Question for music "geeks" Fl studio equivalent

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PrettyRed
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06 Apr 2012, 2:01 pm

Does anyone know what would be a FruityLoops/FL Studios (or better) equivalent for mac besides garage band ??



Uprising
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06 Apr 2012, 2:23 pm

ZX_SpectrumDisorder
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06 Apr 2012, 3:21 pm

Logic or Cubase, or Ableton - workflow's slightly different, though.



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07 Apr 2012, 3:21 am

Go with ableton live, there's probably a good torrent if you want it free, or else you can drop the 455 for it. Definitely worth it, I would just get that one instead of the whole suite for like 700 or 800 bucks, the ableton-only instruments are cool but for making electronic music, most people I know use vst's like NI Massive or FXPansion Strobe or Sylenth1. Apple Logic Pro is another great one but I think ableton live has a more intuitive feel to it. There's tons of tutorials for teaching you how to make music on ableton. http://www.ableton.com/

I recently took Sonic Academy, this is the kind of sounds you can engineer by the time you finish their dubstep / glitch hop tutorial(about 8 hours worth of content for just that one tutorial, but it'll take much much longer the first time you do it, and many times worth of practice after it to get it down): http://soundcloud.com/fusitua so check sonic academy out: http://www.sonicacademy.com/Training+Videos/ ... it's about 55 bucks, and that's for a 3 month pass.

other resources that can aid you: http://www.soundstosample.com/ for all the patches and sounds you want to use in your material plus free guides on how to remake popular EDM tracks.


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MarketAndChurch
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07 Apr 2012, 3:22 am

also, I highly suggest you try out ableton first. You can download the entire program for free, and try it out for 30 days, and even make a few songs during that period if you want.


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ZX_SpectrumDisorder
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07 Apr 2012, 3:25 am

Sonic Academy are pretty great. I did a two day Ableton course with them in Belfast a few years ago.



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07 Apr 2012, 3:42 am

ZX_SpectrumDisorder wrote:
Sonic Academy are pretty great. I did a two day Ableton course with them in Belfast a few years ago.


that's awesome man! I ve read a few of their boards and it amazes me how far thy've come. Some of their courses are winning high acclaim and recommendations from DJ and Producer magazine, like the one I took on glitch-hop. They stay in touch with their community, and are always looking to offer subscribers

My subscription ended some time ago, but hopefully when the prices drop during upcoming holidays, I'll pick up a years worth to learn french house, tech house, and finish up my dubstep tutorials. If you know of producer-grade free online tutorials that you've found helpful in any of those generas, lemme know, I'm always on the hunt for learning new awesome techniques, wobbles, and song construction methods.


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ZX_SpectrumDisorder
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07 Apr 2012, 4:07 am

Hmm to be totally honest, I haven't seen any as detailed as SA's tutorials. I find even those are pretty basic, though.
Anything I've picked up has usually been by accident. I'm not really into the guy's music, but there's a fairly decent series of Future Music magazine videos on Youtube of D.Ramirez remixing a track he released on his label. So, at least you know it's not some generic thing he's doing.
Here's the first

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI1QsTz3ck0&feature=fvsr[/youtube]



MarketAndChurch
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07 Apr 2012, 4:19 am

ZX_SpectrumDisorder wrote:
Hmm to be totally honest, I haven't seen any as detailed as SA's tutorials. I find even those are pretty basic, though.
Anything I've picked up has usually been by accident. I'm not really into the guy's music, but there's a fairly decent series of Future Music magazine videos on Youtube of D.Ramirez remixing a track he released on his label. So, at least you know it's not some generic thing he's doing.
Here's the first

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI1QsTz3ck0&feature=fvsr[/youtube]


I used to just hunt technique and the numbers to set the dials on my VST's to but I'm finding more and more that quality commentary accompanying tutorials is helping me understand what I'm doing a whole lot better. The video is ace, very detailed; I'll give it more time after work tomorrow. And he's doing the style I like, Cheers for the recommendation and keep them coming!


