Synth Newb

  • Thread starter Thread starter Toksik
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Toksik

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My first post, hope its in the right place.

I'm looking for a way to create some synth tracks for atmosphere on some tunes I recorded. My problem is I don't have a keyboard and don't really have the finances to buy one at the moment. I'm looking for a way to do this completely on my computer if possible and just have no clue where to start.

I'm using an old cassete 4 track as a mixing board / input, and running into my computer for recording. I've been using audacity and reaper to record, and making my drum beats in Guitar Pro 5. I'm not looking for uber quality professional sound, but I am just mostly unsure of what other software I need to create some synth tracks.

Any suggestions, tips, tricks, or ideas for this clueless wonder?
 
Free software synths

There are tons of free software synths out there to install on your computer. You should be able to do a Google search and find bunches of them. "Free software synth for PC" or MAC, whatever your case may be.

And I remember going to the bookstores (Borders, Barnes & Noble) and looking through their music magazines, specially for software synth gurus, and you'll usually find many listed in the pages with the URL to go to for downloading. These magazines always have tips and tricks on how to create and mimic famous sounds, and if you locate the right issue, it will have several pages dedicated to free software synths, and often a CD enclosed in the shrink wrap of free software to use.

Last year, and the year before, look for magazines that do special sections for Propellerhead's Reason v.4 - fantastic program for like $300, or Kontact (another popular not free software). That's the type of music magazines I'm speaking about.
 
You can also try EMU's Proteus VX. It's a free download VSTi that is capable of running standalone (which means you don't need a DAW program to host it) However, if you're running Reaper, Proteus VX will run in it as a VSTi and should give you most everything you're looking for.

Here's a LINK

Peace,
 
Thanks for the links guys. I realized upon re-reading my post i wasnt very articulate about what I need though, I'm looking for a way to program the synth so that I dont have to play it in real time. And I'd like to have a variety of sounds I can give the same program or file.

I can make .MID files if there's a way to play them with different voices, that would be ideal. However, as I stated in my first post, i am a total newb to anything synth related so some of the programs i've checked out may do this and I'm just missing something obvious.

So using one of the programs linked here (or a diff program if necessary) how can I program a synth track and have it play back through one of these synths? I'm sure at this point im just missing something simple like terminology or some such thing.
 
The tool you now need is a MIDI Sequencer.

A sequencer will automatically play back a song file for you while you cook yourself a can of soup and watch sports highlights on TV.

You can change the sound instrument being utilized, by turning a knob which controls your sound patches, and the song will continue to play but use a different sound, i.e. from piano to ukelele. Did I spell that right???

Then, when you've got your song setup the way you want it, playing your favorite bagpipe sound, at the tempo you just love, with all the wrong notes edited out of the file, you can hit the "Play" button and out comes Ireland's famous bagpipe tune while you change in and out of your favorite colored skirt, er, ehm, kilt, and march around your house thinking to yourself, "What a badass I am." <grin>

Sequencer software is most commonly known as a DAW, which is a lot more than a sequencer, but it will point you in the right direction. I'm sure there is software out there that does nothing but sequencing, but I don't know what they are anymore.

A great many synth keyboards (hardware) have sequencers built into them.


Actually, a DAW may not have a sequencer in it, but most do. Read the fine print, or at least the main bullet points on the front advertisement.
 
Toddskins said:
The tool you now need is a MIDI Sequencer.

A sequencer will automatically play back a song file for you while you cook yourself a can of soup and watch sports highlights on TV.

You can change the sound instrument being utilized, by turning a knob which controls your sound patches, and the song will continue to play but use a different sound, i.e. from piano to ukelele. Did I spell that right???
Click to expand...


Thank you, that's the part i kept missing. I knew it had to be something simple that I was repeatedly overlooking, heh.
 
Toddskins said:
The tool you now need is a MIDI Sequencer.

A sequencer will automatically play back a song file for you while you cook yourself a can of soup and watch sports highlights on TV....

...Sequencer software is most commonly known as a DAW, which is a lot more than a sequencer, but it will point you in the right direction. I'm sure there is software out there that does nothing but sequencing, but I don't know what they are anymore.
.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Reaper do midi?? Toksik mentioned it in his first post. So, you have your sequencer already. I'm not very familiar with Reaper, but I believe midi was added recently and so maybe is not a fully functional sequencer. You still might need to shop around for something.

Good luck and have fun!!
 
Reaper has a piano roll where you can draw in the notes.....its no where near as fast as playing but easy enough and will get you results...


try downloading reaper and one of the synths I linked and see what you can come up with...experimintation is the key :)
 
Chili said:
Doesn't Reaper do midi??...
Click to expand...

Yes, any DAW app like Reaper, Cubase, Cakewalk does MIDI. That's all you need, you don't specifically need a "sequencer".

Things called "sequencers" are what people used say between 1970 and 1990, after that people used computers. Only 20 years off. :rolleyes:
 
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