Yoozer

So, switching back from get-off-my-lawn mode to actually-helpful mode: What brand/model? Yamaha, Casio, ... Unless your keyboard was made in 1995 or so, those should actually sound even worse . All software-based options generally boil down to this. There are two pieces you're going to deal with - the sequencer which is like a conductor - it orders others around to play; and the plugin(s). There are of course some ifs and buts for this, but we'll touch on those later. The sequencer is used to compose with. When you play a note on your keyboard and it's connected to the computer (either with a so-called MIDI interface or directly with an USB cable - quite a number of recent keyboard models feature this), the keyboard tells the computer what to play. So, if you hit the C, E and G keys, the computer doesn't know what it sounds like (since MIDI doesn't "sound" like anything, it's just the note information), but it does know you've just played those notes. What happens then? Well, nothing, unless the sequencer knows what to do with it. Like a conductor needs at least a single musician to order around, the sequencer needs a plugin to send it to (of course there's the option to just write it down for now and choose the plugin later). The sequencer does this, and the plugin makes sound, which is then also handled by the sequencer, and then sent to your computer's soundcard. Now, you say you don't like the sounds on your keyboard. So, you use the plugin to act as the sound source instead of your keyboard. Now we bump into our first real problem, which is - "what do I need"? Sequencer: If you like working with Anvil Studio, by all means, continue using it. If you don't, look for something different, because familiarity and comfort is what a large part of your choice should be based on. Plugins: This is the tricky part. Most Yamaha PSR and Casio keyboards have a set of so called "realistic" sounds. The General MIDI (that's the full name of the bunch of sounds in your soundcard) soundset is geared towards realistic sounds, too. "Realistic" in this case means that they do their best to imitate instruments such as pianos, organs, strings, brass, etc. These sounds are based on samples - digital recordings of the actual instrument playing. Since such recordings consume memory (and memory on your soundcard is limited), the nuances and little bits that make instruments actually realistic disappear. The same deal's with your keyboard; it has a few megabytes of memory at most and all that needs to be shared with a wide range of instruments. A soundfont works in a similar way; it's a set of recordings that are played back if you press a certain (or a range) of keys. Now, a lot of the free plugins you're going to find do not work this way. They generate the sound based on a (simple) mathematical formula. The sounds that come out of those generally do not sound like anything realistic (but there are ways to get close), but they're pretty great for electronic music. Those are however the ones you're going to encounter most of the time, as they're (relatively speaking) the easiest to program. If you are looking for a more serious expansion of your gear and you have a budget in mind, do tell. If you don't, check out the "Remixing for free" topic in the Guides forum. None of this will actually make the end result better, and at first it may even sound worse since you're learning how everything works. No problem, just keep on going and study. Upload your music so other people can hear it and give critique, and keep in mind that that's the kind of feedback that'll make you grow as a musician. Basically, first find out if you can put an original twist on an older song; then find out how you can improve on the production (the sounds, the mix and the composition). No problem, except that I've got high standards . That's because they know their job and the site's content depends on the influx of new people. A part of those will already have experience, the rest will have to grow. Yeah, but that's the issue. Even with your example of swimming, there's still actual people to talk to, which have the advantage that they can anticipate your questions and understand a dozen ways of phrasing. Intimidating? Maybe so - certainly more than searching on the internets, but you have to deal with new people every time. Asking girls out for the prom is more intimidating. It allows them, but despite that, a (too large part) doesn't. Information overload occurred mostly after they decided to do something; they went to the music store, then got bombarded with several brands and terminology or salesmen trying to make a buck; the doubt about making music was either not there or simply not discussed. Basically, the question in the topic of this thread is the wrong one. Yes, you're able to remix. So, that shouldn't be the question. "What should I use to remix" isn't the right question either, because that depends on budget and preference. "How can I make a remix that's going to be accepted here" isn't the right question either; it's also answered (requirements are for instance but not limited to originality and quality). So, "How do I get some good sounds because those in my keyboard suck" would be a good question; not "the sounds in my keyboard suck, but can I still make a remix with this?" (because the conditions to qualify for the word "remix" are unrelated to the sound quality). Nitpicking, yes, but important nitpicking .

