What kind of software should I buy?

Hey everyone. This is a pretty noob-ish question, but I've been getting pretty into Drum n' Bass, and would like to make some of my own. I just dont know what kind of software to get. Cost isn't really an issue, as long as it's around $500. Please help point me in the right direction.

P.S. I'll prob. be getting some kind of midi controller along with it. any reccomendations would be appreciated.

ableton live 5 - i think six is just around the corner i think.

just get live 5 it's great

get ReCycle and Ableton

buy a sample cd and cut beats and sample sup in recycle and then use them in abletons drum sequencer.

i recommend you either investigate some torrent indexing sites and try out 4-5 programs you're interested in or find their demos before you buy.

i guess the demo path is more legal

Yeah try a demo of Ableton Live, see if you get into it.

If you're doing mostly drum'n'bass you may find using trackers the way to go. Although I'm slightly biassed as I haven't used anything other that trackers for the last 10 or so years. They're [mostly] free (my likkle Buzz sure is), but have to learning curve of a cliff initially.

Although saying that I did do my first tracker .mod back in the amiga days when I was about 11 so it's not too too[/it] hard.

The steep learning curve on modern trackers is mostly due to the death of any tracker scene. Back in the day, when you downloaded .mod's and .it's etc, you were literally getting all of the sequence info to look at, and modify! I mean, I can't really imagine trying to learn how to track without downloading some Purple Motion s3m's and going "ahh, ok, so that's how he did that smoothe volume slide" or sample offset etc etc.

I can't really recommend trackers to newbs who haven't used them for this simple fact. It's really NOT a very intuitive way of doing things now that computers are as powerfull as they are. Back in the day, Protracker and Screamtracker had a bit of context when loaded on your Amiga or from DOS. It looked and functioned like a DOS program, and thanks to your local BBS, you probably had a decent library of tutorial music to look over. Since you're on a modem, downloading music software in 1993, you're probably a hacking/tinkering sort of type anyway, and therefore will spend the time to figure out the difference between 08FF and 0905. I've never used Abelton, but it sounds pretty neat.

Titter, I still have no idea what a 08xx command is. Is is to do with vibrato or something. I know the 09xx set is sample position though.

EDIT: I've just found out the 08xx is panning. I guess as I use a seperate panning machine I don't need to remember that.

i tried cubase, abelton, reason, logic(?), sibelius, and ended up settiling on cakewalk sonar 5 producers edition, however i seem to be the only person in the whole internet who did.

No, I think Sonar is prety popular, especially with alot of pro studio producers etc. Sound on Sound Magazine has a monthly column dedicated to Sonar tips, you might be able to find the archive on their website.

Anything capable of making sound, from Video Ejay to Circuit Bent Toy Pianos to Reason to Cakewalk Sonar 5 will be great at making music if it helps you realize whatever inspiration you have. Sorry if that sounds terribly hokey, but I and I'm sure a few others here are getting tired of the gear trendism that has been going about the scene.

Why can't we talk more about core concepts and less about "OMG HOW CAN I SOUND EXACTLY LIKE ANUS MCBEATERATOR?"?? :(

  ten fingers ten toes said:

No, I think Sonar is prety popular, especially with alot of pro studio producers etc. Sound on Sound Magazine has a monthly column dedicated to Sonar tips, you might be able to find the archive on their website.

wow great tip, theres quite a bit of interestin stuff in there

kontakt and a host DAW like digital performer or logic or cubase/nuendo

If you are going to make electronic music, why would you ever get sonar instead of project5?

sonar is excellent for me, full of shit but still pretty easy to use, i can write music by putting notes on a stave, and there is nothing that i have wanted to do to my music that i havent been able to.

After trying a bunch of differentr demos, I've decided Reaktor 5 is the one I'm gonna go with, unless someone wants to convince me differently. Thanks for the advice everyone!

Reaktor 5 doesn't come with a decent enoug sequencer, you are going to be wanting to pair something up with reaktor like Cubase or hell, FL.

go with Reaktor 5.1 and get good with it, although I can't say that it relates at all to any other software packages.

It is very powerful and you will learn (slowly) how to get out of it what you want. The sequencers (depending on what you use) I have seen have not been that great but again, you'll generate noise with it for sure.

Reaktor is useless without a decent sequencer that supports it.

thus, you still have to choose between logic, cubase, sonar, floops, or a tracker.

anyone remember hammerhead?

amen break + funky drummer break + 808/909 samples + Hammerhead = endless hours of fun

Yeah, there are other options :laughing:

Learn to sequence with a TI-85 and impress all the bitches.

  LOL Alzado said:

Reaktor is useless without a decent sequencer that supports it.

incorrect

man w/ no name, how do you prefer to create sequences in Reaktor? I've only used it in a host/client relationship.

Reaktor is an excellent source of Algorithmic compositions for starters... generative patches that loop on ad infitum that you can control subtely to create/generate music from...

That's just one option!

a little bit of immorality would open your options right up

  LOL Alzado said:

anyone remember hammerhead?

My earliest music was done with Hammerhead, Windows Sound Recorder, and Bell Labs online text-to-speech synthesis.

Mind you, I was about 12 :laughing: