starise

I guess this is more of a promotion thread for a site. Serum has been around for awhile but it's a great synth for this purpose.

I have read good things about Band-In-A Box and have heard some very good songs made with it. They seem to have different levels or quality of paks they sell. Some are mp3 and some are wav files. I have though about maybe giving them a try. So far I always seem to get into something else and never do it. I did load up Baib a long time ago and demoed it. That was so long ago that I'm certain there is no longer much similarity to recent versions. Funny you should say that John because I feel that way about people who won't work with someone who only plays music. I have written very few lyrics but seem to have no problems coming up with a tune Everything is relative here. As someone with a bunch of sound libraries and a bunch of DAWs. Not to mention some high end plugins..oh and a pile of real instruments plus .............I have 4- 2tb hard drives full of samples libraries in my computer and another one waiting to be installed. I am still a bottom feeder. A small fish in a big pond. A guy with a small home studio in his house if you compare me to a mixing engineer who makes sound for picture. Those guys have master computers , some running VEPro and 7 slaves. 4000 plus track templates. Enough money invested in sound libraries to buy a new car. Compared to them I'm just an average Joe out there supporting the home studio market. The technical end of that alone is probably years of learning to get right. Then you need to find someone to actually pay you do do it.

It's now into March of 2020. What might have changed since then? Mixcraft has had a nice update. I downloaded a copy of Musescore and have been using it for midi exports. A nice program for notation. Word has it that Behringer will be releasing a new DAW. If their success in live sound is any indication, we can look for good things coming from them. I'm going between 3 or so DAWs right now for different reasons with Cakewalk and Studio One being my main ones. I have recently been using Ableton more that I anticipated I would. They all seem to be getting better and better as time goes on. Have you changed DAWS? If so, What made you do so?

I think we can sometimes get confused by the terms often used for plugins and soft synths. Some people simply call them plug ins. Here are just a few. -VST2 and VST3. The way these two standards are implemented can be very ambiguous. Both standards are originated by Cubase. Other DAWS have taken to using this standard. One of the main issues is plug in manufacturers don't always use all of the capabilities of a plug in spec. They can, for instance, call their plug in VST 3 when it might only use half of the code in the spec. The VST3 specification mainly has more capability in routing audio into and out of it. For this reason it takes some investigation into just how much of the specification was adopted. VST3 allows for larger GUI. Fabfilter Pro Q 3 is a good example of this since you can make it cover your entire screen if needed The older Fabfilter Pro Q 2 doesn't have that capability. In most cases VST 2 specification will work just fine for most users. There is usually no need to upgrade to VST3 if VST2 works for you. If, on the other hand, you want the larger GUI or want to route audio or side chain a plugin yiou might want to look into VST3. The larger issue is 32 bit over 64 bit. Most DAW manufacturers have gone on to 64 bit. Ableton will ONLY accept 64 bit plugins. Cakewalk only accepts 64 bit plugins native, however they use an independent program/server called bitbridge that allows use of 32 bit plugins. Most other DAWs have followed suit. I think the writing is on the wall for total elimination of 32 bit plugins. This is something to be aware of when going to sites that offer free plugins. Make sure they are 64 bit. Many of these sites offer 32 bit plugins that have not been updated in years. These are one of the MAIN reason DAWs crash and lock up computers, because of poorly written plugins, mostly 32 bit. There are still some good free plugins out there to be found and I have listed a few of those here. If you use an older OS such as Windows 7. It is no longer supported by Microsoft .Most DAW companies have pulled out further development around that OS as well. Having said that I understand that some have computers all set up the way they like them and don't have any desire to update or upgrade the OS. So long as everything works as you like it you should be fine if you stay unplugged from the web.

