How did u all start out,and what programs did/have you used

[feasible_weasel]

ive just started tinkering around
first grabbed dance ejay around a year ago, played around with. never finished a tune,as i hated the samples
grabbed fruity afterwards, just looked at it, with not a clue
linked a couple of samples and made tarzan and cat wobbler
im now back to basics with magix music maker
going between that and fruity.
made hip-hop beat
im finishing off the dubstep contest tune
then im going to properly read and learn about these programs....
im going to start of making drum n bass/hardcore. and then get into making garage.then Dubstep.
IF ANYBODY HAS ANY BOOKS TO RECOMMEND PLEASE TELL ME

[auan]

Played guitar for years. Then fucked up high school, didn't get the grades I needed to do what i wanted to do (graphic design). So I pulled open a paper and looked for college courses that still had places, Music Tech kinda leaped out at me. Went along to their open day, saw the studio and fell in love. They did a module in Midi, and we got to use some of the first wave of VSTs. I didn't really like "dance" music at that point, I always dismissed it as being made entirely by computers, like you press some buttons and have a tune, but trying it for myself gave me a new appreciation for it. Then the lecturer gave me a loan of a couple of Aphex Twin CDs and from there blah blah drum'n'bass blah blah dubstep.

Best books I can recommend for a n00b such as yourself are this one and THE FRUITY MANUAL. The manual more than the other one. "...Programming Secrets" is for beginners, and the first edition (it's now on the second I think) was invaluable to me starting out. The actual 'programming secrets' are fairly useless, and probably a little generic and outdated now, but it explain all the terms in the manual you don't understand. But seriously, read the manuals front and back.

Also recommend reading through all the stickies on The Grid over on DOA. It's dnb orientated obviously, but most of those guys really know what they're talking about (though there's a fair few thaty don't). Read and absorb, friend.

[__________]

been playin guitar since i was 4, then alot of jammin out with my mate on drums, writing tunes, recording through headphones, learning equipment, playing in school assemblies and so on. never bothered with a band because EVERY tnuc had started doing it by that time (and still are). did music gcse, it was shit, then i got into making electronic music after trying some mdma, and about 6 months later after watching dmc videos repeatedly i thought djing might be a giggle so i got into that too. i try to focus mainly on making tunes but sometimes its hard to find the time. i'm doing music tech at college and haven't learnt fuck all, its REALLY frustrating. first programs i used were reason, cubase, cooledit, but now its strictly fl studio for me.

book-wise, read the fl studio bible, that will help you get your head round the program. read books on mixing and mastering too, once you know how to use the program and mix properly you're halfway there! i'm no expert but read that shit and work on your songwriting and you will make progress. cheeeers mdears

[feasible_weasel]

useful informations thanks u 2 above

[misk]

get reason. I havent used 4.0 but i learned on 2.0 and it was really simple, and yet, since it emulates a hardware interface, it can really carry over to other things.

reason's dope, get that. never used ejay or magix or anything... reasons as close as i come to "consumer" software. oh, you could always get renoise too... but learn reason first.

as a general rule, if it starts with the letters "RE" then your good to go.

i.e. reason, renoise, reaktor, etc...

[feasible_weasel]

get reason. I havent used 4.0 but i learned on 2.0 and it was really simple, and yet, since it emulates a hardware interface, it can really carry over to other things.

reason's dope, get that. never used ejay or magix or anything... reasons as close as i come to "consumer" software. oh, you could always get renoise too... but learn reason first.

as a general rule, if it starts with the letters "RE" then your good to go.

i.e. reason, renoise, reaktor, etc...

im getting reason adapted end of the month,as its part of the software with my korg padKontrol (i have to wait for the disk,as it was out of stock)
it also got ableton 4, and sample tank etc.
so i will get an idea of how to use Reason...

[misk]

get reason. I havent used 4.0 but i learned on 2.0 and it was really simple, and yet, since it emulates a hardware interface, it can really carry over to other things.

reason's dope, get that. never used ejay or magix or anything... reasons as close as i come to "consumer" software. oh, you could always get renoise too... but learn reason first.

as a general rule, if it starts with the letters "RE" then your good to go.

i.e. reason, renoise, reaktor, etc...

im getting reason adapted end of the month,as its part of the software with my korg padKontrol (i have to wait for the disk,as it was out of stock)
it also got ableton 4, and sample tank etc.
so i will get an idea of how to use Reason...

cool cool. never used sampletank. i like ableton, a lot, but i find that it's sequencer interface is a little too different to the way that im used to working. to each his own though.

