Music making/editing programs

[ZeZipster]

So yeah, what does everyone use here? Does anybody know anything about Adobe Audition 2?

[Meat Puppet]

I use Cakewalk Sonar 5 and Audacity. I'm considering getting FL Studio. But I will need more money and more money and more hdd space before then. I've never used or seen used Adobe Audition 2, and I only heard about it from this annoying fat guy on a bus one time.

[eestlinc]

do you want a sequencer? get logic pro audio, although it's Mac proprietary. but it's the best. Nuendo is pretty good too and is a windows program.

[theundeadhero]

Audacity.

[Samuraid]

For audio editing and post I use Sound Forge 8.

For multitrack recording projects, I use Cakewalk Sonar. (I don't have version 5 yet though :( )

[nik0tine]

I use Finale 2006 to compose. Does that count?

[hardboiled]

sonar 3 is good.

[o_O]

For sound editing, I use Audacity. It good, and open-source.

For composition, I use a combination od Sibelius, Guitar Pro and mostly FL Studio. Which is not open-source and very expensive. :{

[rubah]

cdex for recording from piano and noteworthy composer for writing midi. I don't do anything fancier than that xD

[ZeZipster]

do you want a sequencer? get logic pro audio, although it's Mac proprietary. but it's the best. Nuendo is pretty good too and is a windows program.

IDK what I want as of this point? Actually, I probably need something idiot proof to get me started, because Adobe Audition just gave me a headache. So far I've tried Acid Xpress, Adobe Audition 2, Fruity Loops, N-Track Studio, Reaper, and I'm trying to get Pro Tools. Acid Xpress is really the only one I can understand I guess it's a sequencer. I'm really lost though.

A friend of mine is in a band, and they really need semi-decent editing for their demo. I also wanna kinda learn synthesizing and stuff.

[Shine On...]

My friend that is in a band and does all of their recording, uses Adobe Auditions, he had Cakewalk Sonar 5, but then he deemed it too challenging and way to complicated for the likes of his tastes so he got rid of it, he loves Adobe Auditions though, and is going to burn it for me, so I can record my solo/acoustic stuff.

[Markus. D]

Acid [number]

though pricey, this is as proffessionalllllllll as it may get.

[eestlinc]

well, the professional standard is Pro Tools, but it's more hardware based than software based.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

Music Maker, it's an excellent MIDI program with 200 instruments, a maximum of 8 tracks, cutting/pasting ability and a huge range of tempo. Unfortunately it is only available with the Adventure Maker (no seperate download). That's how I found it, by downloading the Advenutre Maker to create advenutre games. If anyone wants the program (despite it having to be downloaded with the other program) you can get it here, for free: http://www.adventuremaker.com/downloads.htm

Once you have it, go into tools. There you will find Music Maker.

[isaac17]

Protools LE. Industry standard. I just bought an MBox 2, and Protools and Reason are bundled with it. www.digidesign.com

[Yamaneko]

My brother uses a combination of Reason 2.5 (which lacks VST support) and Nuendo. I wouldn't touch that Sony stuff with a ten foot pole.

[ZeZipster]

I wouldn't touch that Sony stuff with a ten foot pole.

It's a good learning ground. And by that I mean it's almost completely idiot-proof. That means alot coming from me. I'm on to bigger and better things now though.

[IceAngel]

I only use Cubase SX.... not a lot to offer on there :(.... ok for sequencing i guess....

[eestlinc]

Cubase is basically a cheaper and less powerful version of Nuendo.

[Samuraid]

My brother uses a combination of Reason 2.5 (which lacks VST support) and Nuendo. I wouldn't touch that Sony stuff with a ten foot pole.
The only Sony stuff I'm willing to touch is SoundForge and CD Architect. In their respective fields, they are 2 amazing pieces of software.

Most of Sony's other software is easily dwarfed by other products out there.

[-N-]

I used to use Logic Pro, but my friend took back the USB key necessary to use it and so now I can't use it anymore. :\ Too bad, because it really was a great program. Now I use Finale 2006 (thanks nik!) to compose, as well as record input from my USB keyboard, and it works great, it just screws up the notation when I input from a keyboard. I didn't realize it still stored it as I played it until later. :p I tried FL Studio and it's interface is nasty. I didn't like it at all.

