Help me compile a list of products that make it EASY for EDM production.

[V0RT3X]

You know products that do all the "complex work" like Izotope Stutter edit etc.

Romplers count too i guess considering you can just dial up a preset and tweak it a bit until you get your sound.

I'm basically talking about products that you only need about a 20 minute learning curve with to figure out how to use.

So far I got a few for the list.


https://refx.com/products/nexus/summary/
ReFX Nexus - Don't know how much easier you can get with Nexus. When you need that latest EDM lead, or pad you will most likely find it in here or amongst their preset packs. Very little synthesis knowledge required!



http://www.vengeance-sound.com/plugins. ... %20Phalanx
Vengeance Sound Phalanx - Much like Nexus, this thing will get you up and running with a Beatport Top100 sound in no time.


http://www.xferrecords.com/products/cthulhu
X-fer Records Cthulu - Helps you with your chords and melodies.


Steinberg Halion Sonic - All the basic sounds you need for non-EDM stuff.
https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/v ... nic_2.html

[dsan@mail.com]

Maybe these?

http://www.kirnuarp.com/

http://www.graywolf2004.net/my-projects ... peggiator/

I was going to add this one but not sure if these are a 20 minute learning curve

Still, fun to work with:
http://www.sugar-bytes.de/index.php?lang=en

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[chk071]

I would throw Sylenth1 and Spire into the pool. Loads of sound sets for EDM music, and a nice, modern sound heard in many EDM tunes right out of the box.

[cryophonik]

[rod_zero]

Ableton Push for creating drum sequences, melody and harmony.

[Lotuzia]

See, I've watched tutorials recently recommended for EDM production. In the first one a probably wellknown, at least reasonnably successfull, producer explained during 20 mn how he transformed a very basic sound ( from an Arturia unit iirc) and after 20 minutes, gazillions of effects, stacjs, doubling, crusher, crusher II, distorsion 1 to X, turned it into another basic sound on 4 tracks that sounded really far from the original, while still beeing fairly basic to my -uneducated- ears. So it seems making EDM was indeed a complicated thing.

In another tutorial, I watched another guy explaining during the same 20mn how to get an *EDM* Moog sound from Massive. Though the result sounded nothing -imho- like a Moog, it wasn't a bad sound. SO it seems EDM could once again be somewhat complicated ( Because after 20mn you still only got one sound, eventually suitable for an EDM track.

Then I watched a tutorial of another guy explaining how to layer kicks in *that rompler* to finally get this awsome kick ( that I found boring but its only me). Another 20 mn gone. And thats already 1 hour gone actually.

Then I watched another tutorial on how to layer 3 sounds in Massive to get a massive ( sorry ) EDM, or dubsteppish layered sound ( and indeed it was huge ) But one could probably do something *similar* with any other synth.

Then, having a rompler like Nexus is only one possible beginning. You still have to get the right sound right ? Then make the right part with it.

Finally, after watching a dozen of similar studio courses or tutorials, I came to the conclusion that making EDM, or music in a more large perception level, is really something personal, and that none of the supposed ready to go tools is sufficient, if you aint got something else.

Call it energy, vision, directions, compositional skills, groove abilities, work, and a few other things, but I have the feeling that is only the combination of such abilities with the relevant tools ( wich are ime different for everybody ) that will make one able of making music, in the best case successfull, but lets stop at this simple "make music' step ), or .... less.

So, some tools are less complicated to use, but it seems some results can only be achieved with complicated workflows, wich make that, in the end, I barely believe in *ready made for success* units and stories. Ymmv.

[MadAnthony81]

I personally love all Waves.com products that Ive used so far.

Waves.com Plugins are easy to learn and fun to read the manual. They are extremely realistic analog productions and reproductions and have few knobs usually.

http://www.waves.com/1lib/images/produc ... imizer.jpg

They have the tech, they have the simplicity, they have the manuals built into the GUI if you have Adobe Reader.

Waves CLA Compressors, but more along the lines of what your looking for would be one I haven't used. Ofcourse being the Metafilter their newbee. It's highly intelligent arp filter. Supposedly my GEQ EQ actually removes phase, quite interesting. And ofcourse their indespinsable Limters have only 3 knobs or settings to use and differenciate almost. Hey maybe even 4 tops probably.

Sylenth1 ofcourse the bomb and a blast programming new sounds all by yourself and the manual is cool too.
Rapture might even take 40 minutes to learn but can make decent sounds quickly too.
Synthmaster is way to tedious for fun sometimes in my opinion.

http://www.lennardigital.com/sylenth1/screenshot.jpg

Ofcourse theres also Auto Mic modeler which is indespinsable for finding the right mic of choice or even using for a mic.
And also Autotune EFX. These cheapies are a blast and effortless to use but can make or break you sometimes.

http://www.antarestech.com/mediafiles/p ... screen.jpg

Tune Up,

Tone Loke

[ImNotDedYet]

Some of my stuff will be Live-specific, but...

Schwarzonator 2 Live Pack by Henrik Schwartz. Not really EDM specific, but it can bang out some quick melody lines, etc. given just a chord or musical key if I remember correctly.

Live Pong m4l device which again generates cool, "abstract" melodies. Better for your deeper, left field stuff.

Wave Alchemy's Deep House and Garage samples, loops, and midi files. Great for ideas or to break apart the loops, samples, etc. Some really nice sounding stabs, etc. to play with as well. They also have an Ableton live pack now for this.

MPT Deep House Synth - a Reaktor ensemble that can generate some great deep house sounds as well as different chords (up to 13ths) and chord rhythms.

Monark - another Reaktor item, but the basslines this mofo makes are sick.

Massive - obviously (and FM8 if you know what you're doing with FM synthesis for basses)

J74 Progressive - another m4l device, and not EDM-specific, but can help generate some really cool chord progressions for you.

[arkmabat]

Dare I say Z3ta+ 2. Certainly Massive.

[chk071]

Synthmaster is way to tedious for fun sometimes in my opinion.

Agreed. I also find the sound to be totally uninspiring. Somehow sounds odd most of the times, the envelopes have no bang, the filters don't sound nice to me. One of the plugins i'll soon part with, just doesn't please me in any way.

[thecontrolcentre]

Dub Turbo ftw

[Numanoid]

Dub Turbo ftw

+1 for Dub Turbo

[dsan@mail.com]

Wow! Coming up in the world, Dub Turbo is. Gaining ground.

Only took 7 posts to get there this time

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[Synchanter]

Vintage Warmer and Camel Phat effects are the absolute shiznit.

Sylenth1 and Dune 2 can dial up some sick dance sounds in no time flat.

[excessional]

Synthmaster is way to tedious for fun sometimes in my opinion.

Agreed. I also find the sound to be totally uninspiring. Somehow sounds odd most of the times, the envelopes have no bang, the filters don't sound nice to me. One of the plugins i'll soon part with, just doesn't please me in any way.

I suppose it's just personal taste, but I love the Synthmaster sound. I know my way around z3ta+2 best, but tend to prefer many of the stock Synthmaster presets.
In fact if a beginner had just $20 to spend on a synth, I'd advise he got the Synthmaster Player just for the 800 factory presets.

I think a lot of beginners get hold of synths and get lost in the endless possibilities of sound design. They'd be better off using stock sounds and spend the time concentrating on learning basic music theory and good composition IMHO.

Once you have the composition down you can always spend days messing to get exactly the right patch/mix etc.