Flexstyle

No. Don't wait until you're educated in music theory. Just start making music, and then read up on some basic music theory so you can know what you're doing wrong and what you're doing right. If you've never created music digitally before, just focus on making your DAW make some sound. Put some loops in there, learn how to record a MIDI sequence (or just draw it in the piano roll), learn how to record yourself if you're an instrumentalist. Start from there. Welcome to the rewarding world of music creation!

The Meat Circus in Psychonauts. Still haven't beaten that game.

FWIW. http://www.soundsonline.com/composercloud-students

Before you do, check out our FAQ: http://ocremix.org/info/Frequently_Asked_Questions

1: The RAM is probably going to be more of a deciding factor than the processor for most of your use case. Do you happen to have actual model numbers of those iMacs? Sometimes the processors on the 21" iMacs are lower tier than the ones on the 27" iMacs. You're right that the i7 will probably give you more processing power (assuming it's the same tier of processor), but the i5 is also no slouch, and will actually handle certain tasks better due to the slightly higher speed. 2: I usually caution users against ProTools if they have no other contact with people who use it on a regular basis, because it's really not fun to work with as an individual composer/producer, and a lot of folks go for it because "herp derp, the pros use it!" However, if you're working on a regular basis with other people/studios who have it as their mainstay, then absolutely, go for what'll make that interaction easier.

I noticed you mentioned you use FL Studio. I'm sure you're already aware, but you can't properly run FL on a Mac without installing Windows on the thing anyways. If you're okay with the learning curve for a new piece of software, see what else is out there -- Pro Tools really isn't going to help you as much as you think it is, unless you *MUST* work with others who also use it -- try Logic or Ableton instead, perhaps. They'll even save you money in the long run, and have better plugin support, since they don't use a proprietary, Pro Tools-only plugin type.

I've got a bunch of projects that use various EWQL (multiple patches) and various Kontakt (multiple patches) all the time. No issues. Win10 pro, updates, drivers, all good to go.

+1 recommendation for this! Good vidjagame remixes, good drinks, and lots of excellent arcade cabinets.

I just got home to a ThinkGeek package that I definitely didn't order myself sitting near my desk. It contained these! Dunno how good the detail in that pic is, but that's a Batman travel mug (which will get LOTS AND LOTS of use because I drink a LOT of coffee on the go), and a Batarang letter opener! How did you know that Batman is my favorite super hero? As a side note, I was feeling pretty down today about being a Miserable Excuse For An Adult (tm), but now I own a letter opener. You have no idea how much that has cheered me up -- I can do a Very Adult Thing (opening mail) in style now! Thank you so very much, Secret Santa! (I know your name but not your forum handle, so might as well be anonymous )

I'll be attending as part of the Radio Hyrule party this year!

There's a lot of factors to consider, but as a music producer, I'd recommend looking for something with a proper Intel Core i7 processor, *WITHOUT* the "U" designation after it. 8-16 GB RAM, SSD if he can afford it, spacious 7200 RPM HDD if not. ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Razer and others make good gaming laptops that would also double as production laptops effectively, or he can look more on the enterprise side of things (Dell, HP, Lenovo make decent workstation laptops, as long as you avoid their consumer grade stuff). There's also some manufacturers that do custom laptops--something like this: http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8171-clevo-p670rp6.html might do the trick.

I'm interested! Should be able to find enough time to do some vocal takes at least, esp if there's sheet music to make things simpler.

Or if you want something that has a warranty, check out the Steinberg UR series or the Focusrite Scarlett series. Also hold up, where's your SSD boot drive that is definitely something that you will want?

There's always gift codes.

And it was probably my favorite Christmas gift of the year! I'm in as well. Hoping to get someone with a creative list this time, too!

Yeah... I'm not going to delay my track's release any longer. Strader wants to include it on a separate release, cool, but I'm not going to keep it in limbo any longer because of stupidity.

Duuuuuuuuuude. Fun stuff! I ran sound on a Series Two for several years at my church, that's a fantastic board. Also have that same computer case, too, haha. Thanks for sharing!

I got to hear this one a few months early, and I fell in love with it immediately. Such a good album!

- Fact: I'm on staff and I'm not getting paid for any of this crap. - I'm completely okay with OCR making a bit of a return on the great service they provide to me as an artist. If that shows up in the form of a slight financial benefit from ads run on or near my submitted material, no matter what form those ads take, that sounds great to me. Viva OCR!

Description says this was the result of dozens of hours of work, and I believe it. There's not a sound out of place, everything is deliberate, everything is perfectly in its spot. Killer execution of the genre and an amazing remix, to boot. I love it!

Plus, Loudr will only be able to license songs that have seen a physical release here in the USA. Something as iconic as, say, even the Punch Out theme doesn't count -- I know because I released an album that had to drop a song before it could be released. It's not a magical, one-size-fits all solution -- you can immediately forget about most of the slightly more obscure games that the OCR catalog is filled with!

Have a reason and a deadline. Don't just sit down and be like "gonna write some music now!" because that probably won't get you anywhere. If you have a reason (even the competitions here on the forums are great) and a deadline (need to have SOMETHING done by X time and date), then you'll be surprised at how much music you'll be able to crank out.

Production-wise, I don't hate v2. It's kinda awkward on the panning and probably sounds a lot better on speakers than headphones, but it's not like there's some sort of piercing sound that's throwing the entire thing off balance. I do agree that leads should almost always be centered, though. That might help the entire thing feel a lot better in any case. It's compressed to heck but I don't think it detracts from the song's listenability, so that's a pass for me as well. YES (borderline)

You'll find what you need buried in either Nexus 2 or Omnisphere 2, I'd venture. Both of those have a ludicrous amount of incredibly usable presets.

The sound design possibilities of this thing are totally worth the $150, in my opinion. I'd be plunking that down even if I wasn't part of the beta/preset team, knowing what I do about how useful it is!