I know we've got some very talented people here :) Feel free to use this thread for music making discussion, questions, and exchanging opinions of your works. :)



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I was hoping some of our resident music makers could help me out on something that has gotten me very excited today. :) I'm no musician but I'm very interested in getting something put together.

I was digging around on my copy of Ehrgeiz while doing some configuring for ripping the sfx. I was trying to determine if the samples were being played too fast or slow when a chime sound played too slow. I freakin' love it that way. I really want to use this sample for something. I put it in audacity and tried to loop it a bit, and I think I got a good thing going. It sounds a lot like some of those Adult Swim bumps from a few years back. Here's the sample with the loop I made :)

dfrgthjk.rar (http://www.mediafire.com/?4t79sa7s1ftov94)

edit - after going through some of the other sfx on the disc I've found that this bit is repeated several times and I don't think the 'normal' one in this folder plays at the right speed which is strange since everything else in the same bin played right :p but the other sample plays at a better 'normal' speed. So I guess what I thought was slow..... was normal....... Here it is TOPBIN_0038.wav (http://www.mediafire.com/?9oqtxfyfrkzqfbi)


What I would like to know is what are some good (cheap or free) music making programs for the musically illiterate. I'm thinking I would like to build something using just Ehrgeiz samples, but I'll have to see if my patience will hold out for that :p I don't have the greatest equipment for music making either. This comp does generate a bit of white noise so achieving perfect will be very hard to hear :p


OR, if any of our resident music makers here would like to give a shot to building something with the sample or any other samples I can provide, I certainly wouldn't object. :) I welcome any and all help for this project.

Hmm, I'll have to do some searching. . . . Right now all I know of for certain are Garageband and Logic, both of which come with plenty of tools to create some pretty good stuff, but I don't know if Garageband is downloadable :O I'm trying to find good music creation software as well, so I'll report my findings to you :D

I'm runnin' pc :p And by the looks of it, Logic ain't cheap >.<

This sounds like something right up my ally. I would love to mess around with this samp just for kicks.

Well what I've used for years is Cool Edit Pro (or Adobe Audition) and FL Studio. I use Cool Edit to chop up and clean up samples/vocals, and I use FL Studio to compose/mix. FL Studio Producer Edition is $199, and it is well worth the money. Cool Edit Pro basically does what Audacity does, but Cool Edit Pro has more options. And with the right VSTs and knowledge, FL Studio can be right up there with Pro Tools quality.

^ It all sounds so complicated *head spinny* lol :p But it sounds like you know what you're doing at least :) Go ahead and play with it. I would love to hear what you come up with. If you want, I'll upload the rest of the sfx and music from the game if you want to play with them too :)

Try out "Mixcraft" on it's free trial.

It's pretty much just as easy as using Garageband.

It's not the best, but it's fairly easy to figure out if you just want to use it for rough demos and such.

Hope that helps a little.

^ I haven't heard of that but it looks decent. :) Thanks.

Man, I've looked, and Withope pretty much beat me to the punch; all the top-notch programs I was gonna suggest he already said. And Cuckoo's right about Mixcraft; it's fun to use and is versatile but not for the more hardcore aspects that Pro Tools offers. Wish I could've been more helpful :(

For beginner level I agree, I started out on Mixcraft 4 then 5 beta, before moving to Cubase 5. It's the most simple one to use. Other options you have are:

reaper , should have some freedom of usage.

vision, which was used by hitoshi sakimoto when he started out as a composer, but its fairly old and totally impractical XD.

soundforge!! haha ( old school to the core )

Also you need to get used to VST ( you can download free vst on Kvraudio ), or AU RTAS format depending of what DAW(music production program) you're using.

Logic is often associated with Apple OSX users. But most of latest daws are compatible with literally anything.

If you want to make music having a midi keyboard is usually the requirement, and also a computer of at least a dual core level to be able to simultaneously play midi on more than let's say 10-11 tracks.

You'll notice as you use the software the limits of a computer of lets say a weaker ram. By the time the third virtual instrument plays simultaneously (vst in midi) the soundcard will be doing Tzzctzsjjssjkkkkk and the sound will eventually stop leading to the program to crash. Unless you are fortunate to have a better computer.

Alternatively if you want to invest some money like let's say 70dollars invest in a copy of fruity loops. It's ok for electro trance and hip hop music, but the rest requires more advanced programs. In fact fruity loops is aimed at that genre specifically, and anything else would sound odd to work on it.


Let me make a map for daws XD.

Cubase is the most general daw used for commercial music ( MTV HITS) a superior program to it is NUENDO, by the same company, which costs $$$$ dollars and you might want to not buy that in first 10 years of practice XD ( i'm at second year and i still don't even dream of it) It's generally the most versatile daw and it's features might have some lacks, but usually minor.

Cakewalk Sonar... It's generally considered inferior to Cubase and Nuendo, but it might have a design that fits some people. I don't personally know much about it, but from what I've seen it seems much less user friendly to my taste.

