Software

[Guest Echoes Of Buddha]

What is the best software to make psychodelic-goa trance music???

[Guest Tim]

FruityLoops

[Guest flavour]

do use fruityloops if you want to be like most of the other schleppers in here who are making worthless and crappy music.

 

that seems to be fruityloops trademark: crappy music.

[Guest Tim]

No, crappy musicians make crappy music. They will make crappy music no matter what they use. But with Fruity, they can at least make SOMETHING. Which is good for them.

[Guest jakemyth]

Motu's Digital Performer 3.............perfect for midi and audio.

 

For info www.motu.com

 

Enjoy

 

Jake

[Guest Elysium Project]

Well it depend if you seriously wan to make music that you later want can release or if you just want to play around and have fun.

 

If you are serious here's the deal:

 

Logic or Cubase (the midi sequencing program you record all your synyhs/drums and samples in)....click the links:

 

Steinberg's Cubase:

 

Cubase

 

Emagic's Logic:

 

Logic

 

Of course you can't make music using these programs alone. You need to buy synthesizers/sampler/effectmachines ect. and connect these machines to the sequencer program (your computer) via a midibox. Alternative you can also buy internal synthesizers and software samplers ect. I do suggest (if you're serious) that you at least buy some hardware such as synthesizers and effect machines (they just sound so much better than internal software).

 

You also need a good mixer and or soundcard in your computer and a good pair of studio monitor's.

 

If you are looking for a fun time I do not recomend that you buy the above mentioned since it's very expensive.

[Guest Pswede]

dont forget Cakewalk (groups like Logic Bomb use it)

[Guest hexaeon]

Elysium, it is just too simple to say that hardware sounds so much better than software.

In reality, when dealing with digital equiptment, all a piece of hardware is is some software encased in a plastic casing.

 

If control is the issue, there are plenty of midi controllers out there, so configure your softsynths to your hearts content.

 

Some hardware sounds better than MOST software, too true.

But some software sounds just as good and gives you way more control than a fixed chipset ever could ( e.g. Reaktor)

And what about Nord Modular (hard or soft), hmm, those boundaries are certainly shifting.

 

Echoes, my advice would be too get a nice soundcard and some good monitors, Cubase or Logic ( like Elysium said)

 

and then try out - Mercury

- Pro 52 (both work as synth plug ins)

and most of all

- Reaktor

- Vaz Modular (pure psychedelia, no rules, no boundaries,

and no fixed electronics)

 

Most hardware sounds good because of the time and effort that goes into designing the software inside. But ONE reason a lot of artists in this genre sound so similar is that they are all using the same synths with the same chips set to the same unmovable positions)

 

Break out of your Boom Boom boxes people

and have fun

Peace.

[Guest tony]

What are u talking about? - fruityloops is great!! - only bad musicians blame their tools..

[Guest Elysium Project]

I am not even going to get into a extended argument about hardware versus software...

 

My experience tell me that there are very few softsynths (and I am only talking about softsynths not soft/audiosampling) that actually sound ok but there's way more hardware synths that sound awsome.

 

Yes reaktor is one of the ok softsynths and absynth is great too...But come on Pro 52 and Vaz? - In my opinion it utterly crap :-)

 

About Nord Modular (which I use)...Yes you design/edit the sounds on your screen but all the components are still inside the hardware synth not the computer...all you do is telling the synth to calibrate/modulate from what's on the screen..so it has absolutely nothing to do with a soft synth! - It's a hardware synth with a on-screen editor.

 

To Tony:

 

Yes fruityloops can be fun when you're a amature musician but I would not recomend it to a recording artists - at least not if you are looking for a professional sound quality - I also seriously doubt that any record labels (well at least the serious ones) will release anything done in fruityloops and similar programs!

 

Have fun.

[Guest Tim]

Your blabber about Nord is inane. Do you think it re-fabricates the chips in there or something? IT IS SOFTWARE. Anything you can do on a Nord Modular HW, you can do on software. Same for ANY OTHER SYNTH (with possible exception of TRUE analog synths).

 

As for the drivel about "pro" musicians not using Fruity, you're a moron. Names known to have used Fruity:

 

BT, Moby, Tommy Lee, NIN, and more. If those guys are not "Pro" or "Serious" then you need to adjust where you are coming from.

 

When will people give up the idea that HW must be better because they spent more for it?! I'm sorry you spent thousands on SW and I can do the same thing with my PC and a few hundred bucks in software. I'm really sorry for you.

