Beat/Music Producing Software

veneficus

veneficus

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Sep 12, 2008
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Built my buddy a computer for beats and producing/making remixes, rap and such.

I don't know what are the standards in music producing anymore, also I hate downloading this kind of stuff because of all the viruses.

He knows FruityLoops all ready, and I'm sure I can get that. I'm hearing stuff about ProTools, but can't find the 9.0 version anywhere. What else should I get, and what are some good forums or communities he can join to get better, and also to get some instrumentals/acapellas for practice.

Thanks Guys.
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If he is just starting out, Fruity Loops is just fine. People love to hate on FL but many producers make bank by using FL. Just buy some good VST's or buy a midi keyboard and get some sound modules to go the cheaper way. Or get a nice keyboard. Everyone has different tastes in keyboards, but my favorite is the Roland Fantom and the Yamaha Motif.

Any sequencer is fine if your starting out, you don't have to go all out on Pro Tools just yet, but it can't hurt.

For instrumentals and acapellas I would always go to hhboard or realraptalk. Websites are always popping up left and right and usually typing in google will work just fine. I used to use these sites when making blends:

ACAPELLAS4U - 7 years on and still satisfying your lust for free acapella downloads • Portal
Official Instrumentals 5.0 | The Rebirth
Crazy Pellas - Music Community and Free Acapellas, Instrumentals & Samples Downloads

And yeah ncmedia's dubturbo is nice. Great program to use if you want to get used to sequencers.
 
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ItsYoBuddy said:
If he is just starting out, Fruity Loops is just fine. People love to hate on FL but many producers make bank by using FL. Just buy some good VST's or buy a midi keyboard and get some sound modules to go the cheaper way. Or get a nice keyboard. Everyone has different tastes in keyboards, but my favorite is the Roland Fantom and the Yamaha Motif.

Any sequencer is fine if your starting out, you don't have to go all out on Pro Tools just yet, but it can't hurt.

For instrumentals and acapellas I would always go to hhboard or realraptalk. Websites are always popping up left and right and usually typing in google will work just fine. I used to use these sites when making blends:

ACAPELLAS4U - 7 years on and still satisfying your lust for free acapella downloads • Portal
Official Instrumentals 5.0 | The Rebirth
Crazy Pellas - Music Community and Free Acapellas, Instrumentals & Samples Downloads

And yeah ncmedia's dubturbo is nice. Great program to use if you want to get used to sequencers.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I won't take your advice in vain. Downloading ProTools now, and had him signup to those sites, thanks man.

Also checking out Reason
 
protools all the way. You can do cooler stuff when you are working with audio in protools than midi.

But i just found out this guy uses Reason, so it kinda changes my mind a little

(liste to this with headphones)
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQmOi3sjDIo&feature=channel]YouTube - Bassnectar - Here We Go (Official)[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M-jOZRe0-8&feature=channel]YouTube - Bassnectar - Timestretch (Official)[/ame]
 
Ableton Live. NUFF SAID. Alternatively, Reason, Logic, or Cubase, in that order, for hiphop. As far as VSTs, Battery and Guru for drums, NI Massive for synths.
 
ItsYoBuddy said:
If he is just starting out, Fruity Loops is just fine. People love to hate on FL but many producers make bank by using FL. Just buy some good VST's or buy a midi keyboard and get some sound modules to go the cheaper way. Or get a nice keyboard. Everyone has different tastes in keyboards, but my favorite is the Roland Fantom and the Yamaha Motif.

Any sequencer is fine if your starting out, you don't have to go all out on Pro Tools just yet, but it can't hurt.

For instrumentals and acapellas I would always go to hhboard or realraptalk. Websites are always popping up left and right and usually typing in google will work just fine. I used to use these sites when making blends:

ACAPELLAS4U - 7 years on and still satisfying your lust for free acapella downloads • Portal
Official Instrumentals 5.0 | The Rebirth
Crazy Pellas - Music Community and Free Acapellas, Instrumentals & Samples Downloads

And yeah ncmedia's dubturbo is nice. Great program to use if you want to get used to sequencers.
Click to expand...

^ This, good advice +1 for the Motif. And thanks for the drop on DT. :) *If he's already with FL tell him to stick to it and just max it out. If you want - get him the newest CuBase and FL acts as a VST for it anyway.

I just launched a beat marketplace for all my shit under a wicked flash presentation check this out: ArtOfBeats.com - The Planets Highest Quality Beats For Hip Hop Producers, House Junkies, Urban Anthems & Media Tracks - HOT NEW SITE>>! < Tell your guy to get acquainted. Not sure how he's going to hustle his music but I try to hybrid it. I do shit for artists, for myself, for websites, for video games, tv commercials, film scores, compilations of royalty free like above, but always nothing but top notch shit make sure he never releases garbage.