Logic Pro is known for latency issues. It takes a lot of manipulation but it runs in 64 bit so it has a heck of a great performance, midi is fail on it. It's better for some process working and mixing.

Pro Tools HD is the most userfriendly and most expensive daw. it will demand a lot of cash, but it's very fast to learn according to many, if not the fastest daw to learn. it is kind of slow in work because its the most FAT program and eat hell the ram...(not ramen :p) measures and tempo are quite annoying in Pro tools.

The ultimate advantage in pro tools is that hans zimmer uses it! which makes the software definitely over 9000 and is the ultimate choice if you have money.

But if you're on a budget its probably best to go with cubase when you learn your way on either reaper, mixcraft or fruity loops heh :)

hope it helps

You'll notice as you use the software the limits of a computer of lets say a weaker ram. By the time the third virtual instrument plays simultaneously (vst in midi) the soundcard will be doing Tzzctzsjjssjkkkkk and the sound will eventually stop leading to the program to crash. Unless you are fortunate to have a better computer.


That's why it's almost mandatory to buy an audio interface when seriously composing music.



Alternatively if you want to invest some money like let's say 70dollars invest in a copy of fruity loops. It's ok for electro trance and hip hop music, but the rest requires more advanced programs. In fact fruity loops is aimed at that genre specifically, and anything else would sound odd to work on it.


I disagree. With the right VSTs and the right knowledge, you can pretty much create any genre you wish.

Project sam symphobia composition (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG7iIWxFRuc)

Fl studio- Music Box-EWQL Symphonic orchestra silver (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR6SBae21xI)

FL Studio Dubstep (Arktic - Hurting) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLj8nKSM6NA)

I find it funny when people say "YOU HAVE TO HAVE THIS TYPE OF SOFTWARE TO MAKE DECENT MUSIC!!" No. You have to know what you're doing; regardless of software to make decent music... however if you're going to school for music producing/recording or plan on working in a studio, it may be beneficial to get comfortable with Pro Tools since that is the industry standard. Now if you're going to be composing or going to school for composition, I think any software will do.

Also, ultima brought up a good point about having a decent computer (at least 4 GB RAM, 2.4 Duo Core Proc). But get an audio interface as well. One that is at least $150.

I find it funny when people say "YOU HAVE TO HAVE THIS TYPE OF SOFTWARE TO MAKE DECENT MUSIC!!" No. You have to know what you're doing; regardless of software to make decent music... however if you're going to school for music producing/recording or plan on working in a studio, it may be beneficial to get comfortable with Pro Tools since that is the industry standard. Now if you're going to be composing or going to school for composition, I think any software will do.

Exactly. All you need to know is what you want to do and how you want to do it. Then find a program that will allow you to do what you want and just learn how to use it. Although I did notice a huge sound difference when recording my music with both Ableton Live and Sony Acid (Acid sounded much more "smooth" compared to Ableton where it kinda sounded "shaky") but that's just something you'll have to find yourself. If you know how to play an instrument that plugs into any kind of amplifier, then getting an audio interface is a must (no way could I record my guitar without it) but if you plan on using VST's, then I highly suggest getting yourself a midi keyboard. I'd love to have one because most of the music I make needs more "instruments" that my guitar pedal just can't do no matter what adjustments I make.

But the point is as long as you know what you want to do, any program would be useful. At least to help you get comfortable and get more understanding of the whole thing if anything lol

Exactly. All you need to know is what you want to do and how you want to do it. Then find a program that will allow you to do what you want and just learn how to use it. Although I did notice a huge sound difference when recording my music with both Ableton Live and Sony Acid (Acid sounded much more "smooth" compared to Ableton where it kinda sounded "shaky") but that's just something you'll have to find yourself. If you know how to play an instrument that plugs into any kind of amplifier, then getting an audio interface is a must (no way could I record my guitar without it) but if you plan on using VST's, then I highly suggest getting yourself a midi keyboard. I'd love to have one because most of the music I make needs more "instruments" that my guitar pedal just can't do no matter what adjustments I make.

Yee. And another benefit of an audio interface is that it will eliminate a good amount of artifacts in sound (although the best RAM and best processor will help eliminate most if not all artifacts in sound), and it will allow you to play a midi controller without latency issues.

Wow. So much to know :( Reading all this, I don't think this machine can handle all that :p I just want to piddle around with it and not really take it seriously. I'll give a try to some of those free programs and see what I can do :)



........ You know what. Everybody, just use this thread for your music making general discussion thread. :) You guys have a good start for conversation here so go ahead and carry on if you want :)


edit - I was playing with Mixcraft 4 and it crashed on me :( I only had 2 samples in it.

Sounds good. Again If you're willing to drop $199, FL Studio Producer Edition is worth it. It's super easy to compose with. And for utilizing samples, it's super easy as well. Trust me, I've used samps for about 7 years with it.

And could you upload the other sfx and music from the game?

edit:
What are the specs on your computer?

