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aberdeen-music

FREE, Free as a VST, a VST in the Sea, will it do the job for Me?


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Awesome list, but I don't even know where to start. I am an ultimate noob when it comes to stuff like this. I'd love a bit of a software which had everything I needed to make aload of bleeping electro nonsense beats and stuff.

You probably need to start with a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to act as a host for the VST Instruments and Effects. Making Music: DAW: LMMS 0.4.4 has been released / Pc / Linux / Free

There is almost always a relatively steep learning curve when it comes to DAW sequencing, but when you learn how to work one, you can usually apply that to others, except that they all use varying terminology. I don't know what the one above is like, as I have no intention of switching from Cubase right now, as I'm just starting to get used to it, and am totally loving the draggable time stretch function.

The net is full of guides to starting out in this sort of thing, and Computer Music magazine is a decent resource for the new Electronic Musician. Things that were so difficult and expensive to do in the hardware era*, are opened up to almost anyone who has the desire. The revolution in music technology has democratised the means of production, have a go, its ace.

* I started with ye olde Grooveboxe.

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I can work Audacity and Mixcraft quite well as they are the simplest of simple. But I have used that solely to record guitar onto tracks via a mic plugged directly into the computer. I used Beatcraft and Drumsite to sequence drums to play along to, which I think I'm pretty good at now (sequencing whole songs including different parts, times changes etc...) but I have no idea about creating electronic instrument sounds on a computer.

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I just looked at the Mixcraft homepage as I hadn't heard of it, and it will host VSTis (virtual instruments; synths, drum machines, romplers etc), which there are quite a few of in the above list. You will have to refer to any literature that came with the programme as to how to work it, but the VSTs (.dll files when unpacked) need to be put in the correct folder in Program Files (usually some variation on 'VST plugins'), and then they should show up and integrate within the MIDI part of the software. Whether or not Mixcraft is a good programme for making electronic music in I have no idea, and have no intention of finding out, but if you are getting satisfactory results with it, then go with it.

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I downloaded and cracked Mixcraft, and it didn't respond well to me adding some of the downloaded Mixcraft effects packages, so I'd probably be best going for one of the free DAW's on the list above. The one you linked looks good, I think. I'm basing that on how much stuff there is going on. Ha.

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Downloaded LMMS. It's pretty neat. Comes with Commodore 64 and Game Boy instrument plug-ins and heaps of drum samples and loops. The sequencing of beats is pretty straight forward but I've no idea how to work the instruments yet apart from it just playing the same note constantly.

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