This looks a lot like spam. As an intermediate violinist there are a few things I can tell anyone considering a violin to look for. Number one is don't buy the cheapest thing you can find. If you can't properly learn on the instrument it doesn't matter what you pay for it. Number two- Go to a local specialty shop if possible. If you bought something online have an experienced luthier make sure it's set up correctly. You won't be able to learn on a violin that isn't set up properly.Number 3, expect to spend 500.00 minimum for anything worth playing if buying new. A more reasonable entry number is probably 1000.00 and up. Unlike good guitars violins can easily run into the S10,000, $15,000 range and higher for hand built instruments by good makers. 5000.00 will put you into a good intermediate violin. The pros who make their living playing will sometimes spend considerably more. My advice would be to invest in a good playable instrument as a beginner at the 500.00 level. This is usually good enough to learn to play up to intermediate levels on and will do for at least 5 years until you can play good enough to warrant looking further. Sometimes a new setup and strings makes a huge difference in the sound. Another reason to shop local is you can actually try the violins in person because no two sound exactly the same. It's basically a long process to get into the instrument you will eventually like good enough to live with for life. You will likely go through a few violins in the process unless you find a really good one in the very beginning. The ratio of crap to good though is way high ion favor of the crap violins. The ones at 49.00-100.00 made of cardboard... Don't forget the bow. At least as important as the violin. You need a well balanced bow with decent rosin. Not the rosin that usually comes with a violin. The general rule of thumb is you the bow usually costs about 1/3 of the price of the violin. Yeah I know...some people drop 5K on a bow and think nothing of it. Oh, and contrary to the above Mendini ad...a lefty can easily learn to play a right handed violin. It's actually an advantage.IMO.

Bri check out this. It's also free and much better. Check the system requirements first to make sure your computer can do it. HERE

I do a similar thing Joseph in using both real and live instruments. I wouldn't mind trying Logic, but not interested enough to buy a Mac.I have nothing against Mac, it just hasn't been my main platform for as long as I can remember.

Retro in a big way! Thanks for sharing!

Hey Jacie nice to have you onboard. I noticed the part about 47 years on violin, whoa! I'm a third year student. I had to laugh at the question- Did you teach yourself to play? I don't think you can do very well on that instrument without a teacher.

Capo3tanya- Never heard of those guys. Thanks for bringing them to my attention. They are very talented. I was big into Rush and groups similar to them at one time. Ever hear of Dream Theater? Most of the things I did with beats were more pop/rock, though I would love to make something like prog rock. Being primarily a keys player it's been a dream of mine. One of my friends who is an ME in Australia added drums to a track I called Zaphon. Lots of symbolic significance in that track It's a more Tangerine Dream kind of thing which I liked too. Here's some of my :poppish rockish stuff- These beats are drum programs but I might have made the rhythms myself. Older mixes and certainly not radio ready.

Well thanks a lot for that comment Capo3tanya. I'm sure you'll do fine once you figure out the ins and outs of the tools. I sat down last evening with BFD3 and tried to fit one of the included loops to something I'm working on. I must have sat there for an hour just playing loops in different tempos. Nothing good came of that. Mt tempos seem to be WAY different than the average song writer, either that or I'm tempo illiterate. I simply didn't like any of it for my particular project. All of these loops sound amazing all by themselves. Just not as good combined with my stuff Some of this might have something to do with the drums being the focus in many songs. I don't really want the drums to be the star of the show. I want them to add to the whole thing but not stick out too much.

I mostly get my rhythms from a stringed instrument and transfer that to real drums. My tracks are not rhythmically complicated though. I have a shaker and an Irish drum in my studio and sometimes that's all I use. With an instrumental I just play until something speaks to me. If it does, then I develop it further, or I might like it raw just as it is. I haven't made any "productions" in awhile, meaning larger than life kinds of things designed to dazzle an audience. Those take a lot more time which I haven't had.

Looks like it was a nice experience for you for sure. I love up front seats.

Looks like a lot of fun!

Jakes- I have Ableton 10 but haven't used it much. Makes sense you would go where the tutorials are. The new version changed a few things with file management and some of the graphics were changed in small ways. Most users commented that it hadn't changed very much. If anything going to only 64 bit clipped a lot of wings. I understand that it has a good outcome eventually.

