thinking of making a "major" shift in production. Help!? :)

XZit · Post by **XZit** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:29 pm

So I've been considering on making a slight major shift in my music production to more of a software based music production supported by a couple synths.
I have lots of hardware-but I never really use it.
I would like to streamline everything--and also make it so I can produce wherever I am.

I have a macbook pro for my comp. And I currently only really use reason 4.0 on it. I would like a way though to incorperate my access virus ti along with another synth or hardware piece all into one software plateform.

So my questions are:
What is a good program that has a good drum program (drum machine) in it? Does this program allow for me to record things from my virus ti?
I was thinking ableton live?
What do most producers that are software based out there use for their drums???? (btw I mainly produce dnb)

I hope my questions are clear. Any help greatly appreciated! I would just love to be able to make whole tracks on my comp wherever I am (also thinking about getting a korg nanokey for when I'm out and about). Reasons fun-but I can't really incorperate my virus ti into it...

thanks!

tekkentool · Post by **tekkentool** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:00 am

FL studio will be great for this!

in my opinion it has the best workflow, great sequencer, mixer, great inbuilt VSTi. and definitely the best inbuilt drum programming interface(s).

running the virus as a VSTi inside FL will get you great results!

XZit · Post by **XZit** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:24 am

Thx! Ya I remember playing around with FL when it first came out. Great program.
Yet I prefer reasons drums, and editing style--I heard that I can use reason in ableton live? If thats true then I could record synth sounds etc. in ableton, use reason in ableton for the drums/whatever, and/or include some of abletons drums or synths etc.
What do you guys think about that strategy????

thx!!

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:42 am

FL Studio doesn't run on OSX so I'd ignore that advice. Also I think there are a lot of programs that do drums better than FL, but that's a taste thing really so you can't definitively say one is better than another.

Anyway, I really like Live for drum programming. The drum racks map really nicely over MPC style controllers and you can open them up so each drum has its own fader and fx etc. You also have a lot of options re quantising. You can record, sequence and mix all in Live if you want and get great results. I would totally recommend it for someone in your position.

If you want to spend a bit more for a plugin that comes with some really well recorded samples, check out BFD*. London Elektricity use BFD, and they do some of my favourite D&B.

*disclaimer: I've received free software from FXspansion in return for doing some presets for them. I wouldn't recommend it if it was s**t though.

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:47 am

XZit wrote:Thx! Ya I remember playing around with FL when it first came out. Great program.
Yet I prefer reasons drums, and editing style--I heard that I can use reason in ableton live? If thats true then I could record synth sounds etc. in ableton, use reason in ableton for the drums/whatever, and/or include some of abletons drums or synths etc.
What do you guys think about that strategy????

Yeah, you can use Reason in any DAW that supports Rewire. I think it's a good idea, it means you can put the stuff you've done already in Reason into Live and not have to start with a completely blank slate. Nothing worse than changing sequencer or DAW and having to draw a line under the stuff you've done before, knowing you won't be going back and working on those tracks ever again.

If I were you I'd download the demo version of Live from Ableton's website and have a play round with it to see how you get along. Make sure you do the included tutorials, they're really well put together and will get you understanding the ins and outs of the program much quicker than trial and error.

XZit · Post by **XZit** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:55 am

thx! a little further research and I found pro-tools would/could also work my my application-and I guess cubase could to?
I also do a lot of sampling (mpc1000) from records and then put them onto the comp-so I guess ableton can record that input obviously.

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:16 am

XZit wrote:thx! a little further research and I found pro-tools would/could also work my my application-and I guess cubase could to?

Yep, or any DAW that supports Rewire (that's pretty much all of them) like I said before.

XZit wrote:I also do a lot of sampling (mpc1000) from records and then put them onto the comp-so I guess ableton can record that input obviously.

Yep. You might find Live is better for sampling into than your MPC though, I did and sold mine.

tekkentool · Post by **tekkentool** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:31 pm

sorry guys, my bad, didn't notice he was a mac user

JSRockit · Post by **JSRockit** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 1:38 pm

I would get any DAW you like and Reaktor... that should be good.

XZit · Post by **XZit** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:06 pm

Stab Frenzy wrote:
XZit wrote:thx! a little further research and I found pro-tools would/could also work my my application-and I guess cubase could to?
Yep, or any DAW that supports Rewire (that's pretty much all of them) like I said before.
XZit wrote:I also do a lot of sampling (mpc1000) from records and then put them onto the comp-so I guess ableton can record that input obviously.
Yep. You might find Live is better for sampling into than your MPC though, I did and sold mine.

lol doublt I will ever sell my mpc--love it to much, I also produce hiphop and its just so easy when connected to my turntables.

Dj Pound · Post by **Dj Pound** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 8:37 pm

XZit wrote:lol doublt I will ever sell my mpc--love it to much, I also produce hiphop and its just so easy when connected to my turntables.

Co-sign on that.......Gotta love the immediacy of it all

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 6:50 am

Dj Pound wrote:
XZit wrote:lol doublt I will ever sell my mpc--love it to much, I also produce hiphop and its just so easy when connected to my turntables.
Co-sign on that.......Gotta love the immediacy of it all

I used to think that too, but I can chop stuff a crapload faster with a mouse and screen than with a datawheel. I probably would have kept the MPC except I really needed the cash at one point. Anyway, different strokes.

JB · Post by JB » Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:55 am

Have to agree. I used to swear by editing samples on my hardware samplers (K2500RS & MPC3000) but learning the shortcut keys in SoundForge sped things up dramatically... of course the advantage in editing speed is lost if you then import it back into the hardware for playback

JSRockit · Post by **JSRockit** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:19 pm

I prefer chopping in my computer and loading samples via a memory card or midi... I hate recording each individual sample, naming it and saving it.

rickyd · Post by **rickyd** » Sat Aug 22, 2009 2:12 am

I use Acoustica Beatcraft for my drum programming. I like it because you can load your own samples into it, which is what I prefer doing. Once the drums are sequenced, I just render each drum track seperately or the whole thing in an .ogg file and render them into Acoustica Mixcraft 4 (DAW).

I am aware that you use Mac and I am honestly not sure at the moment if MC4 is available for MAC, but it is essentially the Windows version of "Garage Band", if you'eve ever heard of that program, which is for MAC BTW.

thinking of making a "major" shift in production. Help!? :)

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