Spun off from a discussion "elsewhere," this is a thread for people who a) make music and b) want to make music but don't know where or how to begin.
The good news is that if you have a computer--and if you're reading this, you probably do--you can make music without really spending any money.
Anyway, if you don't know anything about computer-based music production, I can tell you that there are a few main concepts to get your head around. Many music production programs use a "machine" metaphor for the user interface: effects, instruments, and the like are represented by little blocks called "machines," which can be chained together to produce varying sounds and effects, and of course you can control input and output. For the instruments, you also have what are known as "trackers"--essentially the computerized equivalent of sheet music, in which you define the specific notes the instruments will play. Within a tracker you have "patterns," which can be thought of as similar to measures. Different programs may use different terminology but they tend to work very similarly.
Another major facet of computer music production are VSTs. These are virtual instruments and effects. They were originally designed for a program called Cubase, but now a wide variety of music production tools support them. There are many, many thousands of VSTs out there, and a lot of them are free.
So, this is all pretty theoretical so far. You probably want to know where to actually get these programs and VSTs and stuff.
First off, I think Jeskola Buzz is a great program to start with. It uses the machine concept described above, and it's pretty easy to get started with chaining instruments and effects together. Using the Polac VST Plugin (available from the site), you can also employ VSTs. KVR Audio has one of the most expansive collections of VSTs out there, with a very powerful search engine so you can easily find what you're looking for. You can get VSTs that emulate real-world analog instruments, classic synthesizers, or things people made up specifically for the VST.
There are plenty of tutorials in Buzz, including video tutorials like this one:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77zg3fJyaH0[/yt]
There are also a large number of tutorials here which cover many different sounds, effects, and features of the program.
If you need a place to share your musical creations, I would recommend SoundCloud. Feel free to show us your work!
With all that out of the way, I am hardly the end-all authority on this topic and I know we have other people who use different tools and software, so they are all welcome to chime in, too.
The good news is that if you have a computer--and if you're reading this, you probably do--you can make music without really spending any money.
Anyway, if you don't know anything about computer-based music production, I can tell you that there are a few main concepts to get your head around. Many music production programs use a "machine" metaphor for the user interface: effects, instruments, and the like are represented by little blocks called "machines," which can be chained together to produce varying sounds and effects, and of course you can control input and output. For the instruments, you also have what are known as "trackers"--essentially the computerized equivalent of sheet music, in which you define the specific notes the instruments will play. Within a tracker you have "patterns," which can be thought of as similar to measures. Different programs may use different terminology but they tend to work very similarly.
Another major facet of computer music production are VSTs. These are virtual instruments and effects. They were originally designed for a program called Cubase, but now a wide variety of music production tools support them. There are many, many thousands of VSTs out there, and a lot of them are free.
So, this is all pretty theoretical so far. You probably want to know where to actually get these programs and VSTs and stuff.
First off, I think Jeskola Buzz is a great program to start with. It uses the machine concept described above, and it's pretty easy to get started with chaining instruments and effects together. Using the Polac VST Plugin (available from the site), you can also employ VSTs. KVR Audio has one of the most expansive collections of VSTs out there, with a very powerful search engine so you can easily find what you're looking for. You can get VSTs that emulate real-world analog instruments, classic synthesizers, or things people made up specifically for the VST.
There are plenty of tutorials in Buzz, including video tutorials like this one:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77zg3fJyaH0[/yt]
There are also a large number of tutorials here which cover many different sounds, effects, and features of the program.
If you need a place to share your musical creations, I would recommend SoundCloud. Feel free to show us your work!
With all that out of the way, I am hardly the end-all authority on this topic and I know we have other people who use different tools and software, so they are all welcome to chime in, too.
