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aberdeen-music

Music Creation...


Tav

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A friend of mine is interested in making electronic music. He wants

"Something that can make drum loops, give me really dark wierd sound effects and plenty of tools to edit sounds to my hearts content. Maybe have a built in multi track recording feature as well...just to make my life easier. Also it has to be affordable"

I suggested that he looks into using Cubase and some added hardware to his PC. I don't know much on the subject so I was hoping some of you guys would be able to give advice on what to get.

What other options are there in this synth-y world other than PC recording and are they worth considering?

Links to sites which have info and perhaps some helpful forums as well...though I'd prefer to get most of the info here.

Thanks in advance chaps and chapettes.

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Guest Stripey

If he has a decent pc (2ghz at least) cubase sx is definately a good option, also consider logic audio platinum (although this is no longer supported on the pc). FLStudio is another serious contender, and a bit easier to get into. (you can also use FLstudio as a plugin in cubase, which is useful because its better for writing beats than cubase is)

A wave editor like soundforge or cooledit (now known as adobe audition) is also essential.

The only essential hardware really, is a midi keyboard/controller of some sort. You only need a multi-in soundcard if you intend on recording drums or recording seperate instruments simultaneously.

Once you have a sequencer all you need is a bunch of VST instruments and FX, there are loads and loads of them around.

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When I was in Optoplan we started doing things strictly hardware (SP808 sampler, huge Yamaha workstation, MC303), developed into a hybrid of hardware and PC and finished up mainly computer orientated, there are as many ways to go about it as there is combinations of equipment to make it with. A nice modern workstation, sequencing other anciliary units, is still as valid a way of creating electronic music as any, though a Triton is very pricey. PC is cheaper, much cheaper depending on your view of dubious softwareZ. (one could make a theoretical stand on the validity of dodgy copies of Logic due to its wholesale move to the mac, illegal copies are probably the only way to obtain a PC version of Logic, only in v.5, but still very functional and very good.) Every copy of Computer Music has a few pages on basic startup kit, as does Future Music, and are very much pitched at beginners, even containing a glossary to sort out your NRPN's etc

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Ok cheers for that. So if said person buys or aquires cubase and then needs to get a Midi KeyBoard what ones are going to be recommended...remembering that it has to be good value as well as a good product. Also how do they connect to your PC?

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a gameport can usually be converted to MIDI with the appropriate cable. I heartily recommend the soundblaster live! value to anyone, as it uses a chip (101k) used on a high end emu card, and hence has cracked asio (gets low latency for audio in cubase etc) drivers by kxproject, and the gameport can be used for MIDI with a 10 cable. They'll be really cheap too (10ish?) If you get a master keyboard (MIDI keyboard or a keyboard with just MIDI out) and perhaps a small mixer for the line-in it'd be sweet. I like using audiomulch for software sometimes too.

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Guest Stripey

This is a good value for money controller : http://www.dv247.com/invt/12154 theres a 61 key version for a little more money. It has faders/knobs which you can assign to paramters in cubase/virtual instruments parameters etc. Also a built in usb midi interface so you can just plug it straight into the PC without buying anything else. Do shop around though as there are loads of master keyboards out there depending on your price range.

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