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Music & Sound FX / Recommended Music Apps?

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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 21st Oct 2007 22:04
Music and Sound FX seems to be the area in Game Dev I'm lax on...

So what good cheap/free apps do people recommend...preferbly free with a set of instruments that isn't midi...

I remember somebody posting a tracker that sounded interesting a while back.

Also, I think an easy to use, understand, maneover and doesn't require me to have extra musical hardware (like sythesisers, plugin keyboards, Guitars etc.)

Cheers for any responses.

I love Nancy DrewG, but not insert brain here
Lucifer
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Posted: 21st Oct 2007 22:10
Flstudio, [href]www.flstudio.com[/href] , very good, very easy to use..

Lord Voldemort needs no signature!
Juelz The Great
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2007 02:45
Or....you can use Reason 4 which is better than Fl Studio

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Benji
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Posted: 27th Oct 2007 23:10 Edited at: 27th Oct 2007 23:11
How come I've never heard of it before then? Get FL Studio. Simplest and best music creating software I've seen.

...
Grandma
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Posted: 28th Oct 2007 01:02
Quote: "How come I've never heard of it before then?"


So if you don't know about it, it's not good?

I've tried both FL studio (demo) and Reason, i prefer Reason but each to their own.

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Benji
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Posted: 28th Oct 2007 01:38
What I meant by that is, most people on the forum(and else where) seem to be using Fruity Loops. There must be a reason for that.

Yeah, but I havn't tried Reason so I can't really say.

...
Grandma
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Posted: 28th Oct 2007 01:20
Yeah i agree, it does seem that way but you know it might just boil down to what people recommend to use because it's what they are used to, and can therefore help others get started. Usually newbies observe what's popular and go from there. Nothing bad about that, it's just kinda annoys me that some rate an application's "goodness" based on popularity. Many times it's accurate though, but not always so please refrain from that kind of thinking.

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Benji
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Posted: 28th Oct 2007 01:50 Edited at: 28th Oct 2007 01:50
I definetly know what you mean about the newbies, I just hope you weren't infering anything. I'll try to restrain myself.

...
Grandma
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Posted: 28th Oct 2007 01:58
Quote: "I definetly know what you mean about the newbies, I just hope you weren't infering anything."


Haha no worries there mate, you have proven you're not a newbie.

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Benji
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Posted: 28th Oct 2007 02:04
Whew, glad to hear it.

...
Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 28th Oct 2007 20:24
I've looked at both, I think one reason why FL is more popular is price. Though I was hoping Milkshape cheap so I can buy it with my student loan, but FL: Studio will do once I finally pick up a job, unfortunately it seems nobody in Derby wants Student part time workers.

I've tried the demo before and it looks good, might be worth a purchase...but a new laptop, C4D 10 (student version, so I will be getting it dirt cheap - £70...man being a student rules) and Zbrush 3 are my priorities to my suite.

Cheers for the suggestions though...if I can get Reason cheaper as a student, I might look into it, but the way things are going I might just get a mac which means I get Garageband. Anyway, we'll see, I am a bloke, therefore indecisive.

I love Nancy DrewG, but not insert brain here
Agent Joe
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Posted: 29th Oct 2007 16:35
I use Cakewalk Sonar Producer... but if ya want cheaper you can get simpler versions for a way lower cost. Check it out at cakewalk.com
TDT_99
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Posted: 8th Nov 2007 23:08
You can't use any plug-ins other than those provided in Reason. Unless you bus it to another sequencer where you can take advantage of the synths within Reason and use them in another sequencer. I find FLs workflow amazing, and in my opinion it tops Reason. Pro Tools is probably the most advanced, but I'm just not liking the interface. Logic Pro is amazing, although the audio editing features aren't as good as those in Cubase, that's when Soundforge comes in useful. Sonar is good, but I don't think that it quite lives up to Cubase and Logic.

Please contact me if you are looking for someone to compose the music for your games.
Junkrock
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Posted: 9th Nov 2007 02:47
I use Ableton Live, Its quite expensive but worth every penny.

