Well I'm very new to digital music composition. I know that there's always MIDI, but I want to have a high quality sound purely from digital instruments. What program should I try and purchase to achieve this goal? I'm experienced in music theory as I've had experience with 3 instruments, one being the piano. I don't really want to record actual instruments because 1) I may not know how to play the one I want 2) I would need to purchase and install more equipment to record actual instruments and 3) I may not have the instruments I'm looking for. This may be a common question and I read the "Starting your career as a composer-sound designer (FAQ and answers)" topic in the Music and Sound section, but it didn't really answer my specific question clearly. So can anyone have the patience to feed me some suggestions on what to use for my situation and where should I start? I'd greatly appreciate it!

look into sequencing, using VST plug-ins, you provide the triggers(just like you would midi). you can also sequence using external sound modules, as well as keyboards, or in my case, an electric drum kit.

it still uses midi signals, but gives you samples that are a lot better, but VST plug-ins are very good as well. Either way you'll be using midi signals as triggers, there's no way around that

I think the sound guys at work use cubase among other things.

yeah, i've always used cubase.

Moving you to Music & Sound, you'll probably get better responses to this particular question there.

Yeah, in short you typically have a sequencer program (Cubase, Sonar, Logic, etc) which handles all your MIDI data, along with any audio if you have it. This has a multitrack display where you typically have one track per instrument, and you can edit the score for each instrument, adjust their panning and volume, etc.

The sequencer typically plays that data back via a VST instrument which uses a sample library or a synthesiser to create the sounds. The VST instrument to get depends on which sounds you want; for example, orchestral sounds can be done with the EWQL Symphonic Orchestra, the Garritan Personal Orchestra, the Vienna Symphonic library, etc. Be prepared to pay for quality, but luckily you can still get some great results with the cheaper cut-down versions (eg. I sometimes use the Garritan Pocket Orchestra that gets bundled with Sonar).

You will probably also want a MIDI controller in order to play the pieces in the first place. This typically takes the form of a MIDI keyboard, but if you really want you can get MIDI drums, guitars, etc. You can always enter pieces into the sequencer with the mouse but this is usually less efficient and less realistic sounding, as it lacks the variability of a true human performance.

Hrm I'm looking at Cubase and it seems very interesting. But I just found out today my friend has a copy of FL Studio and is willing to give it to me. Has anyone used FL Studio before and would they recommend it? What about a comparison between FL Studio and Cubase? Or what about Sonar compared to these? I'd just like to hear what everyone has to say about these programs so it can help me decide which one to choose.

FL Studio is more geared towards electronic-style music. To this end it features several types of synthesisers, comes with a variety of sounds and samples suited to dance/electronica/etc, and has a 'step-sequencer' as the main way to input notes, which makes it easy to program drum patterns and repeated melodic motifs. Each pattern can cover all the instrument tracks, and you then typically chain these patterns together into whole songs.

Cubase is a more general purpose tool and is more geared towards people who record audio data or MIDI performances. If you do program data into it directly it would usually be via the Key Editor/Piano Roll view, and there are some 'proper musician' features such as the Score Editor, etc.

Essentially though, you can do much the same thing in either, ie. Record audio + MIDI in, and play it back with VSTis.

Personally, I own FL Studio 8 and Sonar 7 Studio. Sonar is much like Cubase but not quite as popular. I use Sonar over Cubase purely because of familiarity; I started with Sonar's predecessor Cakewalk Home Studio when it was given out as a magazine free demo. Similarly, FL Studio appealed to me as it reminded me of old tracker programs such as FastTracker 2. As these programs gain in features and stability it generally comes down to personal choice, though I won't claim every feature is available universally. Still, I find that I rarely need to use FL Studio now that I have Sonar 7.

Also, remember that the output typically comes from VSTis. Any sequencer will come with some bundled VSTis of various kinds, and their usefulness to you will depend on what kind of music you want to write. But you can use a VSTi in pretty much any sequencer you have installed; I use the Poizone synth from FL Studio in Sonar, for instance.

Hi, there,

I usually use SONAR, but I send the MIDI info through Reason and other programs for the "simulated" instruments, when I can't get or play the real thing. You can use your own recorded samples, too, but they are typically less flexible, unless you don't plan to change pitch (such as you might with a saxophone sample). It's not so much the tool, as it is the sample quality, though ease of use/learning curve is a big deal. I chose SONAR, since I've been using Cakewalk since the early 90's.

As others have said, you get what you pay for in terms of quality for the virtual instruments. Most plug-in packages run from $200-500 US on the average, though they can range far beyond that in either direction ;-D

It's definitely best if the "instruments" can be run through processing, such as effects (delay, reverb, flanger, etc.) and EQ, since that helps add to the realism and helps them sit in the mix better.

Hope that adds to the information you're getting.

-Greg

Alright Kylotan, thanks for all of the information you've given me! They've helped me out a lot and I'm glad to hear from an experienced user such as yourself. As I want to do some piano/orchestra/choir music I guess I will be looking into Cubase. Again, thank you so much for your responses!