I’m a dad, so I have no time and all my gear is old. I want to start making music again, but I think I need to more or less start over in terms of gear and software.
I’d like to hear a bit just about what you all are using to make music.
Are we all using Macs and commercial software like Logic or Abelton? Anyone bravely trying to work things with Linux? Anyone kicking it old school and recording to tape? Anyone using light weight set ups like iPads or tiny Zoom recorders?
Are we all using Macs and commercial software like Logic or Abelton? Anyone bravely trying to work things with Linux? Anyone kicking it old school and recording to tape? Anyone using light weight set ups like iPads or tiny Zoom recorders?
It’s funny, but this describes my musical journey well!
I started music production because someone organized a 2 hour Ableton crash course at work. I signed up without much expectations, and I was blown away by how powerful and easy it was. After that I started watching some EDM tutorials on YouTube and running Ableton on a Mac Mini to make songs. Eventually I switched to using Bitwig as my DAW, and I fell in love with the modulation and routing options it offers.
But I’ve always been huge Linux user (since 1998), so at some point I decided to switch to Linux. I tried a few different DAWs, my productivity took a huge hit, and eventually settled on Ardour and few open source plugins. And even though I was way less productive I think the switch made me a better producer, because I had a limited selection of plugins, most of them without any presets, so I had to be more creative and learn to use my ears more.
Back in 2017 I discovered a group of people that write songs together using 4-track recorders and mailing cassette tapes to each other. Each song is done by a group of 4 people, with someone starting a cassette by recording something on track 1 and a click on track 4, and mailing the tape to the second person, who records something on track 2, and so on. I bought my first 4-track recorder and joined the fun.
In 2019 I bought an OP-Z and it really clicked with me. I started writing complete songs on the OP-Z, sometimes using the Korg Mini Kaoss Pad 2S for effects, and often recording straight into my phone via a USB cable. I bought some other gear to play with it, and these days my setup consists of small-but-flexible gear: the OP-Z, the Empress ZOIA, the Critter & Guitari Organelle, a guitar, usually recording into a Zoom H6.
That being said, my recommendation, if you’re starting over, is to try different things. Play with different DAWs, download as many free plugins you can (and trials), try to buy used hardware so you can sell it later. Because many times an instrument or software might have all the features you’re looking for, but the workflow might not be the best for you, and it’s really hard to know without trying first.
I have no time and all my gear is old
Haha, somehow it reminds me my own statement: “I’m too old to learn any DAW, so I’ll write my own”
Are you saying you wrote a DAW?
Very basic thing. It produces sounds only with builtin synthesizer engine (does not support samples).
https://valent-in.github.io/pulseq/
GitHub page with short instructions and music examples: https://github.com/valent-in/pulseq/
So do you prefer the sounds it makes? Or is it just quick and easy?
For quick and easy… sketching. This is no way “pro tool”. Also works on mobile, has very small project files (one of reasons to not add samples). And about sound - it uses very generic subtractive synth, nothing special.
That sounds fun. I find I’m often picking out Melodies on my kid’s toy piano just because there’s no set up needed.
This was an attempt to transform programming to another “hobby”. And instead of relaxed creation of loops I stuck in coding of this project too long, unfortunately. But it gave great experience and also some measurements of my abilities.
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Do you still have those old commodore or Amiga songs? That sounds like fun.
I had some early eat making fun with the sequencer in Mario Paint on the SNES, and trying to loop little recording in the native sound recorder apps on our parents Mac classics. We had some 4track projects in middle school, but I wasn’t the one who had the recorder, so my input was limited.
Reason was definitely my music making software obsession. It’s still my favorite. I think it’s the way you can define all the patterns and then draw them in a timeline with the pencil tool. I love that hardware sequencer object. That just really jives with my mental visualization of song structures. I used a lot of logic and some Live later on. I got really into synthesis through Csound, and I’d often pull those files into reason or logic too.
Do you feel the hardware is worth the expense? Or is it like owning a boat?