Congrats! You're off to a good start.

Notion which is another notation program is also probably worth a look if you use Studio One as your main daw it piggybacks nicely right into that program. I had considered Notion but I haven't decided yet. I don't want to spend too much money on notation software. I was mainly looking for something to scan scores and turn them into midi. Can you tell me if any of these offer access to online sheet music libraries as a part of the program purchase? Or do they have access to scanning functions which could then be transferred into the program for construction in midi?

Thanks for that tip Mike. I don't know much about that program. Since I've been getting a bit more into written music composition it might be something I could use.

Hey Samuel. Nice to meet you man! Sorry I don't come around every day here. Every daw looks intimidating in the beginning. Give it some time and a few videos and you'll get it. CbB has a mastering compressor built into the pro channel that has side chaining capabilities which is part of each channel. If you have questions feel free to ask and I'll try to help. I'm not sure if we're on the same page here though. Sidechaining usually refers to individual plugins with that capability. CbB has no problem seeing the sidechains in every channel. You can also add stereo busses and send to them. There's an online manual and a great forum. FORUM Plenty of knowledgeable users there. If you have a question just ask. CbB also has an info box you can select to view that shows what each thing does when you hover over it with a mouse.You may like the Tungsten theme as well instead of the aero look. You can color the tracks. Try matrix view for a FL/Ableton experience.

Who's Jack?

Don't know how the quotes were mixed up here but I get what your saying. I think Mixcraft is an excellent entry into daws. It was actually the easiest to set up a Kontakt multi in. Though the second quote was attributed to me. I never use Reaper.

This reminds me of yesterday. I'm sitting there with a lot of capability and the creative bug just isn't biting me then. Working 10 hour days with a two hour commute will do that. Yeah I could have started throwing loops together but I don't think that's where I get creative. It would be in time and it would sound like something. There would be some creativity involved in loop selections, but darnit I need to play or sing to feel creative. Doesn't matter what daw you have if the creative bug isn't biting might as well forget it. We could go on about what is and/or isn't creative. I suppose looping is a kind of creativity yet I feel I would be letting myself down if I settled for that personally as my highest aspiration. I'm not a snob on this. I respect that others use loops as a creative outlet. I would say I sometimes augment with loops. Maybe another thing to ponder is which daw allows you to use a creative feeling with the most efficiency and in the least amount of time? For me this is simply a good solid way to track ideas I have. After that it's all about the best way to get a mix from my head into the daw. The daw must also be good at allowing me to efficiently combine the sounds to a good mix/master using those tools without taking weeks to do it. I think there IS a difference in operating characteristics that make that happen better in some than others. Yes, they all do a lot of the same things however there is a huge difference between the loops based approaches found in Bitwig, Ableton, FL, Acid Pro8 as compared to daws with more musician composition in mind such as any analog representation of a tape machine CbB, Studio One 4 pro, Cubase, Ok...PT. These are the more complex composition minded programs for building music from the ground up. The less technically challenging ones such as Garageband, Mixcraft Pro 8, Acoustica and similar are nice easy programs to use with decent added content. I really have grown to like Mixcraft Pro 8 for the simple reason it can put an idea together FAST. You don't need a training course to use it but it has a few limitations, mainly it likes to stay in 16 bit when recording and it has some odd work arounds. It is a deeper program than it appears to be on the surface once you get past the easy GUI. Made by some of the same guys who made Acid now owned by Magix.

These guys are all 50 ish now..........ouch. Great stuff.

I was a bit of a daw snob at one time. I think we can tend to get stuck in a rut and miss what else is out there. Now I use multiple daws. My main daw is still Cakewalk by Bandlab ( which is FREE now BTW) I once payed for it. I also use Studio One Professional, Mixcraft Pro 8 and Ableton Live 10.