I used to HATE using computers for music making
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- It took me a while to figure how to use a computer as a creative tool instead of a hindrance. Here are some of my primary takeaways from my last decade of trial and error, from complete beginner to... whatever I am now.
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Here are some of the composition concepts that have helped my computer music sound less computer-y: bit.ly/FREEcompositionguide
Excellent perspective on this video, bravo! Thks for sharing.
Having spent 10K hours playing Unreal Tournament defitinely helps;)
that's a really sad waste of time
@@i-never-look-at-replies-lol We all waste our time in different ways. its nothing new and definitely not a shocker
@@i-never-look-at-replies-lol but now he can navigate his DAW faster with his heightened reflexes
Is it a VST?
Checks all the boxes
In Studio One, you can write the midi in traditional notation. It gives you the flexibility of a full midi piano roll with the flexibility of breaking out the og notation whenever it is preferred
And so can Cubase, it's called the Score Editor.
In fact, the original Cubase on the Atari ST from back in the 1990s had a score editor and it has been available on every version of Cubase since afaik. I'm surprised Jameson didn't take advantage of it since he mentioned in the video his first ever DAW was Cubase.
@@makaijin
Glad to hear Presonus aren’t the only smart ones in this regard
It was clunky at best when I tried it. Of course, I also had no idea what I was doing at the time.
Over the years I've found that I don't enjoy dealing with tech when I'm in the idea-sketching phase. Doesn't save me enough time to be worth the potential disruptions.
I know there is a way in Pro Tools where you can transfer midi info to notes.
I have found myself using very much a “hybrid” template.
Each of my sessions start with a “blank” DAW. But basically all my virtual instruments are saved with the settings I use most often so when I open a virtual instrument, it is already set up how I like it. The same happens with any of my hardware synths.
And I have a very similar setup for mixing. I have specific chains saved. So if I am mixing bass, for example, I can click the button for the Izotope Neutron->DBX->Mix Monolith chain or I can click a separate button for the Soothe->Neve 1073->1176 chain.
Glad to see you address this topic! I am know from too much thinking and trial-and-error that I am at most creative in the morning. I can't sing well, but it sure works for my song-writing. Typically, I'm just in the car after dropping off a family member at work, and sing into an iPad, iPhone, or OP-1. BTW, Scaler is a great chord tool on the iPad, but even that can feel too techy.
You make so much sense, I begin to feel I’ve misunderstood. Sad.🙂
this is a great video. I want to learn how to make music for films. mainly because I am trying to wrap a sci fi film.
Yeah. That point about keeping track of your plugins and installers etc. is gold.
Kills me all the time.
Personally , my 2 problems with making music on the computer are the endless options ( spending literally hours scrolling through thousands of samples ... 🤢🤮 ) and the use of mouse and keyboard , sitting at my desk in front of a computer monitor makes it feel like a chore , i might as well do my taxes and answer to emails ...
Doing on any groovebox the exact same thing I would do on Ableton is so much more satisfying and fun , and feels more intentional , and feels like actually making music , instead of feeling like a boring work .
I can see the "power" of DAWs and all the amazing crazy stuff you can do on them , but i hate using them .
The flip side is how much harder it is to ever finish anything on a groovebox. Sure, it's much quicker and easier to get started but try arranging a track or changing the key on an MPC. Things that take 1 second on Ableton takes hours, assuming that it's even possible at all.
There's a reason every single professional music maker uses a computer.
What level did you get to with DAWs? I had the very same feeling coupled with being lost, until what I made started to pay off to my own ears somewhat. Not until I understood a some synthesis, processing, sampling, plugins, mixing and arrangement did I start enjoying it for what it was. Now I'm thinking of getting into modular!
But first and foremost I might have to swap to Ableton. Seems much more streamlined than FL. Fl is cool but I feel like an electrician laying wires all day. I guess that is also nice in a way, okay bye
@@kky10xz19 My music got "cleaner" using daws but became lifeless and tedious, especially trying to add groove and feel. Pushing through because "you can make good music in a daw" doesn't mean its enjoyable or the type of music you want to make.
@@daynemin It just depends on you and what you like so enjoy yourself either way
But I have a question. What are you alluding to, what platforms/tools/instruments do you prefer to make use of and what type of tracks are you producing?