I was going through some of the other sfx from the same bins and found some played slower than others so I'll have to re-extract them separately so that they play normally, but I can put up what I have so far if you want. The music came out in 10 - 20 minute chunks so you gotta take a listen to it and cut the tracks. I'll get the music up..... hold on a tick... I'm gonna use my MU account for this since I don't feel like re-downloading and testing a MF upload... I'm gonna pack it all up and split the .rar a bit so it doesn't take so long to dl.


My specs are kinda poor for this kind of thing. I only have 1gb of ram :(


edit - I'm uploading all of it now, including the parts that are wrong. I'll get to work on re-extracting some of those sfx tomorrow, but at least for now you can kinda figure what what they're supposed to be :p


edit 2 - FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It all uploaded but it didn't go to my file manager :mad: The links are up and working but I don't know why they aren't in my list :( nvm they showed up after 20 minutes =/


Here's all the stuff in wav, so it's about 1.5 gigs :p

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0E5KI3B5
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S9P4J5AZ
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K6SWVWYY
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UKHFSJ3U

A quick bump since the forum is back up.

Here is a lot of the stuff from the ALLBIN that I'm pretty sure I got fixed. ALLBIN 31-261.rar (http://www.mediafire.com/?y8e42akkz4b48wc)
There may be some bits that still aren't right, but I think there's enough stuff in usable condition already :p

Wow, what with the collateral damage on my post :D Though I'm glad there was sense.

Then again it really depends on circumstances and budget: but no serious pro I met works with fruity loops. :p

I mean, ok, electronica musicians like: bass hunter, david guetta, etc.. would use it since the program is built to that purpose essentially. But it is quite limited compared to some other editors. It does have some unique effects, but it's not that much of a great deal. It's aimed at the "beat music" composer in all aspects of the term. Yes, you can record anything using anything, but the end result will never be the same.

And speaking about industry standards, there is actually no standard daw. Most people in fact use Cubase I believe, but not enough to call it a standard. Locally here 5/10= cubase and nuendo. Pro Tools HD being more of an American standard, since it got all commercial there. Also notice Pro Tools is very annoying unless you own massive/costly hardware, you could still get the LE/M-powered version though.

Btw, I also wish I had Pro Tools HD as it has an amazing learning curve, but I think I already said that... lol this was useless. ^

Also I noticed there is a massive usage of Logic Pro lately, because of its initial great samples.

Heh...Symphobia? I mean it's a great vst, but it's a 1000 dollar program, and it's not even that good compared to VSL Symphonic or La Scoring Strings that offer a lot more samples and control. I would even say that East/West Gold is more useful than Symphobia in practical sense (I've tried them both at a friends studio and no I do not own them yet). If you've tried Symphobia then you will notice that is has horrible presets in the Multis. Hopefully they are better in release 2. Probably useful though if you want to build original ensembles. Then again you have to know how to modify the wavs skillfully and use quantization to it's limits in order to make any decent rhytm. And no, key editor is enough in this case.

Same thing for Komplete 7 by native instruments. Most vsts inside it are nice, but useless and Komplete 4 would do the same job literally. So buy Omnisphere unless you are tricked by native-instruments ;) or refx nexus, which has very repetitive sounds, but they are famous as well. ( PROPAGANDA! blame me :p )

In a nutshell, I think any daw is good, but some are aimed at a particular purpose.
Then again you are free to dislike this last part of the comment again. :P

EDIT: plus whatever the purpose, true magic can only be reached by teh mighty hands of diego stocco and his experibass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdYj7dMYwxM

Then again it really depends on circumstances and budget: but no serious pro I met works with fruity loops. :p

I don't think that knowing if any serious pro uses FL Studio matters. Whatever is most comfortable for composing, I say use. But to say "someone that uses a certain program can't make quality music that sounds professional" is kind of elitist and naive.


I mean, ok, electronica musicians like: bass hunter, david guetta, etc.. would use it since the program is built to that purpose essentially. But it is quite limited compared to some other editors. It does have some unique effects, but it's not that much of a great deal. It's aimed at the "beat music" composer in all aspects of the term. Yes, you can record anything using anything, but the end result will never be the same.

Why do you say it is limited compared to the other programs? Just curious.


And speaking about industry standards, there is actually no standard daw. Most people in fact use Cubase I believe, but not enough to call it a standard. Locally here 5/10= cubase and nuendo. Pro Tools HD being more of an American standard, since it got all commercial there. Also notice Pro Tools is very annoying unless you own massive/costly hardware, you could still get the LE/M-powered version though.

If you reside in the United States and you aiming to be a studio producer (ya know.. in the traditional sense) or studio engineer, you will benefit greatly by being proficient in Pro Tools. Period.


Heh...Symphobia? I mean it's a great vst, but it's a 1000 dollar program, and it's not even that good compared to VSL Symphonic or La Scoring Strings that offer a lot more samples and control. I would even say that East/West Gold is more useful than Symphobia in practical sense (I've tried them both at a friends studio and no I do not own them yet). If you've tried Symphobia then you will notice that is has horrible presets in the Multis. Hopefully they are better in release 2. Probably useful though if you want to build original ensembles. Then again you have to know how to modify the wavs skillfully and use quantization to it's limits in order to make any decent rhytm. And no, key editor is enough in this case.

