Oh great EKTs of WATMM

And I've wanted to ever since I was 14... it's been a dream of mine ever since I broke away from the mainstream in 2004.

Originally, it was trip-hop that turned me on to electronica as an umbrella genre, but now I see so much more in every facet of the musical realm!

So, I ask you, the professionals, the "simple" question:

How can I get started, when I have absolutely no knowledge or experience with the equipment? :confused:

first, you should download a bunch of daws (fruity loops, renoise, cubase, abelton live, etc...) and find out which environment suits you.

  mrx said:

first, you should download a bunch of daws (fruity loops, renoise, cubase, abelton live, etc...) and find out which environment suits you.

Step partially done. I already have FL Studio, and my dad has Cubase.

  Rogueofmv said:

And I've wanted to ever since I was 14... it's been a dream of mine ever since I broke away from the mainstream in 2004.

 

Originally, it was trip-hop that turned me on to electronica as an umbrella genre, but now I see so much more in every facet of the musical realm!

 

So, I ask you, the professionals, the "simple" question:

 

How can I get started, when I have absolutely no knowledge or experience with the equipment? :confused:

420 smoke weed every day

lol you should totally go all hardware

I think to make truly the best music possible, you should sequence only using the LFO's from Minimoog's or Moog Model 3c's (model 960 Sequencer is for chump fags). Then you should route all of it into a modular you don't know how to use and can't properly pronounce. Cwejman or Buchla is best. Only then will you be truly cutting edge.

hit the randomize button till something sounds good

the most important thing to have is a point of view. the more opinions you have on how things should be, the better. then all you have to do is start fucking around with software (and if you can afford it, hardware) and figure out how to live up to what you want out of music.

start simple and don't ever take music seriously

understand how to program sequences. for this you need to know how many steps are in your pattern and what kind of time it is in. usually 4/4 time, so your pattern can be 4, 8, 16, 32 or 64 steps in length (or more if you want). know what hits fall on what step to make beats that sound in the correct time, experiment with different patterns and sequences to find something you like. try first laying down a basic beat - kick drum and snare maybe, then program in a bass line to flesh it out and just see where the tune ends up, by adding more parts and sounds...

start by composing music in your head.

What is your musical experience level. Do you know understand scales/chords/key/timbre/dynamics?

Software wise Rebirth is a great place to start because you learn the basics of programming drum machines and a 303 which can be cross applied to virtually any environment. Plus its low tech enough that you won't be overloaded during the creation process, and with all the knobs you'll be able to get into 'tweaking' sounds and jamming out right away. Its also free now which is awesome.

  Drahken said:

Software wise Rebirth is a great place to start because you learn the basics of programming drum machines and a 303 which can be cross applied to virtually any environment. Plus its low tech enough that you won't be overloaded during the creation process, and with all the knobs you'll be able to get into 'tweaking' sounds and jamming out right away. Its also free now which is awesome.

this is actually how I got my start... been a propellerheads junkie ever since... not that i'd even open rebirth now... but it is a good starting point.

uhm...maybe you should just try to make electronic music first and not "electronic music" so to speak. if it happens to sound that way due to obvious influence then so be it. If you're looking to "make electronic music" ever since you've "broken away from the mainstream" it sounds like you've already got one foot in the grave and should just build a gun cabinet with your limited carpentry knowledge, and blow your head off accordingly :)

p.s. I love you!

  Laughable Butane Bob said:

What is your musical experience level. Do you know understand scales/chords/key/timbre/dynamics?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Well, this all depends on a few things; Do you play any instruments and do you know any music theory? If not, I recommend starting down that path. Keyboard instruments are great if you are new to music, or in general. Go to your library and check out a book or two on basic music theory (scales and chords, rhythmic meters, notation), or better yet, find a friend who know these things and ask them to teach you. It will be much more enjoyable than reading them out of a book (although books can be more thorough). If you dont have any such friends, find out where all of the local musicians hang out and get to know them.

Since you are interested in electronic music, you should definitely get yourself a book on basic signal flow and sound synthesis. Topics to begin learning include oscillators, simple waveforms, envelopes, LFOs, and filters. Once again, if you have a friend who can show you these things it will be more enjoyable but, in my experience, books are more thorough and can tell you exactly how various components and methods work, which is very good to know in electronic music. Now, in order to begin making these noises, you're definitely going to need a synthesizer of some sort. There a number of ways you can approach this: You can start with a hardware synthesizer, which is much more hands on and fun to play with right away. If you are on a budget and want to get into electronic music right away this may be the most immediate method. Perhaps one of the other posters on this forum could recommend you a decent hardware synth of good value. I'm more of a software guy, myself and dont have much experience with pieces of hardware. On the other hand, you can go the software route, which requires a bit more of a learning curve initially, but allows you a great deal more control, freedom. and options in the end. These are things that I consider to be very valuable when it comes to making electronic music. As with anything related to computer, though, software can get expensive at times.

