KVR Audio

Trevor Jackson · Post by **Trevor Jackson** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:17 am

I play bass, mandolin, guitar and sing. I also attempt to play keys, drums and trumpet. I have been playing for a while but I took a long hiatus to go back to school. Now, I want to throw out everything I own and start from scratch. I want to find software instruments that are intuitive for fast recording, such as drums and keyboards that sound like real musicians. (I think my limited abilities on these instruments can be put to good use in programming a more talented software program). The other instruments I can handle myself. I play in a variety of styles, so whatever software I buy needs to be effective in many genres. I want to spend between two and four thousand dollars. I have mics and hardware instruments, so this figure is just for software and a computer. I will not need more than 24 tracks. I prefer plug and play to endless tweaking. I don't think I can handle an Ilok.

Any suggestions greatly Appreciated.

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:28 am

you'll definitely need This Plugin.

on a more serious note, for acoustic drums, take a look at BFD2 or Superior Drummer. There are also Kontakt libraries for drums, and there are also more lightweight but less fully featured (and inferior, soundwise) BFD Eco or EZDrummer. There are quite a few inexpensive but good Kontakt drums packages, such as a recently released WavesFactory drum library, or Analogue Drums.

If you loathe drum programming, you'll probably want Jamstix 3. This is a "virtual drummer" type software and is really one of its kind. It has quite a learning curve (that really never ends, the software is that deep) but it pays off very well.

For DAW software, you can look at REAPER - unlimited tracks, inexpensive, very powerful and mostly intuitive (intuitiveness is subjective though - but it has an unlimited and uncrippled demo so you can make up your mind before buying that).

For keyboards, depends on what you want. If you want a set of common patterns that still allow a lot of freedom, then EZKeys would probably be a wise choice. If you're serious about this stuff and want to program your own, it's probably better to invest in a good VST instrument or Kontakt library. Which keyboard sounds are you after exactly? Piano? Electric piano? Orchestral? Synth sounds?

Also, don't forget effect plugins - you'll need a few of those as well. For example, while REAPER has great built-in effects, i loathe its reverb and can't live without ValhallaRoom, ValhallaVintageVerb and IK CSR. SKNote's plugins are great as well, particularly StripBus, c165 and Roundtone. There are quite a few GREAT free plugins, such as Variety of Sound ones. Those are must have.

Trevor Jackson · Post by **Trevor Jackson** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 12:56 pm

Thanks, Burillo, I am looking into your suggestions and will post when I have evaluated my options. I forgot to mention that I own Ableton Suite, the latest version. Don't ask me why, but I leep buying upgrades which I never use...

Burillo · Post by **Burillo** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:50 pm

Trevor Jackson wrote:Thanks, Burillo, I am looking into your suggestions and will post when I have evaluated my options. I forgot to mention that I own Ableton Suite, the latest version. Don't ask me why, but I leep buying upgrades which I never use...

Well, there's nothing inherently wrong with Ableton Live

i heard great things about it, and lots of people use it here. If you've got Suite though, maybe you'll find something you want in there - i believe it includes some synths as well.

My questions still stand - what kind of keyboard sounds are you after?

Kaboom75 · Post by **Kaboom75** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:51 pm

U-he synths beat anything in Ableton Live

For drums Steven Slate Drums 4 with the Chris Lord Alge expansion.

Soundtoys and Slate digital effects
ValhallaDSP for reverbs

DMG Audio for EQ, compressor, and Pitch effects

Pro-L for loudness maximising.

streifentier · Post by **streifentier** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 2:53 pm

Don't forget that when making music with the computer, you have to be not only a musician, but your own "sound engineer" as well, so you will probably need some tools for the mastering process. While there are dozens (if not hundreds) of good options and combinations of plugins in this area, if you are the "plug and play" type, I'd recommend izotope Ozone 5 as a kind of "all-in-one" package for this purpose. Even by only throwing it on the master bus and mainly use the included presets without too much tweaking, it can vastly improve the overall sound of your compositions.

As far as "soundware" - be it synths or samples - is concerned, it would be helpful to know more about the kind of music you're going to produce, or else people will only post what they like, but maybe not what you're likely to need. Suitable for "many genres" is not too helpful in this regard, because it does of course make a huge difference whether you're planning to produce Folk songs, or "Techno", or Orchestral Filmscores. Maybe you can name some instruments you might have in mind. IMO "Keyboard" in this respect doesn't really qualify as an instrument, especially not in combination with "sounds like real musicians".

skipscada · Post by **skipscada** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 3:16 pm

streifentier wrote:Don't forget that when making music with the computer, you have to be not only a musician, but your own "sound engineer" as well

Helpful comment overall, but I object to the idea that he *has to* be more than a musician. It's still possible to just compose and record, then send the recorded tracks to someone else for mixing and mastering. Not necessarily someone professional (here meaning "someone who charges for the job"), either. I bet there are plenty of people around here who would be interested in doing some mixing and mastering.

neverenoughfunk · Post by **neverenoughfunk** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:06 pm

to be honest... i think Reason 6.5 along with the Reason Studio Bundle refills is the best thing going for a "song writer"...

i may be wrong... for "song writers"... it comes downs to a groove, harmony, melody and secondary melody and not tweaking synths (but Reason is also great for tweakers)... with the devices that come with Reason and recording live instruments... Reason is ideal... especially if your goal is to write songs!!!

Trevor Jackson · Post by **Trevor Jackson** » Sun Feb 03, 2013 12:01 pm

Thanks for the responses, I got sidetracked this week, Burillo. I am looking for high quality standard keyboard sounds. I have spent countless hours demo-ing a number of very impressive synth sound packages. My final reaction is -- why use them for a musical composition when they play like finished compositions in themselves? I feel confident that any synth sound I want will be readily available. for that reason, I much more intersted in finding a software pianist who is better than me and with which I can quickly program believable backgrounds to fill out a mix. One hard lesson I have learned is to select patches according to how they fit into a mix rather than how impressive they sound on their own. The "interest" in my tracks are going to come from my own Vox, mandolin, double bass and guitar work. I do feel like some competent background keys would help my mixes, and that is why I am looking for a program that is:

a) convincing and
b) fairly easy to program without a lot of tweaking.

What inspired this notion was clicking on the EZ Keys banner that has been appearing here lately. I downloaded a demo and soon ran into a learning curve. (I know, I know...)

I am a "mature" graduate student who f**ked up a music career earlier in life. The result is a large backlog of material that deserves to be recorded well, yet I do not have a whole lot of time to do it.

The other suggestions and comments are appreciated. In response to several posts in the thread, my engineering/production skills are not bad, but in the past I have worked very slowly. I am hoping to find a more sensible work flow. Since I have been away from computer recording for a few years now, I am assuming there's all kinds of stuff that can help and that I don't know about.

Starting from scratch: Looking for best songwriter rig