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Definitely like owning a boat! Ableton Live is amazing. Getting from the loops stage to starting an arrangement is very easy. That’s the main thing for me. I got some hardware and looked at ways to record and ended up with a MBP and Live. Best thing ever.
I used to use FL studio but moved to Ableton due to better live/midi capabilities. With that, I got guitars, plenty of synth plugins, phase plant being a favorite, and a kemper amp. I use Ztar (guitar like midi controller) to sketch my melodies, and I also aim to use it for live performances in the future. For vocals I use good old shure SM58.
I am into open source stuff, I use gimp for my image editing needs, have played around with blender and use linux both in some work applications and on my laptops, but music production open source alternatives always seemed really crappy to me tbh, I could never do what I do on LMMS or whatever.
I’m intrigued by guitar midi controllers. I’ve never tried one. Would you recommend it?
Yes I’ve been using libre softwares to make music for 10 years. Since 2 I’m also using some proprietary ones, mostly for virtual instruments.
I’m starting over as well, mainly because i"m also clearing out rooms so I can have space for my hobbies. (have to many, music is ‘only’ one of them) At the moment I’m mainly trying to get all instruments tuned and working, while figuring out what I like. The guitars were picked 1st (acoustic, electric and a bass). I notice that my fingers don’t really want to cooperate at the moment. (need more practice ;) )
Biggest advantage here is that I didn’t sell them when I had no more time. Biggest disadvantage is that I need to dig them up.
At the moment no software in use, or at least not yet decides. I still have an Atari STe with Cubase and Logic. I also have Rosegarden on Linux and a cheap USB MIDI interface, as I have a few synths and modules which I want to dust off as well. However, making music (or at least find the time to try to get sound out of instruments instead of noice) is my 1st step.
How are you finding the Linux set up? Do you do any audio with that or just midi?
I set up an old laptop that I got for cheap at work after a hardware refresh. I know it’s not the best machine, but I’ve been having a hard time getting the audio working well on it, feels like my interface just disconnects after a while. I haven’t really gotten creative on it yet as I’m still just struggling to get inputs and learn new software.
I installed a music focused package os, so I think I have rosegarden too.
I thought it kinda worked, but way under performing compared to the 30 yo Atari. I still don’t understand why Intel/AMD based hardware managed to get so popular, it can do a lot, but nothing well enough. I just used midi with 1 module and even then it wasn’t up to spec. Could be the cheap cable.
Rosegarden is… rather strange thing. And annoying part is that it works only with Jack and it mutes all non-jack audio sources when running.
Interesting, you learn something new every day… never knew it also does something with sound next to midi. (so sorry, never tested autio)
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Depend of what you wanna do but I found myself hating using computer to make music. Since your dad and you don’t can got your own music dedicated space you could use an mpc live 2. It’s like a Swiss knife of music. It’s a sampler, sequencer, audio recorder, synthesizer, it got battery and speakers. Actually got an mpc x in my dedicated room but maybe in the future I could think about get a live 2 too
I use Linux with Reaper, mostly with PianoTeq, Surge XT and Vital natively. I also have the commercial Windows plugins Phase Plant, Plasmonic and Kontakt. I don’t use Kontakt much due to its user interface, but I guess it has its place. DecentSampler is also worth a look.
I bought Renoise Redux at some point, but it turns out that I prefer coding patterns to using tracker interfaces. Tidal Cycles is pretty cool, and there are similar. Of course I’m coding my own too. ;-)
If you are go down the same rabbit hole, take a look at: ChucK, SuperCollider, SonicPI, CSound, PureData, Faust, Overtone, BespokeSynth, Miti, and lots more!
For midi controllers, I’ve got a midi keyboard, launchpad, and some MPE devices.
All that said: I rarely produce music as it’s just a geeky hobby for me, but I have a lot of fun. ;-)
I’m super into csound, it’s kind of my weapon of choice. It’s slow and awkward workflow wise, but it just clicks for me. Do you have any groups or boards where you discuss that? I’d love to start one here.
