Dying to learn...

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SacredDespair

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I want to learn everything I possibly can about making electronic music, can someone please start me off somewhere? I know there's so much variation, I just have to learn what programs are best and whether a computer should be used etc. Basic equipment to get a hopeful solo artist started at a young age. thanks
 
I use Sonar by a company called Cakewalk. They have been around for a long time and I have always found Sonar to do everything I ever wanted or needed - from being able to record my band to multi-track mixing and producing to writing music without any "real instruments" at all.

A worthwhile computer (just about any built within the last few years) with a reasonable sound card is all you need to get started. Depending on how nuts you decide to go directly impacts how much more $$ you need to spend - but that's true with any hobby/obsession.

Your level of comfort with computers in general plays into the equation, but if you are not scared of a mouse and keyboard and don't have a problem with saving files, Yes - definitely get a computer. Mac/PC - it matters little. Both do a fine job. What software? Depends on your budget and what you want to do.

Good luck!
 
mathamagician said:
Getting a MIDI capible keyboard and soundcard could help a lot. What type of electronic music are you interested in making?
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industrial or aggrotech styles, dark electronic that is danceable as well, for example near Combichrist or Psyclon Nine
 
Have you heard of a product called Reason?

http://www.propellerheads.se/

The style of music you described was first produced on a room full of separate hardware devices - step sequencers, drum machines, synths, samplers, etc. - as well as delays, filters, modulators and many other effects.

Reason gives you a virtual rack with software that emulates many of these old-school devices. The more powerful your computer, the more devices you can load in your rack.

Although maybe not THE best sounding software, Reason is a great tool for learning how to build the sounds you're looking for. There are some good tutorials and third party books to help you learn as well.

Aside form a software program like Reason, you'll need a computer with a decent soundcard and a keyboard controller like this one:

http://www.audiomidi.com/ReMOTE-25-SL-P7522.aspx

This will help you control/tweak sounds with knobs, sliders, keys and pads, rather than just using your mouse.

I remember this site being helpful too: http://www.dancetech.com

Hope this points you in the right direction.

Cheers, Rez
 
Thanks a lot Rez, I'll definitely look into that, could you recommend any of the books/tutorials to get started with? I'm just figuring out what I need first as many slowly trickles in.
 
Go out to the bookstore and start grabbing copies of "Computer Music" and "MusicTech" magazines.

They are heavily into electronica, but also cover everything else.

And they come with DVDs containing full studios of free and demo software, tutorials, video instruction and audio samples.
 
Of course you could always go the hardware path as well. You could buy a dedicated synthesiser workstation and some sequencing software (if you can't play the keyboard) and create some pretty good results that way too.

If you go the workstation route it would probably be cheaper and easier to use than the soft synth route. Soft synths give you a lot more options as far as effects, number of tracks you can layer, and very realistic sounding samples in Virtual Instruments. However, if you are not very computer savvy, soft synths can be a pain in the ass with constant computer crashing and the dreaded latency. The more stuff you want to run, the bigger (disc space) and more powerful your computer has to be, thus more expensive. Especially if you are running VI (virtual instruments). There are VI libraries running between $5,000 to $10,000 right now. In my opinion, synthesiser workstations are simpler to use and more cost effective. Then again, it depends on the type of music you want to record as well.

I use the Korg Triton workstation and if you would like to hear some samples of my music go to sonicpsyops.com in the Music section. My style is more New Age/Neoclassical but you'll get an idea of what you can accomplish.

DISCLAIMER- I'm not saying workstations are any better than soft synths, in fact I think, eventually, the soft synth market will surpass worksations even though workstation sales are booming currently. Please, no flame wars from soft synth users. I'm just providing another option for SacredDispair that wasn't mentioned.
 
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