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| breathe |
 Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:31 pm |
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Joined: 19 Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Location: Oslo / Norway
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I would like to create electronic music.
I am a dummy, i don t know how to use a piano, what is a piano?
But i have good taste: I love house, techno, rock, roll.
I have a mac g5, a friendly mouse and a screen.
Do you have any advices on how to start?
Shall i buy myself a used synth?
Shall I use a programm to create music?
Shall i use a drum machine? Shall I use a sampler?
Shall i throw away my mac and start piano lessons instead?
I am a beginner.
Thanxxx |
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| velocipede |
| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:12 am |
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Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 94
Location: Takarazuka, Japan
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Start with Garageband. Check out demos of Reason, Cubase, Live, Logic. If you want to learn to play a keyboard, then by all means get one. These days lots of hardware comes bundled with lite versions of software too.
If I were to recommend one purchase, I think it would be the Novation Xiosynth because it comes with some software, a built in synth, and you can use it to record other instruments if you ever want to do that. |
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| velocipede |
| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:17 am |
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Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 94
Location: Takarazuka, Japan
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| Sorry. The Xiosynth does not seem to include any software, so it may not be the best choice. Do you have an overall budget? |
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| breathe |
| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:34 am |
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Joined: 19 Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Location: Oslo / Norway
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Hello Velocipede, Thank you for your answer.
Do you compose electronic music yourself? if yes which software do you personally use?
Do youi have any samples available of your music?
If i had to buy a synth, i think 60,000/90,000 Japanese yen would be the max.
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| velocipede |
| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:30 am |
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Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 94
Location: Takarazuka, Japan
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Yes, I have been making "electronic" music for a few years, but I'm still not sharing. I still haven't completed anything that I want to make public. Thanks for asking.
I went from Cubase VST (on Mac OS9) to Reason, then Live, Numerology and Logic. They are all good programs with different strengths.
If you have 60-90,000 yen budget, then you can do a lot, I think. First, demo lots of software. I would start with Reason because it is very visual. You can learn a lot by demoing software and learn about what you like and dislike. Second, think seriously about whether you want to be able to play a keyboard or not. Personally, I think playing is 90% of the fun. Some people make good music just with a mouse, though.
There is a great blog post about all the budget synths on this site. Search for Xiosynth on the blog page and you should hit it. Personally, I would recommend a new unit that has USB for computer interfacing. |
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| inasilentway |
| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:05 pm |
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Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 46
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| If you don't know how to play anything yet, then spending money is a bad idea. Since you've got a Mac, fire up Garageband. You can begin to put together music using their loop library and built-iin effects, and it's tons of fun. |
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| ganjjjj |
| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:13 pm |
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Joined: 17 Apr 2006
Posts: 14
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I would recommend the Radium or the cheapest Evolution keyboard. They are 2 very good MIDI controllers that come with built in MIDI>USB interfaces so they're good to go right away. I have the Radium 49 and freaking LOVE it, the knobs and faders are so helpful and the key action is very springy. You can find either for $150 or less.
That is of course if you decide you want to buy a keyboard. That is really all you need though, a cheap keyboard, garageband, or any other DAW of your choice. I used garageband for a while when I switched to mac because its so intuitive and surprisingly powerful. Also I should mention that Garageband, and it seems like lots of other programs these days, have the option to let you use your computer keyboard as a MIDI controller. This works alright I guess, especially if you dont play the piano anyways... BUT....
Personally as someone who has taken years and years of piano lessons thats probably what will serve you best in the long run. Either way you're gonna be teaching yourself a lot of the digital aspect to what you're doing, so you might as well have some real heat on your instrument to work with. |
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| velocipede |
| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:17 pm |
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Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 94
Location: Takarazuka, Japan
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| An inexpensive midi keyboard controller and Garageband is definitely a good, inexpensive way to start. A used synth could be a recipe for frustration. I definitely think that playing a keyboard, even if you have never had a lesson, is more enjoyable and effective than just mousing. You won't know what is right for you until you try... |
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| breathe |
| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:37 am |
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Joined: 19 Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Location: Oslo / Norway
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Thank you all for your advices. i found them really interesting. I think i should test several synth and let my fingers have fun. I would like to keep things simple: is it enough with a program, a synth and headphones? Shall i buy speakers?
About Reason: Is there a sound library available in Reason?
PS: If you have any electronic music samples available that you created on your machine keep me posted, please let me know which program, synth... you used.  |
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| erik_hz |
| Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:46 pm |
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Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Between Bacon&Bass, BayAreaa
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| Reason comes with a rather robust sound library, and there are tons more sounds at your disposal all over the internet. I think that if there was one thing that I wish someone had told me at the very beginning of my Reason experience, it would be too abandon all presets from the get go, and do what you can to make your own sounds, then use reason to help you create music with your sounds. There are way too many people using Reason, or that have used it in the past to make music for commercials etc. that the factory sounds are extremely overused. It is a powerful program, the sooner you can harness that power the better. Get a good Drum Kit built, make a few quality patterns that you enjoy, or think fit the type of music that you hope to make, then get a solid template built that you can start with every time you start up the program. This way you will have something that is unique to you as an artist to start with. I hope you understand what I mean by this! Its a great way to separate yourself from many users right away! I would take the most time figuring out the drums, do your research, email an artist that you think is really great if you can, and find out what it takes to make your music quality and original from the get-go and you will be doing great in no time. |
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| breathe |
| Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:33 am |
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Joined: 19 Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Location: Oslo / Norway
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Hello Erik,
Thank you very much for your advices. About Reason: i checked the site and also checked abbleton´s Live.
About the drum kit: you meant Reason´s, right? Not an external one?
Thank you also for the link to your site. |
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| erik_hz |
| Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:35 pm |
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Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Between Bacon&Bass, BayAreaa
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| No problem, I'm glad you enjoy the site. About the drum kit, I mean the one in reason, but what I think you need to do, is really get the drum sounds to be something that satisfies your ears completely. Like when you listen to a a favorite record and you hear only the drums, it should be of similar sounding quality to your ear. Mind you this is not an easy thing to accomplish, and I'm sure your that your taste will change the more you work with the program. I think that if you really concentrate on finding a great sounding kick, snare, tom, and the high hats. And then sticking to them you will progress much faster than if you try to do all of that each time. Think of it as buying a real set of drums... or a drum machine. You are stuck with them, just like most people who have made great music have been stuck with their one set of drums. The Idea is to limit the time spent browsing for samples so yo can get to making some actual music. |
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| breathe |
| Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 5:45 am |
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Joined: 19 Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Location: Oslo / Norway
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Hello Erik,
I will try Reason. I downloaded Live as well but so far... i found it ultra complex compare to Garageband. I managed to hear a mp3 file only after 2 hours. It looks like a software for pro. I found no library sounds on the library. Maybe it is better for me to play with Garageband and a used synth. |
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| PeterKirn |
| Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 9:58 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 03 Feb 2006
Posts: 822
Location: New York, NY
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I'd say stick with GarageBand if you're happy with it! It's really software you can grow with if you like the interface.
There are lots of included sounds with Live 6; they're just not all included in the downloadable demo. There's also lots of additional available sounds / tracks / presets from other sources, many free or cheap. But if GarageBand is working with you, it's totally fine to put your energy into that. |
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| breathe |
| Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 4:54 am |
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Joined: 19 Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Location: Oslo / Norway
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| thank you for the answer and also for this great site PeterKirn. |
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