The Vagrance

Thats a rather bold statement, considering I've used FLStudio for almost 3 years and was my sequencer of choice until a couple of days ago. So very true... I meant automation as in AUTOMATION, not as in the edit events thing. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the edit events thing because it hates automating things in VSTi's that I use that aren't included with FL but it gets the job done. Great to know they're improving it, but its still a problem and its not quite in depth as some other programs. Useful? Yes. Quality? Ehh, not too sure on that one. The only included plugins I used were the EQUO, Reverb 2, Delay Bank, and every once in a while the multiband compressor. None of them are really anything special or amazing and most of them have better, free alternatives. Don't give me that "then you must not know how to use 'em right" crap because they just aren't anything special, you have to admit that if you had to pick between Logic's plug-ins and FL's you'd go straight for Logic's. Fl's work fine and I'm sure you can get some wicked sounds out of them (hell, I have) but in the end they're sub-par and other plug-ins will give you better sounding results. Thats why I listed multiple sequencers, so they could try 'em out and see which one they like. The only reason why I expressed my peeves with FLStudio is because with none of the other sequencers is he going to get a whole bunch of "OMG [sequencer] is the shit, get it now!". I rarely see Logic, Cubase, or Sonar discussed he, even less Nuendo, Pro Tools, or Tracktion, and all of these topics usually end up being a huge FLStudio praise topic annyways so I was just letting 'em know that FLStudio isn't the end-all sequencer and that he should check some others out before getting one. Well, good for you, FLStudio is your sequencer of choice, I'm glad you've found something that you like and you're used to, but not everyone is going to fall in love with FLStudio like you did. To be honest, I find FLStudio restricted me a lot of ways in expressing my ideas and most of the time I'll get something great sounding in Reason, then I'll Re-wire it into Sonar to expand upon it. Everyone has different methods of how they work and its all about finding your niche. it remarkably demeans everything I do. And in saying that, you're also saying that people like, oh, I dunno, AE (http://www.myspace.com/wavetheory), is a poor musician, when FL Studio is also his weapon of choice. And he's not the only one. There are a LOT of people who can make pretty fucking amazing music with it. You just need to know how to use it. Its not about knowing how to use it, its about FLStudio working with your creative needs. For some, its layout and workflow may inspire creativity, for others, it may hamper it. As for FLStudio being used professionally, one of the top Drum and Bass producers (Concord Dawn) uses FLStudio and some of their stuff is the most amazing stuff I've heard. In the end it comes down to what works best for you because its all about who uses it rather than what they use.

Just to let you guys know, this IS still alive. I have made slight alterations to the actual arrangement at this point and right now my main focus is drum work. Once I get the drums how I want them I'm going to go back then work on the actual arrangement and try to get an ending to this piece, then send it back to JustChris for (hopefully) some final touch-ups.

I think I posted in this topic once but meh, my collection's grown: Sequencers Cakewalk Sonar 5 Producer Edition (Just got it yesterday, she's a beaut) Image-Line FLStudio 6.0 (Very handy for making quick little loops) Reason 3.0 (Perfect for on-the-go producing) Plugins: Absynth (Freaking Amazing, I ALWAYS use it for pads) B4 II (Perfect for Drawbar organ sounds) Battery 2 (I love this for Drum programming, too bad it doesn't like Sonar) Elektrik Piano (I'm using this a lot more than I thought I would, despite it being an underpowered Kontakt) Kontakt (Resampling on this thing makes me happy, so easy to get some killer sounds) Pentagon I (So much fun to play with, nothing outstand but you can get some wicked stuff by applying effects afterwards) Reaktor (A pain to learn but oh-so-rewarding) Reason (I'm listing it twice because I mainly use it as a plug-in) Spektral Delay (A very fun plug-in to get some amazing sounds) Z3ta+ (Very versatile synth, I love it) Favorite Free Plug-ins: BiFilter (A wicked filter) Crystal (A poor man's Absynth) Rez (Those guys at U-Go have done it again) sfz (duh) String Theory (Not the most versatile thing in the world but oh so easy to beef up) Triangle II (A poor man's Pentagon I, nothing outstanding but still a nice little synth) Hardware: M-Audio Oxygen 49 MIDI Controller (I love this thing to death) Mackie 1202 12-Channel Mixer (Snagged it used for $110) *SOON TO COME* Shure SM58 (With a Mixer I need a Mic) *SOON TO COME* Rode N1TA (With a SM58 I need a nicer mic) *SOON TO COME* Monitors (Not too picky about which ones, I'm thinking about 4 or 5 different pairs, basically whichever one gets really cheap the quickest) Computer: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Dual-Core Processor M-Audio Audiophile 2496 2GB of RAM

