Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

At 4/24/12 05:12 PM, SolidToad wrote: What program would you recommend for making music straight from your computer? With no instruments really attached, since I'm not good at any instrument.

Hey dude, dont listen to these elitist fuckin' hates. If you wanna make music, I encourage you. You dont need to play an instrument. Go "buy" FL (Fruity Loops) 10. Itll take about a week to learn the fundamentals and then the rest is up to you. Easy to use and clean UI, its great for beginners.

And before anyone else hops on me, I play guitar, drums, and I've studied/study music. So stfu with this "hur dur learn an instrument dur hur" talk. If you were actually a musician, you would encourage other artists to create their own, not bring them down. Morons.

[/end rant]

At 4/28/12 02:23 PM, Wurfel-Waffles wrote:
We are here to just help. We are sharing our experience with a beginner.

Does that experience include a bad attitude from particular individuals? Kinda makes one wish there were a feature to block viewing the posts of those you block.

:Learn the difference between suggestive and oppressive statements.

It's Newgrounds. The line between suggestive and oppressive is hazy.

Thing is, with the knowledge of playing an instrument or know music theory help you save your time and improve your skills a lot faster. Again, just a suggestion.

And yet the assumption that the new people here know nothing about playing instruments or musical theory comes again. I wish you people would stop that. Seriously.

At 4/28/12 06:43 PM, Buoy wrote: At least we all have the maturity not to make stubborn dogmatic claims, go full ad hominem and speak to each other in a tone that fuels a completely unnecessary flame war.

This is true.

At 4/24/12 05:12 PM, SolidToad wrote: What program would you recommend for making music straight from your computer? With no instruments really attached, since I'm not good at any instrument.

Cubase had been the central basis for computer sequencing for a while, Also a program called Reaper may be free, im not sure.
I remember how complicated things looked when I first looked on cubase, tutorials are important if you're just starting.

At 5/1/12 10:29 AM, SenatorJohnDean wrote:

At 4/24/12 05:12 PM, SolidToad wrote: What program would you recommend for making music straight from your computer? With no instruments really attached, since I'm not good at any instrument.

FL Studio is good for plebians, because it does all the work for you.
Sonar is the best program out there, because you can hook up an infinite amount of third party synths, with better sounds than FL. However, it is a little more in depth on the learning curve.

That's pretty subjective. It depends on the uses and whether or not you do mostly synth or live recording. For example, I use Cubase, but a majority of other studios that do live recording use ProTools.

ProTools is pretty much industry standard.

At 5/1/12 10:29 AM, SenatorJohnDean wrote: FL Studio is good for plebians, because it does all the work for you.

I think what you meant to say:

"FL Studio is good for folks who want to make music, because it's a powerful platform presented with a sensible, usable UI."

Sonar is the best program out there, because you can hook up an infinite amount of third party synths,

Fascinatingly, FL Studio can similarly host a limitless range of third-party synths, effects and tools.

with better sounds than FL.

I'm not clear on what you mean by this. FL can host a huge variety of high-quality popular synthesizers and sample libraries. There's no sound that's somehow intrinsic to FL.

At 5/1/12 10:45 AM, loansindi wrote:

At 5/1/12 10:29 AM, SenatorJohnDean wrote: FL Studio is good for plebians, because it does all the work for you.

I think what you meant to say:

"FL Studio is good for folks who want to make music, because it's a powerful platform presented with a sensible, usable UI."

Sonar is the best program out there, because you can hook up an infinite amount of third party synths,

Fascinatingly, FL Studio can similarly host a limitless range of third-party synths, effects and tools.

with better sounds than FL.

I'm not clear on what you mean by this. FL can host a huge variety of high-quality popular synthesizers and sample libraries. There's no sound that's somehow intrinsic to FL.

THANK. YOU. Really, honestly, thank you.

This is coming from a Grade 8-qualified pianist and music theorist.
Seriously, when one disses one DAW for another, I get very, very peeved. I began with Logic Pro 8, and then moved on to FL Studio. Learning one has helped me with another, and essentially, the basics of using DAWs are pretty much the same (except if, by any chance, you choose to end up with Mario Paint Compose instead).

I won't bank on the DAW -- people are here to give suggestions, not mock other people for the DAWs they use. People have said that FL is "not a good thing for making music; just those premade loops" -- but that's because they see all the junk that surfaces on YouTube. Nearly all my music tracks are done on FL. And I'm sure that no one would want his DAW dissed (*coughcoughReasonAbletonGaragebandLogiccough*).

Granted, there are going to be flaws with every DAW. Just pick the one you're most comfortable with, and call it a day.

At 5/1/12 11:14 AM, TroisNyxEtienne wrote: the truth

A lot of people on newgrounds get -really- hung up on their tools. I bet a good portion of them do so because they lack the skill to worry about anything else.

At 5/1/12 11:18 AM, loansindi wrote:

At 5/1/12 11:14 AM, TroisNyxEtienne wrote: the truth

A lot of people on newgrounds get -really- hung up on their tools. I bet a good portion of them do so because they lack the skill to worry about anything else.

I don't claim to have the skill that a number of people have (I'm a learner myself), but I see people doing very good things with their tools -- all the more reason not to dismiss them.

At 5/1/12 11:44 AM, TroisNyxEtienne wrote: I don't claim to have the skill that a number of people have (I'm a learner myself), but I see people doing very good things with their tools -- all the more reason not to dismiss them.

