Audacity for Idiots... ?

[Noose]

Well, I'll cut to the chase.

I'm proficient with the piano and have been playing for nearly 9 years. I think it's safe to say I know music. I've been composing my own works for nearly 7 years on this instrument, so it's also safe to say I know arranging.

I think my problem is the whole robotic-not-very-touchy-feely part of computer generation of music through the use of programs and plugs and all that bunk that gets muddled up and empties your wallet.

I have absolutely no idea how to use those new fangled sequencers, but I have been dying to remix for some time now. Hand me a program like Anvil Studio where your notes are all neatly lined up in scores and I'm set.

Unfortunately Anvil Studio is not a program known for its sound quality.

I could look and find a way to use Audacity on the wiki, and I could browse the internet for another 5 hours trying to find a decent crack for Protools, but I decided that I'd rather let the answers come to me.

Or should I say answer.

See it all comes down to this ONE problem. I'm sure I can figure everything else out just fine, but I need someone to tell me how it is I create the melodic noises on Audacity without a score sheet.

That's it. That's all. Where do the noises come from and how do I make them?

It all looks like some Richter scale random spiky lines to me.

And if there is no way to, I dunno, download or script a composer into the program well then, is there any other program out there with OCRemix sound quality and is still old-fashioned-idiot proof?

[Rozovian]

Unless things have changed since I downloaded it, Audacity isn't a sequencer. It's an audio editor, which means that it works with preexisting audio files. If you can record a live piano, you can probably process that just fine in audacity, but writing notes might be impossible in it.

Considering your years on the piano, I think your best approach would be to use a midi keyboard (or any keyboard with midi output, electric pianos usually have that too) and play the notes into the sequencer and work it from there.

I recommend that you download some DAW demos and see which one you like the most - and then go get that one. Audacity is gonna be problematic to work with, I suspect.

[Blue123]

Audacity is more of a program to use in order to slightly tweak things, but not to create long pieces in. It's more suitable towards small sound clips, I used to use it a lot to create sound effects for games.

A DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is where you'll probably spend most of your time. It's a bit hard for me to explain, but Wikipedia does a good job. Some of the ones used around here are likely to be: FL Studio, Cubase, and Reason.

[Yoozer]

Well, I'll cut to the chase.

I'll do so too - don't use a font that sucks .

I think my problem is the whole robotic-not-very-touchy-feely part of computer generation of music

empties your wallet.

crack for Protools

Your assumptions are your biggest problem.

A computer in its most basic role does not do anything but act as a digital tape recorder with several miles of tape, it does not (have to) generate anything, and if it's robotic you only have yourself to blame.

I create the melodic noises on Audacity without a score sheet.

You don't.

That's it. That's all. Where do the noises come from and how do I make them? It all looks like some Richter scale random spiky lines to me.

And if there is no way to, I dunno, download or script a composer into the program well then, is there any other program out there with OCRemix sound quality and is still old-fashioned-idiot proof?

The Richter scale is a waveform. It's a single file that, when displayed on screen, looks like that, and when played through your soundcard, sounds like - well, whatever it is. It's the movement of a speaker over time - so if you see a slow wobble, that's what your speaker's supposed to do.

The height of the waveform is its volume. If you zoom in and see peaks and dips, the distance between the peak top and the dip bottom is the frequency (pitch). How it looks - a smooth wave or a scratchy drawing - is what it sounds like (timbre).

Will you ever do anything with this theory? Not necessarily. Some programs allow you to drag and drop wavefiles in a track directly. If however you are playing with software instruments for most of the time, here's what happens:

- you play a key on the keyboard

- the key sends a signal that note F3 is being played to the MIDI output

- there's a cable from the output to a MIDI interface on your computer

- your MIDI interface tells the software (the "sequencer" or "host") - "hey, note F3 is being played!". It does not matter which device - if it's a synthesizer or a digital piano, it just tells the note. MIDI is to audio like sheet music is to a CD - one tells you what to play but not how it sounds, the other tells you what it sounds like but not what you should play.

- the host tells the plugin "hey, do something with this"

- the plugin reacts and does something. This could be playing back a digital recording (the wavefile) of the F3 note of a piano, or to play a recording of a sound effect, or to calculate a waveform in realtime based on a mathematical formula.

- the actual sound of the plugin is sent back to the host

- the host sends the sound to your soundcard, which translates it to an electrical signal (voltage)

- the soundcard is hooked up to the speakers, and they get the voltage - and move accordingly.

Since all you are playing is an instruction, not the actual sound, you can record these instructions and play them back. You can also change the information in those instructions - common modifications are transposing it, or altering the timing. If you play jazzy, a process called quantization snaps back every note that's off the grid to 8th, 16th or 32nd notes. Quantization is what makes a piece of music sound mechanic, but if you play good enough you don't need it (you might want to use it for a techno bassdrum, though).

The second method is to record the sound coming out of a keyboard, and in that case, you can't really "fix" anything afterwards anymore. (exceptions apply). In this function a computer is a dumb tape recorder and nothing more.

Let's destroy the second assumption about the wallet and the need for a crack:

Cubase 4 Essential:

http://steinberg.net/1591+M52087573ab0.html

Ableton Live LE:

http://www.ableton.com/live-le

Sonar Home Studio:

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/HomeStudio/default.asp

Reaper:

http://reaper.fm/

Tracktion 3 Project Edition:

http://www.mackie.com/products/tracktion3/

FL Studio Fruity Edition:

http://www.flstudio.com/documents/what.html

Energy XT 2:

http://www.energy-xt.com/

All of this is cheap (making music has never been cheaper) - if it's still expensive to you, get a job or save up for it. Even the required hardware (MIDI interface, soundcard, etc.) can be really cheap.

Try the demo versions of as many of the programs in the list here, and see if they are better suited to making music.