Advice?: Production Setup for Under-Privileged Youth

[BBFG#]

Do they have phones?

Maybe consider having them sign up for a free account to Roland Cloud and just using Zenbeats and Zenology free? I believe Korg might still offer their Kaos free for phones as well?
Not something I would normally suggest, however, it's a free, basic and relative easy beginning. I also did something similar trying to help underprivileged teens and was countered by their own form of privilege of what I supplied not "being good enough" for them...

Best of luck in whatever you present them.

[Schnickschnack]

- My concern here is the kids go home and get GAS as mentioned. (But then, so does adding VSTs like Playbeat. Hmmmm)

Somehow you have to introduce them to some kind of philosophy that says that there lays some special magic in creating something by using "nothing". It's true, and doesnt only apply on music production. Tutorial makers on youtube following the same approach could help. It is important that they see someone doing exactly that and that they really like the outcome, at best on a level that goes beyond "nice tune" to something that has a meaning for them.

[Starbright]

It all depends on the gear at hand... I think software that is easy to use has some advantages for beginners. I used to start on Magix Musik Maker and then switched to Reaper (I also tried most other DAWs). Mainly I switched because of missing features that I wanted to use...
I think if they all had Macs or I-Phones (which they won't have) I'd choose Garageband, but since that might be not possible, I think in terms of possibility and ease of use: Ableton 8 Track (https://www.whippedcreamsounds.com/how- ... eton-free/ some of those ways still work) or encourage everyone to use Ardour (and buy one Version for 1$).

I think mainly of those two because of their clip launchers.
Working loop/pattern based is still an essential tool nowadays and though I love Reaper I am switching for songwriting to logic because of the clip launcher.
Also stability and cross-platform are important: neither Soundbridge, Cakewalk, or Pro Tools First are very stable. Maybe Waveform Free is a decent option (though the workflow is a bit strange).
I also compiled/modified a version of Reaper for my own students and would be willing to hand it out for testing, but overall Ableton could fit the feature set very nice... (and I'm not an Ableton Fan)

[dubdisciple]

Although this thread is old, I am going to still reply because:

1) When I went through this process, it took me months of planning and implementation.

2) Someone else may have similar need down the line.

I had to go through a similar process of figuring out best choice for a budget production setup. I was asked to build a studio for a middle school where most of the students are underprivileged. I had a room I could repurpose as control and an adjoining room I could use as recording booth and a small grant based budget. To save money on room treatment, I purchased sound absorbing fiberglass panels and used in booth and control room. I also got a few bass traps. Far from high level, but HUGE improvement from the echo box the rooms were. The school provided a computer which was actually costlier than what I requested. In addition I got a focusrite interface, JBL monitors and a Nektar controller. The software choice was hardest. The interface came with Bitwig 8 track, which is a cool piece of software, but didn't tick the most important box; the ability to have kids install on home computers. I weighed options of free products (as well as products that could be demoed, yet usable in demo mode indefinitely), and narrowed it to:

Pro Tools Free ( Intro was not available yet) but quickly eliminated because of how buggy software was and how crappy pro tools is for production as opposed to mixing.

Tracktion Free almost made it, but I found it unintuitive. If clock wasn't ticking I may have put in more time to feel comfortable enough to but build around.

Reaper also got strong consideration, but felt a little unsure of how ethical it was to teach children to use a loophole to not pay. Maybe kids like this are exactly who makers of Reaper had in mind when they created a demo that never stops functioning. Keeping in mind I had to sell the idea to my employers, I decided to skip that route.

FL Demo had some similar concerns but the bigger concern at the time was FL' s awkwardness when recording vocals at the time.

Cakewalk got strong consideration but being PC only weighed in on decision (even though I doubt any of the students had Macs). The bigger factor was more shallow. Kids I showed Cakewalk to often felt it looked "old".

I finally went with Studio One Professional in studio with kids being able to obtain Prime for free. This had some pros and cons.

Pros:

Interface is identical with key features disabled. This made it easy to teach in a way that translated functionally and visually.

Project files could be transported between the two with features and plugins greyed out when applicable.

Unlimited tracks

Solid piano roll and step sequencer

Easy to learn and navigate

Cons:

No VST support. This was kind of a blessing in disguise since the limited options prevented the distraction of deciding which VSTs and effects to use. Trust me when I say explaining why I used an LA2A emulation or a 1176 emulation instead of stock compressor to middle schoolers is something to avoid in the beginning.

Lack of busses. I decided it was not a dealbreaker. There is a hack workaround that is less than ideal, so I ended up with "busses anyway"

Didn't have name recognition for kids that Ableton and FL had.

In the end, Pros outweighed cons. In the beginning a lot of what was easy to get started with was loop based anyway. I did teach kids about other options and had a few installed for kids to see. I also discovered workarounds to expand abilities of Prime version. Presence (the one instrument included) will load soundfonts. I made presets loaded with more usable drumkits, 808s, etc. Using this method, it was easier to show them how to recreate some pop songs using only Prime.

As the years have passed I found applying basic principles across software was more effective than indoctrination to sny software ecosystem. I even had them use Bandlab for bit.

[Uncle E]

If the Presence that comes with Prime can load EXS files (the version in Pro can), then I can donate some sample libraries to your program.