producing tunes...but which software?!

[Emmet]

Reason is a great studoi all in one package for the first timer.

Acid Xpress..yup, yup yup for messing around with yer audio.

I live by the bible that is Cubase, have a look at Cubase SE for the most cut down version.

People swear by different software packages; Cubase, Reason, Logic, DP etc..everyone has their own preference and to be honest in this day and age theres nothing pretty much wrong with any of them.

Have fun.

[shudder]

agreed. no one can really tell you what software to use, you just have to try and combine everything until you're happy with what works best for you.

trackers are shit though.

[Leon]

About Acid. I have Acid Pro 4.0. I use Reason to make my tracks, but would like to do the build up and stuff in Acid Pro. But when I Save loops in Reason, they (of course) get cut off at the end of the loop. Is there some other way to do it, like I can connect Reason to Acid in some sort of way?
Thanks

[shudder]

you can set the looping parameters in the bottom right of reason. the default should be set to 9.

[Renze]

Cos no one has said it yet: Ableton Live is also a great producing tool. It's not free, but at least you can try the demo from www.ableton.com and see if you like it. It supports VST instruments and effects and tons of free VSTs can be found at www.kvraudio.com

[thee carp dreamer]

i make all my wav files in wordpad

[thee carp dreamer]

ok, i use an awesome program called jeskola buzz. www.buzzmachines.com
it's a tracker. a lot of people are shit-scared of trackers cos they require something called knowledge (ain't that right, ben? p.s. i may be in bedford for your gig, but then again i may not. haven't decided yet.)

trackers go down the page, whereas sequencers and other such programs go across the page.

you program the synths and drum machines using 1s and 0s. also you can add loops and samples that don't come from machines using samplers and loopers.

you connect them up to effects, which you also program using 1s and 0s.
good things to do with effects: compress the fuck out of the drums, delay the shit out of the synths, eq the bass so it sounds like jah wobble doing a fart, and compress royally any 303s you might have gurgling around in the mix.

you then connect them up to the master, and record into acid pro 5.0, where you will then edit out your fuck-ups and add any additional shizzle.

then you eq it properly and master it using hardware/software/whatever.

it's taken me roughly 5 years of hardcore experimentation to work out how to use trackers properly, but they're much better for producing live by entering lines of code while you're playing and fucking around with the effects.