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Hello, I am 19, new to making music and need some help deciding what software would suit my needs. I write lyrics but, can not play any instruments. When I write I either hum a melody or a hear the music in my head. Problem is this does not allow my to put together a song.

My sound is inspired by Empire Of The Sun, RHYE, MGMT, and Foster The People among many others. What software would allow me to put together a complete sound +lyrics?

Thanks in advance.

*If any other info is needed I am happy to provide it.

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Ableton live + Push

Push is a controller which will help you a lot with composition since it makes easy to use scales and it's step sequencer allows for lot of experimentation while composing melody and to some extent harmony.

You will also need a Synthetizer, Ableton Suite comes with 2 pretty usefull ones but you could also use any of the free ones avaible, or choose between a wide range of options of commercial ones.

So I urge to download a fulll demo Of Ableton Suite, but also check others as Fl Studio, Reason and Studio one.
dedication to flying

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I was actually just looking into that. Would others like Quneo or launch pad also work?

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Download the Live9 demo ... works for 30 days I believe. See if it suits you. I've been using it to record songs (with vocals) recently. :)

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Lucas__Mcfly wrote:I was actually just looking into that. Would others like Quneo or launch pad also work?
Launch Pad is great if you like MADEON... :wink:

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- image-line FL Studio to create with virtual instruments (piano roll its very simple than Ableton Live)
- Steinberg Cubase, Presonus Studio One, Acoustica Mixcraft for rec, editing, mastering etc etc (alternative Cockos REAPER or Zynewave Podium Free)
- a GOOD mic, condenser if you wanna rec in studio or dynamic, a Shure SM57 for a multitude of uses or alternative a super cardioid\hyper cardioid AKG (affordable prices\quality ratio)

GOOD LUCK in this mad world... ;-)


too much informations!!! o.O

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Lucas__Mcfly wrote:I was actually just looking into that. Would others like Quneo or launch pad also work?

Qnuo not at all. launchpad can be made to emulate push but out fo the box only push has all the position related functions that matters
dedication to flying

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So, there are no other products similar to push? What about Maschine Mikro? I have seen many free plugins like vinyl drums, guitar, piano.

Push is pricey but, not really an issue. The problem is that there are so many out there. Want to make sure I get something I can do what I am looking for with and if I can save some money.....

I am looking through Youtube videos but, it seems that all of them are house/techno/dubstep. I would like to see some examples of different genres.

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Software can be used to make any genre of music, is about learning the kind of sounds, scales and time signatures each uses. Most modern software has the abbility to create almost any sound needed.

For the kind of music you like a good substractive synth is all you need, Analog or Operator included in Live suite can do the job (and in fact there are many presets that will suit that psychodelic/electronic pop rock. But there are also many free and paid options, U-he Diva for example could give you all that Moog leads and basses Empire of the sun and MGMT use.

The functions Push offers for composition: scales, step sequencer, keyboard make easy and fun for composing music, only maschine offers somethung similar but it lacks because using it for makin melodies and harmony is not easy at all. And the music you like uses a lot of melody and harmony.

If you can try usung it at a store or watch videos on how to make a full song with them.

All other controller dont help with composition, they just control instruments parameters and specifc Daw controls.

The launchpad can be used to emulate push with third party scripts.
dedication to flying

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Lucas__Mcfly wrote:Hello, I am 19, new to making music and need some help deciding what software would suit my needs. I write lyrics but, can not play any instruments. When I write I either hum a melody or a hear the music in my head. Problem is this does not allow my to put together a song.
In addition to what others have said, ear training is very important for turning the melodies in your head into melodies in a DAW.

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rod_zero wrote:Ableton live + Push

Push is a controller which will help you a lot with composition since it makes easy to use scales and it's step sequencer allows for lot of experimentation while composing melody and to some extent harmony.

You will also need a Synthetizer, Ableton Suite comes with 2 pretty usefull ones but you could also use any of the free ones avaible, or choose between a wide range of options of commercial ones.

So I urge to download a fulll demo Of Ableton Suite, but also check others as Fl Studio, Reason and Studio one.
That's gonna cost a fortune. I had a free copy of Ableton Suite, and the other day a director at Ableton offered to send me a Push. I declined his generous offer.