@@kky10xz19 I like to make more downtempo stuff like Tycho, boards of Canada. But I've played guitar since highschool, and whenever I start with it I feel organic ideas come through fast and authentically. All the harmonies and basslines come out easier and better.
From travelling around etc I would just have a laptop and it just doesn't work for me. A big part is dynamics and subtle timing shifts that come out in natural playing.
When I make music in-the box I prefer to just make little jams and beats.
I use Ableton, right now I don't have any other instruments. Ideal setup for me would be bass, guitar, one mono synth, a digital poly and a few guitar pedals. Maybe a sampler/drum machine.
Did the "one live player over a bunch of samples" thing last year when I made an album on a tracker, thought it sounded good, then jammed guitar over it and realised I had much more work to do. Great result though I thought
One comment. long, long ago I played with a sequencer that turned the Piano roll 90 degrees so that it was like an actual piano roll from a player piano. I found that so amazingly intuitive, as a keyboard player, that I am amazed that no DAW has this as a possibility. Somehow, it just made more sense.
I too wish that piano rolls had this feature.
However, allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment: computer screens are that pesky 3:4 aspect ration (the longer being width, obviously). DAWs are primarily used by musicians who focus on hyper-specialized instrument cases instead of the 88 keys of a piano. Therefore, it's more beneficial for a DAW-based musician to see how a one-octave bassline unfolds throughout all 8+ bars (which the aforementioned width of a screen should be easy to accommodate). Also if you want the bassline to go WUB... WHAOoh... BRee (technical terms, ya know)... the automations lanes for format filters, FM modulation, and other doohickeys might be easier to understand if the graphs for said automations are horizontal instead of vertical (not impossible, just easier).
However my automation-lane argument breaks down when you consider that trackers exist and are widely loved by the users. Otherwise, there you have it: limited polyphony for most cases, AND automation lanes. Back to you, Bill.
[edit] more than likely... it's just the tradition of standard notation being a left-to-right reading ordeal that is shoe-horned into piano roll as a "gotta work the same" mindset.
Whenever I open a DAW on my computer I feel like I'm about to make a spreadsheet in Excel
then you're not using the right DAW
such an interesting convo. i’ve recently been reworking my workflow after using the sp404sx solely. the limitations are really what make the instrument shine, it only samples. on top of that starting grooves with no grid and sound design is such a breeze when its hands on. going back to ableton can be paralyzing with the amount of options
VCV Rack led to bass guitar for me :)
Thank you for this video man. I'm an older "genxer" and I can relate to your experience in music exploration.
Jameson Nathan Jones just watching this now as I do some stuff in the background. good video.
Computers are fraught with problems when it comes to music, true. 101% agree though I'm only partically through your video.
You can you know, use a pencil and staff paper and still make a living in film music. If your name is say, John Barry.
Funny how my experience was exactly the opposite, came as a developer, started on "sound" production by doing a few algos for sound generation. While studing on for the pitch I started playing with frecuency and Tamber, that led to downloading live and starting designing sounds. My sole entry point was math, chord and notes are essentially math but math cannot cuantificate the emotion on the chord so as you might imagine my music wasnt very transmiting but very design intensive.
I did had a background as a drummer (a few years of playing intensively as a child) and what took my away was reading notation. The encoding on music notation is simply awful, notes are the same but it depends on the line they are sitting which you need to see from a distance, and while drum didnt had intonation, complex rhythm its as difficult to read. I couldnt think otherwise that music notation was a mason code to obscure music to those who couldnt figure what the childish pictures on a line meant. Of course MIDI solved all this. It was simple and intuitive, notes are in their corresponding note, every note is pictured and note lenght and rhythm can be simply drawn at will. My mind would fill the arrangment with the most creative sounds I can came to imagine but I struggled to create a "musical message" a somewhat of a coherent musical piece. I still do. while math and sound have limits, music dont, you can just run your face on a keyboard and could be musical, theres no logic no sequence of thought that backs that.
It took me a while to learn the basic of music theory and im still a begginer on that field but as instruments goes, I rather have my computer but im leaning much more a humble keyboard controller after practicing for a while. Your videos help with the theory too, thanks.