DaZ

BearCDPOLD
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Posted: 9th Nov 2007 06:18
I have Pro Tools LE, I love it for audio recording, I'm just broke so I can't get any goodies for it, just the lite versions of Reason and Ableton and various others that came with it. I also have a copy of Sonar Home Studio. When I need to do some nitty gritty sequencing I'll usually try to use that because it has envelope tools and such that are a bit easier to work with than the sequencer in Pro Tools. I notate most of my stuff in Sibelius, then I just need the sequencer to shape dynamics and make sure program changes work correctly.


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Van B
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Posted: 9th Nov 2007 10:43
FL Studio is a lot easier to use than Reason I think - only tried the demo of Reason but I couldn't do a thing with it. I have FL Studio, and I suck at making music, but I can at least try with FL .

You have to simply try the demos and see what one provides the best results for you - personally I don't know enough about all those knobs and sliders in modern music apps so I'd rather avoid them, I think if your aware of what all that stuff does then Reason would be a better package.

I wish that they'd add a soundtracker editor to FL though, the piano roll thing just annoys me.


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BiggAdd
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Posted: 9th Nov 2007 18:36
I use Sonar 4. I think its pretty good, although I have nothing to compare it with.

I bought a new MIDI keyboard recently that came with Sonar LE on disc.
I could post it to you if you would like.


Its finally here!
s4real
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Posted: 11th Nov 2007 08:26 Edited at: 11th Nov 2007 08:27
Here is a little run down on the seq on the market.

1. Reason (trying to get into the pro market but still look at as a toy mainly due to its no vst support but still gives pretty good results.)

2. Flstudio (once was classed as a toy but now hitting the pro market and some pro's are now using this due to it better sound engine and support for vst plugins, also it has good features for new users and the more advanced users.)

3. logic pro (Used by many pro's in the industry and is sort off a music standard the downside is it has a long learning curve and may be a bit over your budget plus you need a mac to run it unless you use the old 5.5.1 version.)

4. Cubase (Another seq used by Pro's and is another one that is sort off industry standard this also has a learning curve and could be a bit over your budget,this is support on both pc and mac.)

5. Sonar (This is another good seq but its not used so much with pro's but it does have all the features to make a pro record, it did in the older days have a poor layout but the newer versions are better.)

6. Pro Tools (This is used more for live recordings and is way over the budget you looking at, used a lot in pro studio's.)

7. Alberton live (A good seq and is used a lot for live stuff than a studio but can be used for both, it is used a lot in electro house due to the vinyl scratch feature and then bounced down and used in more pro seq like logic pro or cubase.)

8 digital performer (Mac only seq used a lot for r&b and films has awesome sound quality and work well with MOTU as they make the seq this would be over your budget.)

The best one's at a nice price would be flstudio,reason and cubase lite as all three would do the job, a lot is down to what your personal preference is and no seq is right or wrong.

best s4real
Junkrock
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Posted: 11th Nov 2007 17:33
I agree with most of your assessments but being a user of Ableton Live I would say your verdict on this one is a bit off.

It is easy to use it for sequencing as much as using it for live performance, I manage to sequence full orchestral scores in it. Another great feature is its elastic audio which means you can load an audio sample of any tempo and 99% of the time it will put it in beat and you can just get one with creation which is amazing. I comes standard with pro level vsts works on mac and pc. The only time I bounce out from live is if I need special mixing abilities like side changing or I need to make a paper score version of my midi parts in which case I Rewire to Logic.

Ableton are just about to release Live 7 which introduces some more advanced features (such as side chaining) which means I will pretty much never have to bounce out of it.

DaZ

s4real
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Posted: 11th Nov 2007 20:28
@Junkrock : Its was only a small assessment what they do, I agree alberton is a great bit of software and Ive used it a bit for full music as well as other seq, I do find with alberton that having some music experience with other seq helps but thats only my view at the end of the day its personal preference.

But yeah Ive listen to your work and the daz horror pack is a great pack.


Best s4
Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 13th Nov 2007 21:22
Cheers for all of that guys, I'll certainly be looking at that range, and add it to my shopping list for my software 'studio'.

Also, I appreciate some of the descriptions, they're useful.

I love Nancy DrewG, but not insert brain here

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