lot of it in the computer means you just have to buy midi controller and small, 2-4 channel audio interfaces. Software is much easier to learn because it uses the paradigms of normal windows/mac software that you have been learning since you started to use a computer: hardware interfaces are arcane and difficult. Software has tons of flexibility: download new presets, plugins, etc. You get all the built in functionality of windows and macs (copy and paste, etc.) You get to use a huge, high resolution color screen that you interact with using a mouse and keyboard shortcuts, instead of a tiny dot matrix LED that you click through with buttons. It really is the best way to go starting out. I was banging my head in frustration trying to learn how to use my hardware in a meaningful way: once I switched to Ableton and Reason, everything became much, much, much nicer. It was like getting my car out of a muddy ditch. That being said, when you do go the software route, treat it with respect and care, the way the nice man that I am quoting says to.
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Mar 10, 2008 21:38
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I have a pretty good laptop (XPS M1530) and I am looking into buying an M-Audio Axiom 49-key. I am not currently having problems running Ableton Live (caps out at 35% cpu usage while running the demo tracks), but I keep hearing about needing special gear for using midi controllers and stuff, like the interface in the post above mine. According to guitarcenter.com, the Axiom has a USB interface to begin with. Am I still going to need another piece of equipment (other than speakers), or will my laptop alone be good enough, so long as it's able to run the program? signalnoise fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Mar 10, 2008 |
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Mar 10, 2008 23:33
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I have an Axiom 49. I just plugged it in over USB, then did some configuration in Ableton, and I was set to go.* The Axiom also has a MIDI-out port (and a MIDI-in, for daisy chaining), but you need to buy a power adapter separately if you want to use that, since under normal circumstances the Axiom gets its power from USB directly. I think the MIDI ports are intended for setups that don't involve computers/USB. Apparently there's a common standard MIDI protocol for USB, and if the device knows that protocol, then your OSX/XP computer can talk to it without a hitch, and without needing to install any drivers. The Axiom series knows this protocol. *I also did some knob assignments and that sort of thing, but the in-software guide is helpful for doing this. Progressive JPEG fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Mar 11, 2008 |
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Mar 11, 2008 00:47
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This is a crosspost from my own thread (should I close it?). Anyway, this here is my first song ever, made in Reason:  Please tell me what you think about it.
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Mar 11, 2008 06:26
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Altoidss posted:This is a crosspost from my own thread (should I close it?). That was terrible. It sounded like it was downmixed in mono. Musically it sounded fine (like the arrangement, although the kick intro is really cliché), but technically it needs a hell of a lot of work. Namely stereo separation is my biggest issue, the chimes arps sounded really cheesey, and the drums are waaaay too stock. The main saws aren't too bad, but I'd throw some EQ over everything to enhance the elements. Clean it up and reupload it.
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Mar 11, 2008 08:37
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Can i recommend Digital Village (https://www.dv247.com) for those who wish to buy gear in the UK. I've used them many times, and have had nothing but positive experiences. There's also Turnkey (https://www.turnkey.co.uk), who are pretty well known and popular, but I've had very mixed experiences with them. They're extremely quick to sell you stuff, but god forbid you should try and return something. I tried to replace a faulty Presonus audio interface the day after i'd purchased it and they got very lovely with me....i had to go in with all guns blazing, spouting off stuff about statutory rights before they grundgingly swapped it.