I can't say I have used VSL Symphonic nor LA Scoring Strings, so my knowledge on them is sorta limited; however Symphobia has some really cool orchestral effects and most ensembles sound nice. East West Gold Edition is pre good. You have some options with its use, but it's mainly aimed at solo instruments. The ensembles are awful. They sound almost like the Garritan ensembles =0. And I looked up a few videos of LA Scoring Strings... and wow. Amazing. I would love to get my hands on it!

EDIT:
Also, here is something I made with just the one sample you initially gave me.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/blirfp

All drums, all melodies, all weirdness stem from that one sample. Let me know what ya think.

Call it elitist call it naive, I already expected this kind of reply so I do not mind. :p And I've seen a lot of people that do master works in fruity loops, but in the end its limited. Still, calling people elitist and naive is mean. :p ( you meanie! )

Now again,
I don't want to bother since it's very much a matter of practicality which depends on the person, but yes (fruity loops is pretty much like rap) and (cubase is orchestra) = in notoriety and elegance ( the one and the other have no correlation) but you probably guess that I am being elitist again :)

Cubase for me...It's a quality standard, it's like comparing Sangria to a Dom Perignon.

I would like to not go into technical aspects, because it would mean a long discussion which i don't really need with my time kinda.

And about Pro Tools,did you read what I said :D I praised it. " Pro Tools HD being more of an American standard, since it got all commercial there." That's what I said , so our thoughts agreed on that part.

About EW Gold,
EW Gold is all about Solo yup, but Symphobia's sounds weren't that appealing to me personally. I didn't get right in usage maybe though :p...

It comes with Singles Close - and Stage, and Multis. The Multi's are pretty fun, but you have to set key switches the whole time! Like once you may need a Pizzicato, and you pass G4 key and bam! picollo flute shows up ruining your 30 seconds of perfect playing. So they you have to edit out and load it as single XD or load the whole instrument of the pizzicato. ( I don't know how most people work, but I heavily rely on my 88 keys) some people spend most the time in the key editor, but I only do that once I'm sure I've did it right on the raw idea..

Then again I'm glad you like La Scoring Strings, they are really good, we totally agree on that :D.

I think though the special "ART" effect of the looping 8ths, 16th etc... can be used with quantization and modulation effects, in almost the same way, taking out some quality in the way.

So it's a matter of editing the sound, but then again they have some amazing "mid" distance strings, sometimes I think of them as the top contender for best string sound. But because lack of diversity compared to VSL, VSL will be the king for a few more years to come. Here you would actually be right calling it elitist :p VSL is the king of all VST, so it is an elite. :p

Now you might want to post that last thing at the top, i mean the one part aimed at chocolatemisu, because my message is not the topic anymore. XD

Also, here is something I made with just the one sample you initially gave me.

Download FFShriner beat.mp3 from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way (http://www.sendspace.com/file/blirfp)

All drums, all melodies, all weirdness stem from that one sample. Let me know what ya think.

Sounds....funky.

EDIT:
Also, here is something I made with just the one sample you initially gave me.

Download FFShriner beat.mp3 from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way (http://www.sendspace.com/file/blirfp)

All drums, all melodies, all weirdness stem from that one sample. Let me know what ya think.

O____O



wow dude..... just wow...... I dig this :) Really catchy. I never would have guessed that everything came from that one sample. Thanks man. I'm keepin' that one ^___^ Kinda spacey.... groovy.

Call it elitist call it naive, I already expected this kind of reply so I do not mind. :p And I've seen a lot of people that do master works in fruity loops, but in the end its limited. Still, calling people elitist and naive is mean. :p ( you meanie! )

Just saying you're being elitist and naive; not that you are. That's all. Well, I can agree there. I haven't found a great way to master your pieces of music within FL Studio. You will probably need something that strictly handles audio editing in order to really master you pieces of music. Maybe something like Wavelab. But composing and mastering are two different things.


Now again,
I don't want to bother since it's very much a matter of practicality which depends on the person, but yes (fruity loops is pretty much like rap) and (cubase is orchestra) = in notoriety and elegance ( the one and the other have no correlation) but you probably guess that I am being elitist again :)

Ya, you are.


Cubase for me...It's a quality standard, it's like comparing Sangria to a Dom Perignon.

I would like to not go into technical aspects, because it would mean a long discussion which i don't really need with my time kinda.

But you have time to reply to my posts at such length? Oh well, so be it.


About EW Gold,
EW Gold is all about Solo yup, but Symphobia's sounds weren't that appealing to me personally. I didn't get right in usage maybe though :p...

