Brian

My piano has it labeled as "Optical Out". I don't know if that's ADAT or SPDIF. How do I check? I can't buy an AD/DA Converter without knowing what format my piano is using. ADAT and SPDIF uses the same cable, but they're entirely different protocols.

I just don't know how people can work with a music program without understanding the music theory behind it. It's doable, but pointless as tPoM said. I rather know what I'm doing than spending hours dragging notes around in multiple tracks (bass, gate, arp, pads, etc.) when really it's just a Cmaj chord, but hey someone without music theory wouldn't have understood it was a C maj chord. In piano class, the beginners will see it as C,E,G on paper, but they won't see that as a C maj chord, and will just play whatever they see without understanding why the chords are like that. If you cover the bass staff and told them to improvise the left hand, they'll just go "huh?" This applies also with scales. For example: a D major scale is D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#. Someone who doesn't know this will start pressing all these white and black keys until it sounds right. Time consuming... You'll always be filled with uncertainty and stress if you don't know what you're doing. If you love to guess notes all day long be my guest. You don't need to learn this. Just chords and scales and you'll be set.

Do you play an instrument? You said you write music. That means you've already applied it I think. Why is theory recommended? Because it saves you a whole a lot of time rather than having to guess the notes in a chord or scale. About your compositions... Did you understand what you were doing when you wrote it? Or did you have to guess the notes in a chord/scale you were trying to achieve? Do you know what a key signature is? Do you know how to build chords? Do you know how to develop scales (In choir they make you sing "do, re, mi, fa so, la, ti": this is the major scale)? Do you know what makes a song happy and what makes a song sad? Music theory is just that. Why music sounds the way it does.

hehe. Reminds me of my old arrangements. I deny my old arrangements lol, but yes I do revise them. I started my career in arranging sheet music for piano long before I started FL. Boy what an experience. It started out as hammering random notes on my piano to get the right sounds (chords were the worst). Lots of trial and error. I was shooting myself in the foot. A year later I began noticing a pattern. How arpeggios actually work (I realized they were broken chords) and how blocks of chords work. What "minor" and "major" and other chords really meant. To put it to the test, I turned on accompaniment (I play on a digital piano) and played the chords in my left and the melody in my right. It worked! The rest was history as I no longer have to listen to single notes one by one in an arpeggio, but simply figure out what chord it is and build it from there. With ear training I can discern the differences between major, minor, augmented, and diminished chords as well as 7th and dominant 7th chords. Even today I'm still training my ears. To OP: If you have a keyboard or a digital piano, I suggest trying out the accomp feature. Choose a song you're comfortable with. We'll walk you through and help you analyze the song's chord progression.

There you go. So what is it that the video is missing or lacking? You saw the video, and probably had questions. Link us to the video if you have to and ask us questions. Tell us what it doesn't explain clearly. This is how you ask questions. However if you expect a single video will try to cover everything, that will never happen in light years. Btw, most likely all the tutorial videos will assume you have knowledge of music theory. You'll need to master this first before touching FL let alone any DAW application. Do you know music theory? Like how to build chords and analyze the chord progression of the source?

Umm... Usually when I'm driven by a question, I go ask the peeps here or at theflipside forums. They'll even be nice enough to put it in layman's term (sorry I'm more of a visual learner). You could just find video tutorials for this but since you're probably lazy, I'll start with the basics of FL. Before that I'm assuming you have nothing but FL Studio (no vst, plugins, external hardware, etc.) First press F1. Read through the "Getting started". This will guide you through setting up ASIO. Download and install ASIO4ALL. Ensure that you disable any midi drivers by setting the port number to ---. I assume you know what ASIO is? Expand "Introduction to FL Studio." Select "How to use FL Studio." It has everything you need to know for the basic workflow of FL. For me I categorize 7 areas when I work with DAW. Understanding music theory (ei. how to build chords) Understanding the genre you're working with (How do I do a progressive trance?) Understanding technical and musical terms (What is Midi? ASIO? Velocity? Tempo? Digital? Analog?) Understanding the program's workflow (ei. the GUI, mouse interface, keyboard interface, how to get around places) Understanding synth programming (if your into synthesizers: how to create the desired synth) Understanding DSP Effects (ei. compression, limiter, reverb, parametric EQ, phasers, chorus, flanger, etc.) Understanding the art of mastering (how to make it sound good on different systems) Now choose one of the 7 (or more if it's others) and please narrow your question. If you don't know anything about music theory, I suggest you ask that first.