They tried to tech music notation at public school found it so stuffy and boring put me off the idea of ever being able to put ideas into music, thank goodness for punk rock and affordable electronics, whatever works for you Matt.
This is absolutely so true. Clicking a mouse is always work, whereas truly connecting with an instrument is pure joy. Instruments plus a NON-PC multitracker, then... 5 minutes in audacity to run a mastering plugin or two and... Done! No fancy DAW no nonsense or walking through presets and sounds, just sit down and compose what you hear in your mind. This is is the best workflow for me.
Give touchscreen laptop or monitor a try . For me its opening fun way playing vst instrument or dabbling with fx and daw
I really struggle with this. I used to play guitar when I was younger, but am physically unable to play instruments well anymore. I have a really hard time connecting to any song I am working on and getting into the groove when I am drawing in the notes or messing around on a MIDI keyboard, but I don't know of any other options.
Best jam I ever had was with my electric guitar & the birds singing outside my window, felt like a legit call & response thing, recorded it and if I try hard I can convince myself the cars driving past sound like the crashing of waves 🌊
I guess it's what you grew up with, I've been using Cubase for 33 years now. I can look at piano roll on the screen and instantly see everything, I still can't read notation.
"Adding a single live player"... Oh yes, I've always had a vocalist, and then added a guitarist in the mid 90's. And we were a band.
Yeah I definitely think whatever you start with/spend the most time with has a big effect on preference.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your wisdom and advice with us! This was a good investment of my past 13 minutes.
Very interesting watching this video. It looks like your approach to DAWs and computers were pretty rough at the beginning! in my case was the opposite, I came from traditional teaching in the early 80's and in the early 90's I started using computers and by that time computers weren't that friendly as they are nowadays. I remember myself using a Amiga 500 computer with a midi interface using a 4-channel sequencer called ProTracker. I also had a notation program that I can't remember the name, sequencers were more precise than notation, now the DAWs offers things that I would't even been dreaming when all this started for me! I mean, I always was grateful from what computers gave me and helped me to do. Great channel!
I am an dawless musician. My brain is Akai MPC which I do all my work, compositions, sampling and mixing. The greats about is, the MPC is an Playstation for making music. I always prefer the hands on workflow, because for me feels like making music. Also, that can work with real knobs and play melodies and rythms on the pads. I could never make music on the pc only
Thank you. I appreciate the frankness and honesty with which this vid was made. Most refreshing.
Last time I made music on a computer myself was in the early 90s on my Amiga. Using a 68060 CPU and realtime software mixing this was still the most amazing machine at the time. Yet, I noticed and I am convinded up to this day, that there's no good music being made using DAWs!
Just from hearing music, seeing what music I like, and how it was made, I came to the conclusion, that the classic way of using a keyboard and a lot of racks or pedals for effects and sounds is a reuqirement for good music being produced. So it seems that it's about the haptics and the intution factor, which enables the creative process to grow.
Amazon aws storage is a great place to back things up as an archive
Yeah I was listening to all your private saved projects on my Alexa just last night. Lots of great hooks and ideas in there, man.
Thanks for the video. I use Score Creator to write music. I’m old😊 so it is like scoring on paper, but easier and more efficient. It will play what you wrote with various instruments and the user can write with chords too. You can export your creation as a MIDI file.
The DAW template advice is spot on. I made the exact same mistakes - no template > stupidly in-depth template.
An easy start is all it should be.
DAW is focused on quickness and practicality. Producers and musicians outsource their ears to visual and clicking, copy-pasting. It was fun 20 years ago but now I see that it almost completely destroyed my motivation for making music. Not to mention that 50% of my VST don't function anymore, I must be a slave to subscription and updates, Native Instruments and Avid are the worst! Spent over 2000$ in the last 5 years and half of that doesn't work. I spent my energy and time with support and emails, no wonder I lost the will to make music! I am selling now my Pro Tools and Native Instruments, I bought Tascam 8 track mixer, new amplifiers, guitar, piano... And final mix and mastering I will do in real studio!
...and just to add, I replaced Sibelius with pen and paper and my productivity and quality dramatically improved! I rely on my imagination and ears. I construct phrases in my mind and improving my musical memory.
