[gavilatius]

what type of music software do you use because I am testing some out but I cannot find the right one. what should I use? ???

[iamzack]

i think you need more question marks, some people may not understand that you're asking a question


(don't mind me, i'm not being serious)

[BloodEagle]

i think you need more question marks, some people may not understand that you're asking a question


(don't mind me, i'm not being serious)

   Oh, you!

--

what type of music software do you use because I am testing some out but I cannot find the right one. what should I use? ???

You really need to be clear on what it is that you're looking for.

• If you're looking for a simple sequencer with minor modulating capabilities, then Audacity will suffice.
• If you're looking for media playing software, well, I like WinAmp.
• If you're looking for an industry standard for audio sequencing and editing, ProTools, while really nice, is expensive as all Holy Hell.
• If you're looking for links to information on any of the above, use Google. You lazy bastard.

[redsniper]

foobar2000 is a good music player.

[gavilatius]

... who are you guy's!!!!

ok... well I'm searching for a program that I can make music (virtual instruments and fancy sounds etc. because I don't have a traveling orchestra, and I suck at playing the violin) right now I'm using acoustica mixcraft (its great and all, but I'm looking for something a bit more... whats the word... accurate).

what music creation do you guys use? I don't care how expensive it is, I can just place an order through the school (and jump through a few hoops courtesy of the band/digital music class ) and have it in about 2 weeks.

can you guys help me out (I want to re-orchestrate the songs from starfox for the snes)?



(and a few more question marks to seal the deal) ??????

[BloodEagle]

I've never actually used it, but it sounds like you want GarageBand. 

[gavilatius]

but garage band is for mac... is there any way to make it work for the PC?

[iamzack]

get a mac

[Ghostavo]

I've used both Finalle and Noteworthy Composer.

The first is much more complete than the second one at the cost of much a higher learning curve (and loads and loads of cash). Both are commercial.

If you're looking for free programs, a quick search has revealed MuseScore. Looks interesting.

[gavilatius]

I've used both Finalle and Noteworthy Composer.

The first is much more complete than the second one at the cost of much a higher learning curve (and loads and loads of cash). Both are commercial.

If you're looking for free programs, a quick search has revealed MuseScore. Looks interesting.

but which do you like better? (right now money is not a concern, its more see my choices)

[Ghostavo]

I personally liked Noteworthy Composer better, since what I wanted to do was simple enough. Again, I can't emphasize enough how much more complete Finale is compared to it though. There are demos out for both programs which you can try.

The other program I referred to I didn't try, since I doubt it even existed when I was messing around with the other two.

[Brian Rubin]

If you're using a PC, then MediaMonkey. Best of its kind.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

First off, there's FL Studio, but it's not free. The other alternative I know about is Open ModPlugTracker, which is free, but can be a royal pain to learn.

[Flipside]

I use Cakewalk Sonar and a bunch of VSTs, but, to be honest, it doesn't sound like what you are looking for, I'm more Orchestra/Soundscape oriented, you'd do better with some of the ones suggested above in my opinion.

[Enigmatic Entity]

First off, there's FL Studio, but it's not free. The other alternative I know about is Open ModPlugTracker, which is free, but can be a royal pain to learn.

I don't know about other 'costly' programs, but FLStudio has a heap of preset instruments and samples, and also has many synthesisers, and you can find free packs like Timmy Techno Ultimate that has 300 synths. Erik McCLure uses it, and so do I, but I haven't produced anything useful with it yet...

FL may take a bit more time to learn, but depending on what standard you wan't to get to, you can get the $99 version or the $299 "producer's edition". Free trail is the producer's edition, you can't save .flp, but you can export your song as wav or mp3. (Leave it running for days at a time and you can create a good song eventually)

ModPlug Tracker can use MIDI and wav samples, and now has VSTi support, but I only know how to use the basic features. I think it's fairly easy to learn the basics, + it's free. I use this too...

And this:  MuseScore is also free (I think) and, if you know how to read music, then you're lucky, because you just drag and drop notes onto the staff. (I think it uses wav samples, but has basic instruments included like piano, violin, etc) + it has a tutorial.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

The one thing I've established so far is that Skaven has used ModPlug Tracker before. He's the guy who does music for several PopCap games, but most prominently Bejeweled.

[Solatar]

Even with student discounts, Finale or its competitor Sibelius are fairly expensive (I prefer Finale).

They're designed with the composer in mind, although both feature the Garritan Personal Orchestra.

You can save stuff as audio files, but the focus of both programs is outputting a score and parts.

[swashmebuckle]

Assuming you already have a solid grasp of orchestration (or are just copying the original Star Fox music part for part) and have access to a fast computer (or a few computers if you take the high end route), you'll need 2 things: a sequencer and the actual sample/synth instruments.  Good write ups of the most popular sequencers can be found here (really the whole site is a great resource): http://www.tweakheadz.com/Sequencer2.html  I use Logic Pro and am very happy with it, though it sounds like you're not thinking of going mac so that rules that out.

As for the instruments, I'd recommend downloading a bunch of free stuff at first and jumping right in on the gruntwork for your arrangements.  While you're doing that you can take your time getting a feel for the various commercial options by listening to other people's work and reading up on exactly what you are getting with each library.  Some popular options are Garritan Personal Orchestra , East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (I use this), and Vienna Symphonic Library, though with the high end stuff you have to keep in mind that you need a whole lot of computer in order to get the most out of it.

As others have said, notation programs like Sibelius and Finale can also help out if you come from a classical music background--it's a lot easier for me to see what is going on on a C score than in my sequencer's piano roll--but they aren't much good at producing a final recording.  Good luck!

[Flipside]

Assuming you already have a solid grasp of orchestration (or are just copying the original Star Fox music part for part) and have access to a fast computer (or a few computers if you take the high end route), you'll need 2 things: a sequencer and the actual sample/synth instruments.  Good write ups of the most popular sequencers can be found here (really the whole site is a great resource): http://www.tweakheadz.com/Sequencer2.html  I use Logic Pro and am very happy with it, though it sounds like you're not thinking of going mac so that rules that out.

As for the instruments, I'd recommend downloading a bunch of free stuff at first and jumping right in on the gruntwork for your arrangements.  While you're doing that you can take your time getting a feel for the various commercial options by listening to other people's work and reading up on exactly what you are getting with each library.  Some popular options are Garritan Personal Orchestra , East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (I use this), and Vienna Symphonic Library, though with the high end stuff you have to keep in mind that you need a whole lot of computer in order to get the most out of it.

As others have said, notation programs like Sibelius and Finale can also help out if you come from a classical music background--it's a lot easier for me to see what is going on on a C score than in my sequencer's piano roll--but they aren't much good at producing a final recording.  Good luck!

EWQL is very nice, but if you can, pick up the Symphobia Strings pack for Kontakt, there's some wonderful patches in there

I've just installed Omnisphere on my new system, my old one couldn't really handle it, one of the nicest atmospheric and fx synths I've ever used beats Absynth hands down, mainly because everything created on Absynth tends to sound like it was created on Absynth

[S-99]

get a mac

no need. Just use linux, there's tons of free music synthesizers for it.