hey, im making music with reason (2.5) and elements of rebirth and garage band. what do you use and whats your all time favorite?

1. Native Instruments: Pro-53(prophet53 - analog synthesizer), FM7 (digital synthesizer), Reaktor (sound editing, efects), Guitar Rig, Beat Box

2. Sonic Foundry: Sound Forge 6.0 (sound editor)

3. Cubase

jcm Escribi�:

hey, im making music with reason (2.5) and elements of rebirth and garage band. what do you use and whats your all time favorite?

Garageband,Logic ,and Audacity for sequencing,things like that.

various little programs for fucking with sounds,tons of hardware, and bits of string for inspiration.



my all time favourite is recording outside in the summer and just getting really excited; it's all about Audacity then, but it's kinda ustable.

1. Reason 2.5

2. Cool Edit Pro 2.0

3. Absynth 2

4. Hammerhead Rhythm Studio

5. Sound Forge 7

6. T-RackS

7. ACID Pro 5

8. Traktor DJ

since im in highschool i can't afford that much, did you get all this stuff legally? i mean, esspecially hardwear is so expensive...



First thing im gonna buy if i have enough money: Logic 7 for Mac...



besides: who thinks windows sucks? X-D









!!!ME!!!

(!)

Ableton Pro

Fruity Loops Producers Edition

Cool Edit Pro

Native Instruments Battery Drum Machine

Phadiz Phase Distortion Synthesizer

Yamaha DX-21 Synthesizer

Steinberg Halion

Sonic Foundry Acid Pro

IK Amplitube

Algo Music String Synthesizer

Gemini SA-2400 Turntable w/ Stanton 520 SK Cartridge

Gemini UMX-3 Mixer

so...when did you guys start with the whole thing? I was about 12, crap Fruity loops of course, lol

Then reason, and then the mac and soon...logic!

Akai MPC2000XL

Nord Modular G2 Engine

Kawai K5000S

Behringer BCR2000

Protools LE 6.4 (running through an Mbox)

I was told to stay away from hardware as much as possible nowadays, since software emulation is becoming so powerful (not to mention cheaper).



8) Its not what you have, but how you use it.

Cubase SX3

battery 2

imposcar

kontakt

oddity

oh, loads of plug & fx (software - i canna be arsed to list them all)

Technics decks

Vestax PMC17A Mixer

Kenton Pro-Solo

USB Midi-Sport 4 * 4

Cambridge Audio Amp

Sony Mini-Disc Player

Roland SH-101

Alesis M1 Mk2 actives

Nord Lead 2 Rack

Behringer Ultrapatch Pro

Lexicon MPX550

Alesis 3630 Compressor

T C Electronic Triple C Compressor

Pod XT

Big Muf Distortion Pedal

Fat Man 1 Valve Compressor

Evolution MK-361C Controller Keyboard

Mackie 1202VLZ Pro

Fender Telecaster called Molly (1974 california issue)

Aria Acoustic Guitar

A Quiklok desk to put it all on

Lots of Records!



stay away from hardware??!!?? my friend, you have been given false information ;)



still - its not what you have but how you use it - nevere a true'er word spoken!! :D



mips [/quote]

Stay away for expense reasons ofcourse.

well....



the way i see it is if you buy a proper analogue synth - say a Jupiter 6 for �800. if you look after it (dont drop it basically!) then in 5 to 10 years time it's only going to have gone up in value, or at the very least held it's value.



you buy a piece of softtware, the second you take it out of its box its value depreciates by 50% - in a years time it'll probably be pretty much worthless.



so i reckon that arguements a red herring.



and somethings, like compression - the software never does as good a job - u can pick up a 3630 for like �80 these days, which is loads cheaper than something like the Rcomp by waves (the only decent software alternative imo)



but each to their own as they say :)



unless of course u dont pay for your software X-D

yeah, i want hardware 2. at least a synth...sometimes. just makes it so much easier and more coloful....

Nothing beats the ease of use of harware (think about a panel full of knobs), but I understand the price of a complete setup would rather have you fooling around on a computer.



my setup :



DJ kit :

2 Technics SL1200 MKII Turntables

Ortofon Concorde DJ cartridges

Vestax PPD01 24bits digital mixer with alesis effects

Stanton headphones



Hardware setup:

Akai MPC200XL 32megs

Korg MS2000 Analog modelling synth

Novation KS-Rack Analog modelling expander

Roland MC505 Groovebox (used as an expander, not for sequencing)

Akai S2000 Sampler (32megs, 8 outs)



Mixing/Recording:

Yamaha AW4416 digital DtD recorder/mixer

Old expellec mixer (just faders, no EQ, buses, nothing...)

Sony MD deck (useful for live/ DJ sets recording...)



Instruments:

various electric guitars and amps,

electric bass

acoustic guitar

Sitar

clarinet

Roland TD5 electronic drumkit - crap but so fun-



Mac Setup:

Powerbook 15'' 1,33GHz

Logic Express 7 + various virtual instruments.

