so, whats the best program to make your own samples with? and is there a program that will let u use that sample in a loop. or as i am reading i will have to integrate with another program. i have fruity loops demo now and am looking for a copy reason but unable to snag one. what i am looking to do is create music with purely samples and loop them together in a symphonic fashion.

every new roland keyboard can do that

i did not know that. thankyou... i finally grew and ave some moey to spend as fedex is doubling my salary. so i will be able to actually make some music besides using my numark belt drive tables.

cool, you should post some of your music! i'd love to hear what you come up with; as i am a musician. ;)

If youre lookin for something purely for arranging samples, grab Acid Pro 4.0...i thikn theres a newer version out now, but idk, my 4.0 works just as good.

and if youre looking to make your own riffs and melodies, it really all depends what youre lookin for and how much you want to spend. cubase is a good synth programmer

I really liked working with Reason. I created my own looping melodies and layers using reason and an old crappy Yamaha keyboard. The keyboard was a slave to access the sounds in Reason and create the melodies and with a little bit of patience it was easy to find my way around so the program becomes a bit more intuitive. What I liked about it is that it worked for me as my songs are primarily piano based and Reason, for me, I found to offer the versatility I wanted - I could push my limited music making knowledge as well as the limited means I have to make music. I just can't afford these other programs, and right now I can't aford the time to devote to making music unfortunately. The upsides and downsides mippio brought up about Reason are correct. My assertion also with Reason is that it can sound muddy if there's too much going on (then again I haven't worked with the latest Reason). It's very difficult to get a clean sound or one that doesn't sound canned. At least for me. It's not a great production tool, imo.

I am lacking a decent soundcard and I loaned out my keyboard to stash's step dad, so it's been a very long time since I've bothered to sit down and get creative again. I miss it, though.

you can easily pimp up you tunes with the new mastering suite in Reason 3! very helpful! sounds so much better! you can get a much cleaner sound!

my friend was looking into that

wheere is the best on the net to "test" drive some of these programs. i have fruity and i think i might actually buy it now... only a hundred bucks. aint that bad... cuz sonar(cakewalk) is going for close 500 at my local dealers. i do not feel like dishing out a half a thousand for a program i might not like.

I tinkered with Cakewalk (an old, old version) a few years ago when I was working on music with a friend. I am sure it's changed a lot since then, but I wouldn't know because to be honest I found it to be a real turn off. At the time I found it limiting, cumbersome and hardly intuitive. Having a program that is intuitive can be an important factor because when msic's being made, it's like putting down thoughts and feelings and emotion through sound. Comfort is nice... But that's just me, everyone's different - being comfortable can be really limiting to a lot of people and that's OK too. Diff'rent strokes.

I wish I knew of some places to send you on the net... You got the right stuff - if your gut's telling you to take it out for a test drive then you should before plunking down the cash. Also another thing to consider is the ease and functionality of a program especially if you're a music n00b (like I am, haha).

i am one too whirley. i usually only play with vinyl but me and my roomate are now grownups and want to start making stuff. fruity loops seems to be my best amatuer start for now.