It comes with Singles Close - and Stage, and Multis. The Multi's are pretty fun, but you have to set key switches the whole time! Like once you may need a Pizzicato, and you pass G4 key and bam! picollo flute shows up ruining your 30 seconds of perfect playing. So they you have to edit out and load it as single XD or load the whole instrument of the pizzicato. ( I don't know how most people work, but I heavily rely on my 88 keys) some people spend most the time in the key editor, but I only do that once I'm sure I've did it right on the raw idea..

Then again I'm glad you like La Scoring Strings, they are really good, we totally agree on that :D.

You are right there. Composing with Multis isn't all that practical especially when most of your compositions rely on the orchestra. For me, I use a lot of different instruments. From synths, to breakbeats, to orchestra, to world instruments and vocal samples so honestly I have used Symphobia a few times (in mostly a legato fashion) in my pieces. But just by watching the demo videos of LA Scoring Strings, I can tell LASS knocks Symphobia out of the park.


So it's a matter of editing the sound, but then again they have some amazing "mid" distance strings, sometimes I think of them as the top contender for best string sound. But because lack of diversity compared to VSL, VSL will be the king for a few more years to come. Here you would actually be right calling it elitist :p VSL is the king of all VST, so it is an elite. :p

I agree as well about VSL being the most elite. I just don't have that kind of cash for it right now but how I would love to get it...some day...some day...

What do you think about Propellerhead's Reason?

I really haven't followed it in years; however I messed with it years ago, and it was just too convoluted. I just wanna sit down and write, and it seemed to be more complicated than it had to be.

I see... Is it fundamental to have a MIDI instrument to use a MIDI sequencer properly?
I want to learn to use some of this software...

Which can you reccomend for a beginner?

But you have time to reply to my posts at such length? Oh well, so be it.

Whats the problem man?

I see... Is it fundamental to have a MIDI instrument to use a MIDI sequencer properly?

I don't really have a straight answer for that but... I didn't start out using a MIDI controller nor an audio interface, but I sure would have benefited from doing so. In my opinion, feeling out your melodies/harmonies is much more rewarding than mouse clicking your melodies/harmonies.



I want to learn to use some of this software...

Which can you reccomend for a beginner?


Do you have PC or MAC? What type of music are you making? What are the specs of your computer?


Whats the problem man?
=0

=D

I don't really have a straight answer for that but... I didn't start out using a MIDI controller nor an audio interface, but I sure would have benefited from doing so. In my opinion, feeling out your melodies/harmonies is much more rewarding than mouse clicking your melodies/harmonies.

Yes I completely agree with that, I will need to get a MIDI Device & make the connection...



Do you have PC or MAC? What type of music are you making? What are the specs of your computer?


I have a PC, I want to make make Celtic sounds mainly, The specs are very low, 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, Generic Soundcard(C-Media OnBoard)

For Celtic sound hmm.... I guess you could try all sorts of things, though depends how you use it. You need cornemuse, fiddle, bagpipes, and ethnic flutes, so I guess you could use some ethnic type instruments. But those are rare, I don't think I ever saw a stable release of Celtic Only instruments... more like a sample page by big fish audio:

Big Fish Audio Celtic Instruments | Inspiration Sounds (http://www.inspirationsounds.co.uk/acatalog/big-fish-audio-celtic-instruments.html)

It has an ok collection of samples I guess.

Ethno World 5
Demos : Best Service Audio Player (http://www.bestservice.de/player_audio/player_audio.asp?idx=3800&lng=3&url=/detail1.asp/best_service/ethno_world_5_professional__voices/en)
The Ethno 2 vst
MOTU.com - Ethno Instrument 2 (http://www.motu.com/products/software/ethno)

Possibly quantum leap ra.. Maybe something available on cinesamples.... or just check kvr audio :P

Other than that... the specs are low.. you should be able to put 4-5 vst channels to work simultaneously, but it depends on their weight/sample rate.

Thx for the reccomendation of the VSTi...

BTW nice music you got there!, The Tavern sounds amazing!

The 17 best VST plug-in synths in the world today | MusicRadar.com (http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/the-17-best-vst-plug-in-synths-in-the-world-today-262145)

this link provides some nice vst effects and instruments. some are freeware, some are demos, some you have to pay for, so watch out.

i've always used FL, ever since it was called fruity loops (it's a shame i haven't actually improved since then hahaha f music theory man it's so hard to understand). for the project you want to do with the Ehrgeiz samples, I think FL would be pretty good: you load the samples in and sequence them in whatever key you want, add any effects you want, and go from there. but my opinion is heavily biased on my lack of experience with the other DAW's.

anyway here's my soundcloud, it has my recent stuff which sucks
reynard - Tracks - SoundCloud (http://soundcloud.com/reynard)


here's my old myspace that i never use anymore but it has some old ambient drone stuff which sucks
Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/renardine)

Thx for the reccomendation of the VSTi...

BTW nice music you got there!, The Tavern sounds amazing!

