I want to start making electronic music. Where do I start? - General

[QUOTE=Sporkfire;27757009]What gives you that impression? Don't worry I still like you though even you don't like me :) <3 I'd actually really like to see some how-to tutorials on amateur music production.[/QUOTE] Oh no, I do you like you You're kind of like me, an effective troll. Well not really anymore, but a while ago [editline]31st January 2011[/editline] There is just a very fine line between "fucking stupid" and "master troll" in terms of the things you say. However you've successfully trolled the fuck out of the metal population of FP without them even figuring it out, so that's something worth admiring. Have a friendly, maybe we can be buddies

If I were you, I would use Reason, because it has tons of decent sounds that comes with it. Better than the defaults of most other DAWs. This way you wont need to get any VSTs for a while. I personally use Ableton Live though.

If I were you, I would use Reason, because it has tons of decent sounds that comes with it. Better than the defaults of most other DAWs. This way you wont need to get any VSTs for a while. [editline]31st January 2011[/editline] Aw fuck, ninja'd!

[QUOTE=ChrisDom;27714458]It's also fairly more complex than FL studio.[/QUOTE] No, I learned the basics of FL in a few days and switched over to Ableton with little pain. [editline]31st January 2011[/editline] Ableton users represent! [img]http://www.cokemachineglow.com/images/8138.png[/img]

[QUOTE=ChrisDom;27714458]It's also fairly more complex than FL studio.[/QUOTE] Well, I did learn the basics of FL in a few days and switched over to Ableton with little injury.

[QUOTE=Sporkfire;27764688]fruity loops does seem to be the best option though. I'm new too and the only program so far I've been able to grasp is FL. It's basically the sequencer that makes it much easier than everything else. Just press the steps you want to play and there you go, when I look at the UI for ableton I just DURP. I'm sure it's not that overwhelming in reality, but when you're new it pretty much is. I wonder what kmart squirrel uses..[/QUOTE] Cubase 5. It looks more complicated just because there are a lot of buttons, but it's honestly simpler than FL. The workflow is way faster for me too. If it's the interface that you're finding daunting you should definitely find some basics tutorials somewhere, all the popular DAWs have them floating around. Honestly the best advice I can give is to just pick a DAW and make music. Choosing a DAW is nothing more than a workflow choice (unless you're using something without VST or audi recording support or one of those fisher-price-music-by-numbers-drop-the-loops-together DAWs). When you are a beginner you're not going to be able to make educated decisions about the workflow differences between different DAWs because you won't know the way you prefer to work, so spending time worrying about that is pointless. You can always make a switch later (which is what I did, FL for a year and then moved to Cubase), because switching DAWs isn't that bad once you know what you're doing (it just becomes a week or two long game of "where the fuck is that button?") The important thing is to start learning and keep practicing. Youtube tutorials are good for learning the technical side of things and learning your way around your DAW, but once you start to feel comfortable with your tools nothing beats experimentation. I still learn something every time I write a track.

i use cubase because fl studio's audio capabilities are practically zero

Keyboard, computer, FL Studio. Then when you get more of a taste of piano virtuoso, get a better program than FL Studio.

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;27768984]Cubase 5. It looks more complicated just because there are a lot of buttons, but it's honestly simpler than FL. The workflow is way faster for me too. If it's the interface that you're finding daunting you should definitely find some basics tutorials somewhere, all the popular DAWs have them floating around. Honestly the best advice I can give is to just pick a DAW and make music. Choosing a DAW is nothing more than a workflow choice (unless you're using something without VST or audi recording support or one of those fisher-price-music-by-numbers-drop-the-loops-together DAWs). When you are a beginner you're not going to be able to make educated decisions about the workflow differences between different DAWs because you won't know the way you prefer to work, so spending time worrying about that is pointless. You can always make a switch later (which is what I did, FL for a year and then moved to Cubase), because switching DAWs isn't that bad once you know what you're doing (it just becomes a week or two long game of "where the fuck is that button?") The important thing is to start learning and keep practicing. Youtube tutorials are good for learning the technical side of things and learning your way around your DAW, but once you start to feel comfortable with your tools nothing beats experimentation. I still learn something every time I write a track.[/QUOTE] well fuck me the first program I tried out was actually cubase 5. Mostly because of the VST plug-ins.

