Best DAW to start teaching kids music production?

[fedexnman]

Tracktion 4 has now become free. I think it makes a great starter's DAW.

Yep, Tracktion 4 is free now ....great place to start ...

[VitaminD]

Piano, Keyboard, Guitar, Bass, Violin, Trumpet, Saxophone, Banjo, Shamisen...

I'd recommend picking up an instrument.. by far the most important thing, unless you are training engineers, is to get them into learning the very basics of music theory. I think the most effective way of doing this is by learning this through learning a musical instrument.

I scoffed at it for decades. Yet, now well in hindsight, It is the one big thing musically I wish I had done as a child... it would have hugely impacted my music today for the better.

Anyone can learn a DAW these days.. however, what is the point if they don't have any idea of what to do after that?

It is the cooking equivalent of learning how to use the appliances in a kitchen, yet not understanding ingredients and their properties.. how they mix.. or do not. Anyone can learn how to use a blender and an oven.. but what does the novice chef do if they do not understand the effect of sugar or starch for instance?

Get them interested in musical instruments if they're not already..

If they already play something.. I'd recommend anything linear based starting off. But I will say, once you learn a DAW and I mean really get into it.. you are probably not going to want to move. So I'd find them something that isn't too limiting otherwise they might outgrow it... or worse.. get bored and go back to videogames and the sort.

[Jace-BeOS]

I laugh at the suggestions of complex software. Especially trackers!! I learned music on trackers because I had no money and no sponsorship. I learned music IN SPITE of trackers, not because of them. They held me back a lot because it's like keyhole surgery to get expressive music created. My tracker use climaxed at two expressive tracks where I decided it was entirely NOT acceptable to use "effects" and programmer-like nonsense to get natural playing style in notes (like slurs, instead of rigid quantization). I was also a very technically minded child, and was curious about the technical BS. Most people are not.

You should give a young student with zero experience the most visual and simplistic thing possible to start with. Not techno weenie gadgets.

[Jace-BeOS]

Teaching is one of those areas that human beings make HUGE and horrible mistakes and judgment errors in, typically in making decisions for people that aren't themselves. Most specifically: "That's how I learned, therefore it's good enough for you."

[V0RT3X]

https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/ ... entials-8/

I think something like Propellerheads Reason Essentials is something I would use to get kids interested in electronic music production. At $99 it gives you enough to learn on and the visual layout is really great for anyone to learn on!

With Reason Essentials you get.

Windows & OSX
Subtractor Synthesizer
ID-8 Songwriter's Toolbox
NN-XT Advanced Sampler
Live Sampling Editor
Redrum Drum Computer
Dr. Octo Rex Loop Player
Spider Mergers/Splitters
Matrix Pattern Sequencer
Combinator
MClass Mastering Suite
Master Bus Compressor
DDL-1 Digital Delay
RV7000 Advanced Reverb
Scream 4 Distortion
Line 6 Guitar/Bass Amps
CF-101 Chorus/Flanger
The SSL Console mixer with a slight cut down setup
Time stretch
Creates REX files
ReGroove Mixer
1GB Library
Access to Rack Extensions
ReWire
Refills with limited support

Not only that, but it'll run on a older setup easily.

[Jace-BeOS]

Now that I've made my negative commentary, here's my positive commentary:

Kudos to any of you people here that are encouraging (not pushing) your children (or other people's children) to learn this stuff.

Especially female children, who have historically been driven to "girl things" instead of "boy things". As if music demanded a male physiology. :-p

There needs to be much more positive encouragement for children to learn the arts, and more active enabling for them to feel competent at it. In the days of my schooling, there was no teaching those who were interested but had no "natural aptitude". Teaching should mean enabling, not just formalizing the process for someone already doing it okay on their own.

Now that the tools are so readily available to someone that can afford a computer and a small MIDI controller, there's never been a better time to enable children to learn this stuff (with gender equality!!).

[Jace-BeOS]

A piano,manuscript paper and a pencil...

One pair of ears,plus an active and inquiring mind

And THIS ideal is exactly why I got almost zero formal music education. Musical notation is anything but intuitive. Some people (maybe many) cannot learn by rote memorization (and that's not dissing them; they're usually quite capable with music itself).

I'm perfectly cool with the notion of providing a piano, though.

[musical android]

Something that I always end up recommending people interested in learning a DAW or wanting to make electronic music is to pick up Caustic. It is for free for PC and you can get it for Android / iOS.
It covers in Sound generators a lot of ground and is set up similar to a basic DAW.
It comes with a series of excellent and easily understood tutorials made by the developer.
It makes it easy to understand most DAWs if you feel like switching later.
Always felt that for a child could learn it from around seven years old (depending on the child).
The only ting that it is seriously lacking is audio tracks (it has a pretty flexible direct recording into audio editor for use in sampler) but it seems that it is on its way.
In either case for free on PC and works good on semi old Android devices.

[musical android]

Just remembered a short interview I made with a eight year old making music with Caustic-
http://www.musicalandroid.com/interviews/category/josie

[2ZrgE]

Do we have every availabe, poster's favorite DAW posted yet - (including the inevitable comment to learn a real instrument instead)?

I had good success with Ableton Live for a 10year old - of course I would never have given her any other DAW than the one I use. At least I can answer every question she has.

But I bet she could cope with every single DAW out there (when get some help now and then), including Fruity Loops and those awful trackers - don't underestimate kids' dedication and energy if they really want to learn sth.

[dave dove]

i taught loads of young people
mostly with behaviour difficulties/dyslexia/dyspraxia
i used Acid Pro/Reaper/Studio One and Ableton Live
for developing creativity and confidence Ableton Live is easily the most accessible
the others think in straight lines and don't have a focus on composition
had some success with Usine Pro but had to set it up carefully beforehand

dave

[neverfall]

How in the world could anyone recommend anything other than a FL Studio or Ableton Live....maybe an iOS app?

For a young child? How much EASIER can it get for a child then clicking in drum hits in FL Studio or mashing loops in Live?

[marcperi]

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I think LMMs is working good.
I'm using it also to teach in jails, and is working also with very old pc.

In case, I'm a teacher

Electronic music production training for CHILDREN and NOT MUSICIANS
You will use FREE software for Windows, Mac, Linux, called LMMS.
You will work remotely by Skype with screen sharing.
Some example of original music from my last class
https://soundcloud.com/epoqe/sets/beat-dentro

For info
marcperi@hotmail.com (mailto:marcperi@hotmail.com)