Production Software..what to go for?

[Guest loop skywalker]

Hi rimmers....i know a lot of you out there are into production...i want to get started.All i have ever done is fuck about with hip hop ejay.I want to get an aki mpd midi controller and some software but which to use????

I need something that is

.Easy to use

.pretty cheap

.and easy to use.I have hearedred about ableton live intro..but im scared im too spasticated to use that program...what about any others???

Lots of love loop xxx

[djdiggla]

DL the trial version of Ableton and watch the tutorials on youtube. You will not be able to save but you will be able to get the hang of it while you save up (or decide it's not for you).

 

U on mac or PC?

[Chris]

I would definitely take a look at Live Intro- but as Dirk says download the demo (and if you register, you get the full version for a month too) to see whether you like it... then take a look at any controllers on the market are offering Live Lite, which differs depending on the hardware it's distributed with but could be worth as much as Intro to you with the controller from a value perspective, if you know what I mean. For instance, a Novation Remote SL is a fantastic controller and has a very well featured version of Live Lite. Akai MPKs also have a very good version of Live Lite- I imagine, although couldn't tell you for sure, that the new MPD26 will come with the latest Live Lite licence too.

 

Aside from that train of thought, you could perhaps look at a DAW such as Reaper, which is very, very cheap but offers a very similar workflow- and same plugin capability- as its 'pro' competitors. Lite Lite/Intro has restrictions as to what you can do, but Reaper, or Musys, or a couple of others (that I'm not particularly au fait with and couldn't legitimately recommend) do not.

 

Another option is to go hardware. MPC/MV or Fantom/Motif/Triton could be an option for you. You don't need to worry about whether what you've 'got' computer wise can handle your intentions, and it could make a big difference maintaining the difference between your computer and your music making stuff. It's tough for me to make that recommendation- I've been doiing this music making stuff for about 13 years now and a lot of what I know is through the avenues that computer based music making afforded me... but at the same time, a lot of my best stuff or most fun moments have been through using completely non computer related stuff. It's tricky, and maybe there is an element of paying your dues- who knows!

 

Honestly, my advice is to get an MPC1000 and the JJOS. I'm basing that on you wanting an MPD, and thus not caring about a keyboard but wanting to chop and play with samples. You'll have much, much more fun with an MPC for this stuff. The other option might be Maschine, but honestly I've got one of those on the desk myself and as nice as it is, I still wish I had a 2500 again. Maybe it's the benefit of the amount of stuff that I've seen come and go, I don't know...

[Guest loop skywalker]

I would definitely take a look at Live Intro- but as Dirk says download the demo (and if you register, you get the full version for a month too) to see whether you like it... then take a look at any controllers on the market are offering Live Lite, which differs depending on the hardware it's distributed with but could be worth as much as Intro to you with the controller from a value perspective, if you know what I mean. For instance, a Novation Remote SL is a fantastic controller and has a very well featured version of Live Lite. Akai MPKs also have a very good version of Live Lite- I imagine, although couldn't tell you for sure, that the new MPD26 will come with the latest Live Lite licence too.

 

Aside from that train of thought, you could perhaps look at a DAW such as Reaper, which is very, very cheap but offers a very similar workflow- and same plugin capability- as its 'pro' competitors. Lite Lite/Intro has restrictions as to what you can do, but Reaper, or Musys, or a couple of others (that I'm not particularly au fait with and couldn't legitimately recommend) do not.

 

Another option is to go hardware. MPC/MV or Fantom/Motif/Triton could be an option for you. You don't need to worry about whether what you've 'got' computer wise can handle your intentions, and it could make a big difference maintaining the difference between your computer and your music making stuff. It's tough for me to make that recommendation- I've been doiing this music making stuff for about 13 years now and a lot of what I know is through the avenues that computer based music making afforded me... but at the same time, a lot of my best stuff or most fun moments have been through using completely non computer related stuff. It's tricky, and maybe there is an element of paying your dues- who knows!

 

Honestly, my advice is to get an MPC1000 and the JJOS. I'm basing that on you wanting an MPD, and thus not caring about a keyboard but wanting to chop and play with samples. You'll have much, much more fun with an MPC for this stuff. The other option might be Maschine, but honestly I've got one of those on the desk myself and as nice as it is, I still wish I had a 2500 again. Maybe it's the benefit of the amount of stuff that I've seen come and go, I don't know...

 

Thanks Chris,there is a lot to think about...i want the mpd or mpc so i can use it for live performances as well.Thanks a lot for your input i will deffo explore the avenues you have shown me.

[x2k]

I've used cubase, reason & ableton live extensively and dabbled with others, cubase is my main production software but I would seriously go with the general consensus here and vote for ableton live. It also comes with a built in tutorial which will get you going in no time.

[djdiggla]

buy my mpc loop!

...and answer my question! PC or mac!?

[kut_class]

if youv'e got serato already and now thinking about lerning production i'd go for ableton. Also, I've got an Akai mpk , its a good bit of kit. The pads are good and the keys are nicely weighted, although not sure about taking out for performance. It also came with a copy of Ableton lite, which should get you on the go. Best of all you can integrate with serato via the bridge, or use your mpk just to control serato , quite a few options ....

