Greetings, I'm pretty new to this

[WavesOfParadox]

Hello, I became a brony about 2 months ago. As a person very much into music, I would like to join the music side of the community. I play the electric bass and, more recently, the double bass (like Octavia) in my school's orchestra. My favorite genres are classical (including 20th century), jazz, and certain types of rock and metal, such as progressive. I have been composing for a bit now and now a fair amount of theory. I'm very new to the concept of producing music through technology.

I was just hoping for general tips for a newbie. What other theory should I know (I'm studying counterpoint and twelve tone now)? What software should I use (I currently use MuseScore for classical, Guitar Pro for rock/metal, and my DAW is LMMS)? Are there any good samples, VST's, or Soundfonts I should know of?

[Facade]

what kind of music are you looking to produce?
as for daw's its really a personal thing some people like ableton live and others fl studio
vsts really depend on the type of music you are looking to produce as well

[WavesOfParadox]

Classical, mostly for now. I will probably explore electronic later, but not currently.

[WavesOfParadox]

And I'm also trying to spend the least amount of money, but I understand that purchases will have tio be made for quality. I've heard good things about EWQLSO Silver, any thoughts on it?

[Facade]

never heard of it
sadly im not your classical guy
there are a few of them around here on mlr though

[K3WRO]

Well, Makkon makes classical music, from what I heard of

And it's actually a good thing trying to associate classical music with electronic, some of us even use garage band!

LMMS is mostly good for chiptune or video game music, it's not as qualitative as a Music software you actually have to buy.

http://the-filmmusic-group.deviantart.c ... -224143947
Free orchastral soundfonts, you need a soundfont player though, I used Directwave

And Welcome to MLR

[WavesOfParadox]

Thank you for the response. It might be important to mention I own a PC.

[bartekko]

Well, Makkon makes classical music, from what I heard of

*instrumental/orchestral

[WavesOfParadox]

I downloaded the trial of Reaper. What it is everypony's opinion on it vs other cheap DAW's?

[WavesOfParadox]

I downloaded the trial of Reaper. What it is everypony's opinion on it vs other cheap DAW's?

what i hear of reaper is usually positive, but it's important to know that it's a very simple DAW.
While it CAN potentially be used with VSTs and even individual programs, it's best used as a starting point before you go onto another DAW that is capable of a little bit more.
Personally I use mixcraft and i'm just waiting to get the money I need to upgrade.

Programs like reaper are great for getting started, so anything you can do with that would be productive and teach you how the concept of a DAW works.

Well, I'm already familiar with the workings of a DAW from my experience with LMMS.

[Sugarholik]

...another DAW that is capable of a little bit more.

Call me a fanboy, but I disagree with this. I've tried quite a few DAWs and I find Reaper more capable than e.g. Cubase. Of course see what program suits you best, but I tell you that Reaper can do everything the other DAWs can despite being cheap.

[WavesOfParadox]

OK, I'll definitely get a feel for Reaper.

My main grievance so far with producing music is when I try to give my bowed strings 32nd notes and the like, but the attack is too slow for them to handle. How do I overcome this?

[Sugarholik]

My main grievance so far with producing music is when I try to give my bowed strings 32nd notes and the like, but the attack is too slow for them to handle. How do I overcome this?

If you can't decrease attack time any more, render to audio and chop it. Cut the correct notes from zero-crossings and make them just a few samples longer than they're supposed to be. That way you can use crossfade to have notes change smoothly.

[WavesOfParadox]

What if it's a VST?

And as for samples, how do I use them correctly? Whenever I try them, they simply sound unrealistic out of range, or when I need to chop the audio for response.

[Sugarholik]

What if it's a VST?

You can 'bounce' the track. Right click on the track with the VST and select 'Render/ Freeze Track' and 'Render to stereo stem track (and mute original)' That way it becomes audio, which you can manipulate as you wish (turn off all the other effects you might have for that track before rendering). So have the VST play the notes for the fast part (make the notes long!), render and chop it as I told you before. Of course, that's if your VST doesn't have envelope control or you can't decrease attack time. Maybe you'd need a better instrument, so you don't have to go through this...

And as for samples, how do I use them correctly? Whenever I try them, they simply sound unrealistic out of range, or when I need to chop the audio for response.

Ummmm... I think I'm not following. Sorry.

[WavesOfParadox]

Just never mind about the sampling. For VST's I'll play around with them a little.

Right now, I've just been trying to figure out Reaper. It feels unnatural right now, but I'll get used to it. I'm having a problem, though. I cannot hear anything but the metronome. I'm assuming this means the audio is set up correctly, since I can hear the metronome, but I can't hear the track itself. Am I doing something wrong?

[WavesOfParadox]

Trying for realistic string sounds is just not working out for me; I'm just wondering if I should just emulate the instruments I want using synth VSTi's, even if they sound synthy and not realistic.

[Sugarholik]

Sorry for the late response!

So yea, obviously something's not right if you can't hear anything... Track's not muted? You have enough volume? If you can't figure it out, post a screenshot and we'll solve it.

Trying for realistic string sounds is just not working out for me; I'm just wondering if I should just emulate the instruments I want using synth VSTi's, even if they sound synthy and not realistic.

Depends how it fits the song. For orchestral pieces you'll want to have as realistic sounds as possible. In that case you may want to invest on some fancy VST. For rock / electronic / whatever synthetic and plastic sounding strings may sometimes be better than the real thing.

[WavesOfParadox]

Noted. In that case, I guess I need to start both saving and researching the best orchestral VSTi. Any recommendations?

[WavesOfParadox]

Also, the cheaper the better. I don't think I want to go much higher than $100 for now.