None of it (to my knowledge) is pitching up to sing like a chipmunk, the only stuff I can think that did that was Old-School Jungle (like, The Prodigy's earlier stuff and Acen). You just have to sing fairly high in pitch, or get a japanese chick to sing for you and you instantly have J-Pop.

I will also reccomend AGAINST FLStudio. I've used it for a long time (3 years) and its flaws are quite a few. Personally (not necessarily a flaw though), I HATE how it does sequencing, the pattern-based thing just ain't working for me. Also, the plug-ins are total shit with the exception of like, one or two of 'em. No surround support, no 64-bit support, terrible support forums (worst layout ever). The audio and automation support is terrible and just slapped on instead of feeling like a real feature. The included synths are meh (although 3xOsc is alright), and aside from Sytrus, the ones you can buy aren't that hot either. Also, mine has been crashing A LOT lately, causing me to lose 2 or 3 projects because of it. It also don't work right with one of my main pieces of my virtual studio (Kontakt). I reccomend you check out demos of Tracktion, Sonar (if you're on windows), Cubase, and Logic (If you're on Mac).

Half-the subgenres he makes up...especially in the DnB catagory. Eurobeat is pretty damn far off from both Trance and Techno. I like to think of it as the bastard child of Disco and Happy Hardcore. Techno and Trance put together (Tech Trance?) reminds me of submarines...its nothing like Eurobeat. Learn some knowledge foo! Anyways, my advice is to listen to the songs that are you inspiration, listen to the typical song structure, notice how most songs' sections are made up of bars that are a multiple of 8 (8 bars, 16 bars, 24 bars, etc.). Also, one of Eurobeats trademarks is what I like to call the crazy-ass snares, I'm not sure what the technical term is but what I mean is whenever it reaches the end of the 8 bars or whatever the snares pick and go at a rapid fire pace, it's kinda like a snare roll. Make sure you have some really fast synths in the background (not arpeggios though) to help mantain that sense of speed.

Agreed, no need for it and it'd be a stupid visual because people wouldn't think "oh, cool, that guys activatiing samples with his DDR pad!" but instead would think "WTF is that wanker doing on a DDR pad". MIDI controllers were invented for a reason, to kick ass!

I personally have an M-Audio Oxygen 49 and I love it but those Novation ones still make me drool. I would dig the MicroKontrol but the keys are too damn small for me so unless you dig mini-keys or you go for the Kontrol 49 I'd reccomend M-Audio for prise, and Novation for quality.

First off, you'll need a sequencer. You have MANY options to go through but I reccomend you look at the following: - Image-Line FLStudio (The cheapest of all of them but the effects are sub-par, it doesn't come with any amazing synths [the only one you'll probably end up using is 3xOsc if even that], and the audio support is awful. Basically, get this only if you don't plan to use audio and you don't plan on doing this for a really long time. I'm not saying its a bad sequencer, I use it myself, but its lacking in a lot of ways and it uses its own format that won't transfer over to another sequencer, in other words, if you switch to something better you'll just have to re-learn a lot of stuff) - Mackie Tracktion (I don't know much about this but apparently its a great sequencer for audio. The MIDI support isn't amazing but the layout and the audio support are. Its definately worth checking out) - Propellerheads Reason (Basically, its an all-in-one virtual studio. It works fine stand-alone but the fact that you can only use built-in synths will really hold you back. It works best when ReWired into another sequencer. Its a nice package but you'll find its limitations fairly quickly and want to upgrade, but on the other hand it has the nicest workflow of any sequencer I've used. Its worth checking out.) - Cakewalk Sonar (Now we're getting into professional grade stuff. This isn't the most top-of-the-line sequencer out there but it will get you far. The Audio and MIDI support is nice, and the Producer edition comes with some nice synths for you to use along with some great additional plug-ins. Windows only) - Steinberg Cubase (Basically neck and neck with Sonar and Logic for the best electronic sequencers. Once again, audio support is very nice along with MIDI support. The only thing is, along with Sonar and Logic, its hard to learn and it'll take a while to get the hang of it, but once you do the possibilities are endless) - Apple Logic (Preferred by a HUGE amount of electronic artists, this is pretty much the highest point of sequencing. Great synths, great samples, great layout, you can't really go wrong with this [except for its large price tag]. The biggest problems are its expensive, and Mac only) Before you choose though, keep in mind as to what you're going to be working with the most, MIDI or Audio. If you plan on doing all MIDI (in other words, mostly electronic stuff inside of your computer) then I would reccomend you get one of the following set-ups: 1. Propellerheads Reason: $400 MIDI Controller (bascally a piano that hooks into your PC) of choice: $130-500 2. FLStudio: ($100 version) MIDI Controller: $130-500 Z3ta+ Softsynth: $200 Native-Instruments Absynth: $150 3. FLStudio ($100 version) Native-Instruments Komplete: $600 If you plan on doing a lot of audio stuff (recording yourself playing something then sending that into your sequencer) then I'm not sure I can help you, as I'm struggling to set one up on my own. I'm sure someone who is experienced with it will help you out though.

