VSTi's are basically plug-in instruments. They can be synthesizers, simple sample players, or other things.

Quote: Original post by krikkit
It is absolutely okay to sample your own synthesizer. In fact, its probably best.

Great! I wasn't sure if there was some weird copyright rule against using my synthesiser's samples, but logically it would be the same as if I recorded myself playing a piece of music using the keyboard, except the music only consists of me playing notes at different octaves [smile]. I could make a crappy synth. keyboard out of the addition of simple wave forms, but I'd need more instruments than that.

Do you guys also record your own wave samples using a microphone for your tracks? I'm probably going to have to get a mike at some stage if I want to make audio samples, but I'm not sure what to get (or where to get it, actually).

By the way, how do you know if a set of headphones is good quality or not, other than by testing them? My current headphones are way too cheap and nasty for sound work.

Re: headphones - don't buy dj cans, they're not built for sound quality. you're looking at ones costing upwards of £70 (~$130) and with a decent frequency range (i.e as close to the range of a human ear as possible). Sennheiser and Pioneer are some good makes to look at. A good set of monitors are an alternative but your neighbours will hate you :D speaking from personal experience anyway.

I love trackers, here's another good one to check out: http://www.renoise.com/

Sibelius is great for writing music. It speeds up the whole process a lot.

Okay man...Allow me to help out too. I am also a self-taught keyboardist and slowly worked my way up to where I am today. I want to keep it as cheap as possible for you, because I too know how it is being young and broke!

The Necessities:

A good soundcard: SoundBlaster Audigy can be bought from Wal-Mart for no more than $30. You WILL want a good one...some software do not allow you to record without upgraded software. Audigy is very awesome!

Speakers/Headphones: A 2.1 subwoofer speaker system is what I use. Get it from Wal-Mart too. Shouldn't be anymore than $25. I was always told by "professionals" that you shouldn't record with headphones, but I do a lot, though I can see why it is not recommended (it's an acoustics thing). If you use headphones, follow two rules: (1) Check for good frequency (usually on back of package). Good frequency is about 16,000 MHz - 20,000 MHz. Most will be around 18-20,000. Those are good enough. I use $20 Sony's. You should not have to pay more than $20. (2) When recording with headphones, always re-listen to your music through a set of good speakers.

OK, so far, we are looking at about $50-70. I know, it's a lot, but good recording equipment IS NOT very cheap. And we still have more to get...

More Necessities:

Recording Software: Many people have different opinions about different products. But, if you are cheap like me, you want the best deal. I would recommend Cakewalk Sonar for you. Now, prices for this software range anywhere from $40-550. DON'T PANIC! All you really need is the $40 version. Usually you will be able to find this software at a Sam Goody...if not, check out the nearest media/computer software store. Some music stores might have some too.

Okay...That's ALL the necessities you will need...but if you want to go a little further...get drumlooping software. Fruityloops is the most user-friendly looping software I know of. It might cost $30.

That's pretty much it. You might have to spend a little more than $100, but it's worth it. Oh yeah, you will also need some cables to plug your keyboard into your PC. A standard stereo cable might cost you no more than $5. A MIDI cable (that plugs into your game port) will cost quite a bit more. Mine costed about $40 or $50. You will want this, considering you want to work basically with chord progessions and MIDI performance.

So...hope that helps out. Take your time, save every penny you get, and keep learning your keyboard! Don't back out due to difficulty...always learn something new and more challenging. Just listen to some music on your CD player and learn it note by note. That's how I did it.

Most of all, enjoy doing what you do...and the money factor won't be so hard on you....

You also may want to try auto accompaniment software. Band-in-a-Box seems popular, though I haven't tried it myself.

Quote: Original post by twilight_knight
Okay man...Allow me to help out too. I am also a self-taught keyboardist and slowly worked my way up to where I am today. I want to keep it as cheap as possible for you, because I too know how it is being young and broke!

Heh, not quite so young these days (frankly, I feel ancient when reading the replies to those frequent "what is your age?" questions in the lounge).

Thanks for all your replies. I'm going to stick with Modplug Tracker to start with, and see what I can do with it, but I'll see if I can find a good pair of headphones as well. In a month or two when I've got some sample pieces finished I'll see if I need to think about getting something with a few more features.

I'm going to buck the trend here and say that you can do pretty much everything you need to with FLStudio. There are some great free VSTis and Soundfonts available which you can use with it, and you can stick it in keyboard mode and play happily. I used to use ModPlug Tracker, and Cakewalk, but now I don't touch the former and only use the latter for tracking audio.

Personally I also don't think that getting great headphones will matter to begin with. I admit that I have problems in that my 2:1 system and my headphones are both good for bass and treble but lack mid-range, so that what I record tends to have too many mids when I play it on a decent stereo. But that only happens when I record noisy guitars and the like, which cover a wide frequency range - it's not an issue for orchestral or keyboard pieces unless you start EQing the instruments away from the defaults. If you stick to good instrument samples and reasonable arrangements then it will sound good.

Quote: Original post by Kylotan
I'm going to buck the trend here and say that you can do pretty much everything you need to with FLStudio.

I've read a lot of support here for FLStudio. How easy is it to compose with this software package?

Depends on what kind of music you're making. It's a pattern-based sequencer, so it lends itself a lot better to electronic styles than, say, sweeping orchestral music. But I'm pretty sure you CAN do any style you want... it's just a matter of perserverance and intimately knowing your software.

FL gets a bad rap from a lot of experience electronic musicians because it's default sounds are instantly recognizable in A TON of amateurish works, and illicits groans of, "ewwwww, FL defaults". Haha. But I've heard stuff done with FL that sounds great.