The Official Beginners DJing Thread

OP: you want a behringer ddm-4000. for a digital dj, you will not find a better mixer than that for anywhere near that price. don't even think about wasting your money on the S4.
 
Software sequencer for mac

Oddly enough, a cursory search yielded little. In the wake of upgrading to a mac, I noticed that there isn't a mac port of Fruity Loops (yeah, I'm not a very advanced musician). This was my sequencer of convenience.

Do people have suggestions for software sequencers for mac, preferably open source, but I'm willing to engage in piracy when convenient?

For where I'm at, ease of user-interface takes precedence over feature-robustness.

I could load up fruitly loops in WINE, lol. :p

Oh yeah...running a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core Duo, 2.5 gigs of RAM.

ebola
 
What are its pros and cons vis-a-vis other software sequencers?

ebola
 
If you already have a soundcard w/ midi driving external instruments, there are a variety of open source software sequencers. If you don't have an external sound card, simply download some virtual instruments (free or otherwise) from a site like KVR Audio and use those with an open source software sequencer. Here is a link to a pretty comprehensive list you can explore (scroll down to free/open source section): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step_sequencer#Step_sequencers
 
Wow....quite exhaustive. Thanks. No hardware, except there's a keyboard that I might try out as a midi controller. I see the array of sequencers but lack a good way to adjudicate between which ones are better to use than others and why.

ebola
 
^ That's what demos are for.
ebola? said:
What are its pros and cons vis-a-vis other software sequencers?

ebola
Click to expand...
Cons
Doesn't support traditional notation (Cubase and Logic do)
No curves on the automation lines (FL Studio has this)
You have to pencil chords in manually (FL lets you do a whole chord with one click)
No loop slicer (Again, FL Studio has this)
Can be difficult to finish a whole song (Just stay out of session view if you have this problem)

Those are the only problems I've had with it.

Pros
Easy to use, but powerful
Has good effects and instruments
Supports vsts
Pretty much everything that wasn't mentioned as a con
 
|>R()|)!G/-\|_ said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Step_sequencer#Step_sequencers
Click to expand...

i think ebola is most likely looking for a DAW instead of a step sequencer.

@op
i'd usually recommend logic, but ease of use is not one of it's strengths and the learning curve is indeed quite steep. i'd guess that ableton is likely more to your liking.

but when you'll buy a mac, you'll most likely get garage band for free with it. so if it's free why not try it out? it's user interface is like a simplyfied version of logic, but the capabilities are severely limited.

and btw, there are enough advanced musicians, who still use fruity.
 
Logic

I left ableton 6 for Logic 8 Pro and have yet to look back. Ableton was buggy as all hell then, however it has improved slightly.

Logic is an Apple product so naturally it is going to interface well on a native machine. Think about it...
The internal effects, instruments and etc. are worth the price of admission alone. Logic has some of the best filters and delays imo and that's just scratching the surface. Workflow is a breeze as they've done away with the "enviroment" although you still can access it should you wanna go deep.

I totally prefer Logic to Ableton but I'll give Live some credit. Most notably what they're doing with Max.http://www.ableton.com/maxforlive maybe you've heard of it? It's an interesting bit of kit but one can't rewire out to Ableton and expect to use any of those cool/somewhat cool Max instruments, effects, and midi utilities.

Also, purely my opinion here: Live's synths, drumracks, etc blow if you wanna side by side em with Logic.

Take the above with a grain of salt though, as I'm not a dj or a remixer and couldn't care less about sample or time stretching, which I guess is one of the things Live is famous for.


edit
Don't be put off by Logic's steep learning curve as was mentioned a post or so above me. They've mellowed it out quite a bit since 7 (extremely steep curve, that one)

edit 2
Logic also has a chord memory function, bad ass imo
 
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You're probably better off going the digital route. This is how most producers do things these days. I personally use Ableton Live and Reason for production. You'll be able to get a good program and MIDI controller for 400.
 
First off, go here:
http://www.vintagesynth.com/
and here:
http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/

That second link is for a synth forum with a plethora of knowledge for you. All bases covered in the sub-forums: General synths, software synths to sound production.
Register up and start asking questions in the appropriate places....
Just a wealth of knowledge that place has to offer. Really couldn't emphasize that enough.

A somewhat short and simple recommendation for you would be to pick up a sequencer. One that'd be easy enough to break your cherry on...something like
http://www.ableton.com/
http://www.reaper.fm/
etc.

Reaper btw is fairly cheap, very user-friendly and easy on cpu resources. It has a following almost as big as Live's (almost)

I personally would toss any ideas of picking up a digital synth (microkorg) clean out the window. You'd be shelling out something like $250-300 for something that essentially sounds like a soft synth. Pretty much a midi controller that'll make thin digital sounds just like softsynths. Pointless.

I'd honestly do some synth research, browse ebay and craigslist here and there and try to find an analog or an analog/hybrid synth with midi out to control your softsynths.

I can think of quite a few analogs and hybrids that you can snag all day long under the $400 mark. Those synths will make a snob outta you, but in a good way. They'll show you what basses, leads etc are supposed to sound like prior to all this digital dubstep chainsaw bass........bah.

Think phat
 
vanguard is a good softsynth for trance music. especially when starting out.
when you have got a decent understanding of synthesis i'd recommend a more advanced synth with more capabilities like u-he zebra2.

i really wouldn't buy any hardware synth for electronic music production nowadays. there's virtually nothing you can do with a hardware synth that you can't do with a softsynth plus a decent midi controller.
i'd make an exception for a TB-303 if i ever found one for an acceptable price though ;)
 
Black said:
vanguard is a good softsynth for trance music. especially when starting out.
when you have got a decent understanding of synthesis i'd recommend a more advanced synth with more capabilities like u-he zebra2.

i really wouldn't buy any hardware synth for electronic music production nowadays. there's virtually nothing you can do with a hardware synth that you can't do with a softsynth plus a decent midi controller.
i'd make an exception for a TB-303 if i ever found one for an acceptable price though ;)
Click to expand...

It all comes down to the sound some of the best emulator soft synths are just that.....emulators.

No amount of engineering will turn dsp technology into voltage controlled oscillators and filters.
 
so what? after all…
It all comes down to the sound
Click to expand...
:)

if you're after the specific sound of some old vintage synth, there likely a softsynth that does the job. for everything else software imho nowadays has much more capability and ease of use than analog hardware. as far as i know there's no analog synth that can do everything that zebra2 or sculpture or even es2 (with it's rough digital sounding filters) can do.

and everything besides expensive analog hardware is just a softsynth in a box ;)
 
I see your point totally....

In the past few years electronic music......the bulk of it anyway sounds like it's been produced on a laptop or computer. It's a just very sterile sound, and I don't think alot of kids can honestly tell the difference.

Maybe 2-3 years ago, I refused to do anything outside of the box. Composed quite a bit with Reaktor but the weakness of the sound quality always got to me. Not only Reaktor, but also Vangard, Zebra, Absynth, Massive, Filterscape etc. Granted you can do alot with them and they're great things in it that it allows for just about anyone with the desire to produce electronic music......get into it, but that's it.

Analogue hardware will never die out, there is a massive resurgence going on in the analogue world. Manufacturers and devices springing up left and right.

It's a craft, no different from those who only choose to spin vinyl.
 
mains ones i use are, v-station,vanguard,sylenth,albino 3, nexus and massive... all great synths
 
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