Oh, lol thanks, It's kind of goofing around though, normally a work takes like 3-4 hours to make good (1min long work), but that's in like 15-20 min :p explains the horrible sync :p

you might wanna check out newgrounds.com for some of the best online composers though (for game sound,kinda) most pro composers and or high level go to places like northernsounds.com


oh and btw, about vst, you can probably use anything for electronic music, but if you ever venture the realms of orchestral two solutions:

1) hire an orchestra
2) buy vst software that is always above 300$


My personal dream vst set=

1) VSL Vienna Symphonic Library: Special Edition 550gb
2) La Scoring Strings (simply wow)
3) East West Quantum Leap ( Special Collection )
4) Symphobia 1 & 2 + True Strike 1 & 2 ( ensembles+percussion)
5) Spectrasonics Omnisphere Pack 1-6 ( for electronic )

At full that's 13,000$... I am of course not getting that until 2025. :p

For Celtic music, RA has decent bagpipes. Ethno World 4 (sorry I haven't touched 5 yet =/) has some good Irish Flutes, good Uilleann Pipes, an awesome Bouzouki, and other great stringed instruments.

Oh, and it looks like Ethno World 5 finally has some bagpipes... I don't know how they sound though.

But if you want damn near real bagpipes... check out Studio Piper by EPipes:
YouTube - Electronic Bagpipes: Studio Piper & the Technopipes - Uilleann Pipes Sample - www.ePipes.co.uk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4qX5nGm1UA)

Electronic bagpipes =0

Unfortunately I don't know much about a good celtic harp. I second looking around kvraudio.com.



My personal dream vst set=

1) VSL Vienna Symphonic Library: Special Edition 550gb
2) La Scoring Strings (simply wow)
3) East West Quantum Leap ( Special Collection )
4) Symphobia 1 & 2 + True Strike 1 & 2 ( ensembles+percussion)
5) Spectrasonics Omnisphere Pack 1-6 ( for electronic )

That is the ultimate VST dream. Oh, how I would love to have that...

wow, 13,000... can't you rent an orchestra for less than that? :}

i've played around with free orchestral vst's as well as Edirol and there's no contest even there. i couldn't even dream of running the things above, i bet. i definitely don't have 550 gb even if i put all the harddrives i have together.

man speaking of newgrounds, does anyone else put little music clips up there? here's my most recent newgrounds upload. i dunno why i do it anymore, the uploads go so quick that anything anyone makes disappears in an hour or so (which is sometimes a good thing).
delegate town (http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/376573)

the electronic bagpipes remind me of the eigenharp:
YouTube - Bond theme song on Eigenharp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVqJh0qEMc)

riotmedic,

the composition is good; a really moving piece. nice glitch/hip hop drums as well..but i feel like the mix is a little cluttered (especially the winds and brass instruments) and the tone color of the orchestral instruments weren't convincing enough.

i just think a revamp of tone color and a new mix would make this piece sooooooo bad ass.

thanks! i appreciate the comments and suggestions! :)

wow, 13,000... can't you rent an orchestra for less than that? :}

i've played around with free orchestral vst's as well as Edirol and there's no contest even there. i couldn't even dream of running the things above, i bet. i definitely don't have 550 gb even if i put all the harddrives i have together.

man speaking of newgrounds, does anyone else put little music clips up there? here's my most recent newgrounds upload. i dunno why i do it anymore, the uploads go so quick that anything anyone makes disappears in an hour or so (which is sometimes a good thing).
delegate town (http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/376573)

the electronic bagpipes remind me of the eigenharp:
YouTube - Bond theme song on Eigenharp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVqJh0qEMc)

1) Renting an orchestra, depends which and where...
Renting a quartet is cheap relatively where I live, for a wedding party (7-8 hours) the price is about 600-700 euros for the group. But that depends... in France or Britain its probably like 3000+ euros for that same feat. :p

Now if you want an orchestra for recording one of you pieces, that price would probably triple for that amount of time, ( if you want a small orchestra, I think everyone is not paid equally; I mean triangle and mallets, cymbals tend to be less paid because of their usually smaller activity, but would depend I think )

Hitoshi Sakimoto had one video ( don't remember which, where he explained how long it took to score a soundtrack piece that needed real instruments and just partial instruments ) usually he got the orchestra financed from the game company and worked a "good evening" getting everything right.

I'm assuming that would be a good million yen, if he got 24+ people?


2) Edirol is lovely, make sure you've used the EDIT instrument command to its maximum possibility. Though it has useless knobs like "Coarse"... (seriously why coarse? :p ) My personal favorite are the "Character" and "Portamento" that are really quite unique on it and simple to use.

3) Yea Vienna was actually used in past but you had to buy HD bays, with more than one drive, those cost like 1000-2000 dollars.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&biw=1024&bih=408&q=8tb+hard+drive&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8495526444309560242&ei=njfyTPbuK83v4gbc4ojJAQ&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CGUQ8wIwAQ# .