Oh, and who could forget Csound? My god that program can do exponentially more than any other sound software program in existence. It is the best in terms of functionality, open source, versatility, and flexibility, but oh man the learning curve is steep as hell.

[ZeZipster]

Ok, this question might seem really weird.. but which program is unproffessional? Like I can pretty much make a techno song with synthesized voices and all in Fruity Loops (FL studio?) but I don't know how people actually make songs? Like if I publish a pure FL song as in no original material I personally played on an instrument and put in a demo or whatever, will some DJ backhand me and tell me to get that <img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"><img src="/xxx.gif"> outta his junk?

Do you have to use Pro Tools to get any credibility is what I'm asking I suppose. That and are prerendered loops/whatnot professional? Uhh.. yeah I should probably stop asking much question and just test the water out for myself, huh? The problem I'm facing is that I'm not planning on pursuing a career in music and have no place for training.

[Samuraid]

The truth is, it doesn't matter what you use. It ultimately matters what results you get. Anyone who rejects fine musical work simply on the grounds that it isn't made with protools is a snob. :p

[eestlinc]

I know some people with tons of "professional" programs who still use Fruity Loops.

Csound is great, but it's more a synthesis program and you really have to know what you're doing. Of course that means you have much more power if you know how to get things done.

[Yamaneko]

FL is good maybe for a first album, but you won't want to make a career out of using it. I haven't kept up with the product in years, but the plugins and generators seemed limited. The cool thing though, is that you can use the interface in other VSTi's, thus extending its functionality.

[eestlinc]

it just depends on how complex you want to make something.

[Yamaneko]

I'm not particularly fond of generic techno or trance. :D

[eestlinc]

well me neither, but if that's all you want to do then fruity loops works fine.

[ZeZipster]

Heh, I like how generic techno was EXACTLY what I made. I'm checking out Cubase and Reason now. The plugins for all of them should be compatible right? It's all VST 3.whatever? FL Studio feels like it doesn't give much individuality to songs, but I really like the Slayer VST and speech synthesizer it has... Although I used the templates to make some stuff so that could be an attribute of the unoriginality.

[Perducci]

Audacity and Fruity Loops. :cool:

[farplaner]

I just ordered a copy of sibelius 4. It's rather expensive, luckily I got it for less than half the retail on E-Bay with a student discount. I downloaded the demo version, and it was pretty cool. I am more interested in composing than actual song making, and sibelius lets you compose for all types of ensembles: jazz, choir, even full orchestra, and you can add or subtract instruments. It also acknowledges and plays back a crap load of techniques: dynamics, articulations, tempo changes, etc. Can't wait for my copy to get here. Hurry up, mailman!

[HybridFan]

I use Adobe Audition 1.5

[ZeZipster]

Hey, has anybody noticed a limited compatibility with VSTs in FL Studio? It seems like only a third of the ones I download work completely. I don't know if it's just the VSTs or if they were made for Cubase or something.

[eestlinc]

I just ordered a copy of sibelius 4. It's rather expensive, luckily I got it for less than half the retail on E-Bay with a student discount. I downloaded the demo version, and it was pretty cool. I am more interested in composing than actual song making, and sibelius lets you compose for all types of ensembles: jazz, choir, even full orchestra, and you can add or subtract instruments. It also acknowledges and plays back a crap load of techniques: dynamics, articulations, tempo changes, etc. Can't wait for my copy to get here. Hurry up, mailman!
I absolutely hated Sibelius 2, but I taught myself Finale 98 (which is a chore) and the two programs do the same thing so differently, so I might not be objective. I know a lot of people who love Sibelius, but Finale is my preference.

[farplaner]

I absolutely hated Sibelius 2, but I taught myself Finale 98 (which is a chore) and the two programs do the same thing so differently, so I might not be objective. I know a lot of people who love Sibelius, but Finale is my preference.

Well, I don't know how different version 2 is from 4, if at all, but I've been messing around with the demo for a week or so and I like it alright. The only thing that's given me any trouble is getting crescendos/decresc. and stuff like that working how I want them and where I want them, but I expect that will get easier as I become more familiar with the system.

[DynasticJam]

I use Cubase SX, FL Studio, Sibelius