compose electronic music

romsoccer12

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 1, 2009
Messages
274
i am completely knew to making music. i love to mess around with fruity loops and virtual dj, both the free versions, but want to start getting some real equipment to get me going.

my first step is to get the full fruity loops version. any reccomendations on what to get next? i was thinking a drum pad, maybe a keyboard/synth. i cant get to expensive though
 
reason - ableton - buzz(freeware!) - renoise(freeware!) - cool edit are my software of choise
 
would a cheap midi keyboard work well specifically with any of these? it wont even make sound on fruity loops free version. it works well with garage band free version but im very limited with it.
 
First and foremost, step up your digital game first ;)

You can make alot of cool stuff without a single piece of hardware other than your laptop and speakers.

Find good samples. *multiple* quality snares, claps, hi hats, kick drums, that you can use in different songs. And know that when you get good with effects you can make your percussion sound even metter.

Get a quality VST (or two), and LEARN it!!

The very *NEXT* thing I suggest is actually some good Studio monitors. You don't necessarily need hardware to produce music, but you do need good speakers to make sure your sound is quality. I dont know how many times I've started on good-sounding tunes on my rough old logitech speakers and then they sound like crap on headphones or larger speakers.

Then get your midi keyboard, one compatible with fruity loops and other DAWs like ableton and logic.
 
how can i find good samples without download different softwares? im pretty new at this and a little confused but thanks for the help

ive learned fruity loops samples pretty well, and garage band, it just takes a long time to make a song seeing theyre the free versions and you cant use certain techniques to make a song faster and whenver you exit out of fruityloops free version everything is erased. lighting storms can kill a lot of work

what is virutal studio technology? is it actual equipment connected into the computer/software? sry for my ignorance i looked it up online and did not understand the description well

and i have pretty good speakers, logitechs. the sounds/samples are very clear through them.

oh and no labtop, just a dell PC
 
lol when they say "VIRTUAL" studio technology its VIRTUAL meaning its not equipment connected into the computer/software. You can run VSTs with just your DAW (fruity loops) and with the VST you downloaded itself.

You don't need additional software for samples.....samples are just .aiff or .wav files that you can either cut yourself or can download them from sample packs.....I like the free ones on dogs on acid (by the way, that site is VERY good for learning electronic music production - its specialty is drum & bass but you can learn tricks that cross over to any genre), and with some effects shit starts sounding tasty. The samples I use now I took from my university's music library, they had a pretty good sounding sample pack. You can possibly t*rrent your sample packs, the best way to go about it is to just google your samples, if you are trying to produce a specific genre (ie electro house or dubstep or hip hop or something) search that and you can probably find quality sample packs.

And dont worry about the free version of fruity loops for now. Some of my most favoritest producers in the game started with fruity loops, and their first compositions are of course lost for eternity cause they couldnt save it! Its more important to develop the skills anyways...... you learn and improve by simply making music!

I also recommend downloading a program called Audacity, it has many uses - for one, you can record the output of your fruity loop songs just for listening purposes (it wont be high quality, mind you, but at least you can re-listen to your works). Second and more importantly, audacity is good software for conversion: if you rip audio from a youtube video or a movie to sample, you can use audacity to convert the audio format to whatever you need.

In terms of VSTs.........I use my DAW's built-in synths (Analog and Operator) just because they are what I've had the most experience with - again I recommend googling "Best free soft synths" or something along those terms. One I recommend is the Crystal soft synth, its pretty complicated but if you turn most of the extra features and extra waveforms off you can figure it out by just cutting the synth down to basics. In terms of general knowledge, try reading up on basic sound synthesis. Learn what a waveform is, amplitude, frequency, all that jazz.

Finally, when you start out, you don't even need a synthesizer for your main synths. Why? You can just sample the hell out of whatever you like. This video truly shows the power of sampling, I'm still amazed every time I watch it. ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI
 
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i downloaded this VST
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/11/the-best-100-free-music-plug-ins-just-add-host/
i tried opening and it said..
these files are used by operating systems and by various programs. i thought this meant it has to be opened through fruityloops so i opened it through FL and it says...
ASYNTH ( the VST i DL'd) is not a valid WIN32 application

a little lost what to do now to get a VST because im pretty sure if I DL another one it will do the same
 
not exactly sure how to help on that one.....are the files .VST?

My DAW reads .VST files and it reads them from one directory folder that I selected. I'm not sure exactly how fruityloops uses their VSTs, plus I run a macintosh
 
yes, all VSTs i try to DL do that. my computer is stocked out with antivirus systems b/c its old and it restricts many things. i think ill just wait till i get a mac to use a VST. as of now im going to t?rrent FL.
any website/youtube video out there to teach you how to use FL?
 
Finally, when you start out, you don't even need a synthesizer for your main synths. Why? You can just sample the hell out of whatever you like. This video truly shows the power of sampling, I'm still amazed every time I watch it. ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI

This is so true. When you see how a lot of great songs are just built from a couple samples it makes things seem a lot more accessible, even though they aren't.

Steve Angello's Knas made in Ableton with a couple of samples - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuAxnEWQWDw
 
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