 

Now stop blathering and making excuses and make music. It isn't the tools that matter. A real musician would use WHATEVER is available. And Real record labels don't care what you used to make the music, just that it sells records. Period. Get real.

[Guest Elysium Project]

Tim I am not even going to descibe how stupid you sound when you call people morons. I have my opinion and you have yours.... that's life.

 

Grow up!

[Guest Elysium Project]

Please let me listen to your music Tim..Since you claim that you are such a skilled musician and that your PC is such a powerful music instrument then let's hear it !

[Guest Tim]

I should apologize for the ad hominem. Let me rephrase. When you claim no "pro" musicians or "real" labels use Fruity, you come off as a moron because you are wrong. Better?

 

Now, as for my music, I never said I am ready fro prime time. I am someone with NO music background except a few years of choir in high school. Everything I know about music I have taught myself in the last 10 months, on weekends. That said, when the track I am working on is done, I'll definately let you know.

 

I'm by no stretch a professional (yet?). That doesn't mean I can't correct you when you're wrong.

 

Tim

[Guest Elysium Project]

I will not sit here and act as a "big man" but I do know that I have way more knowledge than you when it come to both hardware gear versus software and studio recording experience. Afterall I have been in the music business the last 20 years.

 

Could it be that you might are wrong and actually could learn something from me? Or are you one of those people that are so blinded by their own greatness that they can't see when they are wrong and refuse to learn from people with abit more experience? I can indeed be wrong from time to time but I do think that I am quite right in my way of looking at this subject and by the way I do know way more professional labels than you do nd I have indeed spoken with many of them about the quality of the sound and most of them do not like the sound that come from programs such a fruityloops! - So next tiem you argue without actually having any clue about what you're getting into - I suggest you get a bit more knowledge and experience about teh subject(s).

 

P.S. As I told Echoes Of Buddha there are 2 ways to approach it. The professional way when you are serious about it or the amature way when you just wan't to have some fun!

 

I rest my case and look forward to another reply stating that I am a moron.

[Guest lifeform]

let end this ... hardware kicks ass, software is lame. except reaktor and absynth... which are useable, but dont even touch hardware.

 

And if those artist that you mentioned that may have used Fruity... Look at the rest of their equiptment list. They probably may have used it for a 5 second sample in it's library of sounds or something. But i know for a fact that those musicians aren't using freakin fruity loops for their sequencer when they have grainular analysis and logic audio at their finger tips.

[Guest kilian]

this forum is ludicrous.

 

NIN and Moby using fruityloops? wake up from your slumber dude. maybe they have made one or two drumloops with it (which is the one and only use that fruityloops has, though i wouldn´t install that pseudoprofessional software on my computer even if i got paid for it) they do NOT use it to make whole songs. and if you claim they do, i have sufficient evidence which proves that you are wrong. i won´t do so because this is my last post here. this forum is pathetic, another place ruled by the pawns of stupidity.

[Guest kilian]

the last post was meant for tim btw.

 

lifeform: couldn´t agree more.

 

 

beam me up.

[Guest Tim]

I did not mean to say you were a moron, just that you came off as one, stating incorrect "fact".

 

As for experience, yep you are right. HOWEVER, my chosen field is somewhat orthogonal - CS. And I GUARANTEE you that there is NOTHING you can do in hardware that I can't do in software. The tools may not be available yet, but they will be. And if you (general you, not you specifically) refuse to believe that, you can keep doing things the hard way, if it makes you feel more pro.

 

And (to reply all in one post) about NIN. At least one producer for NIN is a regular Fruity user, and very proud of it. He alos produces for other bands YOU DO KNOW. It's true. Face it.

 

check: http://interview.sonikmatter.com/duda/

 

And as for this thread, I'm done. I thought people here might be more open-minded and less silly, but it was me who was silly.

[Guest Elysium Project]

Tim if only you would read the he article a bit more carefully and try to understand what he's actually saying then you might get it !

 

He did not at all say that he used fruityloops as a sequencer all he said was that he in one production (I think it was with Nine Inch Nails) used fruity for some guitar work. he also mentioned that he would wish (look at the word wish) that fruity would become better.

 

As for the whole software situation he claim that it will be better in the future (which I agree too) but he did not anywhere state that it's better than hardware at present time. He actually only said that you can make great music with a cheap software setup - but it did not come out as if he thought that it was good enough for a release! - To me it came out as if he thought it was cool for beginners!

 

For his opinion about harware synths (Virus ect) actually being a kind of software I do not agree! It's still the chips and the hardware processors that make up the synth (the same way it's always been) not the software editor !

