Keef, i was wondering what you think of Acid 4.0. is this an ok software to use for compression and such? should i start to learn Logic or Reaktor? thanks for the help and keep up the good work.

Cheers mate.



I wish I knew the ins and out of reaktor too, but I doubt there are many who do!

Erm.. I don't know acid that well, but it's more a sample player (In my experience) than a composing tool.

The two most powerful tools for music (IMO) are either Logic or Pro Tools, but Pro Tools is more audio based.

But what works for me might not necessarily work for you.

Liam howett loves reason for example...

Reason is a pretty decent program, but all the samples are compressed down to mp3 quality, and it's generally just pretty damn hard to get that "pro" or "finished" sound out of it. Great program for throwing ideas down real fast though.

It doesn't seem any faster than logic to me, but I suppose I've been using it for 7 or so years..

autpt, reaktor is great and you will get to learn how to use a lot of different sound generators/synths/drum machines in it. and after that, you can even make your own ensembles to fit your needs. however, I have heard that reaktor 4 is not very stable on mac os x environment. are you on PC or Mac?

TBH you don't need to get THAT down and dirty with synths (ie making your own) if you don't want to..

I have made my own synths in the past but I don't bother that often!

well.. i've been using reaktor for quite a while now, and,y'know, it's an ace piece of warez.

however, for using it the the way i'd like to (and that would be like, me sitting down in front of my laptop, saying to meself "me wanna make this kind of nice sound" and then making this kind of "nice sound"), it would be essential to learn a shitload about the theory of sound synthesis and everything related to it..

now, that's what i would like to do. the theory behind it, mathematics involved, modulation etc, etc.. i think there would be absolutely nothing standing in my way of making the kind of music i WANT to, after learning all those things. no matter which software i'd eventually use.
for now, it's just like, fucking around; it's kind of music.. it's purely random result of screwin 'round with the software without any (satisfying) final result..

Well learning about that isn't so difficult there are a million resources out there for most forms such as Analogue (subtractive) (I wrote a tutorial of the basics of this on this very forum) FM (A good one is the Computer Music FM guide http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/fm/fm1.asp ) Granular (such as http://www.granularsynthesis.live.com.au/what.html ) additive (http://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/c.../addsynth.html)

I didn't find much on phase distortion but there's not much to it, it's related very closely to FM.

Here's a meaty thesis on resynthesis (http://www.cs.ubc.ca/grads/resources..._Hoskinson.pdf )

And that'll get you started

I use nuendo/cubase for sequencing, reason is excelent for beginners and for sound source but i don't like the sequencer .... a little for the downside...I heard some stuff done with reason and it's amazing ...the next album of prodigy have been done with reason... IF you sincronize nuendo and reason you will get the best of both worlds. Logic is good but is a pity that is now only for mac. Protools is good for audio. Cakewalk Sonar is also very good, and good to get into. I still think nuendo has an edge on all of them.
In conclusion if you are a beginner look for Reason, Synapse Orion, Cakewalk Project 5 or Fruityloops, ...and when you have mastered them you can then go for the big guys like Nuendo, Logic, Cakewalk or Protools