I really like ambient electronic music and would quite like to have a go at recording some at home. However I have zero experience of recording anything at home.
Can anyone offer up some general advice on getting started? I think I'm reasonably tech-savvy, but I find the world of DAWs and plugins completely daunting. Is there anything that would make a nice user-friendly introduction?
I think the PC has enough power (i7, 16gb ram), so if I add a USB midi keyboard, would that cover the hardware side of things, or am I missing something obvious?
I'd rather not chuck too much money towards this at this stage as it's just something to test the waters.
Any advice greatly appreciated - I'm not even sure if I'm asking the right questions here!
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That PC should be powerful enough for multiple instrument VSTs, too.
As for DAWs, lots of people here like Reaper (but I found it harder to get into than most).
If you've got a USB interface on your keyboard then I would expect the input will be OK, because that's how I get midi into my DAW (Reaper in my case). But something has to convert the audio output of a virtual instrument (VSTi) into an audio signal that goes to your speakers (or headphones). My audio interface does that and the output conversion latency is low, so I don't have a latency problem.
I use ASIO for my audio System In Reaper, which then allows me to select my the ASIO Driver associated with my audio interface. If you don't have an ASIO audio interface then I'm not sure that will work. Other options I have for the audio system in Reaper include 'Direct Sound' and 'WASAPI'. Direct Sound has high latency. WASAPI appears better but still a bit on the high side. I've heard some people use ASIO4ALL but I've no experience of that.
Sorry, not much help, but I'm just raising a few questions that maybe someone with more knowledge will be able to give a better answer to.
That looks like it could be perfect, definitely on the list to try, cheers
That's all you need right there.
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Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youIt's a lot to get my head around, but have been able to programme basic drums, synth and bass, and load in some external plugins. Good start I think, but I'll try some of the DAWs you've suggested over the coming weeks and see which one works best for me
Regardless, good luck with the journey - it's a lot of fun!
Get yourself a copy of Computer Music magazine - that has more than enough free kit to go at, everything you'd need. Some very good free synths in there. You will get a link in the mag to all the free stuff, and loads of samples too.
At some stage, have a look at KVRAudio forum - superb electronic music resource.
Tbh, you just need to follow your nose really, especially with ambient music. Just get few soundscapes, drones on the go and you are away.
Generally though, all DAWs follow the same workflow principles. It's really all about what you get used to. I know Cakewalk isn't the best, but it's what I get on with and it does the job. It also has a pro level spec - the free version is better than the old top spec paid for version that was about 300 quid.
Previously I've used Reaper, Cakewalk and Studio One and while they worked well for me for guitar music I found I was more productive with one of the DAWs that are focussed on electronic music.
The two main players are:
FL Studio
Ableton
FL Studio has an unlimited trial with no saving and is very reasonably priced with life time free upgrades
Ableton as a 3 month trial, but then gets very expensive
Both have the largest community and the most tutorials and YouTube content etc for this kind of music and also come with everything you need including decent synths and plugins etc.
I ended up going with Bitwig which is similar to Ableton, but cheaper and more modern and streamlined. It's quite niche, but it's got a very active community.
All you need is an audio interface and a cheap MIDI controller. (I have a Novation LaunchKey and a Arturia MiniFuse both of which were fairly cheap)
Another approach is to get a little hardware box as it's much easier to get to grips with and more like an instrument. I really rate the Novation Circuit Tracks/Rhythm for a beginner, but the Roland MC-101 or Elektron Cycles are also supposed to be very good. Gabe Millers YouTube is great for this route.
I'd say it's still worth checking out the trial of the full Ableton (You can have both installed) as it's got a lot more capabilities.
If you do go with a cut down DAW then it might be handy to get something like Vital which is a really high quality free Synth VST: https://vital.audio/
If I was recommending the best option for starting out with electronic music it would be Ableton Live.
FL Studio is great but many more people use Live and it works both as a studio and as a performance tool.
Ableton also has the wonderful Max for Live add on, which allows you to things other DAW's cannot.
Logic is also very good (and my preference) but it is Mac only.
Other DAW's (Pro Tools, Reaper, Studio One, Cubase, Nuendo etc) all have their strengths and weaknesses but none are as suited to electronic music.
There is a reason many, many electronic artists have switched from Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase etc to use Live.
That doesn't mean you can't do electronic music in, say, Pro Tools.
You can, and people do, but the architecture of the DAW itself is not inherently suited to it.
The main issue with any DAW is how well you know it.
Changing DAW once you are familiar with one will be much more difficult than it takes to learn in the first place (I know this because I've done it several times now).
I still know Logic and Pro Tools better than anything- because I have used them the most.
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