Music Software

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Re: Music Software

Postby BAD » Sat Nov 10, 2007 12:54 pm

Did someone say free? :D
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Re: Music Software

Postby D'Lanor » Wed Dec 05, 2007 2:14 pm

Kiril wrote:No matter what software you buy you're going to need some kind of midi keyboard to play notes and such.

That is a matter of personal preference. I started by recording midi using a midi keyboard but nowadays I just write the notes directly into Cubase. Not in music notation but by drawing lines of the desired length (time) alongside the little keyboard onscreen. See the Key Editor screenshot on this page.

I see that people are mentioning audio editing software like Audacity. That will surely come in handy in the final mixdown stage but in order to compose music you will in the first place need midi sequencing software. The next step is hooking up virtual instruments (software synthesizers) to your midi recordings.

For a long time I was content with the basic softsynth that came with my soundcard. Often I even used the default Microsoft synthesizer within Windows. :o That is, until I started playing with professional software synths... And it was amazing how much better that sounded!

I recommend getting a midi sequencer that supports softsynths. Softsynths come in the flavors VST, DX or RTAS(mac). Since I have Cubase as sequencer I am using VST. You can get softsynths that emulate real instruments or others that are spacy, atmospheric or just plain weird. This way you can add many colors to your sound palette. Some of these are expensive but there are also good free instruments. For example the Free Alpha from Linplug which is a very good starter synth.
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Re: Music Software

Postby Kiril » Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:29 pm

D'Lanor wrote:
Kiril wrote:No matter what software you buy you're going to need some kind of midi keyboard to play notes and such.

That is a matter of personal preference. I started by recording midi using a midi keyboard but nowadays I just write the notes directly into Cubase. Not in music notation but by drawing lines of the desired length (time) alongside the little keyboard onscreen. See the Key Editor screenshot on this page.


I have Cubase also, but prefer Pro Tools. However, that is a tedious way, IMO, to write your music. I used to use Cakewalk and would use the score page to write out my ideas, then have the midi play it back. But, I find using a midi controller of some kind makes the process a whole lot faster, and I concentrate on creating the music I want instead of worrying about drawing the lines the right length! I've also been known to type in a sequence line by line in midi sequence mode...back in the day!


For a long time I was content with the basic softsynth that came with my soundcard. Often I even used the default Microsoft synthesizer within Windows. :o That is, until I started playing with professional software synths... And it was amazing how much better that sounded!

I recommend getting a midi sequencer that supports softsynths. Softsynths come in the flavors VST, DX or RTAS(mac).


RTAS isn't just for a mac. I use RTAS soft-synths with my Pro Tools on my XP system. Love 'em!

Since I have Cubase as sequencer I am using VST. You can get softsynths that emulate real instruments or others that are spacy, atmospheric or just plain weird. This way you can add many colors to your sound palette. Some of these are expensive but there are also good free instruments. For example the Free Alpha from Linplug which is a very good starter synth.


Speaking of freebies, if one goes the Pro Tools route, the package comes with several free soft-synths, including Reason Adapted 3.0 and Xpand, (among others) which is a really great soft-synth with nearly 1,000 sounds and loops to work with, as well as some arps, and you can layer up to 4 voices at a time. Not bad for a freebie!
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Re: Music Software

Postby D'Lanor » Wed Dec 05, 2007 4:03 pm

Well, I am a guitarist. That is why I can't do much with a midi keyboard. I ended up correcting nearly all the notes I played so it was easier to draw them from scratch.

Hmm, a freebie that you get with a commercial product does not really count, does it?

I think we need to add more links to true freebies. There are plenty of free softsynts, but free midi hosts with plugin support are not so easy to find. So far I found Reaper, which is actually shareware but according to the makers uncrippled and unexpiring.

Then there is MU.Lab which looks promising and has just entered open beta stage.
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Re: Music Software

Postby Kiril » Wed Dec 05, 2007 7:28 pm

Most of the free plug-in soft-synths, I find, are VST format, which will work in Cubase, but not Pro Tools, which is RTAS. And, yes, there's lots of good free stuff out there, but I like having the product support, updates, and all that comes with something I buy. Truth is, I love Pro Tools. The more I use it, the more I really appreciate all it can do.
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Re: Music Software

Postby ghostwriter » Sat Dec 08, 2007 9:21 am

If you're a student, there is an academic kit for Pro-Tools available for under $200 (when I bought mine last March). Here's the link: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/P ... -main.html.

You will need hardware from M-Audio for it to work. The cheapest is FireWireSolo (couple of hundred$), but you get what you pay for! The pre-amps aren't the greatest, so I bought a Mackie console and routed it through the M-Audio. That way, so I get the cheapest version of PT plus decent pre-amps.
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Re: Music Software

Postby Jojon » Sun Dec 09, 2007 6:51 am

I just thought I'd mention that anybody who is really pennywise and has more the mind of a coder that of a musician, might want to have look at a "tracker" type program, before going all serious and checking out the fancy sequencers. For all their limitations, they provide a simple and fast interface, which a technical minded person gets to grips with in no time. Basically you have a "piano roll", like in a sequencer, but this one is vertical and notes are not identified by location, but textual tone-octave tokens, such as "C-3" or "A#4", arranged in columns, each containing also a number signifying which instrument the note plays on and one or more additional commands, such as velocity (how hard you strike the key), pitch bends and so on.
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Re: Music Software

Postby Nadnerb » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:58 pm

Jojon wrote:[...]might want to have look at a "tracker" type program[...]
Cool, do you think you could provide a link to such a program, as an example? Is this about what you're talking about?
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Re: Music Software

Postby Jojon » Mon Dec 10, 2007 10:58 pm

Nadnerb wrote:
Jojon wrote:[...]might want to have look at a "tracker" type program[...]
Cool, do you think you could provide a link to such a program, as an example? Is this about what you're talking about?

Yes, it looks lke it. I know that it was very lame of me, not to include any links with my post -- the reason is that I am one of the last few holdouts, still using Amiga computers and I have no idea whatsoever, what's available on other platforms. There is a Windows version of the software I am using; MED Soundstudio, but I can not vouch for its quality -- apparently it's not up to par with the original and it is not freeware (the ceased-development original is nowdays, though). You could try out the trial version of it, however and see how you like the tracker interface style. Typical, erhm, early-web-my-first-ever-design-yay-looking homepage:
http://www.medsoundstudio.co.uk/
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Re: Music Software

Postby Topher » Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:59 pm

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!
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