[Guest loop skywalker]

@ dirk..unfortunatley i have a pc and it looks like the mpd for me..didnt realise how much an mpc would cost.I think ableton and mpd is the way for me by the sounds of things...cheers for all the advice guys xxx

[Jon]

I use a combination of Logic and Ableton with additional plugins for synths. Most DAWs (Cubase/Logic/Nuendo etc) offer similar packages. I'd think you'd find ableton a bit easier to pick up- in my opinion it's a lot more sample friendly if you're going down that route.

[djdiggla]

@ dirk..unfortunatley i have a pc and it looks like the mpd for me..didnt realise how much an mpc would cost.I think ableton and mpd is the way for me by the sounds of things...cheers for all the advice guys xxx

 

Check ur PMs

[Guest loop skywalker]

@ dirk..unfortunatley i have a pc and it looks like the mpd for me..didnt realise how much an mpc would cost.I think ableton and mpd is the way for me by the sounds of things...cheers for all the advice guys xxx

 

Check ur PMs

i dont have pms....my periods stopped when i had the op and hormone treatment

[djdiggla]

[Guest loop skywalker]

cheers dirk...thats fucking amazing...obviously it looks really difficult first time off...but i just dragged a couple of songs and had a fuck about...looks awesome for beatmix proof djing too.Cant wait to get sampling now and making some tracks...also think i need to get a sound library as there wasnt one with what that was ,,was there dirk?

[djdiggla]

I don'tthink so but there are a lot of free virtual insts and I know Ableton has some free sample packs on their site too.

 

I just did a little free tutorial a month ago put on by this local Ableton User Group--learned some pretty cool ish on hot to make sure tracks are being warped right so the mix correctly--if you have any probs holla (or just check some youtube vids).

[Face Melt]

why does everybody love ableton so much? their fans are like apple nut jobs or something.

 

i program my drums in renoise and mix and do everything else in reaper.

 

i don't do anything live.

 

do not get hardware because in this day and age when you compare software to hardware, then hardware is a luxury if you have a lot of money.

[x2k]

why does everybody love ableton so much? their fans are like apple nut jobs or something.

 

i program my drums in renoise and mix and do everything else in reaper.

 

i don't do anything live.

 

do not get hardware because in this day and age when you compare software to hardware, then hardware is a luxury if you have a lot of money.

 

Basically because it has a fairly unique approach to and more instantaneous work flow, the problem with it is that it can be hard to move around to the ableton way of thinking if you're used to the methods of other sequencers but if you can shed that old way of working it really is a pleasure to use. Saying that I still do 90% of my production in Cubase.

[doppelkorn]

why does everybody love ableton so much? their fans are like apple nut jobs or something.

 

i program my drums in renoise and mix and do everything else in reaper.

 

i don't do anything live.

 

do not get hardware because in this day and age when you compare software to hardware, then hardware is a luxury if you have a lot of money.

 

I've heard renoise has a dediacted fanbase but it's a bit unique and hard to get your head around...is this true?

[x2k]

I've heard renoise has a dediacted fanbase but it's a bit unique and hard to get your head around...is this true?

 

Renoise is a tracker, it works a bit differently to normal sequencers, with a tracker you enter events in a list which moves vertically rather than from left to right. Trackers used to be quite popular in the earlier years of computer music but are almost non-existent these days except for renoise which has a bit of a cult following. Trackers are great (and maybe a tad geeky) but they've just been over shadowed by modern DAWs, by all means give it a try though, I only hear great things about it, it'll either work for you or it won't

[Face Melt]

just wondering apart from doing "live" work, how does ableton fair as a standard compositional tool for studio use? it really has taken over the EDM scene in the last few years and i'm wondering should i jump on the bandwagon or stay on the hate train.

 

as far as renoise. well x2k is right, it's a tracker. and like he said they were quite popular, especially in europa, during the early days of electronic music.

 

essentially the main difference between a tracker and a more traditional DAW is the interface.

 

this

 

 

versus this

 

 

 

 

everything goes vertical instead of horizontal for a start. there is no piano roll or audio clips either. basically to sum it up it's just vertical step sequencing. renoise, and all trackers, are sampler/sequencers. so if you are working with drums it is great.

 

you use pattern commands which you type in next to note values. these commands have various effects, such as delaying the note, retriggering it, turning an effect on or off, etc..

 

probably the biggest advantage that renoise offers is speed and workflow. once you get used to it everything else seems retarded, especially for drum programming. but you're not doing things in it that can't be done in other programs. it's really just about speed and ease of use.

 

for all the talk of trackers being difficult to learn i actually found renoise very easy to grasp and it made more sense to me. i guess the interface throws a lot of people off.

 

if you are working with recorded audio then renoise would be a no-no as it doesn't use audio clips. but if you're just working with samples and plugins then it really is one of the best tools for electronic music production.

 

it also comes with some great (although simple) native fx. it's priced really well too and the demo is non-restrictive. except you can't save.

 

so try out the demo and see what you think.

 

this guy has four videos that should help you get started.

 

[Dan]

why does everybody love ableton so much? their fans are like apple nut jobs or something.

 

To quote Jazzy Jeff "you just don't understand what it does, once you do you'll switch"

[matt-soh]

Ableton is decent, but every single effects plug-in is down right awful compared to other DAWs, especially logic. If I was using a PC i'd definitely go for Pro Tools or Cubase.