[feasible_weasel]

get reason. I havent used 4.0 but i learned on 2.0 and it was really simple, and yet, since it emulates a hardware interface, it can really carry over to other things.

reason's dope, get that. never used ejay or magix or anything... reasons as close as i come to "consumer" software. oh, you could always get renoise too... but learn reason first.

as a general rule, if it starts with the letters "RE" then your good to go.

i.e. reason, renoise, reaktor, etc...

im getting reason adapted end of the month,as its part of the software with my korg padKontrol (i have to wait for the disk,as it was out of stock)
it also got ableton 4, and sample tank etc.
so i will get an idea of how to use Reason...

cool cool. never used sampletank. i like ableton, a lot, but i find that it's sequencer interface is a little too different to the way that im used to working. to each his own though.

im just gonna have to learn everything

[roqqert]

started with fruityloops... downloaded too much vst plugs thats why u quit that shit. i dont wanna get inspiration out of new presets so i had to limit myself. I downloaded reason and had a hard time with the synthesizers, but now i can create mostly every synth i like. I'm still learning 'bout synthese but thats it. Now i could go back to cubase or logic, cause now i know which vst's ive to get.


music has to come out of your head. not out programs... its just a tool.
'you know how to make the sword, not the hammer'

[shonky]

Played guitar since I was 14, moved into electronic music some time later (few drunken attempts at techno on a mate's Amiga using Oktalyzer). Sound forge for audio editing (which I still use), started using Logic but then got sidetracked into using Acid for a bit (way more spontaneous and you can always bounce down to wavs and put them in Logic anyway).

Now been using Logic for a long time, but didn't really have anyone to assist me or that I could ask questions to, so it's been really helpful having internet for the last couple of years. One good thing that did come from having no formal education is that you do just experiment more and see what comes out and learn your own way of doing things - it would probably be far better if people try and fail to acheive copying someone elses sound as you end up with a more individualistic approach.

Definitely recommend the Grid at DOA, learned some fine tips from those people, most of which can be applied in most forms of music. Bit too much emphasis on reeses and amens but goes with the territory.

[auan]

Weird how many producers started out on guitar. Weird how many of us can probably do the pentatonic scale up and down the fretboard, but now probably use keys and wouldn't have a clue about scales or anything else.

[djake]

lol i also started playin guitar at 12 then found the joys of listenin to aphex twin and thought OMG! and decided to try makin electronic music and got a copy of cubase, didnt no wot the fuk i was doin clickd every button possible, thena friend gave me a copy of fl studio played round wiv tht and now im usin ableton ( im still using fl studio alot though maninly cause its so easy to get ideas dwn quickly) its the best for makin beats!)

[djake]

Weird how many producers started out on guitar. Weird how many of us can probably do the pentatonic scale up and down the fretboard, but now probably use keys and wouldn't have a clue about scales or anything else.

dats true, the pentatonic scale is drilled into my headwiv a guitar even though i aint picked a guitar up for a long time.

[misk]

Weird how many producers started out on guitar.

i started out on the thumb-piano.

[paradigm_x]

recorder

/oldskool

[FSTZ]

I had a bass guitar and a Alesis HR-16 drum machine in 1989

I ran into some neighborhood guys that had an ensoniq eps-16+ and couldnt figure out how to use it in 1990

stepped in to a 48 track studio with reel to reel machines in 1991

stepped into a pro tools studio in 1992

bought my tascam 8 track in 1993

bought 2 alesis adats in 1998

went all computer in 2000

[dz]

started sampling on an MPC2000 in 2000, used acid & soundforge a bit, then was a beta tester for reason in mar 2001, used reason until april of this year, now all ableton & vst's.

[steppo]

first was fruity loops v1, then reason came out, then i tinkered with acid now i'm using logic, and kinda wanna learn cubase but have no idea where to start

[tempest]

Weird how many producers started out on guitar. Weird how many of us can probably do the pentatonic scale up and down the fretboard, but now probably use keys and wouldn't have a clue about scales or anything else.

Yer throw me in that basket too, really gotta get some piano lessons i think, or at least learning chords instead of putting notes together till i find the sound i want

After metal/jazz and everything inbetween bands playing guitar.. me and some mates decided while pretty drunk to start writing rhymes and making hip hop, so i somehow got a hold of fruity and started making beats... bout 3-4 years later im still noodling on fruity leaning towards the more bass heavy sounds trying to take it further and push forward, still making hip hop aswell as step (good to keep things fresh i guess).. got a midi controller and that changed things greatly.

Tryed a few different softwares but they all seem to essentially do the same thing that i'm used to in fruity where i can just let creativity do the work. oh and cool edit for recording vox

[flippo]

in 960 AD when I moved to europe I was obducted and raped by vikings, and later taken to greenland where I started a thrash munt-core band playing the Yamaka. I formed an experimental side project with the late P.K. Ted-face durin the lonley winter months when we began work on a new genre called 'fucken choons' from which all modern music stemed. 9 years later, in 1840, I fell off the back of a donkey whilst on holiday in botswana and lost all memory. In an amneasic panic, I fled to Mongolia, where I was adopted by a tribe of horse-milk drinking wildmen. They taught me the ancient arts of the slide-guitar and beatboxing. All my tunes are digital remasters of our old tapedeck recordings from those days.