Some more places he should sign up:

Distribution:
Soundclick.com
rocbattle.com
myflashstore.net
cdbaby.com
youtunez.com
ditto.com
jeejuh.com

Regarding communities it depends on what he produces. There's TONS out there but most are rather exclusive to one type of music, or the general ones are not focused enough so either follow ads you/he likes in the site list above, or google ''genre+production+forum" etc.

Here's a recent lick I made with dubturbo, but if he's already onto FL and looking for more he'll max it out quick so tell him not to worry or I'll even comp him a copy if he wants to dick around w/it. It's JUST for beats and it's standalone (can import samples though). Re VST's, follow the above but more importantly - GET amazing sound kits - good spot to start is modernbeats.com. Having your own stereo imaged kits to start with - THEN dumping them into either sampletank/any sampler/sequencer is the difference between default standards and totally custom bangers.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YAZZRYVc-Y"]YouTube - GaNgsTerS PaRaDisE REMIX with DUBturbo[/ame]


*Lastly, I'd STRONGLY recommend he gets himself a real soundcard. I just put together a second workstation for my audio and grabbed the new Steigberg CI2 < All I can say is USB has come damn far since my last test. Latency is almost nill and recordings are top shelf/no difference from my firewire setups.
 
Reason is great in it's own little compact way, but it doesn't support VST. But like I said, it's a great program.

Cubase is good. Fruityloops is really coming into it's own.

I hear Ableton Live is awesome.
 
Instrumentalist said:
Reason is great in it's own little compact way, but it doesn't support VST. But like I said, it's a great program.
Click to expand...

If you need VST you can rewire, but tbh it's not even necessary. Reason has capacity to produce any sound you want. VSTs just make it a bit easier with "cookie cutter" presets and plugins. The learning curve is steep, but once you get a grip of it, you won't need anything else.
 
i cant believe no one is really pushing for logic pro...it has everything thing in it...sound modules, beat machine, sequencer, midi and audio arranger and editor...i was a protools fan boy until i started messing with logic...i just couldnt front...it was sick...but if ur boy plans on going commercial then it would be best to get and learn PT...bottom line...it is the industry standard...u should also be aware of mic pres, compressors and whatever else to warm up, fatten, dirty those sounds if this is for hip hop...ofcourse there are plugs for all of that but im old school...mpc 2000xl, korg triton, api and avalon mic pres type shit...not to mention lavry ad/da converters...dont get me started on microphones...anyway u can learn all u really need to know at Rap + Hip Hop engineering & production - Gearslutz.com
 
ncmedia said:
^ This, good advice +1 for the Motif. And thanks for the drop on DT. :) *If he's already with FL tell him to stick to it and just max it out. If you want - get him the newest CuBase and FL acts as a VST for it anyway.

I just launched a beat marketplace for all my shit under a wicked flash presentation check this out: ArtOfBeats.com - The Planets Highest Quality Beats For Hip Hop Producers, House Junkies, Urban Anthems & Media Tracks - HOT NEW SITE>>! < Tell your guy to get acquainted. Not sure how he's going to hustle his music but I try to hybrid it. I do shit for artists, for myself, for websites, for video games, tv commercials, film scores, compilations of royalty free like above, but always nothing but top notch shit make sure he never releases garbage.

Some more places he should sign up:

Distribution:
Soundclick.com
rocbattle.com
myflashstore.net
cdbaby.com
youtunez.com
ditto.com
jeejuh.com

Regarding communities it depends on what he produces. There's TONS out there but most are rather exclusive to one type of music, or the general ones are not focused enough so either follow ads you/he likes in the site list above, or google ''genre+production+forum" etc.

Here's a recent lick I made with dubturbo, but if he's already onto FL and looking for more he'll max it out quick so tell him not to worry or I'll even comp him a copy if he wants to dick around w/it. It's JUST for beats and it's standalone (can import samples though). Re VST's, follow the above but more importantly - GET amazing sound kits - good spot to start is modernbeats.com. Having your own stereo imaged kits to start with - THEN dumping them into either sampletank/any sampler/sequencer is the difference between default standards and totally custom bangers.


*Lastly, I'd STRONGLY recommend he gets himself a real soundcard. I just put together a second workstation for my audio and grabbed the new Steigberg CI2 < All I can say is USB has come damn far since my last test. Latency is almost nill and recordings are top shelf/no difference from my firewire setups.
Click to expand...