I'm not going to go into too much depth but I will say that everything kinda seemed underpowered to me, there was not enough substance to this mix to hit a full climax which is essential if you're going for an epic breaks type song.

I think CPU is slightly more important in production than RAM. Even if you're doing a large amount of sampling you'll still need the CPU to run all of those samplers in the first place. Also, AMD just slashed their prices a lot so getting a really nice processor won't be hard at all.

I heard this back suring your first incarnation so let's see how its changed. I think I'll tackle this a bit differently than normal. Heartbeat: I like it, I like how there's not too much of it, it gives it room to breathe Piano: A bit thin and a crappy sample, but aside from that its good Pad: Fits well with the theme, nice and haunting/soothing Rainstick: Fucking perfect "crystal" synth: I'm calling that synth with a lot of attack the crystal synth because it reminds me of crystals. It fits well but I feel something more could be added to it. Also, a lot of times it seems out of time. Choir: Fits very well also Drums: Too quite and don't give any sense of beat, they get overpowered too easily Bass: I like it, a lot. Arrangement: Not crazy about the arrangement, its a bit too boring, nothing really holds you attention long enough for the drums to come in. I must say though, I do love the piano at the end.

Or you could do a wiki....

After screwing with the stuff for a couple of days, I must say this deal is worth it. Battery 2 has become my favorite way to compose with drums (my last favorite was ReDrum but I thought it had too few slots for samples and too few effects, Battery fixes both problems!), Kontakt is absolutely amazing for samples, Absynth is always used when a pad is needed, the B4 II and Elektrik Piano are becoming favorites to practice piano with and are perfect for specialized instruments. the Pro 53 is great for creating some old school pads, basses, and leads (though not as good as the Korg LEgacy Collection). Basically, the only things I haven't really touched since I got them are Kompakt and Intakt, and I'll get to them some time later. Reaktor 5 has the greatest potential out of any synth I've ever used though, the preset are really cool and I can't wait to start making my own synths with it and finding some on the internet. Overall, I would never pay $1500 for this, it isn't worth it, but at $600 its still a helluvadeal, and while you could get a hardware synth for that much, you wouldn't get this much variety with it as you do with this, which is the main use of this package.

If you check either guitar center or musician friends website, they both have the online prices listed as $600. Unless it was a mistake then it looks like you can get it online too. Really? I checked it yesterday and they were still at $1500, I guess they dropped it online too. Still a helluva deal.

I just got the Native Instruments Komplete 3 package (which includes Absynth, Reaktor, etc.) for only $600! Thats right, $600. I'm almost not sure what to play with first, but you all should definately check it out, its in-store only!

Ok, you want to see how a sweet live electronic act goes? Then look at this guy, everything is done live. Despite the power going out at one point he pulls off the perfect manuever to get things pumping again, a huge-ass drop. Anyways, check it out to see what it looks like: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=758207553389565742&hl=en P.S. - High points are: Another One Bites the Dust Remix The build-up for the Untitled DnB track Heebie Jeebies

Yeah, Live is an extremely popular choice nowadays, from what I've heard, Sasha has a totally pimped out MIDI controller he manipulates Live with. P.S. Is that Cee-Lo in your sig SGX because that dude reminds me a lot of him in that tiny pic.

