Music production

billwill

Hey guys,

I'm interested in producing beats and electronic music as a hobby. I'm not even sure if I would enjoy it, but I'd like to at least try it.

After doing some research it seems like Fruity Loops is a good program for Windows. Is this true or is there perhaps something better for me to try first that will be a little simpler? Because honestly this is really complex. If not, can anyone recommend good tutorials for Fruity Loops that I could check out?

Thanks a bunch!

P.S. My roommate is also getting interested in this stuff too and he trying out Garageband on his Mac. Do you have any programs that he could check out if he moves on from Garageband? Also, is there an equivalent to Garageband for Windows? (referring mainly to simplicity)

Count Funkula

Reason is a great piece of software. Like a virtual studio in your PC. You can download the demo for free and try it out.

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/

This guy has lots of great tutorials on youtube, mostly using Reason, covering all kinds of styles of electronic music. He takes the time to explain why he is doing things as he goes along. Very useful.

Natas_Xnoybis

fruityloops is a fun place to start, couple other programs (rubberducky? i think i used something like that back in the day), there is lots of stuff you can find out there. My 2 cents, if you find yourself getting into it, make your life a lot more simple in the long run make sure all your software/DAW/plugins/etc are all legit.

I use Ableton Live 8 personally, you can get demo versions from their site.

billwill

Thanks guys! I'm drowning in tutorials but I'm learning quite a bit.

useless4

I second Reason. The newest version is a complete in the box experience and it's backwards compatible to the earliest versions. That means for the most part all tutorials will work with the latest version. It's also set up in a way that enforces traditional recording workflows that you can use elsewhere.

lizard eats flies

Yup, reason, ableton and fruity loops are all pretty good. I personally like ableton the best, but my goals are a bit different than yours.