[QUOTE=thisispain;27769925]fl studio's audio capabilities are practically zero[/QUOTE] Uhhh no? What exactly is it that you can do in Cubase, but can't in FL?

[QUOTE=thisispain;27769925]i use cubase because fl studio's audio capabilities are practically zero[/QUOTE] FL Studio is extemely underrated, I'm sick of people with next to none knowledge about the program making assumptions like this. FL Studio is a fucking good DAW, and with experience can be used to create professional sounds. Cubase is probably the better option, but I have to disagree with it being simpler.

My favourite electronic artist uses FL Studio, and he's ~pro as fuk~ so don't hate on FL bro

People put far too much emphasis on the DAW and not enough on the person's ability to compose and mix. The major difference between DAWs (excluding built in effects, samples and VI's) is the work flow. People should use whatever works best for them.

[QUOTE=Feralicous;27773669]FL Studio is extemely underrated, I'm sick of people with next to none knowledge about the program making assumptions like this. FL Studio is a fucking good DAW, and with experience can be used to create professional sounds. Cubase is probably the better option, but I have to disagree with it being simpler.[/QUOTE] nope its super overrated on the internet. Underrated among pros probably but thats cause it has the reputation of a bit of an amateur DAW.

[QUOTE=ChrisDom;27714458]It's also fairly more complex than FL studio.[/QUOTE] It might have a steeper learning curve, but ultimately it has more possibilities. It has fewer plugins, but you can achieve better results with them. Ableton has like, 2 synths (Analog & Operator?) and you can do practically anything with them. I also like how Ableton doesn't have any preset sounds, forcing you to find your own sound & to experiment and teaching you how to use the program...

[QUOTE=Number-41;27775103]It might have a steeper learning curve, but ultimately it has more possibilities. It has fewer plugins, but you can achieve better results with them. Ableton has like, 2 synths (Analog & Operator?) and you can do practically anything with them. I also like how Ableton doesn't have any preset sounds, forcing you to find your own sound & to experiment and teaching you how to use the program...[/QUOTE] I dunno bout you but ableton has a load of preset sounds, but you can still manipulate them.

My Operator hasn't got any presets, maybe something went wrong with installing it. The other ones do have some presets indeed.

[QUOTE=Number-41;27775238]It might have a steeper learning curve, but ultimately it has more possibilities. It has fewer plugins, but you can achieve better results with them. [/QUOTE] 1) So.. less plug-ins and presets is better how? It forces you to make your own shit up? No, it just forces you to learn all the different synths and plug-ins, something which can be very complicated. Especially at a [U]beginner[/U] level. 2) We're comparing DAWs, not plugins, samples or VSTs. 3) Better results? [B]Exactly what does that include?[/B] I have yet to hear anyone come with ANY concrete argument as to why Ableton/Reason/Cubase is better than FL.

Just so everyone getting butthurt about the guy saying that FL's audio editing capability is next to zero knows. He's right. If you've ever worked with raw audio in a DAW with better support for it like Cubase and then tried to go and work with audio the same way in FL you're probably going to shoot yourself. FL is not good for recording and editing audio, it's good for midi sequencing. [editline]31st January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Feralicous;27773669]Cubase is probably the better option, but I have to disagree with it being simpler.[/QUOTE] Have you spent any extended amount of time working in Cubase? [editline]31st January 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Rad McCool;27775690]1) So.. less plug-ins and presets is better how? It forces you to make your own shit up? No, it just forces you to learn all the different synths and plug-ins, something which can be very complicated. Especially at a [U]beginner[/U] level.[/QUOTE] As a beginner you don't want to learn all the different synths and plugins; you want to learn one synth like the back of your hand. If you want to get in to an "FL is just as powerful as X DAW" argument, Ableton is not the opponent to choose, and you want to know why? Max for Live. [QUOTE=Rad McCool;27775690]I have yet to hear anyone come with ANY concrete argument as to why Ableton/Reason/Cubase is better than FL.[/QUOTE] It took until the most recent version to even have automatic plugin delay compensation. It's not good at working with audio. Most of the included plugins sound bad.

lol fl studio is cool and all, but there's absolutely no support for any type of advanced audio editing i tend to completely ignore VST's so FL studio has practically no use for me when it comes to music try routing midi channels through fl studio using max/msp to modify the signals coming out, then take the output of the device receiving the midi data into fl studio, you're gonna have a giant headache and you won't accomplish anything though fl studio is a lot cheaper i'll give you that

[QUOTE=KmartSqrl;27777972]FL is not good for recording and editing audio, it's good for midi sequencing.[/QUOTE] No no no, FL studio's audio editor, Edison is pretty good.