If you're a beginner I think that Propellerhead's Reason 4.0, or 3.0, may be a good place to start. It comes equipped with a great set of software synths, drum machines, sample library, and a pretty good sequencer (which is what will allow you to record your music and play it back). It is also a really stable and well-built program that will not crash on you There is one drawback to using Reason by itself, though, and that is the fact that you cannot record audio in it's sequencer. If you want to record audio, you will have to link Reason up to another DAW (digital audio workstation) such as Pro Tools or Logic, which is very easy to do, but is simply a matter of spending more money. Now, Reason does have a pair of pretty good samplers, which means you can still use sampled audio and manipulate it to an extent.

Anywho, I hope this helps you out.

if you want to do electronic music, one of the prerequisites is that you can stick your own pen0x in your bum.

try that.

  Wall Bird said:

Well, this all depends on a few things; Do you play any instruments and do you know any music theory? If not, I recommend starting down that path. Keyboard instruments are great if you are new to music, or in general. Go to your library and check out a book or two on basic music theory (scales and chords, rhythmic meters, notation), or better yet, find a friend who know these things and ask them to teach you. It will be much more enjoyable than reading them out of a book (although books can be more thorough). If you dont have any such friends, find out where all of the local musicians hang out and get to know them.

 

Since you are interested in electronic music, you should definitely get yourself a book on basic signal flow and sound synthesis. Topics to begin learning include oscillators, simple waveforms, envelopes, LFOs, and filters. Once again, if you have a friend who can show you these things it will be more enjoyable but, in my experience, books are more thorough and can tell you exactly how various components and methods work, which is very good to know in electronic music. Now, in order to begin making these noises, you're definitely going to need a synthesizer of some sort. There a number of ways you can approach this: You can start with a hardware synthesizer, which is much more hands on and fun to play with right away. If you are on a budget and want to get into electronic music right away this may be the most immediate method. Perhaps one of the other posters on this forum could recommend you a decent hardware synth of good value. I'm more of a software guy, myself and dont have much experience with pieces of hardware. On the other hand, you can go the software route, which requires a bit more of a learning curve initially, but allows you a great deal more control, freedom. and options in the end. These are things that I consider to be very valuable when it comes to making electronic music. As with anything related to computer, though, software can get expensive at times.

 

If you're a beginner I think that Propellerhead's Reason 4.0, or 3.0, may be a good place to start. It comes equipped with a great set of software synths, drum machines, sample library, and a pretty good sequencer (which is what will allow you to record your music and play it back). It is also a really stable and well-built program that will not crash on you There is one drawback to using Reason by itself, though, and that is the fact that you cannot record audio in it's sequencer. If you want to record audio, you will have to link Reason up to another DAW (digital audio workstation) such as Pro Tools or Logic, which is very easy to do, but is simply a matter of spending more money. Now, Reason does have a pair of pretty good samplers, which means you can still use sampled audio and manipulate it to an extent.

 

Anywho, I hope this helps you out.

Very informative indeed. I already play violin and piano (both at a beginning level), and my dad has a MIDI workstation set up here at his apartment (controller/keyboard, mixer, a couple of synth boxes), and he has Cubase, so I'll try out all these DAWs and see which fits my interests the most.

After I learn the software, it's on to buying more hardware. But a 17-year-old with no job can't hope to accomplish that too easily. :confused:

Beginners using Reason is why so many people dislike Reason.

Yeah I said it.

Reason pwns all day long though, so if a beginner can wrap their mind around it, more power to 'em. Great results can be achieved.

  sneaksta303 said:

Beginners using Reason is why so many people dislike Reason.

 

Yeah I said it.

 

Reason pwns all day long though, so if a beginner can wrap their mind around it, more power to 'em. Great results can be achieved.

Beginners also use ableton live and fruityloops. All that means is sometimes there's maybe 1 good track for every 10 bad ones. You ever heard music made by max/msp users? sometimes it's brilliant and other times it's randomly generated autechrish nonsense.

electronic music sounds electronic music because of some techniques you use to create it. tell us a sound/ an album that you really love. it might help to have certain albums in your head, not necessarily to imitate but to follow accordingly.

dblueglitch/livecut

  Rogueofmv said:

  Laughable Butane Bob said:

What is your musical experience level. Do you know understand scales/chords/key/timbre/dynamics?

 

 

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.

You'll have to burn it to CD or install it using Daemon Tools (make sure when you install Daemon Tools you don't install the IE toolbar crap). If you have any questions, hit me up on AIM, I'd be glad to walk someone through Rebirth.

My AIM is OoGhiJ MIQtxxXa

  mrx said:

first, you should download a bunch of daws (fruity loops, renoise, cubase, abelton live, etc...) and find out which environment suits you.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

fuck overpriced overrated shitty software. Be a hardware man. it's way way more fun and rewarding. and then your music won't be part of the 99% that all sounds exactly the same.

  ezkerraldean said:

  mrx said:

first, you should download a bunch of daws (fruity loops, renoise, cubase, abelton live, etc...) and find out which environment suits you.

 

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

fuck overpriced overrated shitty software. Be a hardware man. it's way way more fun and rewarding. and then your music won't be part of the 99% that all sounds exactly the same.

I love hardware, don't get me wrong, but saying that is being waaaaay over-general. Plenty of originality can be found in software. It's all in how it's used. You can be just as UN-original with software OR hardware!