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07 Apr 2012, 4:28 am

ZX_SpectrumDisorder wrote:
Hmm to be totally honest, I haven't seen any as detailed as SA's tutorials. I find even those are pretty basic, though.
Anything I've picked up has usually been by accident. I'm not really into the guy's music, but there's a fairly decent series of Future Music magazine videos on Youtube of D.Ramirez remixing a track he released on his label. So, at least you know it's not some generic thing he's doing.
Here's the first

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI1QsTz3ck0&feature=fvsr[/youtube]

Wow I never expected D Ramirez to look like that, but yeah 5 years ago I used to be all over his music. Judging by the video I can now probably tell why I was, because his music seems to be quite electronic and bassline-y, even for the style he produces in.



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07 Apr 2012, 4:43 am

I prefer very simple club tracks where the focus is on the quality of the sounds like this.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2X3KhRavX0&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTjy135fxL4[/youtube]

There aren't many tutorials for this sort of thing, so I tend to spend a lot of time learning to get things to sound a certain way, rather than rushing to get completed tracks done. I will do at some stage, I just don't think I'm where I'd like to be right now.
I'd post more links to tutorial clips, but you know the drill, they're all pretty basic and have been covered already. Sidechaining, parallel processing and automation etc etc.



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07 Apr 2012, 12:56 pm

Logic Pro gets a +1 vote from me. It has become my goto sequencer and DAW.

As to comparisons with FL, I'll just say that it probably has a steeper learning curve, though recent versions are head and shoulders above previous versions. Version 9 has some really deep pitch and timing tools if you enjoy putting the work into that sort of thing.

Probably my main negative with Logic Pro is that I find it to be a weak loop player. I'm just not at all impressed with it in that department. It also sucks performing live. But for that you do have Mainstage. One of the few times I've performed with other live performers, I programmed it to play back a Synclavier track through house mains and click track for the conductor. Since you can set it up graphically however you want, I made it idiot-proof. You can do pretty much whatever you want with it and even capture the audio output. I'm going to start doing "virtual performances" in the next month or so, and I'll most likely use Mainstage 2 as my electronic performance platform.

One thing about Logic Pro that is kinda neat is the "Environment" window. It reminds me a little of Max in that you can customize how Logic responds to controllers, even sending real time sysex data to external instruments and even automating them just like you would with native Logic or even 3rd party plugs.

So you COULD use it in an interactive performance, but there are probably better tools out there that would be easier to use.

I also am a big fan of Ableton. I use the Intro version since all I need is a basic loop player and don't need more than 8 loop scenes for playing live. I have used it in performance before and really enjoyed it. Mainstage is a rewire host, so pair it with Ableton and you've got one deadly live setup.

If you're just worried about production, Logic is GREAT. I like Ableton, too, and you might find it easier to use. But Logic does carry a lot more recording and editing power. It really just depends on what your needs are.



PrettyRed
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09 Apr 2012, 7:17 am

Thanks Guys this going to help me get started



ZX_SpectrumDisorder
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09 Apr 2012, 8:28 am

You're a Mac owner. Go with Logic.



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09 Apr 2012, 8:43 am

ZX_SpectrumDisorder wrote:
You're a Mac owner. Go with Logic.

One question, though: Why are we all avoiding ProTools??? lol



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10 Apr 2012, 3:44 pm

Through odd paths I have ended up with a setup where I use Reason, Reaper and Audiomulch.
Reason because I know it intimately and can work out stuff quickly.
Reaper for when I need tricky external routing, VST support and semi-advanced MIDI, and
AM for crazy fun.

I decided many years ago (mostly because of KVR peer pressure) to pay for all my audio tools, so I haven't bothered with the expensive ones. I'm just an amateur. But some times limited tools make you do creative stuff...

Reaper isn't very limited, btw. It's just butt ugly and has the highest amount of annoying idiots in its user forum. (only partially kidding). Some really helpful ones too. I use it a lot and it can do pretty much anything.

Reason is great, though. But closed. Self contained. No VST, no midi out (biggest on my annoyance list).