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Mar 11, 2008 11:11
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I'd like to get into live PAing and am working up some tracks in Live on my laptop, but I'm currently stuck with my lovely onboard sound. I know I need a good audio interface/sound card thing, but don't want to really go too overboard before I know this is something I want to invest a lot into, as opposed to just creating tracks for fun. My question is whether it'd be better to drop $300 on something like a Presonus Firebox or FA-66 or go a lot cheaper with some USB/PCMCIA thing with less in/out ports. Does a live PA set really need a ton of in/out or can I get away with 2 outs (one main, one for cuing)? I assume getting a good audio interface help me reduce latency, but will spending $200 more really have that noticeable of an effect? Right now I'm getting enough that it feels like I'm tweaking the MIDI controller through a sheet of rubber. Also, would any veterens care to share their workflow, so I can get some ideas on how it's done, or maybe some tips on being more efficient? Right now I sequence drums and tweak synths in Reason, bring the drums in as audio clips and then sequence the rewired synths and do the final composition there and play with envelopes there. I'm still sort of new with Live, so everything still feels clumsy, but I prefer it over laying out tracks in Reason. Army of meat fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Mar 11, 2008 |
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Mar 11, 2008 20:38
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Kai was taken posted:That was terrible. It sounded like it was downmixed in mono. Musically it sounded fine (like the arrangement, although the kick intro is really cliché), but technically it needs a hell of a lot of work. Namely stereo separation is my biggest issue, the chimes arps sounded really cheesey, and the drums are waaaay too stock. The main saws aren't too bad, but I'd throw some EQ over everything to enhance the elements. I don't know how. That is the extent of my abilities. The only drums I have are these 909 samples, and I don't know where to get new ones. I don't know what you mean by stereo separation, I don't know what I would do to make the arpeggio less cheesy, and I have no idea what I would do with any EQ. I mean, I'm looking for this kind of thing because I want to know how to clean it up, I just don't know what to do with it right now.
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Mar 11, 2008 22:28
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Can anyone recommend some free/cheapish VSTis? I'm just moving over from using Logic to Reaper, I have got Crystal, but Reaper really lacks any decent synths at all. Any are useful, I'm looking for a subtractive, an additive, and a sampler/drum machine mainly, but a good FM or granular synth would be appreciated too 
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Mar 11, 2008 22:32
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Stux posted:Can anyone recommend some free/cheapish VSTis? Get this: http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=koreplayer and this: http://www.yellowtools.us/cp21/cms/index.php?id=842 and this: http://vemberaudio.se/shortcircuit.php and this: http://www.geocities.jp/daichi1969/softsynth/ and this: http://www.bostreammail.net/ers/polyiblit.html Altoidss posted:This is a crosspost from my own thread (should I close it?). No, I'd just keep your music in your own thread, unless you have very specific questions, fragments, and screenshots of how you have handled it currently and what you want to achieve. Enhances the educational value of things .
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Mar 11, 2008 23:21
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Yoozer posted:Get this: http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=koreplayer Those look awesome thanks! The only thing is though I cant work out what the hell the koreplayer does (I havnt downloaded it yet)?
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Mar 11, 2008 23:32
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It's basically similar to Arturia's "Analog Factory" - e.g. lots of synths under the hood, but very limited ways to access them.
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Mar 12, 2008 00:23
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Altoidss posted:I don't know how. That is the extent of my abilities. There's nothing wrong with it sounding bad, everyone's early songs suck pretty hard. As long as you recognize where you're falling short and can improve on it, that's what's important. Stereo separation is to wiiiiiiiiiden the stereo field. Panning is one way of accomplishing this, as well as using stereo effects. If you're rolling with reason, stereo effects have two outputs, while mono effects have just one. Generally speaking, you should keep things out of the dead center, except for your kick and your bass. Of course, it's open for interpretation exactly where things should lie, but just moving them around a little should give you a decent starting point. The arpeggio sounds cheesey like it's just stock from an 80's synth. Honestly, I'd replace it altogether with a different sound, but if you're married to it, it needs some strong EQ. You can buy 909 samples nearly everywhere. I'm sure you can even find decent ones for free if you search around. The "stock" 909 isn't used much anymore (it is, like the kicks, but almost always heavily modified or layered to mask the "stock" sound), it was so overdone in the 90's that it's a pretty big faux pas to use it dry.
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Mar 12, 2008 05:33
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 15:10 |
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Kai was taken posted:You can buy 909 samples nearly everywhere. I'm sure you can even find decent ones for free if you search around. The "stock" 909 isn't used much anymore (it is, like the kicks, but almost always heavily modified or layered to mask the "stock" sound), it was so overdone in the 90's that it's a pretty big faux pas to use it dry. Where? I have no clue how to get new drum samples, and I certainly can't afford to buy them at the moment. But I'll try your suggestions out tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep.
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Mar 12, 2008 05:53
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