Ableton is where it's at. Amazing when handling samples.

Pfft losers, Propeller Head's Rebirth is where its at. Screw the rest of the noise. on a more serious note, for those of you who have some experience how did you start off exactly? Was it just diving right in or did you follow any resources?

[QUOTE=Rad McCool;27775690][B]1)[/B] So.. less plug-ins and presets is better how? It forces you to make your own shit up? No, it just forces you to learn all the different synths and plug-ins, something which can be very complicated. Especially at a [U]beginner[/U] level. 2) We're comparing DAWs, not plugins, samples or VSTs. [B]3)[/B] Better results? [B]Exactly what does that include?[/B] I have yet to hear anyone come with ANY concrete argument as to why Ableton/Reason/Cubase is better than FL.[/QUOTE] 1)No it doesn't, because there aren't a thousand LOLSHINYSYNTHTHATLOOKSLIKEASPACESHIP-synths. What Ableton does is keep things separated. You need a synth with reverb? Fine, just stick a Reverb module behind it. Need some equalizing & compressing? Same thing. Arpeggiator? Easy as shit. Anything you need is there in Ableton, and it's only there if you actually [U]need[/U] it. The complexity is completely in your hands. In FL you start out with these huge synthesizer things with a million settings to adjust, when you might just need two oscillators and nothing more. (There's 3xOSC, but that doesn't even give you the necessary controls) It's just a lot more natural to create a sound that way. You actually learn every plugin [U]better[/U] because you experience the influence of each plugin on a synth individually when you apply them on the fly, while in FL when you start out with all these huge & complicated synths, and it takes hours to just get it back down to one single osc with no effects (and I always start from there when I create a sound, I don't just randomly push buttons, and I certainly don't use presets). So there you have your concrete argument for better results, given that a 'better' result means a result that is closer with what the producer has in mind (which is an explicit consequence of the process stated above).

Do any of you guys have any experience with modular synths? I have a bunch of soft synths and one modular synth (ACE 1.0) and the presets on the modular synth sound like 1000x better. Is it better programing or are Modulars really that much better? I'm not even that interesting in making music I just wanna try and make some badass sounds would a modular be better for that? this is the guy I'm playing around with right now [img]http://www.online-mixing.com/wp271/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Picture-19.png[/img]

[QUOTE=heyitsdan;27774478]nope its super overrated on the internet. Underrated among pros probably but thats cause it has the reputation of a bit of an amateur DAW.[/QUOTE] I believe you have this completely backwards. There are plenty of professional musicians out there who will swear by fruity loops. Most amateurs actually think your DAW changes your sound and makes you better. Which is not true. DAW at the end of the day is pretty much preference in work flow. As far as I know. Yeah, some have capabilities that let them excel in certain areas that others might now, but it's not crippling.

Well out of all DAW's I'd say FL has the worst work flow, but that's just my opinion (and the opinion of lots of friends of mine who do studio stuff and make electronic music)

[QUOTE=Number-41;27780972]Well out of all DAW's I'd say FL has the worst work flow, but that's just my opinion (and the opinion of lots of friends of mine who do studio stuff and make electronic music)[/QUOTE] What exactly do you disagree with?

[QUOTE=Feralicous;27773669]FL Studio is extemely underrated, I'm sick of people with next to none knowledge about the program making assumptions like this. FL Studio is a fucking good DAW, and with experience can be used to create professional sounds. Cubase is probably the better option, but I have to disagree with it being simpler.[/QUOTE] I should make a sample pack of beep and bop loops and make mirrions.

[QUOTE=Funcoot;27780993]What exactly do you disagree with?[/QUOTE] I've tried Cubase, Reason and FL and I like Ableton the most. I started out in FL for 3 years or something and then I tried Ableton and it was a huge revelation. That is, of course, a personal preference as you stated. I disagree with the statement that there are lots of pro's out there using FL, I don't think that's the case, because I know people who do this kinda stuff and they all shit on FL. Maybe that's not a good representation, I think it is, though.