Program Advice

[soullink]

So I got Music Creator 5 for christmas as a gift. I've been looking at FL Studio but the folks listened to the Best Buy guy... or was it the MAC dude? I can't remember but here I am with Music Creator 5. I need to know if this program is good. I'm the kind of guy that has Finale tracks that have been converted to midi and need remastering and in desperate need for something of a technical level to compose on and am hoping that this is a good buy as they have told me they will support the switch to FL Studio if necessary. Any advice would be much appreciated. Also, I'm gonna need a keyboard now huh, Regardless of which I start using?

[Rozovian]

I'm surprised the Music Creator pages barely mention the midi functionality, but as it can support up to 128 midi track, I assume that's just not something they think ppl care about when they buy their software. Or when parents buy it.

From what I can tell, it's an ok program. It's a place to start, and that's always good. Ultimately, it's all about whether you can make music with it. Try it out.

(oh and make sure it has a piano roll or other midi editing interface. I still don't get why they don't even mention that on the product site. Also check if you can export midi, the lack of which is one of the mac-only GarageBand's biggest flaws. You'll need to export midi if you switch to a program by another developer.)

And you don't _need_ a keyboard. It helps (at least if you know how to play it) by making the writing/recording process faster, and if not else you can at least work out the melodies you want with it, but it's not necessary. iirc I've only used mine on one mix, and it's not posted yet anyway. Then again, I can't really play keyboards, so using it isn't necessarily an improvement.

In any case, you now have a music making tool. Learn to use it. Even if you switch to something else, it's a good idea to know how other tools work. Have fun.

[Nabeel Ansari]

Looking at a youtube video... the interface doesn't look so easy on the eyes. As long as it can hold VST's and can export MIDI's like Rozo said, it's fine.

But FL Studio is, in my opinion... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY BETTER, YO.

OOOOH BTW, you don't need a keyboard...

I don't have one.

In FL Studio (and Music Creator 5) they have a piano roll you can use.

There's a grid. Each row is a note (FL has about 12 octaves, I think) and each column is a step. Use your knowledge of rhythm to figure out where to put notes and how long to extend them for.

There's a piano on the side to tell you which note you're on, and clicking the key on the piano plays the note for you on whatever instrument/sound you're using in that specific pattern.

I think the Music Creator piano roll is a lot harder to use... I saw a video of it, and it made it look like writing Mary Had A Little Lamb was the hardest thing ever...