Yep many an interesting idea have been lost trying to put said idea into the box
I also have zero formal training, I am self taught at engineering, mastering, Ableton, etc. And after almost 10 years in Ableton I'm no closer to mastering it than I was when I started haha
I started with an Atari ST, Casio CZ-101 and Cubase sometime in the late 80's but actually much earlier with an Atari 800XL and a little 6502 player routine, hugely inspired by Phil Price/Gary Gilbertson collaborations (Alternate Reality and their awesome music compilation disk), then years later the incredible music of the tracker scene, and to today where FL Studio is my main instrument but I'll use Renoise and Bitwig occasionally. I've also used Csound, MaxMSP, PureData, SuperCollider, FAUST, ChucK, and many other tools. There's so many cool ways to make sounds and I love learning them all, but ultimately the best way is the one that lets you get music in your head onto a computer with less friction as possible.
I expected to push back with my somewhat recent discovery that I am more creative the more digital and non intuitive a piece of software is. This isn't to be a contrarian, I think it's because I started out with some really cryptic looking shit and that's what gets my imagination going, but I digress:
I agree with the main principles you've shared here.
I'm also the weirdo who keeps a computer going for 10 years or buys a 10 year old computer on purpose because I know how to take care of it and it runs that particular software to get that particular sound. In the long run, I treat it like any other musical instrument and get similar results.
I also wrote my charts by hand instead of relying on software to print sheets for bands because I can write faster than I can enter the note data into those things. I haven't had a need for it since the 90s though.
Thank you for your sanity.
Wait a second this isn't venus theory.
Good job on the video!
Thank you for this!
i think using multiple generators and sound sources will always give better results soundwise, more life. With a computer you end up lost in over treatment to get the mix not to sound super flat... my opinion though, mayne it's just me... not for producing at least, but i could add a computer as an extra generator, like kontakt typically, or to use an fx chain i guess.
Imagine being a creative and at the same time being complicit with the tools' limitation to guide your process.
This is an entire skill issue, hoping for technology to help you out if you didn't sort your head out.
Me not really knowing how to read or write sheet music(whoops) I still agree with your statement that it’s hard to notice problems in a song within a DAW
Free from computers music yes ,, Your I hope you dont mind this your a adorable little man ...
Thank you, I thought I was the only one
Computers are great for making music. I like to create music software and filters myself, and use original tools as much as possible. Tada: infinite synthesizers, that cost a little time instead of lots of money to obtain. Throw in some MIDI equipment for more physical interaction and it's a great experience.
I guess having a full time job as software developer (or any job making long hours behind a computer screen) also "helps" for me to aim for anything other than a screen. No surprise I've developed a taste for stuff with buttons, sliders or other things to get my hands (or feet, mouth, whatever body parts) on. Especially if it's not too obvious to get a certain sound out of it, making you want to develop your own way of (ab)using it. And more recently I realized the value of being forced in a way of working that you're not familiar with and might seem odd. I was fooling around with a 303 clone, getting the hang of the somewhat awkward way of programming patterns in its sequencer. It made me look at composing from somewhat different perspectives than I was used to and with that triggered interesting creative ideas :)
I like performing using gear like a sampler or multiple and synths and stuff, that seems more fun but tedious in the long run, but who cares, I’m most creative outside the daw and if I want/need to use it it’s there but mostly wanna just make and perform on gear, it’s the closest to traditional instruments and being able to have some sort of control is a BIG for me
I apologize in advance if you've already disclosed this information, but I'm curious what film/TV/video games you've scored? I'd love to check those out!
must have never heard a SOPHIE song
this is a fantastic watch, tells the time perfectly . . .ok terrible joke, but seriously this video is amazingly thought provoking, many life lesson reminders in there, specifically how we tend to skim over the surface with sample libraries, and that translates well in life when you have too many options, but it tied in well with the point you made regarding traditional instruments being beautifully limited, as they force you to dig deeper into them, i always pondered on why we as humans are so limited, it may be for that exact reason, to dig deeper into ourselves for discovery purposes, that is assuming we have a purpose, but hey im rambling, thank you for the reminder
My two favorite hobbies are using computers and making music. And I absolutely never mix the two.
I am a classically trained painter. Oil on canvas. Tools being tools, after 2 years of using Photoshop on one layer I discovered ...the other layers. I know.
