tillypope 1 Posted March 6, 2014 (edited) So after listening to some of the music on here I have been completely blown away. There are so many talented musicians here it's incredible. I just have a quick question for you guys, how do you make such great music?!?! Obviously you're all talented, and know about music theory, but I doubt that you all have kettle drums, harps, pianos, and other instruments just kicking around. I play some guitar and read tablature fine. I used to play a little trumpet so I'm familiar with the music scale...it's just been well over 15 years and now I think in tablature and not proper theory. I have a few ideas of some tunes I'd like to make for songs but don't really know where to start. That's where you all come in! What software do you use for composing your tracks? Are there any good tutorials for it that I could check out to try to get a feel for it before I buy? Would you say that the software you use is pretty friendly for someone who is into music but has never used any composition software? Would you recommend your software or do you love it like your cantankerous in-laws, wherein you suffer through the flaws? Anyway let me know, any input is greatly appreciated! Thanks! *Edit* I did see the software topic already posted but I'm hoping for more of your personal opinions on the software available Edited March 6, 2014 by tillypope Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jonnie91 1,149 Posted March 6, 2014 The software I personally use the majority of the time is Reaper if you enjoy a clean interface with nothing to big bulky and have no need for bundled software and instruments than I can't give Reaper enough praise. The pricing for Reaper is incredibly cheap as well. However, it lacks a few bits and bobs, and when you are getting to the point where you are composing an awfully large amount of things at once, I have found that Reaper starts to struggle abit. If you are very inexperience and are wanting just to fool about abit with music creations I'd thuroughly recommend Magix Music Maker, another sound bit of software which is bundled with "Soundpools" that you can use for quick composition. It's got it's uses but if you wanna start using effects it is useless, as it doesn't like Effects VST instruments. The popular DAW of choice from many composers that I know is something called FL Studio, short for Fruity Loops Studio, I don't mind FL Studio myself, but I'm too used to Reaper's interface, so keep jumping back there When it comes to instrumentation I must recomend Kontakt! Hands down if you ever wanna take composition seriously then Kontakt is what you want, many Sample Libraries use the Kontakt Player and it's relatively good if you're on a budget. If you are on an even tighter budget (as in NO MONEY) then I would also suggest using some of the resources from DSK Music, they have some good basic instruments and they can tide you over until you can afford to get yourself more resources. The thing with music is it all depends on what you wanna do with it if you wanna fiddle around abit and have abit of fun the something like Magix Music Maker is good just to start you off, follow that on with Reaper (which is my DAW of choice up until recently) then you'll be able to do alot with these tools There are so many DAW software and also some Scoring software which works handy too it really depends on what direction you wanna go to With regards to tutorials, ehh they are harder to come by it depends on what software you wanna use, youtube is a great source for tutorials I used to use it alot to start me off on Reaper, there are other resources that are around to if don't mind sinking abit of money into learning... I shall let you digest that lot, and I can go into more and more detail if you'd like, cause I basically could write an essay on DAW and VST instruments that are amazing these days there is so much to choose from and the list just doesn't stop Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tillypope 1 Posted March 9, 2014 Thanks! That's exactly the info I was hoping for. I'll have to start playing around with stuff. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
geluf 38 Posted March 19, 2014 Seconding Kontakt. As a sampler it is second to none. I couldn't do my job without it. The DAW I use most often is Cubase, but it's rather pricey. Jonnie is spot-on about Reaper. Great tool for the cost! As for sample libraries and getting sounds, there are so, so many. All I can really do is tell you what I personally use: ProjectSam's Symphobia 1,2 and Lumina (for orchestra samples), Truestrike (for percussion), and the native sounds that come with Kontakt for more synth type stuff. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DorkLord 2 Posted March 22, 2014 I use a combination of FL Studio and Sony Acid for my music. I use FL to create the music and Acid more for simple stuff like trimming, fading, etc. Audacity works in that aspect as well. The basic instruments, samples and generators that FL comes with are okay but you should get some good sample collections, "romplers" or other instrument VSTs to really make your music shine. If you want to create old school type stuff or chiptunes you can do so easily with "soundfonts" or VSTs. There is one VST in particular called MagicNES that emulates the NES's original soundboard chipset. There are usually sales or discount codes you can find for FL. Around the holidays is when you're likely to find FL Studio on sale for a full 25-50% off, which is totally worth it as it comes with free updates for life. I've been using FL Studio since it was Fruity Loops 3 before Kellogs got pissed at them for using their cereal name for their music software because Kellogs claimed they had released games and music under their brand name. True story. Here's one my recent-ish songs: You can check out more of my stuff here: http://www.soundcloud.com/djcolletta 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carfie 21 Posted March 24, 2014 FL-Studio with a bunch of VST's. Got one template that I like to use to keep everything the same style. Been doing this for about 2 years by now and it feels really good that I found my style after searching for it for about... well almost 20 years. Got a topic in The Music Room called 8bit awesomeness. Give it a try, I promise that it wont disappoint you . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ketren 6 Posted March 26, 2014 (edited) Question- what does DAW stand for? Read the pinned thread on music software and answered my own question. Edited March 26, 2014 by Ketren Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
carfie 21 Posted May 3, 2014 (edited) DAW - Digital Audio Workstation. It saves me TONS of space in my small man cave. -Edit: read to fast, I see that you already found it . Edited May 3, 2014 by carfie Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