M-Audio Firewire 410 Audio Midi Interface

Reason Adapted (came with the firewire 410)

Live adapted (also came with the 410)

Evolution MK449 USB/MIDI keyboard/controller



I worked only on the hardware setup until lastm onth, and I must say Logic changed my way of writing music.



It si very easy to lay basic grooves and small looped sequences using the MPC and the ahardware gear, but I used to have a masive probleme truning the thing into a proper arrangement (hard to do on a tidy LCD screen), and, despite being a great machine, the yamaha recoder makes editing quite painful.



Now, i use Mostly logic, and am facing the opposite problem : it is very easy to write the whole arrangement and try different things in a matter of second, but I must say nothing beats the sound and the ease of tweaking of external hardware (I must say I only have the AU plugins that came with logic, and a few demos, but no proper software synth yet...).

I haven't have the chance to try everything altogether, (most of the hardware studio went bak to Paris, and I now live 500 km away), but i think it is gonna be cool combining the advantages.



But once again, it is not what you own, but what you do with it. I used to mess around with Hammer head and fruityloops and garage band, too.... you do not need to spend a lot of money to make great music as long as you manage to get various demos and freewares working together...

software



Cakewalk Sonar 4.0

SoundForge



mixer



Behringer UB2442FX-PRO



synths



Korg Prophecy

Korg MS-2000S

Roland Alpha Juno 2

Roland Juno 106 (the best synthesizer ever ! )



+ Boss SP-202 sampler

Acoustic & electric guitars

occasional guest drums



and our secret weapon:

Casio SA-11 ToneBank X-D

@TryptaJunk: how long did it take you to carry all this together and how much did cost overall??

man, you must be rich...



or just love music, maybe



:D

I am most creative when i use Fruity Loops 3.5 . Well actually that's the only software that i have along with Audacity. I am happy with what i have achieved with just using that software for 2 years now.

yeah, it's better than many people think...if you have the right ideas, of course...lol

dirtyspecs Escribi�:

+ Boss SP-202 sampler

oh, forgot about the SP 202 sampler... I own one too. It deserve to appear on my list. lol. (for those wondering what is so funny, it is just that it is a very chepa loop sampler, aimed at DJs, and, even if you can tweak it in interesting ways, it was a commercial failure... was the first piece of gear (beside turntables) I bought.. when I was 15...)



Oh, while we are on the subject, i also happen to own an Alesis Air Synth... a strage theremin-like (well, that's being generous with it) thing that morph sounds when you move your hand around it. Maybe I did not manage to use it in the proper way (It must be interesting live or to generate basic tones that you would tweak in a porper sampler), but it remained a gadget to me...



About fruity loops, i just dislike the pattern sequencing thing. I like music to repeat itself, but always contuniously evolve, which is a pain in the ass to sequence just using 1 or 2 bar patterns.. but hey, I had a lot of fun with it too. Never had the chance to try it with a MIDI keyboard, so i was limited to programming drum loops and cheap sequenced basslines





Although I must say it is a very efficient way to lay down the basics of a tune. especially drums programming. but there are a lot of cool and almost professional features in this program. If ot suits your way of working I am sure you can achieve great things...



@JCM : yeah, I love music. although until recently i tendend to be a bit overwhelmed by the technology, which seriously damages the creative flow...



actually, I just realised, writing this list, how much money I spent on gear these last years.

I must say it is not THAT expensive if you look for used machines (of course a vintage Moog or TR909 will cost you a lot, but who cares about a Roland MC505? it's crap anyway!), especially these days, when people are moving to software, they are getting rid of hardware and you can find some quite cheap (got the yamaha Direct to Disk recorder for half the normal price, it is typically something you would replace by a computer.)



Moreover, I was lucky enough to work part time (I'm a student) as a webdesigner during the last two years, and well, most of this money was spent on music hardware. and psychedelic drugs.

But basically, it is jut up to you where you put your money : I haven't changed my wardrobe since I was 17, (just like Tom and Ed

}:-) ), and I can handle a diet of pasta and cheap beer for the sake of a sampler.



Basically, everything I own, I've worked for it, which is something I am quite proud of. When people walk into my room and discover the studio I am always worried they could think I'm some kind or rich kid, whith rich parents, but I payed for this.



And now, given the ease of use of Logic on the powerbook, I almost regret it. However, I don't think I'm gonna sell my MPC, ever...

oh, jcm... just noticed your second question :



I don't think windows "sucks". when you come to think about it, it must be great challenge to have PC with all its components (made by different manufacturers) and various software up and running, everything in a user friendly and fool proof environnement. And I respect Windows for that. i happen to study and work in Informatics (sounds geeky, I know)



But, yeah, fuck Windows, nothing beats a Mac. this machine is simply magic. I've just moved to the Mac and, well, I'm impressed.



you should really gather the money and get Logic Express 7, if you can get it via the Apple store - Education it is cheaper. forget garage band, you'll never use it again.