It was 20 years ago. I still like to paint better, but well, the rent has to be paid, I got used to paint on a tablet, or even Illustrator 😅
Amen. The computer is not an instrument as you said. It is essentially a recording studio in a plastic box and you essentially become a producer. I must say that despite my love for the art of computer music production, I very much miss the sound of live musicians on a recording. Despite how advanced DAWs, etc., have become with randomizing and attempting to create the feel of humanization, it is still not there and perhaps may not be ever. There is something to be said when listening to a pop, rock, ballad, whatever from prior to the digital era and hearing but not hearing the essence of the human touch. Much of it on the surface is not actually noticable, but the brain knows. It puts it all together and can simply tell that what you are hearing is being played and recorded from live musicians. Now I am not, nor ever been a musician trained or otherwise. I simply loved producing using computers both because I always loved computer music and the avant garde aspect and the challange of piecing together bit by bit as if a puzzle. So, my comment is not one based on bias because of being a musician, but simply from perspective and honesty. There is and perhaps always will be the battle between musicians and computer based music production, and that is sad. They're are two different things, two different mediums, producing two different sounding outcomes. It is just sad that today due to profit thinking only that the art of live musicians has been replaced for digital mimicking. But sadly it sells, and that is all that seems to matter.
I reduce everything to a handful of options to make music, using presets and minimal templates whenever I can. I only buy gear if it will solve a particular problem. Keyboards and standard notation are key (heh) because they are the simplest ways to see what I'm doing.
Always back up!
Lately I decided that I can record with the minimal number of sounds. Guitar, synth, few drum and instrument samples. I refuse to scroll trough large sample libraries and presets. It gets on my nerve. Did I start playing music to get bogged in scrolling? And who said more is better. I am perfectly fine listening to music played with one or two instruments as long as I find it interesting. If it works for me it must work for others too. And with my pain I can't even sit for long. I think we get lost in what's basicaly filtered farts. That's what soud design is. Filtered farts.
Nah, a muscle MacBook Pro and Logic are quintessential. No issues here.
I have a contact irl who hires composers for commercial distribution in films, shows, commercials, etc. The company is called 4 Elements Music.
I have the opposite problem.
I started with computer and now classical notation is difficult to me...
That doesn't matter so much. Produce your music...create your music in anyway that you can. I learned computers when they finally came out with some viable software to be a useful tool for making music, and it excited me to no end. But really creating music comes from your brain and your soul. The tools are just a means for chipping away at it like a pencil or pen.
I had computer before I had a proper synth, so idk what you are saying :) that being said, i started with guitar so before I moved to DAWs like ableton
I fell into the trap of not pushing outside the default 4/4 grid of my DAW for far too long.
One piece of music creation software I've found quite inspiring is called "Midinous". (ua-cam.com/video/F2_C5lpb2Bg/v-deo.html)
Its appears extremely grid based, sitting on a literal grid, but it's node-and-path based approach is completely different from anything else I've ever seen, and it has me thinking about music in whole new ways. It's not so much that I use it to compose songs, it's more like messing around in it for a while leads to interesting things I never would have come up with any other way. Then I then take elsewhere.
Good stuff 🤟
My thoughts on this is that computers are the de-facto way to produce music efficiently. However, it does require training and practice - I don't think you could experimentally fall into the production engineering needs to make the best use of DAW and VST. Obviously you don't make dance music, but I believe a lot of producers make high quality music using only a computer and programming in midi directly. This wouldn't be the approach that works best for other styles of music, especially in your case where recording musician sessions is important - and midi wouldn't be the appropriate way to do it since after all, you want to record a performance with the actual sounds produced by your instruments. I can't imagine how I would ever recreate performances on the guitar without directly recording it, and I have used a session musician Cello recording myself before.
Humans have spent almost a quarter century now creating pop "music" using tools like auto-tune, melodyne and beatdoctor that sounds like computers. Using AI (LLM), computers can now directly create music sounding like computers. We are cutting out the middle man.
Midi isn’t audio. Correct; Except now these new DAWs have this new stupid thing called “hybrid” tracks. Help! ;)
Ther Germans have a saying: _If the farmer can't swim, the swimming trunks are to blame._
8:46 lolololol
I hate making music on a computer. I use my computer only for editing and rearranging…when I have to. I do everything else on Synths and samplers.
