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[Aquin]

This question is more directed at Amon26 and Miroslav, mainly because I'm curious.  I've done a lot of composing, but it's all been by hand.  I'm looking at getting into sequencing/tracking.  The only thing I have any real experience using is Famitracker and OpenMPT.

You guys make pretty kick-ass music, so my question is this:  What program do you use to make your compy sing?  And what instruments do you use?  I'm just curious as to your general setup so I have a good place to start my own research on the matter.

[rogerlevy]

FL Studio and Reason with ReWire, MK-449C midi controller, MobilePre audio interface, and a 1.8ghz Windows XP laptop. 

FL Studio is easier than Reason for sequencing as it lets you design tunes on a pattern-by-pattern basis while letting you change many patterns at the same time, and better "IMHO" than trackers because it lets use more than one pattern at once.

Reason is better for creating new sounds and recording midi "takes".

Although I know that everyone is gonna say "it doesn't matter what you use" (in the sense that noone cares), it's the same thing as saying "what you use is everything."  Because you gotta use whatever turns you on the most ... which is kinda why I've been getting attracted by Pxtone.

[Havok]

Cubase Studio 4 (soon to be 5), Sibelius 4, E-MU Xboard 49 controller, Sony MDR-7506 headphones, 2.13GHz Dual Core PC with 4 Gigs Ram and two 500 GB hard drives, really crappy speakers, East West Symphonic Gold, Stormdrum 2, Massive, Battery 3, and some 8bit plugins and other free stuff laying around. I also play around on the piano and DS-10 a lot. I don't use it right now but I have FL Studio and in the past I've used it integrated into Cubase which works very well.

Yeah, it doesn't matter what you use as long as it makes you smile

[sugarbeard]

FL Studio is easier than Reason for sequencing as it lets you design tunes on a pattern-by-pattern basis while letting you change many patterns at the same time

I can do this in Reason.

For my computer setup I use Reason 4, Ableton 7, and Audition 3 for editing. I use Reason to come up with the patterns and beats and I import them into Ableton to set things up. Audition for clean ups. I use my usb Korg MS-20 to control my VSTs. I don't care for trackers personally. But I never got too into them.

Then I have my actual instruments to record. Couple guitars, basses, my banjo, a couple organs and lots of guitar pedals.

[Aquin]

Yeah, I've played with FL Studio before.  I'm actually using LMMS right now....

I was just wondering how musicians always get those cool chipset sounds.  Do you design them with an editor or download them or...?

[Kekskiller]

FL Studio for drum stuff, Psycle for composing melodies and my DS-10 for small tracks/sounds/synth lines. FL Studio is heavy and not very melody friendly (atleast if you only have the Fruity Loops version like me without recording function). I prefer writing rythm-heavy tracks on it. Psycle is awesome for making melodies with your keyboard. A  customized setup, some good SynthEdit plugins and everything is fine. And the DS-10 is useful for everything, but pretty limited in terms of length, variety and editing. I'm also using SynthEdit for custom VSTs oder just weird experimentation. The rest consists of around 5 Gig free/commercial sample packs and some free VSTs I found on several sites (like Krakli software or Tweakbench, but I prefer build-in synths and effects like the 3xOsc or Plucked in FL Studio).

[Alec S.]

I use Cubase as well.  I use a midi sampler, generally for Mellotron-type sounds (A sampler sampling a sampler!), a computer synth (generally only monophonic synths, I don't believe in using polyphonic synths) and my trusty guitar, along with a line6 digital effects pad (I know, I know, I should use actual individual effects pedals, but I like having the variety).

[JLJac]

For old-school(rather neo-old-school, -school) music pxtone is super great. Other than that I use garage band, partly because I'm an amateur but also because you can achieve decent results with it, as long as you stay away from the super no-no of using the built-in prerecorded stuff, because that is honourless. For editing sound and adding wavy cool soundeffects adobe soundbooth is rad. You can save each instrument as a different file, open 'em up in soundbooth and fiddle, and then mix them together again if you want to edit them separately.

[pgil]

Do you design them with an editor or download them or...?

Does LMMS support VST instruments? Kvr audio is a good source for those. Just search for free instruments and effects, you'll find tons of great stuff.

