Hello I'm new here(as you must of already got from the subject title), sooo I have a few questions to ask. I have an 8 bit music project I do for fun but I want to get into more serious works of compositions and start making music for video games(8 bit or otherwise). Right now I am just using famitracker and my keyboard, I was wondering what programs I'd need to get started off? Is it gonna be as simple as just giving my music to programmers and have them take it from there or am I gonna need some knowledge of programming myself? am I gonna have to give it to them in any special files formats?

thanks in advance.

I know I will have more questions coming

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Originally posted by Cleanairisgreat Right now I am just using famitracker and my keyboard, I was wondering what programs I'd need to get started off?

For realistic sounding music you'll need a DAW (digital audio workstation) program that can load in and use VST or AU instruments. There are TONS of VST or AU instruments out there and both the price and quality of each ranges great. VST is used on PCs and AU is for Macs. Most of these 3rd party instrument packages will support both PC and Mac but it is always best to check first. Here's a short list of instrument samples out there:

East West (soundsonline.com): Makes a large variety of instrument samples, from orchestral to vocal to ethnic to rock based. Decently priced- not the cheapest not the most expensive.

VSL (http://vsl.co.at/en/65/71/84/1349.vsl) Focuses on orchestral. Great samples but the top end packages can be very expensive.

Tonehammer (http://www.tonehammer.com/): Has a nice range of interesting, unusual samples. Prices vary.

There are many, many more too.

Programs:

Are you on PC or Mac? Are you wanting to score video or just write music? Here are just a few programs:

Reason 4: Both PC and Mac. Reason five comes out in about a week. This is a GREAT program that runs very smoothly and has great sounds. The refills (which are sold separately) can really add ALOT of quality sounds to your tool set.

Reaper: Both PC and Mac. A newer DAW that isn't as polished or sexy looking as other DAWs but has a great foundation, cheap price ($60) and works great with video. Much better than Sonar does! You can load up a ton of VSTs into Reaper because it handles them better and you don't run into RAM issues as much. One draw back to Reaper is the little amount of bundled instruments and noises.

Sonar: Decent audio program. Works great for mixing. It terrible at video post production and the VST load in isn't as good as Reaper. Comes with a decent amount of instruments and bundled FX plug ins.

Logic: Fantastic program for Mac. This is what I use all of the time now. Works great with video, has a ton of plug ins and instruments bundled with it and runs super smooth. The learning curve can be a bit steep for someone new to audio but it is a very good DAW.

Cubase: I've heard good things about Cubase. It is one of the DAWs I've used the least so I can't comment on it too much. I did watch another audio guy score a video with it and it ran great and very smooth.

Pro Tools: Supposedly the industry standard... however the more audio folks I meet the less I think this to be true. Be careful with Pro Tools as the software has VERY picky requirements (such as using Pro Tools approved hardware) and if you don't have that.... it wont work at all. Plus the cost of Pro Tools is limiting. The pro end costs, at the lowest, roughly $8,000. The LE version can range from $300 to around $2,300. All of the other DAWs I mentioned have much lower price ranges. Don't get me wrong- Pro Tools works great! I've worked on a Pro Tools HD1 and HD2 set up and was very impressed. I just don't have that type of cash for my studio.... nor do I record live bands often.

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Originally posted by Cleanairisgreat Is it gonna be as simple as just giving my music to programmers and have them take it from there or am I gonna need some knowledge of programming myself? am I gonna have to give it to them in any special files formats?

It really depends on the project and how they're running it. Most often you'll hand over the song to a programmer. Sometimes you'll have to implement the song into an audio middleware like Wwise, Miles or Fmod. Then other times you may have to do some light programming in ActionScript or XML. Before you work on a project they'll find out what you can and cannot do.

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Original post by nsmadsen Sonar: [...] the VST load in isn't as good as Reaper.

Hey Nathan, could you elaborate on this, if it isn't derailing the thread too much? I mostly use Sonar but was wondering which aspects Reaper is superior at. I already know Reaper does a better job of handling midi/vst/audio within a given track rather than the patchy way you need to route a midi track to an audio track with a synth in the middle in Sonar.

Sure!

Mainly for me it was better RAM handling. With Sonar I could load up about 8-15 VST plugins (depending on which ones I was using in that project). Last November I was finishing up a project that needed 18 different music cues. When using Sonar I was having drop outs, pops or just hitting the RAM ceiling. I had tried messing aroudn with all of the variance latency settings and knew it wasn't a config issue. I knew that Reaper had a fully functional demo so I thought "I'll give it an hour or so and see if it is working better. If not, I'll go back to Sonar and just ram the thing through." To be honest I didn't even think it was wise to try and change platforms in the middle of a project with a tight deadline.

Not even an hour into using Reaper I could tell it was running more smoothly. I could load up easily double the amount of VST plugins and get back to my job: writing music. The only thing that changed was the software. I was still using the same CPU, same RAM, same plugins but the performance was through the roof.

Automation is also much faster in Reaper than in Sonar. With a click of a button I can see every track's automation and edit it. With Sonar that same process took 2-3 clicks. Doesn't sound like much but if you're heavy into post production it can slow you down.

Another simple element is you can load in a plug in then change your mind and remove it or replace it. All with one click. In Sonar you have to do a few more steps to make the same action happen.

Reaper doesn't look nearly as polished as other DAWs and doesn't come with a ton of virtual instruments but it runs GREAT! Many of the same Sonar short cuts are already implemented into Reaper and the video-scrubbing editing with MIDI or audio puts Reaper way over the top compared to Cakewalk.

If you're a PC user and you're frustrated with Sonar- I cannot recommend Reaper enough! The demo is fully functional and free (for 30 days) so try it out. At $60 it's a steal!

There's Cubase too, might be worth a look. The Essentials version is cheaper (at the cost of amount of instruments and FX plugins, but those you can buy seperately and not necessarily from Steinberg).
I like the fact that Cubase, like Sonar, has that music sheet visualizer for your MIDI sequences.

You can tell that by the amount of DAWs out there, there isn't "the best one". Only those that suit you.

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You can tell that by the amount of DAWs out there, there isn't "the best one". Only those that suit you.

VERY true! In fact many times I wish I could play mad scientist and mutate several DAWs into one master DAW. Each one has it's strengths and weaknesses and it really depends on how you like to work.

Hello fellow musicians! I use something has not been mentioned:

Sonic Core hardware: www.sonic-core.net

I consider it an immense tool, helpful for production, mixing and mastering.