Wow, dub turbo looks so much better, congrats man! Last time I tried it out was right before you released it I think, looks awesome. I just recently starting putting up ads for dubturbo on my hip-hop site, great graphics man!

But yeah I would stick with FL if he's used to that. Sampletank is great and I just got hypersonic. I love that VST, I highly recommend it. If he wants some free quality kits let me know, i'll give you the links and what not.

I just got done mixing this one beat with like 15 tracks, i'll record it on FL and post it up soon.
 
what are some good programs to DJ...i used to dj on turntables back in the dizay. now i go to the bars and i see tools djing on there laptop...what program they be using?
 
I haven't made much for a few years, but from recollection you can't run Pro Tools without the hardware, so that's a no go, unless he's bought a DigiDesign soundcard.

Logic is my next favourite, but that's not, or at least hasn't been available for Windows for what seems like ever.

FruityLoops is brilliant. Does everything, quite basic, but great for having fun. Reason's also good, but I think it might be worth getting on Cubase, which is the sequencer I've been using most recently. Get a decent soundcard, good hard disks, loads of ram. Winner, winner. (I have never used Ableton for the record.)
 
bmorecali said:
what are some good programs to DJ...i used to dj on turntables back in the dizay. now i go to the bars and i see tools djing on there laptop...what program they be using?
Click to expand...

I prefer Native Instruments Traktor Pro. There is a new dedicated controller from NI for it that is really nice. Other people prefer Serato Live or Itch, and there are a handful of others. Some DJs play live with Ableton too. With Serato and Traktor you can also use encoded vinyl (or CDs) and control your laptop from the turntables.

This is probably the best "controllerism" site DJ TechTools. They mod controllers and make some of their own products (Midifighter) as well.
 
Digital Audio Workstations have evolved nicely in the recent years.

Fruity loops is good to start off with, but I hated the interface.

Reason is good but it can get messy with all the wires at the back of the stack, and no support for VSTs which is slightly disappointing.

Ableton Live is pretty impressive, has a ton of features, would work well on live set ups, hence the name.

Logic Pro is the god father of all music production software. Still figuring how to use it properly, I'm more used to Reason as that's what I started with.

Pro Tools is good for mastering and shit. I think the interface is ugly as fuck though, but it's meant to be good. GZA called one of his albums "Pro Tools" so it must be good for the shaolin to use.

At the end of the day, its personal preference, these all do relatively the same thing, it just depends on what you are comfortable with using.

@ncmedia - I've been looking at promoting DubTurbo via my dubstep traffic. Can the software actually support LFO tweaking to give bass heavy wobbles? What about automation?

A good forum for producers is futureproducers.com. They mainly cover Hip Hop beats.
 
kimboslice said:
@ncmedia. Dude you have sick design skillz.
Click to expand...

Cheers Kimbo, when it's stuff I'm passionate about I do go all out.

ItsYoBuddy said:
Wow, dub turbo looks so much better, congrats man!
Click to expand...

I remember giving you a copy, actually I think you were the first person outside the studio to run it, definitely has come a long way man thanks a lot for the comments and for giving it some traffic.

GUTTA said:
At the end of the day, its personal preference, these all do relatively the same thing, it just depends on what you are comfortable with using.

@ncmedia - I've been looking at promoting DubTurbo via my dubstep traffic. Can the software actually support LFO tweaking to give bass heavy wobbles? What about automation?

A good forum for producers is futureproducers.com. They mainly cover Hip Hop beats.
Click to expand...

^ This.

Once you get into either ProTools/Cubase/Logic/ANY real full blown DAW, it really is all the same shit. Sampling, sequencing, effects, creativity. Yeah some have filters and some are better for mastering etc. however most people have more than one daw and or assign final tasks to other software or third parties (mastering is insanely hard for home studio owners without good fundamentals in engineering, not just some plugin/vst trying to automate it).

^ As mentioned with ProTools you need the Mbox to really use it, and Logic is for Macs so for now stick to FL or CuBase imo.

@Gutta - DubT is not actually meant for dub music, the word itself has many meanings I'm sure you know, including 'to record/sample, custom remixes are called dubs, to label something, etc. While it does have a bunch of cool lowends/basses/tails etc. no you can't actually fuck with the bass notches and do holds/bends/warbles/drops (yet anyway ;)). Having said that though yeah you can still achieve getting a dubvibe feel out of tunes just not in the truest sense, more in a slangy refix chopped and skrewed way..

Oh and +1 for FutureProducers.com & GearSlutz.com < both awesome.
 
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