Subject:Help Please

Posted by: RebelJ

Date:10/6/2003 9:27:36 PM

Ok, so I'm looking to start creating my own techno music. There is a good side and a bad side though. The bad side, is that i have no clue what i'm doing or where to start. The good side is that I'm young, so i have a lot of time to create. Anyways does anyone have any advice, on what I need, or if Acid is a good program for creating techno.

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: marcarotsky

Date:10/6/2003 11:45:30 PM

if youre young, than youre right....you have A LOT of time to tinker with A LOT of different programs. i have been using acid (the program of course!!) for over 5 years now. and it has been EVERYTHING i need to make music. it is an excellent program, and each new version that comes out just gets better. (jeesh, do i sound like an acid spokesman or what!?!?) no, seriously...if making music is your interest, than acid is it!! ESPECIALLY if your musical preference is techno and house. being that those musical styles are based HUGELY on construction of loops. couple suggestions for you. get another good program to slave to acid (reason, would be the best) or any other program you can use for soft. synths for acid. if you dont have another good program to make sounds with, you are only limited to loops provided by outside vendors (although many are very good) it would not be very original. i use acid, sound forge and reason (aaah, gotta love running 3 monitors!!) those are the 3 programs i use. nothing more, nothing less. and i have had remixes professionaly released and original music professionaly released. so....YES, ACID IS A GREAT PROGRAM TO MAKE MUSIC WITH!!!

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: Nechromatic

Date:10/7/2003 5:41:18 AM

agree...

i have been using acid with loops at first, without knowin very little about sequencing and or computer based music production and then switched to a more sampler-inspired technique, and have lately been incorporating midi stuff and software synths into my composing ... still usin acid

what im trying to say is: with acid and its pretty much automatic timestretching --- which basically makes loops with different original tempos (lets say one is a slow rnb organ melody and the other is a gabber style hardcore drum loop) play at the same speed --- it's pretty easy to create good-sounding loop based stuff basically even with very lil knowledge of the technical aspects of composing n stuff... as you progress you will learn to use all the other tools and functions ...and since acid's possibilities have expanded so much it stays fun...and until you have explored all of them a new n hopefully improved ;) version will be on the shelves :)

so yeah i would definitely recommend it for beginners, and especially for making techno and similar styles.

did this make sense? only had 3 hrs of sleep ;)

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: Waskel

Date:10/7/2003 7:08:24 AM

Helloooo!! Acid can handle soft synths as well as loops!! The midi editing may not be great yet, but I did a lot of it in Acid before I had Reason, especially while learning. Getting a handle on 1 program at a time is hard enough!

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: Nechromatic

Date:10/7/2003 8:06:12 AM

uhm yeah i know .... what did i say?

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: Nechromatic

Date:10/7/2003 9:46:08 AM

i know that. thats what im using acid for, too.

i only said if youre beginnin you shouldnt really worry about all the complicated midi stuff ;)

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: Waskel

Date:10/7/2003 10:55:27 AM

Sorry, Ike, I was responding to what Marc said:
"get another good program to slave to acid (reason, would be the best) or any other program you can use for soft. synths for acid. if you dont have another good program to make sounds with, you are only limited to loops provided by outside vendors (although many are very good) it would not be very original"

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: marcarotsky

Date:10/7/2003 12:06:28 PM

i agree with both of you. acids soft synth plug ins are almost limitless. and thats fine. i just didnt go that route myslef. i found it easier and believe it or not even more fun and less confusing to use a totally different program altogether to be triggered by acid. in MY OPPINION, reason has total control of ALL the sounds i am making and using. also, to use a midi synth plug in in acid, and then to use another midi editing program to fix it up, was just to time consuming. thats why i liked using another program altogether with total midi control. just my 2 cents worth. but yes, as a beginner....you might wanna stick to just one program first, THEN...when you understand that one (acids learning curve is excellent for beginners) move on to incorporate something more in depth. (reasons learning curve is years. i've been using it for year and a half and i only know about 20 % of what it can do) but, bottom line...STICK WITH ACID!!! its an awesome program and its by far up there with "THE BIG BOYS" (pro-tools, live, logic audio) anyone who says other wise, doesnt know the full potential of acid.

Subject:RE: Help Please

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:10/7/2003 1:29:46 PM

To add, if you want full power, go for ACID Pro. It has features that the other versions don't have and you may find essential, especially if you want to create your own original material.

I remember when ACID Pro didn't have the ability to even play MIDI (it had MIDI sync only), which may explain some of its MIDI shortcomings...if you can call it that. Sony made some great strides over just two versions. It may not be perfect for those totally weaned on MIDI, but it's a step closer.

Speaking of which, get to know the different forms of audio, primarily MIDI and digital audio, and note the differences between the two.

Also, you may want to research other apps in the Sony line; all the professional versions were meant to compliment each other. For example, Sound Forge excels with its digital audio editing capability, while Vegas excels in true multitrack recording. (ACID compliments both with its loop-based music creation ability.)

You can get by with just ACID but I guarantee you'll want to extrapolate on that.

HTH,
Iacobus
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