Here's a quick rundown on the two: Vinyl Pros + Most clubs should have vinyl turntables already + People who use vinyl are generally respected more by some (like me) + Many DJ releases are vinyl-only + Vinyl turntables are relatively cheap + All sorts of old recordings are available for use Cons - Vinyl is slowly becoming less and less popular - Records cost a lot - No way to really manipulate records other than by pitch and scratching CDs Pros + Almost infinite tune selection + Multiple ways to manipulate records (+100% pitch anyone?) + No need for record press to play your own tunes + Easier to lug around + Cheaper to obtain songs Cons - Takes more time to figure out how to scratch - Good CDJs cost a lot - Looked down upon by some My advice: Spring for turntables, then once you get good with them, spring for the CDJs, then have a mixer than can support 4 inputs and you'll be kicking sucka DJs asses in no time.

Argh! I missed this. I used to DJ (I sold my stuff because I didn't have the funds to keep up with DJing) so I'm more than qualified to answer. First off, when you DJ you should have a sizeable collection, enough to make at least 4 different hour-long sets (only re-using some of your songs, not the same songs in different orders), in Drum and Bass that'd probably be around 30-50 records. In order to DJ you'll need the following things: - 2 Turntables (They MUST be direct Drive's, Belt Drive's are crap. Be expected to spend at least $200 per turntable, I highly reccomend skipping "beginner turntables" and going straight to the MK1200/1210's. - 2 Turntable Cartridges (The Stanton AL500's/510's work fine) - A good mixer (Get one with BPM matching if you want, but never use the BPM matching, DJ by ear, just buy a mixer based off of how good it performs) - A very good pair of DJ Headphones (You should drop at least $100 on these for the lower end headphones. You'll need them to block sound very well. - A sizeable record collection (like I said before, you should AT LEAST have enough for 4 entirely different live sets just to start off, thats enough to be able to switch up your set in case the crowd ain't diggin' what you're doing) Now, DJing is a bit hard to explain in words but I'll sure as hell try. Basically, like playing an instrument, it requires A LOT of practice. Despite what Tiesto may think of himself, DJs aren't gods among men, all you are is a fancy record player. The goal of DJing is to transition between two tracks as seamlessly and melodically as possible. Sounds easy on paper but only the best DJs can pull this off consistently. The way you do this is with a mixer. You'll have the volume controls on your mixer, EQ, etc. etc., then you'll have two crossfaders on it. One crossfader will be only for the headphones (which you plug into the mixer) and the other will be for the speakers (what the audience hears). In order to get the two records to blend together nicely, you'll have to adjust the BPM of each record subtley until you can get them synced up, and you do this by adjusting the pitch. Before you start mixing the two, you should always check your headphone's crossfader to make sure they're on beat, if they're not, then always adjust the pitch of the record NOT being played. You want to be able to do all of this work without the audience hearing, which is why the headphones exist. When you're finally confident that you're good to start mixing, then you will start, usually starting on one of the multiples of 8 or 16 bars in the track and not just randomly. How you mix is personal style, how you match up the BPM's is personal style, there's a lot of it that you'll just learn in practice, but everything else stays the same. Expect to bedroom DJ for at least 6 months before being good enough to start doing shows. It'd probably be good to find someone who DJ's to show you how they do it (not from lessons though, all you'll need is a quick one-time explination) to help out.

Right-click the tempo, edit events, then BLAMMO!

The easy way to become a remixer: Step 1. Kill an established remixer Step 2. Take their WIPs and unreleased projects Step 3. Claim them to be yours Step 4. ??? Step 5. Profit

O_O Damn fine remix, I mean, DAMN fine remix. I can definately see the relation between this and Frog's Theme but I can definately see this not being accepted because your average joe may not. If I were you I'd put in the real notes to Frog's Theme somewhere just so people can actually recognize it and go "ooooh, so THATS what this song is" instead of just improving around the structure and chords of it you should be fine. Very nice work.

Unless you suck yet you're still having fun.

Assuming you're doing all electronic, having different external synths/controllers helps a lot. Also, design a special live set that you'll play that's missing an instrument at certain parts so you can play it live and sing. Whatever you do, just don't press play and then sit back and relax, make something special for live shows that people won't see on a recorded album.