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Post by Nokturniis on Apr 25, 2019 16:13:36 GMT -5
I'm hoping to start my own dungeon synth project later this year after really getting into the genre recently. All I have is a keyboard, so the rest of the music will have to come from a DAW. I heard Reaper was a good DAW for black metal, so I was thinking about using that one. What do everyone here use?
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Post by poppet108 on Apr 26, 2019 16:17:43 GMT -5
If you have Mac, garageband is free, intuitive and very in depth. I use it almost exclusively. I've heard reaper is good as well, but I'm not super familiar with how it works.
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Post by AndruJorj on Apr 26, 2019 18:51:55 GMT -5
If you are seeking a free DAW than can do everything you need it to do, then LMMS is what you want. I don't use it exclusively, but it's featured on almost all Aufhocker albums.
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Post by DieuxDesCimetieres on Apr 30, 2019 14:03:52 GMT -5
I also use LMMS (exclusively). It's free, most VST's are compatible with it, and I've had no trouble with any midi-controllers. But on the downside, its interface is at times a bit unintuitive, old-fashioned and cumbersome. It's a strong piece of software especially for the 100% free price, but the way it works is sometimes a bit engineer-y. But definitely worth checking out if you've got a bit of patience to learn how it works.
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Post by grimmer on May 6, 2019 3:36:25 GMT -5
I use Ableton, as it's what I'm familiar with. Reaper looks good though.
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Post by thekeeper on May 9, 2019 12:51:19 GMT -5
I stick to FL Studio since I've been using it for over a decade so I'm just really familiar with it. I agree with the others here though that LMMS is a great DAW. I use Mixcraft to record, but I haven't messed around with the DAW in that, doesn't seem too featured. FL Studio has more features than LMMS overall. The learning curve for me trying out LMMS for an album was pretty slim. Most of my initial struggle was getting used to things being in different places and looking different. I feel like the live-keyboard recording in LMMS had a bit more lag, but I didn't look to confirm that. Only pitfall with FL Studio is you'll have to pirate it if you want the ability save your songs, ha. Stock up on some free VSTs!
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Metachasm
Peasant
First EP in the ideation stage.
Posts: 12
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Post by Metachasm on May 10, 2019 11:40:07 GMT -5
Come summer: Reaper.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2019 13:09:50 GMT -5
I'm in love with Fruity loops since 2001 (I cracked it until I bought it 2 years ago, but I still use and old cracked version because the newest ones are less friendly).
I also used (and made most of my actual releases with) Cubase, on an ATARI computer, until 2006.
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Post by stormcrow on May 10, 2019 13:44:45 GMT -5
Mixcraft by Acoustica since 2013 or so: nice stuff on board and friendly GUI. Had previous (positive) experiences with Sonar and the almighty Cubase (but way too expensive) as well.
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Post by decrepitwarrior on May 14, 2019 23:21:09 GMT -5
I just found an old PC tower I had when I was a kid and loaded it up with Windows XP. I also found a DVD with Cubase LE 4 so I might download some free VST's and try some stuff out with that for a while.
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Post by anglachel on May 29, 2019 11:30:31 GMT -5
I used to work on Ableton, but now I use Reaper. I was facing problems with some VST plugins in Ableton, but otherwise I was also happy with that.
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Post by Telaestheticist on Sept 23, 2019 3:42:33 GMT -5
I use Zynewave Podium as my DAW and VSTSynthfont as my main VST. Podium has excellent EQ and reverb plugins, as well as several others, and plays nice with both my audio interface and my midi keyboard controller. If I were to recommend DAWs to someone just starting out, I would recommend LMMS, which is a completely free multi-platform DAW. It also has a built-in soundfont plugin that is really stable and effective, as well as several really solid synth VSTs. It does have a bit of a strange UI though, and can be tricky to setup at times. The first paid budget DAW I would recommend is Cockos Reaper. It is the most highly recommended DAW out there among indie musicians, for good reason. It plays well with most hardware, is highly stable, and has a lot of support. When I was testing out different DAWs years ago I also found MuLabs, which has a more minimal UI than both Reaper and Podium, but doesn't seem to have much support. Mixcraft also looked pretty good and I've heard of several people using it before, but I can't say I'm too familiar with it. Regardless of what DAW I recommend, I will always recommend that people use Audacity. It's a completely free audio tool with tons of features and plugins. It is an absolutely essential tool for any indie musician, and there are tons of tutorials out there. There are even artists who make music entirely with Audacity. I think seeking out the right DAW involves a lot of trial and error, and what money a person is willing to spend factors into that. I have a very modest budget and I prefer to support independent developers, so Zynewave Podium was the right choice for me personally.
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Post by Lord Gargoyle on Sept 28, 2019 21:29:23 GMT -5
Likewise with both LMMS and Reaper. There are things I prefer about each, though I'm very much just starting learning Reaper. I'm honestly not a huge fan of Audacity. I like a lot of their plugins, but it started flaking out on me and having problems towards the end, so I had to put it down.
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Post by castlezagyx on Oct 1, 2019 5:00:42 GMT -5
I usually work with Cubase since SX 3 version (year 2004), due its useful pianoroll. In the past, I used Reaper, Pro Tools, Cool Edit, Adobe Audition, Fruity Loops and other score-oriented software like Sibelius and Finale.
Since Cubase 7, Steinberg has done a big improvement on performance and stability. I always use the cheap LE/Elements version. The less important thing in this "music workflow" is DAW, and I don't need HALion and the other stuff included on the Pro version.
If for some reason I should change my DAW, I would choose Ableton due its integrated synths/FX.
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Post by oath on Oct 2, 2019 21:11:51 GMT -5
To inject a hot take in here...
A DAW is a DAW. I use FL Studio because I have the most general experience in it and I'm used to the workflow. It turns my ideas into sounds and it generally does a pretty job doing it in a way that makes a lot of sense to me. However, that's the key term here, it makes a lot of sense to /me/. You need to find a workstation that makes the most sense to you. It doesn't matter how basic, how advanced, how obscure, if it works for you, it works. Burial uses Soundforge for example, which... Well, it couldn't be me.
As far as I can tell (and I'm not the most experienced), DAWs are the most utilitarian part of your kit. They're not there to produce a certain 'sound', they're just there to organize your ideas in the most efficient way for you. You might be able to tell if a good spring reverb is being used, or maybe if the artist is using a certain analog synth, or maybe a certain kind of distortion chosen for its warmth... But I don't know if you can pick out what DAW someone used by ear, barring default samples and VSTs. I'm certain there's some people who can sniff a CD and smell Ableton, but, once again, it couldn't be me.
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