Some good free plugins to search for to get you started:
Organized trio - a nice physically modeled Hammond organ
Mr Ray - an electric piano
EZpoly - a 2-voice Moog-style synth.
Drumatic - A drum synth.
Mo'Verb - A good reverb plugin

[ThetaGames]

For MIDI I use Jazzware, and for MOD/IT music I use ModPlug Tracker.

To actually record music, I (for the most part) use a four-track cassette tape mixer.  After recording the tracks on the tape, I run a line-in on Audacity. 

As far as instruments go, I mostly use my YAMAHA keyboard, Hammond M2 organ, Bb clarinet, and B3 Theremin (not at all affiliated with the Hammond B3) to create music (I sometimes use a Steinway baby grand piano, but that isn't mine - yay for free school practice rooms!  ).  I also have guitar-effects pedal, and distortion effects on one of my amps (I mostly use the distortion effects for a nice Electric Piano sound though, and delay is nice too).

[Aquin]

Yeah I got a pretty good setup going with LMMS now.  Hopefully my first songs don't offend or bore anyone's ears too much.

Thanks for the help guys!

@Theta:  Your setup sounds awesome!  I wish I had money.  I really need to buy a new guitar!  I also need to tune my piano.

[Terry]

Aquin: If you like FamiTracker, you should take a look at the (free) program it's based on, MadTracker. It's basically just a really nice tracker that supports VSTs. I've been using it recently and I like it a lot.

[ThetaGames]

@Theta:  Your setup sounds awesome!  I wish I had money.  I really need to buy a new guitar!  I also need to tune my piano.

Actually, it wasn't too bad.  I got the Hammond M2 for free, and the mixer was a gift (the thing has got to be from the 80's).  The only things that cost money were the keyboard (~$400) and the Theremin (~$150), and both were good investments.

I would like some more vintage keyboards (a Mellotron, Minimoog, or Rhodes Electric Piano would be nice), but additions to my music setup probably wouldn't be feasible due to money and space constraints.

Oh yeah, a Leslie Speaker for my M2 would be sweet too.

From my experience, piano tuners are relatively inexpensive.  I know someone who does it for $65.  It is definitely worth it; no one likes playing a detuned piano (except John Cage, of course).

[hyperduck]

I use Cubase Studio 5 (educational discount) got it at pugh.co.uk for 170GBP. Which is great, since students can get a hold of this amazing software at such an affordable price, least, in comparison to it's original price, which is considerably more

Anyway. I have an M-Audio Fast Track Pro as my audio interface, and an M-Audio Keystation (88 keys, semi-weighted) MGear Sustain pedal, and a guitarist called Dan. With all of that I manage to scramble some sounds, classy style. And just about any free VST you can get your hands on, I will have tried. I recommend Cubase Studio 5, it's excellent. Really.. check out the features, truly good.

[Dataflashsabot]

I use LMMS. It's awesome.

[Kekskiller]

and a guitarist called Dan

:D
Awesome tool, indeed!

[hyperduck]

lol, he is vital to my mental health, and I am vital to his.



Duck Pals Forever! Though I do still wonder how he plays with those wings..

[kessler]

Ableton Live. Its so sick your head will blow up. Here is a link to a song I made (as a joke) Warning Offensive lyrics!!! Its ableton live 7 with a MOPHO and acoustic guitar and drum samples from lives kits.

[J.W. Hendricks]

PXTone all the way.

[moonmagic]

I am also a fan of using GarageBand as a sequencer / quick sound editor. I feel silly admitting to it because I am sure there are better things but for what I use it for it is fine. It's easy for micromanaging samples or doing quick recordings. A lot of guitar / ukulele / contact mic recordings get dumped into GarageBand until I make up my mind what to do with them.

I tend to like music that sounds pretty gross. In that vein, I generally just add jacks to cheap keyboards and bend them until they sound tinny and awful. There are a few other circuit-bent things lying around the house that I use as well (the best being a Furby, and the worst being a talking promotional keychain for The Spirit.

For chippy stuff I use Nanoloop, because LSDJ has too much functionality for me and it bewilders me. I also end up using the DS-10 a lot and Nitrotracker.