Reaper has a notation roll sir.
I like Reaper
number 7 is highly debatable. Something traditionalist would say, nothing wrong with that either. I'd think computers are instruments depending how you use them. For making music, sure, making sounds yes, making your own instruments.... yes. Its not just DAW the computer does....(and some DAW's are not even just DAWs); maybe a musician coder/dev? custom controller? I sometimes think bitwig is an instrument....confused you yet?
Its pronounced DAW (door) not Dee Ay Double U. There are a few oddball UA-camrs saying Dee Ay Dubble You but there's also a few people calling MIDI meedee which is even more fucked up.
It’s completely wrong to blame computers for what is essentially a lack of knowledge.
If you don’t have the skills, then you will never get the best from your equipment. This is true for most things in life.
It also explains why most professional musicians employ sound engineers, (who do know what is going on at a technical level).
Knowledge is power.
tell that to computer music
It's taken me a decade to be able to use a DWA to make anything that I even remotely want to hear.
Daw
@@paulatreides0777 yeah... it's a typo.
First time I’ve heard someone truly describe the difference between a computer and an instrument. I think most non-instrumentalists will never ever understand, nor need to.
An additional factor is that instruments are real time. You actually “play” them instead of slowly building something with them. It is mostly the interface. I use lots of electronics, which are mostly computers, but they have knobs, sliders, keys, pads, all the stuff you need to interact humanly with them.
And all you haters out there, I fully acknowledge that a computer can still be an instrument in certain situations. For example, you set up a bunch of mics and then toss the thing off of a tall ladder. Now that is music!
I've fully embraced tech / computers for making music. Everything I do is all AI (my channel is full of it now). It's like what you are talking about, taken to the next level. But I love it, it lets me do so much more than the traditional rout.
And then you end up with sh!tty plugins that never work as they should wasting time, money and useless support.
No they don't, silly!
I love Logic
As a human being who loves music as well as the process of creating it, I desperately want to like this video, but the clickbait elements and the here's my EBOOK link make me sad. That's the sort of thing the robots hellbent on destroying are world are doing.
lol
No, they don't.
12 min of mumbling about basic stuff....
Meh. I like using computers to make music. I think you mention using paper and a pencil in most of your videos but we're all different especially circa 21st century
Well if you all loathe computers go back to tape. Problem solved. For me computers are a godsend to make music.
I find the contemporary trend for adding distracting background music to videos, really fking annoying.
thank you
@@JamesonNathanJones you're welcome.
So next time, howzabout just letting us concentrate on your words-of-wisdom & insights?
@@deegee8645 Could be much worse! You could be in metal-guru land of youTube where there is quite a bit of more more attention-demanding tracks playing over amp-stroking.
Personally, I looking into his bandcamp page thanks to the curiosity piqued by the backing tracks -- sort of defying the spirit of Eric Satie, if you catch the drift.
I'm pretty amazed that you identify this as a 'contemporary trend'
I will save you years of frustrations: 'Buy a Mac';)
During the first 10 seconds of this video you already confess to not knowing what you are talking about.
You studied composition, yet you learned nothing.
You work with computers, yet you cannot program.
You are a professional clown.
Man, have you ever layed your eyes upon a MIDI port, let alone one of those fucking sound modules from the 90s?
Your rich ass bought stuff that us could never afford and you didn't even know basic shit about data protocol and hardware.
Like dude, do you understand how much of a cartoon you are?
"If you're not a computer savvy like I was not" - Is the most important sentence in your video. Computers are KING at making music, it's not the computers who suck, it's the people sitting in front of it. We live in the best era to make music because of computers and DAW. All you have to do is sit down and learn and you can do anything you want.. Here is a great tip : If someone says computers suck for audio and/or that analog gear is better than digital software? You can be sure that this person is not aware of what's truly going on in music production in 2024 and they are most likely stuck in 2005 or before with their knowledge.
If you don't like it, find something else to do 🤣🤣. Maybe it's jut not for you, why make a video? Only to get views and comments? Plenty of good music is made with computers.
