over the months i have listened to members music pieces and they are well produced and inspiring. I want to go further than my current noodling (which i do find enjoyable) and actually finish something that has a decent audio quality.
What do members use in the way of hardware, software and setup? Production/mastering techniques?

hey id be happy to help. This is a pretty broad question but ill try to give some direction. First its not so much what you use but what you know, and today you dont need as much like bunch of hardware to make high quality music as in the past. You can make very high quality music with only a computer, soundcard, and monitors(for mixing). I dont know what sequencer your using but id recommend you start learning in and out either cubase, protools, or logic. Those are pro sequencers and can some take time to learn, if you want something easy and good to start with reason's cool, but its not as flexible as the other sequencers and limited only to the instruments/fx included with the program. To learn the sequencers you can read the manual, watch tutorials, forums... Once you learn production than comes mixing.. Let me know if you have ne more detailed questions, cheers

I bought myself a NI Maschine(hard) and use that along with ableton to make some tunes. id agree that its not what one uses but how well they know the DAW. apart from that use youtube for tutorials.

I use cubase with a 4 in 6 out audio interface and 25 key controller

For beginners I highly recommend ableton. It got everything you need, endless options for production and its easy to get into with included user lessons.

Iay even switch to ableton myself if version 9 has the corrections I require.

You'd be amazed what results you can get out of bad equipment though. U defo don't need anything special.

cubase is legit, I used to use Nuendo.

right now, ableton live, reaktor, and pure data. mpk49 keyboard and livid instruments cntrl:r.

pure data is considerably more complex than what most people use, and not very intuitive, as it's very much programming-intensive (albeit object-oriented..it's akin to a free version of Max, with a very basic gui). You can get the similar functionality from Reaktor though.

currently trying to use an iphone to control parameters in pure data on a laptop or desktop using OSCemote, it basically sends midi messages over wifi (midi-over-IP). still learning the logistics of it
http://code.google.com/p...OSCemotePureDataTutorial

this is how people typically use ipads as midi controllers, using touchOSC and similar progs.

I've found ableton live to be the most inspiring and creative
Piece of music Software I've found . There's a huge amount of
Great possibilities all within in ableton itself.

I'm a long time user of digital performer as well
I've produced many many projects with it over the years.

I spent a lot on my input stage using a neve preamp
And an apogee A/D converter and good mikes .

These days you don't have to spend alot to get
Great audio quality. 24 bit is as good as it gets .

Actually I think there's too much emphasis on gear
Anyway . Nobody know how to construct a decent song
Anymore . Understanding the basic principles of music
Seems no longer important .

I say find some decent gear that works then Focus on the music

arguably more important than gear is the platform (comp).
a 64-bit machine with decent clock speed and RAM is adequate
for production.

just got a good one this weekend, and the sales guy told me "I'm a mac guy, myself" when i asked about technical specs on a dell.
I just thought, "that's nice. i prefer chevy over ford".

Have to agree with those who recommend Ableton. I use the lite version, cost me $50 with a coupon I got when I bought a nanopad. As it turns out, I rarely use the nanopad to trigger sounds, I just 'draw' the music in the GUI. I am an absolute amateur and novice at music production. In fact, I don't even consider what I do to be music as much as sound collage. In any case, it is an extremely easy and versatile tool.

Reading this thread, one video I've seen on
youtube stuck out immediately.

Ott is one of my favorite producers,
and here is an interview about his production!



Nothing absolute, but a cool look into
the man's head.

OTT - Producer Interview

This reminds me I must upgrade my cubase. Got me a 64 bit system and using a 32 bit cubase 5.

Currently running i7 2640m with 8gb ram and I use a lot of very intense programs and I find it quite hard to make it squeal.

Other than cubase the only software I use is komplete, trilian and a few other basic processing plugs.

Still need to get my head round reaktor. I made a basic synth but really, whats the point in that?