If you can't use monitors because 1. it'll wake everyone up, and 2. your room is untreated. Then here are some good recommendations on headphones. AKG 701/702, Beyerdynamic DT880/770/150/250, Sennheiser HD600/650/280, AKG K240DF, AKG K271 MKII, Sony 7509/7506/v6, Equation RP-21, Fostex T50RP, GMP 8.35, Audio Technica M50, and Ultrasone Pro 750. Though be aware that some of them require a headphone amp for it to be driven properly. Below is the estimate street price if you buy used. I copied this from an old thread I created a year ago from another forums. The purpose of the thread was to collect information on what was the most "detailed and revealing" headphones there are. Not all headphones I listed above will show on the list below.

Yay a music theory thread! I have a question to ask you guys. Down below are the chords for the popular main theme song of Legend of Zelda. I had an argument with this guy, but I'll ask you guys just to be sure. I said it was Bb major (above) and the other guy said it was Bb minor (below). The Bb minor with 5 flats reduces the number of accidentals making it "easier to read". From my point of view I said it was Bb major because it begins in Bb major and later resolves to Bb major again. Bb: I, v, bVI(3-6), bIII, bII, i, II, V (above) Bbm: Too lazy to work it out, just look at the pic (below) So which is it? I find this chord progression fascinating because you can easily alter the first measure into a minor chord (lowering the third) and you got yourself a main theme in minor without having to alter the rest of the song.

Really? How would I go about explaining to people what the chord progression of a song is if roman numerals don't tell you much? Since I'm a visual learner (I really can't comprehend reading text), here are the chords I was talking about (below). How would I explain this to people if they wanted to know what the chord progression is? Next question. In the first measure (above), which is correct? Fmaj7 or Am/F? Are they the samething or not? I've learned the basics of chord progressions as shown above. I said VI7 (or i/VI?), VII, v7, and i in relation to A minor. I'm in a state of confusion now after "the prophet of mephisto" (damn such a long name, is there any other short name we should call you by?) said it didn't make sense. You may use these pics if you want.

The last two are A#m(-5)/D and C/D.

I'm not efficient in music theory yet because I'm self taught lol. To put it this way. In the key of A minor the chord progression goes like this: Fmaj7, G, Em7, Am. How would you put that in roman numerals then?

Does anyone know any particular vg and/or anime songs that is built around a maj7 chord? To be specific it's a VI chord (In the key of A minor, that would be Fmaj7). The chord progression usually goes like this: VI7, VII, v7, i, etc... It's my favorite chord progression. The melody revolves around an "i" chord while the bass plays the root of VI in the beginning of a measure or phrase. God Knows - Suzumiya Haruhi Airman ga Taosenai - megaman 2 Omoide wa Okkusenman - megaman 2 Star Rise - Bamboo Blade Flying Battery Zone - Sonic & Knuckles Blaze - Tsubasa Chronicle Minish Village/Credits - Minish Cap Green Hill Zone - Sonic 1 Star Festival - Super Mario Galaxy Got any more? I created a small demo in FL Studio tying some of them together and it just makes my emotions melt. The way they transition just makes it seem so perfect. It's epic! Please suggest some for me either from anime or vg. If you've ever watched or heard nico nico douga medleys then you probably get the idea where I'm heading with this.

Budget? You'll get somewhere if you spend above $60 (decent) or above $100 (better). IEM, supraural, circumaural headphones? What type are you looking for? IEM or In Ear Monitors are as the name suggests; they're like tiny monitors that you stick in your ears, but they're design is not the same as your average earbud. They have a better seal than an earbud also. Etymotic and Shure IEM are a few I know. Supraural headphones rests on the ears. Senn hd-25 II is the best supraural headphone from what I remember. Circumaurals encloses the entire ear. There's a ton of brands in this category like Senn, Sony, AKG, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica, etc. What sort of design preference do you want? Over the head, behind the head, or in the ears? Fancy looking, bullet-proof looking, old fashion looking, or no preference? Application? As in what will you be using this for? What genres do you listen to? Well you already answered the usage part. "Listening to music off an iPod" is what you wanted. Now we need to know what genres. Grado sr60 for example is great for rock music. Open or Closed? Open-back headphones leaks sounds in and out. Closed is the opposite, it provides isolation. Open allows the headphones to "breathe." It sounds more natural, has better soundstage, and better separation. If you're a basshead, I'd go with closed. Closed-back generally get warm after awhile. If you don't want people next to you hearing what you're hearing, then get closed-back headphones. Amped or Unamped? It only cost $10-$50ish for a cheap portable amp. Since you're using an iPod, I suggest getting a decent portable amp that can drive your headphones with sufficient output. In a portable scenario, you'll generally be looking at headphones that are around 1-80ohms (as long as the amp has the sufficient power to drive it). Amps help improve the sound quality if you care about achieving high fidelity. FiiO, Cmoy, and PA2V2 are cheap, but decent portable amps that come to mind. There are amps that cost 3 figures, but that's probably way out of your budget. Advice: Do NOT buy BOSE! You can buy something better for the same price. Do NOT buy Skullcandies. They sell the worst sounding headphones ever. Don't give into their marketing tricks and hypes.