4)No newgrounds, 5) eisenharp? I have no idea how to put that to usage :p

wow, 13,000... can't you rent an orchestra for less than that? :}

i've played around with free orchestral vst's as well as Edirol and there's no contest even there. i couldn't even dream of running the things above, i bet. i definitely don't have 550 gb even if i put all the harddrives i have together.

man speaking of newgrounds, does anyone else put little music clips up there? here's my most recent newgrounds upload. i dunno why i do it anymore, the uploads go so quick that anything anyone makes disappears in an hour or so (which is sometimes a good thing).
delegate town (http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/376573)

the electronic bagpipes remind me of the eigenharp:
YouTube - Bond theme song on Eigenharp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcVqJh0qEMc)

So what did you use to create this? I really do like it and since my music is mainly guitar, I believe I can make use of whatever you used. I don't really have any complaints and it totally had some kind of mood to it. And those are the kinds of songs I like :). Don't know why but this song makes me feel a bunch of different emotions.

BTW, I might get the urge to add guitar in the background just for fun :). There are a few areas where I was able to "hear" it if you know what I mean.

thanks! :) you're totally welcome to do whatever you want with it. i used FL 5 and Edirol (KVR: EDIROL Orchestral - Virtual Instrument (http://www.kvraudio.com/get/252.html)), like ultima tales says, edirol is great.

a great site for drum loops and other samples is SampleSwap: 6.4 GB of free drum loops, drum kits, audio samples, vocals, synths, and creative commons licensed electronic music MP3s (http://sampleswap.org/). that's where i got the drums from before adding effects and slicing up. some really, really good stuff on there. it's all free to download and splice if you have an account on there.


Now if you want an orchestra for recording one of you pieces, that price would probably triple for that amount of time, ( if you want a small orchestra, I think everyone is not paid equally; I mean triangle and mallets, cymbals tend to be less paid because of their usually smaller activity, but would depend I think )

i kind of want to see how much i could get paid for being triangle in the local orchestra now. career aspirations rising.

riotmedic, you should also check out "Pimp my sampler" and the E-Lab Vinylistics series. Some really nice and warm breakbeats. Also some nice solo drum hits as well.

oh :D triangles will bring you an ocean of opportunity...

IN GEOMETRY that is :D but I always wondered why they use them:

1) To make fun of the obvious noob?
2) To add a random and pointless instrument?

thanks! :) you're totally welcome to do whatever you want with it. i used FL 5 and Edirol (KVR: EDIROL Orchestral - Virtual Instrument (http://www.kvraudio.com/get/252.html)), like ultima tales says, edirol is great.

a great site for drum loops and other samples is SampleSwap: 6.4 GB of free drum loops, drum kits, audio samples, vocals, synths, and creative commons licensed electronic music MP3s (http://sampleswap.org/). that's where i got the drums from before adding effects and slicing up. some really, really good stuff on there. it's all free to download and splice if you have an account on there.



i kind of want to see how much i could get paid for being triangle in the local orchestra now. career aspirations rising.

Thanks! I use EZDrummer (and just got the Drum Kit from Hell expansion :D!!) for my drums and made the drums myself for this song. Took a long ass time to do so I'll probably just find drum samples with that if I don't feel like making the drums myself. But I'm going to give that Edirol program a look at, watch a few demo videos or something to have a good idea of what the program can dish out. And who knows, might be easier on me making different effects with this program than tinkering with my guitar pedal. But we'll see.

Thanks again :)

Thanks! I use EZDrummer (and just got the Drum Kit from Hell expansion :D!!) for my drums and made the drums myself for this song.

THAT'S ONE HELL OF A DRUM SET! XD

A friend of mine use it a lot too.

Tonehammer is feeling jolly this year...
They are offering some nice freebies.

Dec 2: Gnohmr Fruitcake | (http://www.tonehammer.com/?p=5608)

You will need Kontakt 3.5+ in order to use them of course.

I knew tonehammer was the roxxors but to this extent... xD Oh well, this explains why so many people started liking them in recent times, original sounds, and great work ethics by their team. Yasunori Mitsuda mentioned buying their vsts before scoring the latest Inazuma Eleven ost. tonehammer ahem gnomehammer :D

yeyyeeye

this one is really cool:
Dec 7: Dream Come True | (http://www.tonehammer.com/?p=5791)

i've been having fun just thinking of things that they can make as instruments.

I fell upon a miracle! Whoever thought pipe organs could only be expensive programs like milandigitalaudio - cavaill� from metz catherdral (600$ as an organ bundle i think ), was wrong!

Free downloads | Lars Virtual Pipe Organ Page (http://www.familjenpalo.se/vpo/download)

This offers a free 1.7gb of samples from pipe organs to make up the most creepy and theatrical sounds :D
There is a commons license so you might have to read it before using it in a work.

thread needs more love
1 hour song challenge to myself last night, theme was penguins, style was heavy metal (obviously neither thing worked). drum is sampled, not mine.
penguin rock (http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/390776)

oooh....1 hr songs...........i'm in....not now....don't have the time at the moment :(.

but i'll write and record something in an hour and be sure to post it here in the next day or so.

.........

consider this another "bump" post :)

Here's a song I wrote in roughly an hour...