I've been helping newbies for 7 years in a row - luckily, not on a completely hopeless forum - and one's heart goes callous . Yes, Google's got a lot of information. So does a music store employee. Yes, they're mostly clueless if you have to believe all the tales, but you can at least try. Even then, there'd be at least someone who'd be less clueless and maybe able to demonstrate bits and pieces. Even then, they have books on music production, too, which separate the forum chaff from the wheat. If, however, one is of the opinion that books and people are archaic concepts, and that registering on a dozen forums asking questions that have been asked and answered a thousand times already instead of the truly interesting stuff, then disregard the previous. Now, if you've already consulted with those people, you can at least show that you either don't have any options, or you do have options but don't trust the guy who makes a commission on what you're going to spend, so you're looking for a second opinion. That alone already shows effort, and that alone would already make a sea change in impression. In fact, I'd say it's a lot easier now since most of the links you get in the first 10 results are Wiki articles of the sort. I'm talking about pure composition, the kind you can do with a piano or a guitar. Back to basics. The rest is polish. Also, fuck exponentially decaying gate effects, micro-trigger LFO-gated reverb freezing and companding is where it's at. In 1929, following his brother Charles, he moved to New York City, where they both studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York. Arguably it may stretch "formal" but it's not "lulz can i has throw paint nao?".

Making music is a skill. Skills require effort and practice. I'll be blunt, but I'd rather see people scared off (this is not aimed at the topicstarter) than unwilling to put effort in it. Questions about which gear to get; no problem, since that's money. For the rest, JUST DO IT All those fears are something people impose them on themselves. Instead of jumping in the pool or even getting their feet wet, they are shivering on the edge, asking if it's safe. And that's the trick; it's not rocket science. If you consider it from a mathematical perspective, the entire 12-tone circle-of-fifths, chords, whatnot deal is merely adding and subtracting. Do keep in mind that you can only do a trick like Pollock did once; doing it after Pollock did it means that everyone'll call you an imitator . (also, Pollock was formally educated)

All sequencers, and all of these can use ASIO. This is used to cut samples with. If you have a drumbeat and you only want the snaredrum, you can use this to isolate it from the rest. Effects units. For burning your productions to CD. Fairly useless since there's InfraRecorder (free). This is a sampling library which gives you a bunch of instruments. Most free plugins are simulations of so-called subtractive synthesizers; an adequate library of realistic instruments is not that easy to find.

They not only make things easier, but also understandable and repeatable. Theory is a language, and it doesn't make you rigid and uncreative unless you allow this to happen yourself. Don't ask, submit and see what the verdict is.If you're afraid of criticism, choose another profession .

Audio interface = fancy term for soundcard, so yes. Means it records using 24 bits (large dynamic range) and at 192khz (high resolution). Comparison: a CD uses 16 bits and 44khz. A = analog, D = digital. An analog signal is continuous - a digital signal's broken up in little steps. Means you can plug in a microphone or electric guitar. Jitter is disturbance in the clock's accuracy. Imagine a regular clock that moves the seconds indicator. It takes one minute to do a full rotation, and one may assume that the minute's broken up in 60 equal parts. That may however not be the case; one "second" may actually take 1.1 seconds or 0.9 seconds. For regular clocks it doesn't matter that much since accuracy for the minute is the most important, but for a clock running at the higher speeds of kilohertz, it is important. Explanation about what SNR is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio Explanation about phantom power: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_power Imagine having a bouncing ball. Throw it on the floor; it'll make nice curvy bumps. Now, throw it really hard; eventually it'll hit the ceiling. That's what happens when signals clip - they get "cut off". A soft limiter would slow the bouncing ball down so it'd still make a sort of curve. If you have any fully digital audio gear you can hook this up: see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF. MIDI is so you can plug synthesizers in there; most modern synths come with an USB connection as well as a MIDI connection, older ones don't. This means it doesn't take half a second to hear something from one of your software synthesizers. Incoming sound (instruments you're recording) is usually passed around the computer through various layers of software which all hold it back for a millisecond or so. Zero-latency ignores those layers and just lets the signal through. It'll work on anything you throw on it, but ASIO is what you'd use. If you have FL Studio or whatever, you choose in the audio setup menu that you want to use the E-mu ASIO drivers. That's it, done.