I bet a lot of the folks you admire aren't the ones trumpeting about how much better their DAW is than all the others.

At 5/1/12 11:50 AM, loansindi wrote: I bet a lot of the folks you admire aren't the ones trumpeting about how much better their DAW is than all the others.

Teehee, not at all! :D

I recommend FL Studio for making music

At 4/24/12 05:12 PM, SolidToad wrote: What program would you recommend for making music straight from your computer? With no instruments really attached, since I'm not good at any instrument.

I prefer working with FL Studio. It's much cheaper and easier to handle (especially at the beginning) as many other progs. The main VST-Instruments are not the best, but more qualitative ones can be bought afterwards...

At 4/24/12 05:51 PM, Back-From-Purgatory wrote:

Learning an instrument allows you to interact with music in a way a piano roll does not. I'd bet that a huge percentage of the really capable people in the NGAP play an instrument fairly well, in addition to whatever music they make electronically.

I totally agree, learning to play an instrument helps a lot with getting a 'feel' for music. When i was younger i played a lot with a program called Cakewalk in which i made some good piano tunes, lost it a while back :(

<sarcasm> Hey, what about Guitar Pro? I heard it hs great pianoroll </sarcasm>

I went from Cubase to Reaper to FL to Cubase. Don't know whats with the dull and boring Cubase but I find it the simplest and greatest.

At 5/3/12 12:17 PM, LaForge wrote:

At 5/3/12 12:15 PM, NikeTheSword wrote: <sarcasm> Hey, what about Guitar Pro? I heard it hs great pianoroll </sarcasm>

suck one, i use GP to write .midi tracks all the time. it's great for someone who doesn't know the names of notes very well.

GP is great for writing guitar music, there's no questioning that. Even if you read sheet music flawlessly, modern electric guitar is much better served by tab notation, in my opinion.

Agreed, no hate towards GP from me.

At 4/24/12 05:15 PM, loansindi wrote: I'd recommend that you go buy a guitar and learn to make music, instead of dicking around with your computer.

Neither the former or latter of what you said will yield good music that invokes emotion in the listener.

Try answering the question next time so there isn't a piss fest out of every newbie thread.

At 5/3/12 08:25 PM, Erkie wrote: Neither the former or latter of what you said will yield good music that invokes emotion in the listener.

I think you meant 'evokes'

Try answering the question next time so there isn't a piss fest out of every newbie thread.

I did answer the question, dumb shit.

At 5/3/12 09:24 PM, loansindi wrote: I think you meant 'evokes'

Yes, thank you.

I did answer the question, dumb shit.

The question is "What music making software should I use?", not "How should I make music?"

The first person to answer the question was Robotronic94.

At 4/24/12 05:26 PM, Robotronic94 wrote: FL Studio. That's what I use, and so do a lot of digital musicians, although it's tough to use.

If you are willing to put the effort into learning it, it'll be worth while, otherwise there are simpler programs.

Here is a list of different music software, with prices and descriptions.

Now I'm turning this into a piss fest, but I feel this is an important thing for anyone wanting to help n00bs to witness.
Don't be a smart ass and just answer the question and move on.

At 5/3/12 10:10 PM, Erkie wrote: Now I'm turning this into a piss fest, but I feel this is an important thing for anyone wanting to help n00bs to witness.
Don't be a smart ass and just answer the question and move on.

We live in a world, thankfully, where folks are entitled to opinions and have the ability to express those opinions.

If someone asked me "What hammer should I buy so I can build a house" I would probably go ahead and suggest he hire a contractor. The question is answered because I believe that's the best route for him to take.

After I went through this whole conversation and watched people split into 2 sides (I didn't include people insulted each other); I have to take my side. Both sides have great and reasonable points but both also have terrible ideas. I pick up my side because I do not trust in elitism nor favoritism.

The old men used to say [Great tools do not make great worker] (Norsk proverb). No matter what tools, DAW, instruments you use later on; they do not help you to get better. It is your ability and skill to be gained on which tool you would like to experience with. These are opinions. I do not force the asker anything.

The side that stands with live instrument has reasonable points. You can learn musical theory while learning how to play an instrument. It will help you to widen your musical knowledge, creativity and flexibility. However what's with the aggressive attitude, ladies & gens?

Here, I have some practical suggestion for your situation:

Tracker, I use MilkyTracker, OpenMPT and Psycle and NorskeDtracker (I need beta testers :-D). Reasons: they are free, easy to learn and small.

Guitar is probably the easiest instrument to learn and experiment with. Also it is the cheapest instrument you can get.

You can always use a MIDI keyboard. Second cheapest to guitar. it is fast and flexible for all age of players.

I hope all these information I suggest above may help you out, my friends.

- NorskeDrittsekk

At 5/4/12 08:04 AM, loansindi wrote: We live in a world, thankfully, where folks are entitled to opinions and have the ability to express those opinions.

Not the whole world, as it is divided into nations, each abides by an ideological system that may or may not allow free speech, depending on where you are.

If you use the services of a business in a free market, the business reserves the right to regulate the service you're using. </ gross semantics) In the case of the audio forum, there is a delicate and kind way of answering a new person's thread on getting started making electronic music, and that is to answer their question.

Not relative to the context, but to explicitly answer the question being asked. It is irrelevant if he has no music experience or what he does with the software, the question is, "What kind of software should I buy?".

Otherwise you get elitists in the forum with this attitude, who don't answer your question:

The question is answered because I believe that's the best route for him to take.

You can discuss your "suggestion" after the fact.