In my opinion Ableton Suite is way overpriced. I used it for 4 years but I've moved on to Studio One recently and I'm happy it. I used to be a big fan of Ableton's Session View, and an even bigger fan of Bitwig's Launcher which I used from Jan 2014 to April 2014, but I don't miss much them in Studio One. The problem with them is they can be a distraction from getting a tune made. In Studio One I get a loop going, the I use two shortcuts to select everything in the loop and duplicate and insert, which creates enough extra time to slot in a copy, leaving all my other stuff over on the right. The only controller I use is a cheap M-Audio Oxygen 25 which cost about £50, and I got Studio One half price for £170.

I also have a Maschine which I got free, which I don't use, two Launchpads and a Novation Nocturn. I'm not currently using any of that. In fact I mainly use the knob on my audio interface which is MIDI, because in Studio One it's very easy to swap it to any parameter I wish. I simply click a parameter on the screen and press a keyboard command and my hardware knob is controlling that parameter. It is about 40mm wide and is easy to use with one finger.

My advice is keep things simple and get some tunes made.
Studio One, OS X 10.0, M-Audio Oxygen 25 keyboard.
Old websites:
http://www.bitwigtutorials.net Free Bitwig Studio tutorials
http://www.macableton.com Free Ableton Live and Mac tutorials.

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kennyda wrote:
rod_zero wrote:Ableton live + Push

Push is a controller which will help you a lot with composition since it makes easy to use scales and it's step sequencer allows for lot of experimentation while composing melody and to some extent harmony.

You will also need a Synthetizer, Ableton Suite comes with 2 pretty usefull ones but you could also use any of the free ones avaible, or choose between a wide range of options of commercial ones.

So I urge to download a fulll demo Of Ableton Suite, but also check others as Fl Studio, Reason and Studio one.
That's gonna cost a fortune. I had a free copy of Ableton Suite, and the other day a director at Ableton offered to send me a Push. I declined his generous offer.

In my opinion Ableton Suite is way overpriced. I used it for 4 years but I've moved on to Studio One recently and I'm happy it. I used to be a big fan of Ableton's Session View, and an even bigger fan of Bitwig's Launcher which I used from Jan 2014 to April 2014, but I don't miss much them in Studio One. The problem with them is they can be a distraction from getting a tune made. In Studio One I get a loop going, the I use two shortcuts to select everything in the loop and duplicate and insert, which creates enough extra time to slot in a copy, leaving all my other stuff over on the right. The only controller I use is a cheap M-Audio Oxygen 25 which cost about £50, and I got Studio One half price for £170.

I also have a Maschine which I got free, which I don't use, two Launchpads and a Novation Nocturn. I'm not currently using any of that. In fact I mainly use the knob on my audio interface which is MIDI, because in Studio One it's very easy to swap it to any parameter I wish. I simply click a parameter on the screen and press a keyboard command and my hardware knob is controlling that parameter. It is about 40mm wide and is easy to use with one finger.

My advice is keep things simple and get some tunes made.

Funken, I think your opinion is biased.

ANyone can focus on making music in any daw, it's about preference of workflow.
dedication to flying

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Yes, workflow. I get a lot more done in Studio One, partly because it just works, whereas the other two don't, for me at any rate. At least they don't a lot of the time. Every time I use Live I have major problems (I've used it a bit recently to finish off some old tunes). The last few times it has hung and once I had to force quit it. The other times I managed to stop the hang by typing the general force quit command but not actioning an actual quit. Plus it's very slow, for instance at loading songs. If they all worked as they are supposed to, I would probably still be be using Bitwig Studio. However it is buggy, which is hardly surprising as it is new. I got a bit fed up with it so I tried something new. It cost me £170 and I am extremely poor. I have not worked for 2 years and I get no benefits, plus I am massively in debt. However for me, Live is intolerable these days due to slowness and problems. I'll start doing something in Live and then after a while I'll find I can't stop the thing and I can't click on anything. It's just got worse and worse. Before this it was just spinning wheel all the time. I said all this to the director who phoned me up the other day.
Studio One, OS X 10.0, M-Audio Oxygen 25 keyboard.
Old websites:
http://www.bitwigtutorials.net Free Bitwig Studio tutorials
http://www.macableton.com Free Ableton Live and Mac tutorials.

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Maybe pick up Live Lite and see how you get on. Think about an audio interface if you want to record vocals. You're gonna need a microphone and some headphones too. ;)

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