Name of the designer. This habit was started on the Virus and Waldorf Q IIRC. Also piano, rhodes, other EPs. First guess would be that rhythm would be (synthetic) percussive in timbre, while gate only means that it's gated. Synthetic or Sync (the latter referring to oscillator sync) Synth presets may also contain puns on existing instruments (Whirly, Roads), alternative names (Suitcase 73, Full Stops, Operators), the name of famous songs (Knife Edge (ELP)), artist names (Micro-X has a combi called "gnivil si erraJ") or puns on that (Sleepless (Faithless' "Insomnia") on the Roland XP series).

Then read the manual. (the word you're looking for is timestretching and next time you have a question it's recommended that you at least show a bit more effort, and what you've already tried).

There are PATA PCI cards. Not, because Windows bases its registration info on the motherboard. Change mobo = Windows no workie. Most of the smaller free ones don't need install, just copy the DLL file to the right folder. Payware needs reinstall, as you need to confirm the serial number/other protection.

For that budget you're going to get 4 gb DDR2 (3 is amazingly expensive) and a Core 2 Duo. You will need a new one. Which is useless in your new mobo. ATX case = ATX motherboard = no problem. Now you've said it 3 times in a row. You're lucky if you can keep your DVD writer. GeForce 8800GT or Radeon 3850 for games, something lower-end if it's too expensive. No, unless you want to run in 64-bit mode which is completely useless atm. No, and if you go 64-bit, go Vista, there's no future in XP64. Even then 64-bit is atm useless for audio since shitloads of companies haven't written drivers. The problem is that you can't use your full 4gb, only 3.5 depending on graphics card memory size. Core 2 Duo at the moment is king. Stop doing this and read first, comprehend, then post. jesus christ stop typing 1) Choose AMD or Intel (Intel) 2) Choose motherboard (something decent, Asus or Gigabyte) 3) the rest will fall into place

They go really far, you just have to know how to make those sounds. http://theheartcore.com/music/armin_communication_dull.mp3 http://theheartcore.com/music/armin_communication_shiney.mp3 This was done with Xhip (freeware) and the built-in reverb. That's part of what you're looking for? If you're willing to dump cash into it, http://www.refx.com/?lang=en&page=products/nexus/summary

Take the lead melody and play it but use a wildly different rhythm. Change the tempo if necessary. Take the lead melody and study the chords. Find substitutions for those chords. Take the style of the song (for instance, hiphop) and change it to something else (for instance, trance).

the fuck no, seriously, not good.

Anything with a MIDI port on the back can act as a MIDI controller. The USB stuff is just there so you can hook it up right to your computer instead of buying an USB MIDI interface first. As for transfer, it's usually oldfashioned MIDI stuff; don't expect audio unless it's listed specifically.

Instead of books, you could also use something solid like a bunch of sawed MDF plates glued on top of eachother (which is what I did; they're heavy and easy to assemble). To get the tilt, get Auralex Mo-Pads.

Yeah, that's 2 years old now

Stop doing this. Also, you missed http://www.ocremix.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=19 and http://www.ocremix.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16 Otherwise, continue .

Figure out how to just make music first, and during that process, find out how the program works. Not by posting questions every time you bump into a (minor) issue, but by just stubbornly trying to read the manual, search the Google, and experiment. Or get someone to hold your hand using remote desktop and instant messenger while using the program. If you can't do it with Reaper, get something else for which they have a baby steps tutorial. When you're not entrenched in working with something for a year or more it doesn't hurt to switch around a bit, and eventually all is based on the same principles anyway.

