Music Software

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Re: Music Software

Postby Kiril » Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:52 pm

Topher wrote:OK, I read a review http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2223125,00.asp about some different software recently which did not include ProTools. Since I'm starting out, do you think one of these programs (MAGIX sounded like the best of these three to me) would be better than ProTools in terms of simplicity of use? ProTools and all the accompanying M-audio stuff sounds like it is geared more towards recording live music to incorporate with synthesized sounds, and also sounds like it's going to have too steep of a learning curve. I won't be doing much live recording other than vocals and maybe my trumpet here and there. Am I on the right track here? It just seems superfluous to be purchasing amps and the m-box and whatever else if I'm really only going to be entering music by MIDI keyboard and editing it later. More important to me is a set of high-quality instrument samples to work with.

Speaking of MIDI keyboards, does anyone have any suggestions? I want to get one that can emulate an actual piano as well as be used for recording digital music.

Thanks for everyone's contributions to this thread, your advice is a great help!


Hi Topher,

A couple of general comments on Pro Tools. I use PT LE 7.4. It does everything. It is not just for live audio. It does midi recording fabulously. Further, you can insert soft-synth plug-ins in RTAS format that add a powerful range of sounds at your disposal...including some pianos! Out of the box it comes with Xpand, which is a fabulous and easy to use soft-synth with nearly 1,000+ sounds on it. You can layer and arpeggiate up to four at a time AND you can have several instatiations of the program on different tracks! You also get Reason Adapted 3.0 using Re-Wire, which adds another arsenal of synths and sounds, including rhythms of all sorts, to your set-up. And then there are others included in the box as well. If you're not familiar with what soft-synths are, you're in for a real treat. For modest cost you can have unbelievable sound creation possibilities. So no matter what DAW you end up with, make sure you can insert soft-synths AND effects plugins (reverb, delay, EQ and other effects). Most of these are either RTAS or VST format. PT uses the RTAS format. Cubase and some others use VST. Some soft-synths and plugins come in both formats.

Yes, there is a steep learning curve with PT, but I find its well worth the effort because of all you can do.

As for your piano keyboard question, I guess part of the answer is that it depends on what you want to do. Any MIDI keyboard can serve as a basic controller for PT, however, the M-Audio boards can add additional MIDI controll features that others can't, but I don't find that to be too limiting. Do you want a full 88 keys? Do you want them weighted to feel more like real piano? Do you want a full range of synth programmability? What price range are looking in? there's so many good boards out there.

I'd also suggest you visit the digidesign website and view the digitv tutorials you can find there. Especially see the accelerated videos with Phil Jackson (the bald guy with the british accent) that explains various ways of using PT for re-mixes, the AIR plug-in instruments, and elastic time...which is amazing! For the money, I think PT is very powerful!
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Re: Music Software

Postby Topher » Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:29 pm

I'm looking for a full board with 88 weighted keys. I don't mind so much whether the board itself has different sounds on it, so long as I can use it as a MIDI controller to that effect.

So suppose I do go with PT. What is the absolute minimum required additional hardware to use it, assuming I also find a MIDI controller keyboard? Some kind of interface between the keyboard and the computer? Would a microphone also plug into this interface? Is this interface what people refer to when they say Mbox? So much to figure out ...
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Re: Music Software

Postby Pryftan » Thu Dec 13, 2007 7:28 pm

The MBox takes any standard quarter inch TRS input, as well as XLR for microphones, and feeds it into your computer through USB. You can purchase it with Pro Tools or seperately.
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Re: Music Software

Postby Kiril » Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:08 am

Topher wrote:I'm looking for a full board with 88 weighted keys. I don't mind so much whether the board itself has different sounds on it, so long as I can use it as a MIDI controller to that effect.

So suppose I do go with PT. What is the absolute minimum required additional hardware to use it, assuming I also find a MIDI controller keyboard? Some kind of interface between the keyboard and the computer? Would a microphone also plug into this interface? Is this interface what people refer to when they say Mbox? So much to figure out ...


I'd suggest you look at the Pro tools MBox 2 Mini. It comes with everything you need to interface to your computer. you have standard 1/4" inputs which you plug in directly from any sound source AND one of the input channels has an XLR mic input as well. It has phantom power, -20db pad option and a mix for play back and record monitoring. Also, there's stereo 1/4" outputs to route the audio output from PT to whatever speakers you wish and/or a stereo headphone jack on the front with volume control. The box comes with PT, XPand, and several other plugin effects and soft-synths to get you started.

Any midi controller will work, but if you want full functionality, you might take a look at the M-Audio Keystation Pro-88
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/KeystationPro88-main.html. It integrates fully with PT. I've not used it personally, but have been told it works really well with PT. And with all the soft synths available, you can find a plethora of pianos, both acoustic and electric to work with and keep you happy.
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Re: Music Software

Postby Topher » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:59 pm

I've seen it mentioned in several posts here that Reason 3.0 is included with PT, apparently as a soft synth producer. Is Reason 4.0 a full-blown DAW? From what I've read it seems like it would be sufficient for my purposes, but I could easily be missing something somewhere along the way. I guess what I'm really asking is: does anyone out there have Reason 4.0 and is it sufficient (in conjunction with a keyboard with built-in MIDI interface) to produce music like you might hear in a Myst game?

Thanks in advance
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Re: Music Software

Postby Pryftan » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:13 pm

Reason 4 is just Reason 3 with more sounds. You can use it to make great sounding stuff, as long as it's 100% composed of (multiple tracks of) midi data run through synthesizers/samplers. You can't use it to record say, guitar, and add it to your piece. If you have no need of that then it'll be fine for your purposes.
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Re: Music Software

Postby ghostwriter » Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:29 am

Topher,

Re weighted keyboards: I purchased an M-Audio Axiom 66. To get all 66 keys, you need to use the octave transpose up/down control; it actually only has 3 octaves of keys. It was about $350 (2006). It has a USB connection, which means it's easily transportable between computers, and plug-and-play. The keys really simulate piano keys quite nicely.

I ended up buying a separate 12-volt power supply because it never seemed to be getting enough electricity via the USB port. Other than that, I've been very satisfied. There's a smaller model available (an octave and a half, I believe) that looked too cramped for a serious piano player, but would do if you're using it just for composing.
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