Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Making music: drum machines, synthesizers, and sound cards

vanblah · 01-25-2005, 12:35 PM

It's all about what you are trying to do. What kind of music do you want to make?

Acid/Fruity Loops/Abelton are all associated with techno. Although you can do more with them ...

The MPC3000 is associated with hip-hop and rap, although again, you can do much more with it.

It sounds like you need something general like Sonar (www.cakewalk.com). You can use drum loops (check out www.drumsondemand.com for quality loops). You can also use VSTi and DXi drum machines, synthesizers, samplers etc.

For a VSTi synth (or softsynth) all you need is a cheap controller (http://www.zzounds.com/cat--Keyboard-Controllers--2684) that connects to the computer and triggers the sounds created in the softsynth.

You don't need a "state-of-the-art" studio for what you want to do. It's called a scratch or writing studio. Then when you are ready to go to the next level check out demo studios in your area. You don't even need to think about pro studios right now.

As for sound cards you have to decide whether you need to record more than two tracks at a time. Probably not, but you never know. Check out http://www.zzounds.com/cat--PCI-Audio-Interfaces--2421 for more information.

Doug

PS: How Trent Reznor makes those sounds:

01-25-2005, 12:35 PM	#7 (permalink)
vanblah Junkie	It's all about what you are trying to do. What kind of music do you want to make? Acid/Fruity Loops/Abelton are all associated with techno. Although you can do more with them ... The MPC3000 is associated with hip-hop and rap, although again, you can do much more with it. It sounds like you need something general like Sonar (www.cakewalk.com). You can use drum loops (check out www.drumsondemand.com for quality loops). You can also use VSTi and DXi drum machines, synthesizers, samplers etc. For a VSTi synth (or softsynth) all you need is a cheap controller (http://www.zzounds.com/cat--Keyboard-Controllers--2684) that connects to the computer and triggers the sounds created in the softsynth. You don't need a "state-of-the-art" studio for what you want to do. It's called a scratch or writing studio. Then when you are ready to go to the next level check out demo studios in your area. You don't even need to think about pro studios right now. As for sound cards you have to decide whether you need to record more than two tracks at a time. Probably not, but you never know. Check out http://www.zzounds.com/cat--PCI-Audio-Interfaces--2421 for more information. Doug PS: How Trent Reznor makes those sounds: