Best software for creating music ?

[alexander]

Hi,

As anyone experience about a good software for creating music for my dvx videos.

I have mac and pc.

I just tried "acid pro" demo, which seems ok.
In the same category there is "soundtrack" from Apple. But there is no demo of it. It says that it comes with more than 4000 loops, which will be nice for a good start.

Does acid pro comes with good loops too?

Any remarks and experiences with these softwares or other one is welcome.

Alex

[Guest]

You can get Soundtrack with FCP or stand alone. If you're editing in FCP you can import/export files back and forth with markers. I haven't done much with it but there are tutorials online.
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/soundtrack_starting_dan.html

There's also Garage Band as well for the Mac. This is like a consumer SoundTrack. For $49 as part of iLife (iPhoto, iMovie,GarageBand) it's a good deal.

I'm assuming most music programs for editing allow looping. The question is how much variety, how much manipulation can you do, how easy is to use and can you input (midi keyboard) if you have a musical friend or ability.

[kai]

If you're not looking for something to produce original tracks (logic, pro tools, digital performer), and you're on Mac, you can't beat soundtrack or garage band for the cheap price. The loops are really surprisingly good.

[alexander]

Thanks for the answers and the links for the Soundtrack tutorials.

Now I know a little bit more about sondtrack.

It really looks like a good application for the price for someone like me. Who wants to have some original music without being a professional in sound.

Do you have any links about other loops collections that we can incorporate in soundtrack?

Alex

[gwangung]

There is a soundtrack loop editor that allows you to create loops out of any audio loop you have lying around.

Of course, you can always buy some royalty free music from places like smartsound and the music bakery....

[Beat Takeshi]

This is what i used to make my music in the short for the DVXuse contest.
http://www.fruityloops.com/
it used to be free but now they have a small price. If you practice this you can create almost anything you want.

[Possu]

Music softwares are amazing nowadays. If you are willing to make a music from scratch, then Emagic Logic Audio 6 and Pro Tools are the best available. Propellerheads Reason 2.5 is also very flexible software.
These softwares have won all the prizes in music industry and they are also industry standard softwares.
Personally I like Logic Audio 6. It is a sequencer software which is stable and bug free. All the best plug-ins and software synth are available for it. And of course you can make a songs from the loops as well.
Logic Audio is also quite and easy software to learn, but some basic knowledge of music theory will make it even easier.

[DVX100Shooter]

If you would like a DEMO of Soundtrack you can go to www.soundtracklounge.net. There is a section called Downloads or Newest downloads or something like that (its on the right side of the screen on the home page) and you can listen to songs that people made with Soundtrack. I have it and I have made everything from Hip Hop to Jazz with ST. Yes its made up of loops but you can cut and chop the loops up to make your songs more natural. I did that with the drums on a rock song I just made. I have it sounding like someone is actually playing the drums and not a computer generated loop. You can also add all sorts of effects to the master mix or individual tracks to enhance the sound of your music.

As for other programs...you can just do a GOOGLE search for APPLE LOOPS. I am about to get DRUMS on DEMAND which offers better sounding drum loops. From the APPLE home page you can check out the PLUGIN section for FCP, Soundtrack and other software. There are some cool stuff there too.

[alexander]

Thanks for all your replies :D

I went to the soundtracklounge and heard some of the songs that people made. And they sound pretty good to me.

I saw a demonstration of Pro tools when I was a multimedia student and I know that pro Tools and software like that are standard for music creation. But at my actual level, if think that it will be overkill, and if I remember well for using protools you need some extra hardware.

I think I will go the soundtrack way for now. It has a good price tag for what it does.

Thanks again.

Alex

[pixel]

SoundTrack is fantastic for people who aren't musicians. It's easy to create really nice background music and fx for films. I'd also suggest asking local musicians for their (free) help in creating your soundtrack. I used a really great VCR in my recent student thesus film, but have to create an original track for the feature film. A local musican voluntiered to do the soundtrack, something similar, for a film credit.

[Tom_Borg]

Whats the best for PC users? (SOundtrack and Logic Audio are for Mac)

[Barry_Green]

For a musician or a non-musician? For someone who knows nothing about music, and extreme ease of use, it's tough to beat SmartSound or SonicFire Pro. Those programs include lots of stock songs, which they will custom-write to the length you specify.

There's nothing in there for a musician, but for someone who needs to put music to their images, they're hard to beat.

[kai]

I've been playing alot with Reason (Adapted). It ports right into a track on Pro Tools, and it's really incredible with all the synths, drum machines, processors, etc... it'd be overwhelming for a non-musician/audio buff though.

[Everdene]

As all the replies attest, there are tons of options. The best for you will depend on your experience and needs. Anyway, I've been playing with fruityloops (flstudio), too. You can do anything with it. It's not too hard to learn, PC based, and a little bit underground. Fruity loops is often used by people to create trance type stuff, but I like using real instrument soundfonts and samples and mixing them with live recordings. Anyway, you might want to give it a try.

[DVX100Shooter]

I was born into a musically talented family. I have been playing drums for over 18 years now. Anyway, I purchased Reason last year and I haven't messed with it yet! Like was said, it was very overwhelming to me! I ended up taking it back and just got a drum machine instead but here is the kicker! The store allowed me to return Reason to them after I had opened the box. I still got *it installed on my computer! So if wanted to learn it, I could just go buy a book! LOL!

[Unclemort]

As a full Time [ yes all 7days!] musician I would suggest to you and all shooters on this site to find some really good musicians in your area that you respect, like, and can easily communicate with, preferably at least a creative keyboard player who is also a tech head, and shoot a 7 min. edited promo video for them.......You could shoot it in one night and edit it down the next day! All musicians need constant ly updated promo[ bands are like marriages!! ] In turn you should easily be able to obtain a lot if not all the music you need from them! Musicians don't mind pouring out their soul for you if you can zero in and help them in obtaining what they really want and need.........Work and $$$!!! Trust me on this one!!! Regardless you should become adept at using the non -muscian programs if you stick with them! Feel free to contact me in assisting you dealing with, and or finding musicians! Good Luck!!

[alexander]

Well,

Thanks for all the replies.

I know that the best way would be to have a real musician. And for paid projects it's probably the best way to have a nice soundtrack.

But for unpaid project made just for fun I would like to be able to create some audio.

I finally had the oportunity to try soundtrack on the powerbook of a friend during the weekend. It's a nice piece of software, but I found it was very difficult to make very precise arrangments. That's my first try, maybe I missed something.

Alex

[araujofh]

If you don't have the money and you like some challenge, here a nice tool you can use. The drawback of it is that it does require you to know quite a bit about sound theory and the mathematics behind it. If you want to give it a try, here is the link

http://www.csounds.com/

Well, I use csound cause I just love challenge. It is a magnificent sound synthesis language.

Anyway, just thought it was worth mention it cause I know there are loads of scientists in this forum.

All the best

Fidel.

[Zoomforce]

I use Mixman :P

[Styves]

NUENDO 2 ALL THE WAY !!!!!
I've been composing digital music of different styles since 10 years (started with Voyetra DOS, then the trackers like ScreamTracker, Fast Tracker II, then Voyetra Windows, CakeWalk, Sonar, Vegas, Reason, Cubase and finally Nuendo). For loop based composition I generally use Reason, but the learning curve is a little high for this one.

For films, Nuendo 2 is really good. I read in some reviews that it should be replacing ProTools in studios, from a technical/features/user friendly point of view.

It is quite expensive, but really worth it (I feel like a Steinberg rep heheh). Cubase offer you a lot of lattitude and professional tools for mixing and mastering, but Nuendo contains the same features + the software is oriented for soundtracks for films. Time can be frame based, you can have a video track to sync with the music and all. And the universe of VST plug-ins and instruments makes this system virtually expandable forever. There is a large amount of VST stuff out there done ny a lot of different companies...

Just download the demo and give it a try, you'll be stunned!

[GenJerDan]

Well, the most frequent complaint I get about my music is that "it sounds like a soundtrack". ;)

http://www.genjerdan.com/nvm/tdis/tdis1.html for examples. ("Ceremony" is probably the most evocative)

Anyway, MIDImage is what I use to create music. (Link at the top of that page)

And recently I've started working on a version of it that uses video to create the music...still very beta, but if you want to play: http://www.genjerdan.com/bfp/lmp/MIDIVideo

Oh. Windows, only.

Dan