Burgin Death March.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage (http://www.box.net/shared/9yjveyxiue)

EDIT: @Riotmedic: I don't know how on earth that song relates to penguins. But I don't care. It sounds awesome xD

Nice job, Mal :)

i quite like that.

Wah! , it's creepy. : D

I enjoyed the upgoing motif starting at 1:58. You should have used more of it, it's the most entertaining part. You could make the whole arrangement more percussive to give it that military school percussion feeling new marches have. But I understand why you made it as it is. And it's great the way it is.

yeah, i quite liked it! did you use the organs that ultima tales mentioned on the last page, or did you have some already?

I already had some :P It's the Hauptwerk All Stops organ that came with Finale. My friend Cody Burgin wanted an ominous and epic theme song, and what instrument fits that better than a creepy pipe organ? xD

Here's a song I made that I'm playing for my high school band mid-term tomorrow...I suck at playing so the part in the middle was kind of tricky to learn D:

Season of the Winds.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage (http://www.box.net/shared/xbmpuyaxib)

written and recorded in 1 hour.......:)

YouTube - Dog Shit Dinner.wmv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGUphZNMpEI)

wow. cuckoo. what a beautiful masterpiece.

it moved me. in my pants.

wow mal, which instrument will you be playing? it sounds pretty hardcore, especially for the flute. good song, i liked it!

ALL OF THEM.
xD No, I played the flute and to my surprise I didn't choke and mess up xD

I know a lot of you in here have been busy making the FFShrine theme but I was hoping some of you may be interested in joining in our new game! :) We at the FFShrine have our very own version of American Idol called the Final Fantasy Shrine Idol! We need contestants and judges! Come check it out and spread the word! :) Thread 86846

hi Mal that's pretty neat! Liked the bassy feeling.
Do you guys know how to get those filmtrack reverb effects? like really atmospheric deep ones

Do you prefer hardware or software?

I'll talk about software since I'm not too knowledgable of hardware reverb... A lot of DAW's are coming with nice default convolution reverb (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convolution_reverb) plug-ins. It sounds like you are looking for a deep and high decay reverb. Try a cathedral/arena reverb preset (and maybe lessen a bit of the 'wetness'). Along with proper EQ and panning, that is how I achieve a ethereal and very distant sound. and keywords are Convoultion reverb! don't settle for anything lesser (unless you are going for some really retro stuff).

Waves (http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=250) is great VST plug-in for reverb (along with almost every effect you can imagine). Some people may laugh, but I still find the FL Studio (http://flstudio.image-line.com/) Fruity Reverb 2 (http://flstudio.image-line.com/help/html/plugins/Fruity%20Reeverb%202.htm) to be a great choice for a reverb. It can achieve the sound you are looking for as well.

It's been a little while since this thread has moved :p I was wondering if anyone can help me out a bit. To my knowledge there is no instrumental version of Once in a Lifetime by the Talking Heads. I've been trying to find a method I can do myself to take all the vocals out of the song but I'm not having any success :( Does anyone know how to make an instrumental track?

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime.mp3 (http://www.mediafire.com/?q89i9c5pwbc7s5c)

There really is no sure way to take out vocals from a song without the instrumental sounding strange. The technology just isn't there yet.

Adobe Audition or Cool Edit Pro has an effect called "Vocal Cut" that does its best to take out vocals. It's not the greatest, but it's better than nothing.

I hope that helps.

EDIT:

I went ahead and downloaded that Talking Heads song. I tried removing the vocals with Cool Edit Pro, and I was unsuccessful. It cut out the verses, but the choruses were still very prominent =/

Don't worry about it :) Thanks for trying though. I knew it was high hoping :p I tried the invert trick with audacity and it just mussed it all up lol.

I'd like to ask for some second opinions if I may :) For some reason today I got the itch to listen to some Aerosmith.... and the itch was mostly for Boogie Man....... but I had forgotten how short the song was :( I've never done manual looping before but I gave it a try. I'm pretty sure I got it to come out sounding clean.... I got really nit-picky about the pop sound around the cuts.... What do you guys think? Did I do ok with it?

original -
YouTube - Aerosmith - Boogie Man (HQ HD) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLs3Ft_LwPs)

extended -
Aerosmith - Boogie Man - Extended.mp3 (http://www.mediafire.com/?1ug1dgdo0r1ihnj)

The 'invert' trick with Audacity works 'cause the vocals are almost always panned dead center. If you cut the left side of the audio, and invert the phase, the vocals should be entirely out of phase, unless there's panning. Since a stereo image isn't always 100%, you'll still hear some of the vocals. And, all the frequencies that overlap between the vocals and the music will be inverted, too. Basically, it will sound awful.

And if you want to loop shit all awesome like, get Reaper. It's an open source audio editing program, and it's free. Tap out the songs tempo, and figure out the time signature. After this, get a bead on the chord progression, and loop shit to your hearts content. It's really fun to add two bars to the pre chorus of a song someones heard a billion times and watch them go 'Wtf' when the chorus comes in an iota late.