Got the PC, (and sound card soon), now what?

  • Thread starter Thread starter NewbMediaGuy
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NewbMediaGuy

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I'll try to keep this short and simple:

Got a P4 3.0ghz w/1gig mem, will buy the M-audio Delta 1010lt soon, but now what?

If I get Sonar 3 Producer edition, will that allow me to do what I want to do....which is make my own beats/sounds for trance type music? I'd really REALLY like to be able to make my own bass beats, but I have no clue how that is done and what tools you need for it. I'm not sure if that can be done by software only, or if you need to get into MIDI use to do that.

I'd also like to get into using MIDI, even though I don't really understand it, and I'm not exactly sure what it's used for, I just know it's important with digital music recording so it's something I want to master!

So could I get started with just a PC and Sonar 3? Or do I need a keyboard? If so can I get by fine with a cheap one or do I need one of those expensive $3000 ones?

Okay, sorry for the rambling, but this newb is extremely eager to get started and makin some sweet beats!
 
Wow - you're gonna have a sweet setup, man - I'm jealous.

I don't really know what you mean by wanting to make your own "bass beats". Either way, dog, you should be very happy with Sonar. If you want to get into MIDI, which I believe you probably will since it opens a lot of new doors, then you'll probably at least want to get a cheap MIDI controller keyboard. The other option is to manually program the MIDI "notes", which can be done, but I find it to be very tedious and a royal pain. Sonar, especially the Producer edition from what I hear (I only have Studio), does come with some fairly decent softsynths (sounds that the MIDI messages can trigger), and you can also download others and also something called soundfonts, which are basically collections of audio samples that can be triggered by the MIDI messages.

Have fun! :)
 
Sonar 3 will do almost anything you ask. From what I've read, Acid 4 is a little better with the loops, but Sonar is good too.

Sonar comes with a softsynth that you can use for making MIDI beats. You don't "need" a keyboard, but eventually, it will help. It's just easier to play chords into Sonar via MIDI, then adjust it in the piano roll than to always use the mouse to input everything. There are many different softsynths that you could buy, that will all have different sounding drums for you. Plus a lot of other sounds, i.e. strings, piano, etc. All of this can be done via MIDI.

If you get Sonar 3 producer, I believe it ships with DR-008 and Vsampler. I haven't messed with either, but I believe BOTH will let you create beats using wav files. So, you can get entire CD's/DVD's full of single hits, and program them inside of vsampler or DR-008, all inside Sonar. I think. Hit the Sonar forum at Cakewalk.com for EVERYTHING you will need to learn specifically about Sonar. Great forum.

But, everything you described is capable of being done with just a PC and Sonar. You can record something with your mic, distort it and loop it. You can make an entire piano riff with your mouse then loop that if you like. It's awesome. But I won't kid you. The learning is TOUGH. But, if you love something, you'll stick with it. I don't even know what the bus structure does in Sonar, but many people use it and say it's awesome. I just know it fits my needs just swimmingly.

I'd say, before spending any more money, get Sonar and learn how to use it for a few weeks. You can just use the included VSC synth for sounds. If, after you've messed with it for a while, and know, kind of, what you are doing, then start looking into "better" sounds or easier ways of doing things. The best part about MIDI, to me at least, is that you can input all the MIDI data using one soundset just to get it going. Then, if a month from now you decide you love the beat, but not the sounds, you just change the soundset. The MIDI data stays the same. I am a total MIDI, and Sonar, newbie, and I'm not even CLOSE to unlocking all of what MIDI can do for me and my music. I just bought a keyboard, only because I got sick of inputting everything note for note, and dragging durations and stuff. Now I am learning how to play keys. :D It's definitely a process, but so much fun!

Good luck.
 
You could, just use your computer to record on. Buy a midi interface for your computer and use Sonar 3's piano editor to control via midi your sound modules or keyboards. Have their outputs going into the inputs of the Delta 1010. Basically your Sonar program is acting as a sequencer and a recorder. If you want to give your recording an analog feel, put an analog mixer between the modules and the delta 1010. Other than that, buy some plug ins to help sweeten your mix. Sonar 3 Prd. Edt. comes packaged with some nice ones though. If not pick up Pluggo's Cycling 74 plugins package.

If you want sounds...you could just get them for free and at any one of 10,000 resources on the web, or you could buy a soundset cd, or you could sample your own sounds and edit them. Soundforge is a great program for editing samples.

good luck
 
Thanks, got some really good responses there!

I think what I'll do is get Sonar Pro, then a midi controller of some kind. Does anyone know of some good midi controllers? I'm not only a newb to digital music recording, but music recording in general so I've got some things to learn ;) I'm definitely going to buy some Sonar learning books, it should help get me up to speed a bit quicker than on my own.

What I meant about making my own beats, was I meant that I want to be able to make my own bass sounds. Like say I want to have a real deep and long bass sound, or maybe I want just some short bass sounds, how do I do this? I know you can get samples of beats pre-made, but I'm the kinda person that if it doesn't sound exactly the way I want, it's worthless to me. I heard Reason is good for doing things like this, but there don't seem to be many Reason users on these forums.

Anyway, thanks for the replies, got some good useful info so thanks!
 
You are gonna have a good soundcard..............with good software....just keep at it man...............music is beautiful.....ya know?

Joe
 
Midi controllers... there's a korg midi controller out there with touch sensitive pads. I forgot the name of it, but you'll know it when you see it. Its like $299. Or.. Edirol has some nice ones. Go to musiciansfriend.com or samash.com or guitarcenter.com and subscribe to these catalogs. They'll help keep you informed on what's current. If you want to edit your own sounds, like I said before, you'll need an audio editor. Soundforge is now owned by sony, so good luck finding a cheap version. I use version 6.0 which is nice.

go to www.sonicfoundry.com

look at soundforge. :cool:
 
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