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Get Started Making Music

learningmusic.ableton.com

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Re: Get Started Making Music

#141

Post by somesortofsystm »

jamesb93 wrote: post #108
mister_hn wrote: post #106

Can someone here say more about Ableton as employer?

I have friends who work there in a number of areas and colleagues who have freelanced for them (convolution reverb for example). It is pretty nice from what I hear and the focus is very much enabling creativity before profit.

I also have friends who work there - one in particular who has released a suite of his own creative music-making tools, which are quite popular .. and over the years I've tried to spy his influence on the Ableton product line - its there, but very subtle. It seems they've allowed him to continue his side projects (wouldn't have been easy to have shut them down, as they are quite popular) while also giving him a small piece of the Ableton product line to improve.

Definitely seems like he's never gonna leave!

Re: Get Started Making Music

#142

Post by joeberon »

jlarcombe wrote: post #133
kabacha wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

379€ - wow, that's an absurd amount of money for personal software. Include that with every tutorial being priced too and having to buy synths and samples etc this turns into one expensive hobbie.

Well, it's professional software. If you could still buy a permanent licence for Photoshop, say, it would probably be similar.

It would be much more

Re: Get Started Making Music

#143

Post by TomMarius »

flavor8 wrote: post #131

I got into programming as a kid through a desire to make music (my first program was a "song" written in pascal, playing a series beep tones at different frequencies and durations.) I got into trackers (fast, impulse, buzz) in my teens, and then synths. These days I have a strong preference towards "hardware"* only music making -- I spend most of my waking life staring at a screen, so I find it satisfying to step awa…

Thats one of the most interesting hello worlds (like real first hello worlds) I've heard of.

Re: Get Started Making Music

#144

Post by space-dandy »

krn wrote: post #100
haywirez wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ableton is a different ballgame if you have the Push interface. Other than that Reaper needs a mention, it is the best DAW[1] in terms of functionality and power. Truly for power-users and not necessarily as a musical idea starter. [1] http://reaper.fm/

> Ableton is a different ballgame if you have the Push interface. Bitwig, started by former developers of Ableton, supports Ableton Push and many other MIDI controllers[1], and is probably the most advanced DAW for electronic music production currently available. It's not as popular as Ableton, because it's much newer and most people rarely switch DAWs they are used to. > Other than that Reaper needs a mention, it is…

I'm an owner of Bitwig and a huge fan; that being said I think it's more fair to say that Bitwig supports Ableton Push with a few asterisks.

It is supported as far as the Bitwig scripting API can support it. The experience is not the same as using Push natively with Ableton.

Re: Get Started Making Music

#145

Post by josmall »

afroisalreadyin wrote: post #96
josmall wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how was working there? I did a code challenge there last year but I didn't make it to the next round. Still kind of bummed about it.

When I was there it was a great place to work: Nice people, a lot of perks, beautiful office etc. Especially if you are into music, you can learn and collaborate with pretty much everyone, as making and listening to music was and is pervasive within the company. The problem was that I was in the web team, and that was not their actual focus. They have grown considerably, though, so I'm sure it has changed at least in…

Sounds about right. I interviewed for a web position too. But I was really curious about the software and how I can potentially transition into it.

Re: Get Started Making Music

#146

Post by criddell »

backpropaganda wrote: post #52
yellow_postit wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Checkout Pocket Operators from Teenage Engineering if you haven't seen them already. Its a lovely (to me) line of physical synths that are quite inexpensive < $30 USD and also as a non-music person really got me started down a path of wanting to learn more.

POs were a bit too limited for me. The sequencer isn't powerful enough to make anything more complex than basic chiptunes. Not to diss on PO. I was super hyped about it as well, and would have liked to know about its limitations before buying it. Anyone of the numerous phone apps would be a cheaper and better replacement for a PO. What got me started in music was Garageband. It's free (for macos users) and quite simp…

It's pretty remarkable to see what people do with Garageband even on iPhones.

I bought an interface for my guitar ($20) and have played around with Garageband on my iPad and just playing with the amps is a lot of fun. It's a very low friction way to record myself playing while practicing and since I'm using headphones, I'm not irritating everybody around me with my terrible playing.

One complaint about Garageband (and Cubase - a copy of that came with my Yamaha amp), is the lack of tutorials for people like me. I'd love a start-to-finish tutorial for recording a toy song that includes recording my instrument on top of simple drums and maybe one or two other virtual instruments.

Re: Get Started Making Music

#147

Post by mattmar96 »

flavor8 wrote: post #131

I got into programming as a kid through a desire to make music (my first program was a "song" written in pascal, playing a series beep tones at different frequencies and durations.) I got into trackers (fast, impulse, buzz) in my teens, and then synths. These days I have a strong preference towards "hardware"* only music making -- I spend most of my waking life staring at a screen, so I find it satisfying to step awa…

Curious, I was looking at a Keystep today. Can it be used as a regular MIDI keyboard as well? (No arp/sequence)

Re: Get Started Making Music

#148

Post by chachachoney »

kabacha wrote: post #122
fractalf wrote: post #64

Ableton is great and paved the way for a more creative and intuitive workflow! I switched from Cubase very early on and never looked back. That is, until I found Bitwig ( https://www.bitwig.com ) which supports Linux! They also deserve a shout out taking it even further!

379€ - wow, that's an absurd amount of money for personal software. Include that with every tutorial being priced too and having to buy synths and samples etc this turns into one expensive hobbie.

There are some amazing free VSTs out there. Also, 379€ is about the price you'd pay for a mid-level guitar. So if you're considering Ableton or Bitwig Studio your "instrument" it's reasonable.

(obviously, this analogy breaks under pressure; software still lacks the concrete permanence of a physical instrument)

Re: Get Started Making Music

#149

Post by flavor8 »

mattmar96 wrote: post #147
flavor8 wrote: post #131

I got into programming as a kid through a desire to make music (my first program was a "song" written in pascal, playing a series beep tones at different frequencies and durations.) I got into trackers (fast, impulse, buzz) in my teens, and then synths. These days I have a strong preference towards "hardware"* only music making -- I spend most of my waking life staring at a screen, so I find it satisfying to step awa…

Curious, I was looking at a Keystep today. Can it be used as a regular MIDI keyboard as well? (No arp/sequence)

Yeah it can. The keys are small, but it has velocity and aftertouch - it's nice and expressive. Build quality is good.

Re: Get Started Making Music

#150

Post by zupreme »

flavor8 wrote: post #131

I got into programming as a kid through a desire to make music (my first program was a "song" written in pascal, playing a series beep tones at different frequencies and durations.) I got into trackers (fast, impulse, buzz) in my teens, and then synths. These days I have a strong preference towards "hardware"* only music making -- I spend most of my waking life staring at a screen, so I find it satisfying to step awa…

You should try Sonic Pi. Its up your alley.
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