How to start with electronic music

LarsVK · Joined: Apr 15, 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Antwerp

Hello,

I'm a total newbie when it comes to making electro music, but I play the guitar and would like to experiment a bit with electronic music. Is there any software available on the internet which make's it possible to start immediately with it. I haven't got any synths, so I wanna do it only by computer, i don't want any extra hardware.

Thx!

xbeemer · Joined: Dec 04, 2003 Posts: 24

What kind of music do you want to create? There is no one kind of electro music, so advice without more detailed input from you would not likely be helpful.

Also, think about whether you are looking to experiment more on the composing side or the realizing side. This will determine whether you should look at algorithmic composing software or stick to conventional software and look to samplers or soft synths.

Mohoyoho · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 7:13 am Post subject:

If you are looking for a softsynth that you can play out of the box and also learn from, then Arturia's Moog Modular V would be good. Native Instruments makes Absynth and Pro 53. There are a number of free softsynths out there. I always liked Crystal. Plenty of presets to get you up and playing. Kind of a difficult interface if you want to start making your own presets. There are other fine feebies as well. The best resource for softsynths would be here:
http://www.kvr-vst.com

mosc · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:36 am Post subject:

LarsVK, great to have you here.

Yes, that KVR site is excellent.

For a good free audio editor program, try Audacity.

Check out this forum topic http://electro-music.com/forum/topic-6817.html

I suggest you try to stay with free stuff until you get a good feeling for the technology, then you'll know what you want to buy.

Doobah · Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2006 12:58 pm Post subject:

I don't know of any other free software programs (aside from audacity)

Get Reason, it's very good for learning, and once it's been practiced with, it is very easy to manipulate. You can compose, program, arrange, jam, make sounds and use it without any other input than a mouse, although midi is good too.

LarsVK · Joined: Apr 15, 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Antwerp

THx a lot guys, i will try to figure those things out and you will definitely hear from me!

textbased · Joined: Apr 09, 2006 Posts: 6 Location: chicago

if you're interested in synths + electronic composition, and are handy with programming languages, you should check out super collider - it is free at www.audiosynth.com. By utilizing a basic understanding of analog synthesis techniques, like control signals and VCO's and LFO's as control signals, you basically have an unlimited (limits = cpu power - be careful!) amount of code-based devices at your disposal. the drawbacks are that its complicated, and will take a lot of invested time learning, but its good for interactive sound and performance, and i know some people that swear by it for work in virtual reality projects.
you can turn your computer into a completely customizeable modulation unit for your electric guitar using audio input....

Also, MaxMSP is popular for good reasons. that costs dollas though.

seraph · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 1:47 pm Post subject:

mi_dach · Joined: Dec 17, 2005 Posts: 133 Location: Sweden

seraph · Posted: Tue May 02, 2006 1:12 am Post subject:

destroyifyer · Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 1:38 pm Post subject:

I reccomend, to never simply "settle" for any synth or electronics that you are not happy with. You should never let synth or electro that doesn't sound 100% cool to you pass on your recordings.

For any starter electro-musicians, i can say this, that electronic rythms are often so free form, that electronic tastes often clash pretty bad. I mean, look at experimental versus techno. They are very similar, and often cris-cross into each other like in some of my music. But fans of each often dis-like the other.

It is important to play in-between what you can do and what you want to do. So you need to compromise between your wonderful imagination, and your actual talents. Often, I work off of my actual talents and leave my envisioning skills behind, so alot of the fantastic musical scales and algorythms that I have thought up, will never be recorded. Had I more patience to melt my "architypial" music with my "actual" music, than my music would have a altogether different, probably much more sophisticated sound.

agh, I've been making electronic music for 5 years and I'm still a beginner after about 500 or so pieces of music literally.

so, good luck. don't get discouraged by the 500 pieces of music thing...most of that is just experimentation. Why, you very well can be able to blow my music away on your first-or-seccond electronic song.