Its thanks to you guys that i only spent 12 months learning music to become quite good. If i didn't have all these tutorials and informational vids that i came so far big ups 🥷👍👍
The first 2 mins of your video is me literally watching myself talk - music composition degree, cubase, no formal mixing/mastering training. Buying library after library succumbing to marketing. Excellent lessons learned.
Computers do, in fact, suck for creating music.
But they're awesome for automation, mixing, and mastering.
Mixing? I think analogue mixer is kinda the epitome of the computer interface dilemma, their the og’s of 1:1 knob:function
@@bernardlindeman739 Until you need to repeat multiple actions, or tweak something for one measure, or...
The computer makes those things trivial. Just need a usable MIDI mixer interface.
@@JeffHendricks agreed mixers are woefully lacking what seems obvious ^^
My theory and practice is to use computers for what you want to do that your instruments and hardware can't. If you have a computer, but no other instruments or hardware, then do everything on the computer, including using it as an instrument. At least get some control surface aside from a qwerty and a mouse.
@@bernardlindeman739 they have advantages, but I’d rather build an analog front end for my recording so I can add mojo from there and then mix in the box with some good controllers. Maybe some analog comps/eq here and there but mostly in the box. Mastering too, there are excellent excellent plugins for mastering nowadays. But I’ll always want to run through something like a neve MBT for a good depth of sound that analog can have. Past that I don’t see the point of spending that much unless I really needed it
Nothing wrong with computers if you can use them for music production.
About the first point, which is absolutely solid. Get yourself a DAW like Studio One that allows you to switch between Piano Roll View and Score View by a click of a button. Best of both worlds.
absolutely. life saver.
or just use dorico, notion, or sibelius.
@@KyleMcHattie Start by writing, yes, amen. My little colored blocks begin life as a Finale score (which is my product, for live performance). The blocks are for editing a rendering of the work - in Studio One I just toggle from scroll view to score view if i want to edit in notation. Logic Pro also has a notation toggle. (edit added a missing verb)
Computers suck for "making" music because there are only keyboard instruments for them… although recently much more usual instruments got some half-working capabilities to connect to a computer via MIDI\OSC but they are really poor in terms of expression, which is vital for making music ad not just chopping samples.
I just bought an old small desktop computer to use as an instrument. I just want to use it as a VSTi host with a mapped midi controller. Use it like an instrument to record audio into a main mixing, arranging computer. Doing it all in the box leads me to pointless detailed editing, looking at a screen fixing problems that don't exist apart from boring ideas lol. I used to have so much more fun recording as audio with guitars and keyboards. Was a bit rough but so much more enjoyable and better.
The amount of time spent trying to make something "human" with in the box production is draining and forced. I know people do it but that micro editing puts me in tunnel vision.
I used an Alesis MMT-8 loop sequencer to record my first album in 1993. I had that, a JV880, and a cheap keyboard, and a 4 track Tascam. I was so limited, but then again, no messing around with a thousand choices. Just do it….
I had a mmt8 as well and used to achieve so much with so little.
When you only have 8 tracks, you have to make each one count!
Too many options can and often will distract.
This struck a chord with me, and a lot of this is stuff I learned myself when I first started to make music. I came from playing traditional instruments - mostly keyboard and guitar - and only started to produce music to rival my older brother. He used FL Studio and I used LMMS, which is free. I still to this day a decade on from when I started use LMMS and all it's stock plugins and effects to make my music. While I did dabble in a few basic VST/LV2 plugins, I felt like I could create 99% of the sounds I wanted with the stock plugins. IT got a point wher I could hear a sound in my head and then just create it with a stock plugin. I even still record guitar parts in Audacity to a click track because it's distraction free. If it's out of time, I don't meticulously go in and change it like I did in ProTools in education. I'd pause and simple try harder for the next take. A DAW can build up a song, but it can't create a catchy hook. Spending money on plugins that sound great won't make your music better if your musical ideas are dead in the water.
I wouldn’t say suck but I get what you’re saying being I play multiple instruments. It’s all in how you view it. Midi Capture has done wonders for making music inside a daw. I just play like a regular instrument and capture what I like. Leads, Chords, etc etc.
Now drawing in midi notes sucks. It’s not musical to me. It’s boring. As long as I have a midi keyboard 🎹 I’m cool with the computer.