In case anyone wants to see a list of multimedia based distro, here's the list http://wiki.linuxmusicians.com/doku.php?id=linux_multimedia_distro_s. There's a lot, but based on my research, 64 Studio, Ubuntu Studio, and JackLab are tied, and Musix GNU comes in fourth. And here's a guide regarding multimedia distros http://wiki.linuxmusicians.com/doku.php?id=newbies Edit: Just found out JackLab is closing its doors (unless someone from the team revives it). So that leaves Ubuntu Studio and 64 Studio as the top 2. If you're new to Linux and want something dedicated to music production and what not, try these two distros out. They're based on Debian so there won't be a huge difference between the two.

eh? you're actually the only person who asked "why?" I'll be dual booting Linux and Windows. It doesn't hurt to try something new. Why? is it because everything these days are more compatible with Windows than Linux? So far I've looked at Ubuntu Studio, Musix GNU/Linux, JackLab Audio, 64 Studio. These distros are dedicated to multimedia production. After I've been researching for awhile these are the top 4 distros I've found discussed a number of times at several forums (including this thread that I'm trying to use for my research). I want to know what you guys are using, but if no one here uses multimedia based distro, then I have nothing else to add to the list.

I agree. It has awesome music. Have you heard Cloud Tops and Mt. Crenel? Awesome variation of the main theme. It has the best Boss music compared to the other zelda titles imo. There's some Minish Cap reorchestration at zreo's site if you want to listen to something different. I'm working on a LoZ medley and Minish Cap is in there. Genre: Trance. You'll have to wait a really really long time until I get this finished. Right now I've lost the motivation to write music, but when it returns I'll get back to it. Plus I'm still learning on how to achieve special SFX, work the knobs and buttons to achieve a certain sound I want, and basically learn the ins and outs of things in FL Studio, and it's going to be a challenge. Not only that I'm waiting until Spirit Tracks is released so I can use that as well. You won't believe the number of Zelda titles I've went through

I'm going to be migrating to Linux for the first time soon. But first are there any Linux users here? I'm looking for the best distro for audio and music production.

oh cool it worked. Thanks! I went with your second choice.

I don't know how to make perfect quintuplets in FL studio. Help?

Having some music theory helps so you don't second guess yourself when building chords. What's your fav genre?

There are two things. One that is dedicated in creating sheet music visually. The other dedicated in sequencing music aurally. That said, when it comes to writing sheet music, Finale and Sibelius are the top brands. When it comes to sequencing music aurally, that depends on your preference (Reason, Cubase, FL Studio, Sonar, Protools, etc). So which one are you trying to do? Sequence or make fancy sheet music to print out?

First I play games without cheats. If I'm stuck, I look up a walkthrough guide. After I've beaten the game I enable cheats just for the lolz. Explore places that would otherwise be impossible without cheats. See if you can screw up the scripts like something that wasn't supposed to happen.

Oh I see what you mean. I would love to try! Send me original sfx's (any game of your choice) in high quality (no background interference), single note sfx or very short sfx, must not be a soundfont used in the game's background music, and a couple short jingles like 1up from mario. I think the choice of music would be super mario medley. The hard part is finding them. If you get me the mp3's or wavs then I can probably do it. Don't think about extracting audio from youtube. EVER! If anyone extracts audio from youtube to be used in their mix, shame on you! Anyways... good luck finding them

Can you create a loop by connecting the line out jack to the line in jack from your sound card?

Soundbooth doesn't have "center channel extraction" I believe. Adobe Audition has it. What this feature does is remove the vocal (everything panned in the center) or remove the background instruments (everything that's not panned in the center). Since you want the latter, you'll need to apply this to the track (I believe audacity has this feature) to extract the center channel. Then EQ it to eliminate the bass. You cannot EQ out the snares, hi hats, and other background instruments because that will kill the lead vocal as well. If you have an instrumental version, there's a program that will take two tracks (vocal and off vocal) and compare the sound signal. Anything that's similar will be cut, and anything that's not will be left alone. Although it's not 100% efficient. I don't remember the name of the program.