[Guest Tim]

I can't NOT reply. I'm in CS. I know digital logic better than 99% of people. TRUST ME. Bits are Bits. Whether you play them on a Virus, a Pentium, a G4, or a C64. All that is different is the relative merits of how fast each system can process the bits.

 

Let me introduce you to a term: Turing Machine. All VA (digital logic inside) synths are turing machines. All PC's are turing machines. You can do anything you want with the processors, given the right programming. ANYTHING.

 

The only difference in hardware is DAC. And PC's have pretty nice DACs for pretty cheap, nowadays. 24bit, 96KHz is easy.

 

Trust me when I say the difference is ONLY in the software.

[Guest phlux0r]

Aaargh... ok, once you guys are done shooting over the HW-SW fence, make sure you also check out the upcoming Orion Platinum from sonic-syndicate.

 

Check out the beta testers discussion at:

 

http://www.dancetech.com/aa_dt_new/forums/...tter_id=1&age=7

[Guest ird]

Yes, the difference is all in the software, but it appears that 99% of the most talented and experienced DSP engineers work for hardware companies, such as Novation, Waldorf, etc etc. They work for hardware companies because it's good money - there's no piracy in the hardware world, you actually have to buy the synth in order to use it. Most of the softsynth are written by students willing to practice their "new" and "exclusive" filter algorithms. It's hardly possible to prevent piracy, and therefore it's unlikely that this hardware trend would change, isn't it? Software doesn't appear by itself, it has to be written by someone. Sure, some companies (Access) release software versions of their synths (Virus), but they're careful to keep a step ahead with their hardware.

 

Many hardware VA synths (including VAs) have a special "feature" to their sound, something that can't be reproduced by any other software. If a musician wants to use *that particular sound* in his music, he has to buy the actual hardware synth. Sure, if you rip a flash ROM from a Virus, obtain a DSP56000 emulator and run the software (written mostly in assembly language), you'll get the Virus sound on your PC, with a two-second delay after a keypress.

 

Softsynth can have their special features too, so it's all good in combination.

[Guest coriolis]

well, despite the heavy-handedness of the posts on this forum, i'll put in my two cents for the original post:

 

what do i use: logic, a creamware pulsar II, and a midiman oxygen 8.

 

why use logic:

1. you need midi and audio. midi to control your synths, audio to record them and put EQ and FX on them.

2. logic has the most streamlined, powerful, and effective interface of any sequencer (imho), including cubase and motu.

3. to make trance you need intricate control over synth parameters. this is acheived in logic very easily with the hyperdraw - lets you draw and very easily manipulate envelopes to control all the sound characteristics. cubase has a similar features but logics are more powerful, i won't get into details. cubase will work if you can't fork out the money for logic.

4. advanced, unconstrained sequencing control. you are not limited to the time-sliced beat/pattern nature of fruity-style, and you have superb control over all forms of progression, be it volume, fx, timing, whatever. fruity/rebrith/reason sequencing is based on chunky movement between big-block patterns, logic/cubase/motu are based on (practically) infinitely divisible timelines of individual tracks.

 

what is the creamware pulsar:

it is a DSP-powered "virtual studio": multi-channel ASIO sound card, very nice synths (including a phat build-your-own analog modelling wonder-synth-toolkit ala VAZ/reaktor except tighter and much better sounding), pro quality FX (fat filters, EQs, reverbs, distortions, and so on), and everything is modular and you just patch them together (synths, effects, mixers, ins and outs whatever you need). it sounds better than most software synths, and even if a software synth matched its sound quality, try running the softsynth through a gate, eq, compressor, chorus and autopan before sending it into a larger mix with your other four synths and audio feeds, which are all also being FXed in some way and so and so forth and you get the idea.

 

the oxygen 8 is just a controller with 8 assignable knobs for tweakage and auditioning the synths.

 

as for using fruity loops, reason, rebirth and other such software: these are tools, no more no less. they can do a lot and they are easy to use, i would never criticize someone for using them nor would i assume their music is bad. however, there is also a lot they can't do, especially when it comes to more advanced production and sequencing, where you get into a vast space of detailed intricate possibilities that, to me, are much more interesting and fun. fruity/reason/rebirth were designed to simplify and make accessible the possibilities for making pattern-oriented electronic music, and so the music made with it will usually be simplified and pattern-oriented. on the other hand, a creative person can do a lot of good with ANY tool. i always encourage myself and others to push the bloody hell out of their tools - use them in ways they weren't designed and be creative...

 

enough said. peace!

[Guest bugbread]

Coriolis: THAT was a beautiful response. It even helps me reconsider some purchases I was considering.