No; deliver in time. Just make something that's completely unrelated to the movie (comedy option: include a sped-up Yakety Sax part). Throw in parts suspense, parts comedy, parts whoa-I'm-in-the-Matrix, parts bombastic orchestral - make it a showcase of styles. When they complain about the incongruity of it all, tell 'm it's like asking a painter to paint someone blindfolded. Without at least an image or an impression, it's unpredictable what the result's going to be. They insisted on the blindfold, they'll have to deal with the consequences. Remember, don't get mad - get even

And you're not going to be totally killed off by Sam Ash, Zzounds, Guitar Center and Musicians Friend how exactly? Sorry to burst your bubble, but music gear doesn't have insane markups .

Don't do it. Video game music is getting swamped by people who can't find ways to monetize their current careers and it's very much about connections. Get a teacher for piano; it'll do you more good than trying to teach yourself (wrongly). Pick up music as a hobby and get a career that has actual demand (and a future).

Most acapella material is available that way, and it floats around on the P2P networks and on private forums/torrents. You didn't think people'd go hack the vocals out there themselves .

No, you can't release it without clearing the samples. No, you can't put it in an OCRemix. No, downloading the material is already not that smart of a move to begin with.

Yes. There's even a tool for that; it's called an oscilloscope; it plots the waveform. As a plugin there's something called the Smexoscope: http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/Smexoscope/ If it's a realistic instrument, don't bother synthesizing unless you're willing to go off to the deep end. Use a sampler and sample library. If it's a synthetic instrument, pay attention to the following: - is the sound played one note at a time? - does the sound "glide"? - when the sound comes in the mix, does it so directly or does it fade in? - when the sound drops out of the mix, does it so directly or does it fade out? Fading out and in can happen with volume - just gradually getting louder or quieter, but also with the filter - gradually getting brighter or duller (in case of a lowpass filter). That tells you something about polyphonic and monophonic and portamento, and the envelope (ADSR) settings. Those are the easy parts. The complex part is in synthesizing the actual waveform. More things to pay attention to: If you listen to the character of the sound, is it bright and glassy or is it warm and soft? Or is it harsh? The first may tell you something about the synthesis type used, harshness tells you if there's a distortion effect being used; but it can also be an indicator of FM synthesis. Is the sound wavering or is it relatively stable? This tells you about the fine tuning of the oscillators. It's practice; practice in listening to the details which is sort of like asking which color chrome has; tricky to pin down . Also, experiment with several synthesis types; first try all the oscillator settings. Try Synth1 or something and switch on 1 oscillator (disable the filters or open them completely). Listen to all the waveforms and the effect of PWM. Repeat this for oscillator 2. Then, combine them and start messing with combinations of waveforms and combinations of tunings - what's it sound like when one of the oscillators is tuned one octave higher, and if one is square and the other is saw, which of the two will you notice? Then, mix them differently; put one at 25% volume and the other at 75% and find out which effect this has on the sound. Again, try all waveforms and tunings. Then, do the same for the filters. Find out what the LFO and envelopes do on a filter, what different modes do (lowpass, highpass, bandpass, bandreject). The trick is to build a standard library of sounds in your head so you can pin down an approximation quickly. And that's just one type of synthesis; when you try FM it's far, far worse . There's a slight consolation in the fact that most people don't go beyond the presets that much (especially with FM) so it boils down to finding the right name of the preset (and making minor modifications if necessary).

Yeah, but consider this: companies are not going to just stop sneaking in that kind of protection. The best we can hope for as users is that they make it as painless as possible. Yes, and they all completely go bonkers after 2 months or so, because they've been shittily cracked . Seriously, I've heard the stories; one of the most embarassing being that a DJ had his copy drop out in the middle of a gig. There you are, making moneys and smooching honeyz and not paying for the tools you use. That's because software doesn't, and this touches on the weird way "services" and immaterial, infinitely cheaply duplicateable materials still don't work like the old ways. I'm not saying you shouldn't be right or that things shouldn't change because they're not and they don't work right, but it's something you can do very little about. Also, did anyone already mention that you can buy Live 6 now and upgrade cheaply (as in free) to 7? There, saved yourself some bucks. Also, did I tell that I'm finally in on the beta?