Audio software?

[Hypey[UG]]

I was wondering if there is any music creation software out there with a decent realistic sound engine?

I can't really say for sure, but I highly doubt that alot of people can play guitar, piano, violin and drums and have access to them, so I presume there must be some good software out there.

[vcool]

You'd be surprised by how many people play more than one instrument.

[MayheM]

I use an ovd version of Adobe Audition, but I know a lot of people use Acid Pro and Soundforge...

[Hypey[UG]]

Vcool.
I know people who play more than one instrument, I personally play guitar and piano.
But when people are essentially a band in a box I do start to wonder.

[Hollow]

I play drums, guitar, bass and keyboard/MIDI programming and also sing/scream/shout vocals. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be able to be your own band/project. It gives me total freedom when creating music, meaning I get the sound I was originally aiming for. I just naturally picked up different instruments over the years out of intrigue tbh.

If you want to try out a good free audio workstation, I recommend REAPER, it's a great piece of kit. Just get some vst/i's in there and you are ready to rock. It really depends on the quality of the plugins you have for say, a realistic string ensemble. The best are super expensive, but there are, *cough* other methods to obtain them lol.

Logic Pro and Pro Tools are industry leading though when it comes to audio creation.

[nub]

I use Fruity Loops Studio. The stock content that comes with it isn't great, but if you get digital libraries and VST plugins (Virtual studio technology), then it can be a very powerful program. The best thing about FL Studio is that it's user friendly compared to other programs like Reason and Sony Acid.

The thing is, most of those pro musicians use real instruments along with programs, or they have synthesizers in a big studio. There's plenty of digital libraries and VST plugins you can get, but the worth-while stuff costs money, ESPECIALLY libraries. Native Instruments is a good company to look in to when you decide to expand your library, just be prepared to spend cash. If you want to pursue music as your career then by all means save up for this stuff. If its truly what you want to do then you've got nothing to lose, right?


If you're curious, a VST plugin is something like this:

http://www.vemberaudio.se/images/surge_150.png

So many knobs and slides. I've been working with FL studio and such for years and I still don't even know what half of them even do. I don't really have a strong music vocabulary, which is a huge weak point for me. All of my skills have been learned through experimenting with FL Studio and trying new plugins. It's really a pain that I don't know my keys and notes like a real musician would, but since I don't plan on making money off my music ever, I don't bother to really pursue it.


My computer is the only hardware I use. I don't have any MIDI devices or instruments lying around that I can use to make a song with. My collective digital library consists of the following, as far as I can remember:

Absynth 4 (VST)

FM8 (VST)

Synplant (VST)

Renegade (VST)

Predator (VST)

Albino 3 (VST)

z3ta+ (VST)

Blue (VST)

Discovery V2 (VST)

Vanguard (VST)

Toxic Biohazard (VST, Demo comes with FL Studio)

Symphobia (the most incredible orchestral library in the history of mankind...)

Stormdrum Kontakt Edition (great drum library)



Being a one-man musician is great though since creating a song comes down to the personal level. I find peace when I make music, so most of my music is mellow or light. I have a few dark ambiances and some hard acid songs, but I love electronica, psychedelic, and down tempo genres the most.


Anyway, that's enough out of me. I hope this gets you on the right path. FL Studio is a fantastic program to learn from and I highly recommend it to you. Don't bother with expanding FL Studio until you have a firm grasp of the interface and how shit works. There's no point in loading your PC with new content when you don't even know how to utilize it.

[Hollow]

I think I might need to check out Symphobia then Nub! I need a better Orchestral VST plugin for my new electronica project (think Bonobo, Ed Harrison/NeoTokyo, Massive Attack)

And yeah Native Instruments are a great company for realistic audio simulators. I have Guitar Rig 3, and it has an epic amount of choices and customizations available on hand.

For drums, I used to use this plugin called SuperDrumFX, basically used my own live sounds on it. I now use DrumCore, as the production and usability is far easier.

Gotta agree with you though, some of my synths have so many knobs and dials and sliders etc, that its sometimes very confusing. But it's all about experimenting till you find a sound you like.

I have far too much equipment to list fully, but here's a breakdown of the main stuff:

REAPER Digital Audio Workstation
t.c electronic Audio Interface (you really need one of these if you use live instruments)
65(?) Key MIDI keyboard
Legacy Bass Guitar
ESP guitar
Vintage Les Paul Copy
AKG condenser Mic (with a pop shield and stand)
Beyer Dynamic DT150 Headphones

Software: A now, massive range of Synths, Modulators, limiters, compressors, samplers, EQ's and sound effects etc etc.

It really depends on how serious and into your music making you are. Like me, for which its my second passion, I've invested a lot of money into my equipment (I'd easily say £2000 at least so far) so costs rise steeply depending on the quality.

[Zecrah]

I second the REAPER suggestion, I've heard good things about it and tried it a bit myself but not extensively.

Also, just as a side note, I play guitar, drums and piano as well as having at least tried violin and have access to all of them too.

[Smurftyours]

Violin for ten years and piano for five. However I haven't done much recording, but I really liked FL studio when I used the demo.

[quero]

I use Reason combined with an ESI KeyControl25, mighty and exciting software + small,cheap and handy hardware.
About Reason I like the original emulated hardware with the controlling elements, which you can link to the keyboard, and the many possibilities to connect the devices with each other by dragging the wire!!
The included sample-libary has good quality and wide range for the start.. Maybe only the drum-samples will annoy after quite some time..