When it comes to production the more experience I gain, the less tricks I actually use. I try to get everything right at the source and as I see EQ/compression etc as correction tools, I just try not to make any mistakes. Its important to realise overuse of tools can make your ear lose focus and lead you down a rabbit hole. I once used 14 EQs on one kick drum and all I was really doingwas compensating for mistakes. Best get everything as good as you can, leave it fresh and then if necassary apply a little EQ when mixing.

What sort of music are you inspired to make?

'Live' suits loop-based technique, but many people still prefer 'linear', so>

..if you're Mac, then since Apple bought Logic they don't care about cracks (it's all to sell computers!)
..Logic IMO has the best set of plug-in fx and synths, meaning no 3rd party plug-ins really needed..some very good sounding dance hits have been made entirely on Logic..

if you're Windows then, for DAWs, i'd go Reaper..is very well featured/complex..and cheap ($60 US if you're not a pro studio/business) ..but then you need 3rd part synths..

Electronic with the possibility of guitar as well.
Lots of replies and lots of info , thankyou.
I have used reason the last year and got to know it and i find it easy to use and it has taught me a lot, but i dont know whether it is my ineptitude at sound production or the program, but it sounds a bit dull. I mentioned this to a friend and he said "yes that"s right you wanna go the hardware route". But this is prohibitively expensive, although i bought a cheap mc 505 in the summer which is nice but it doesn"t do what i want it to do in the way of automation. Also the manual is incomprehensible. I maybe a luddite but i can usually understand english. I ended up having to work out how to use it through internet forums and youtube. Maybe i"ve been spoilt by reason.

From the majority of replies ableton sounds worth a go. I had a go on it a few years ago mixing some audio files. I will see if there are any try before you buy demo versions. If i can record into it all the better and if it"ll midi up to the 505 bonus. I"m going to use the damn thing properly if it kills me.

And yes i agree about getting to know a sequencer or software to get the best out of it.
But i can"t for the life of me find the specs of my pc. I think its got a 1.3 amd dual core, 8 gig of ram , maybe 64bits. I used to be able to find this info in control panel i think, but i"ve lost it again. ( iv"e lost the info, not anything else

That was a very interesting interview with OTT and i listened to some of his music, i can"t believe i"ve never heard of him, i"m ashamed.

Forget hardware.... unless you have a fetish.

It sounds like you know what's going on. Just remember good sound comes from experience, not from expensive hardware and the latest plugins.

some people don't mind using touch screens to control programs.
i'm not some people..i like tactile feedback and prefer potentiometers, buttons, switches, and faders.
lots of people do.

if funds were available, i'd use suitcase modular synths.
there's nothing quite like directly modulating alternating current.

I'm just looking into PD at the moment.

My understanding was that Reaktor was more for the design of objects, whereas PD has a better handle on design of sequences. Is this an accurate assumption?

i think it would be nice to buy synthesizers if i was well off financially, with the tactile thing going on, but i think i would end up suffering for my hobby/art. I"d probably get a cheap digital as, even though a lot of records i like are probly made on old synths, i"m not sure whether i"d pass a digital/analog pepsi challenge.

Software is sounding better all the time and in terms of variation it can do a lot more than hardware, unless you're into getting under the hood, so to speak. That's a whole other can of worms IMO.

In my limited experience software is easier to use but people who like hardware are a certain breed, if it wasn"t synthesizers it"d probably be an old banger in the garage that they are restoring or maybe glueing together models of world war 2 bombers.
or maybe i"m romanticising it.

the temperament of analog synths are unique. perhaps some algorithms in code can mimic this, but the inherent warm sound and harmonic drift is what differentiates analog synths from digital ones.

i need to change resistors in my micromoog because the drift is insane from key to key, out of control.

one vst I really like is Mr Ray73 MkII. it sounds very, very close to a real fender rhodes mk II

^..no emulation sounds like a Juno106..or a 303 for that matter!

but there's also retro vintage digital now..nothing quite sounds like a JD-990, an old EMU sampler, Akai S3000 or Alesis Quadraverb..

that said, i think the two main mini-Moog software emulations are better and easier to work with than the real thing..

software at least means you don't need thousands of dollars to make music..