Make Music with your Computer: An Introduction
by: Calab Coleman
Intro
Well guys, I’ve decided to write a short article on how to make music with your
computer. When I started out, I couldn’t find anything to help me. I didn't know what
to buy, or where to start. Hopefully this short article will help you in your quest to
making music a fun and productive hobby or future profession.
Loops and SONY ACID Software
When I first started to create music I used SONIC FOUNDRY'S ACID MUSIC 3.0. It's a
piece of software that enables you to create music with loops. Loops are small
pieces of music, like a drum line or synth line. These loops are only a few seconds
long, but, obviously, they loop. This means that you can draw the loop in for 30
seconds, 60 seconds, whatever length you’d like with no distortion or other strange
noises when the loop starts over at the beginning. There are many websites and
companies that create loops for production use. A lot of them are Royalty Free; this
means that you can use them in commercial (for-profit) songs. Each of the
companies that create these loops has their own license, which you’ll want to read if
you’re going to release an album. The license is usually just a set of rules or terms
that say what you can and can’t do with a loop. Most the time you can use these
Royalty Free loops in commercial recordings, but you can’t, for example, resell the
loops by themselves. You have to abide by the license.
As far as I know SONIC FOUNDRY was bought out by SONY, so if you’re looking for
this software….
- Do a search for ACID PRO, or visit the link at the bottom of the article
- There are different versions of the software; one of the versions is absolutely FREE
The Reason to create
The piece of software I’d like to talk about in this section is PROPELLERHEADS
REASON. This piece of software is much different than ACID. REASON is focused
less on loops, and more on programming. When I say programming, I mean using
individual sounds, for example, a kick drum, snare, or piano sound. You then use the
awesome devices to create patterns. REASON includes a powerful list of devices.
Some of the more important are the ReDrum Drum Machine, Synthesizers, and all
new in 2.5, the mastering devices. I’m not going to get into this too much, because
there’s just too much to tell in this article. If you’re interested in using REASON, I
recommend that you get the tutorial CD-ROM from M-AUDIO. It will give you a good
idea of how to get started with REASON, and if you think that it will be good for you.
Putting it all together
The great thing about the two pieces of software that I talked about in the previous
two paragraphs is this:
- You can use ACID for all your loops
- You can use ACID to record vocals and/or guitars if you have the equipment
- You can use ACID to render your final recording to mp3, wav, aiff, and more
- You can use REASON to program patterns for drums, synths, etc.
(Keep in mind that these two programs can do way more than what’s displayed
above)
The coolest part of this whole thing is that you can connect these two programs.
Using a technology named “REWIRE”, created by PROPELLERHEADS you can have
both of these applications synchronized. Add a loop in ACID, make a pattern in
REASON, and have them play back together. When you’re done, you can render in
ACID to have the synchronized music as one file, or track.
Wait! I have no sound
Okay, so now you have the software to start creating some awesome music. So the
thing you’re missing is sound, speakers, headphones, etc. I use an external sound
card by M-AUDIO, called OMISTUDIO USB. This thing connects to my pc with the
USB port. It has two headphone connections and two instrument/mic connections
with preamp power. It also contains several speaker connections, as well as other
connections for mixers, etc.
There are several different types of these external sound machines. Most of them
are either USB or FireWire. Most have headphone, speaker, and mic connections
and come with the necessary drivers for your computer.
It’s all over
I hope that this short article gave you some ideas to start making music. I plan on
writing more articles as time permits. See ya soon!
Links
ACID PRO and other SONY Software - http://www.sony.com/mediasoftware
PROPELLERHEADS REASON - http://www.propellerheads.se
M-AUDIO Products - http://www.m-audio.com
About The Author
Calab Coleman
Liquidesert is an electronica artist, and has been creating music since 2001. You
can learn more about Liquidesert at http://Liquidesert.com - You can also find Free
Loops and Beats by Liquidesert at http://www.BeatStorm.com.