Looking for a good music package for a beginner

DJ Brucie

DJ Brucie

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I'm hoping to buy some tune-making software and my first impulse is to buy ReBirth from Propellerhead software since its cheap, but I might be willing to get Reason instead if it's worth the extra money. I've never used either before so ease-of-use would be nice for my poor virgin hands but I dont want to buy a dud just because its easy to use. Does anyone have any recommendations? It doesnt have to be either of the 2 packages I've mentioned, I just haven't heard of any others.

Many thanks

DJ Brucie


PS I don't have a Mac, just a PC but definitely wouldn't rule out buying one eventually
 
Repost in here because you moved it!

I would recommend starting out buying Reason because it is a great learning tool to get into serious production. That and when and if you upgrade to something like Logic or Cubase, you can still use Reason via Rewire and it comes in quite handy. I use Rewire regularly with Cubase so you will never be wasting your money on something you will "outgrow" with Reason.

I've always thought Reason's main plus was the way in which it can teach someone learning from the beginning the ins and outs of a studio - because it is essentially a synth studio all-in-one package. That is not to say it doesn't have faults, though. Mainly the mixer which sucks and the effects are all generally pretty lousy in my experience. That is avoided with Rewire though because you skip the mixer and can use effects in your host sequencer.

In the end, a good musician can make good tracks with anything - Reason, Fruityloops or just some drum machine, synth and a 4track.
 
perhaps a stupid question as i have no idea about these things but have a growing interest. Do music sequencers like cubase for example have all the necessary tools for music production or do u need to have external hardware and other software to create the beats sounds and percussion that cubase would then.......sequence??? So in other words if you buy cubase or logic do you then have to buy or download other programs to be able to do anything.

:? :? :?

Its a wee bit dauting for us hundreds of dreaming wannabee artists!!
 
Cubase comes with a few synths, but I never use them. I use Battery as a beat sampler and use other VSTs, so yes imo you would need some extra stuff, hardware/software. Reason has plenty of samples to play with and has a couple of synths to play with and a few different types of samplers (wav/rex). Pretty decent package, helped me start off for sure. And similarly to Reconstructed I rewire to Nuendo a lot.
 
Reason gives you everything you need (except audio tracks) and it will grow with you. Why not d/l the demo and see what you think?
http://www.propellerheads.se/download/files/InstallReason25Demo.zip

I know I've gone on about Reason before :rolleyes: but my personal view is that it rocks like a bastard and after five years I still use it on everything, even though I've now got cubase sx and a bunch of plugins. Reason still fits right in and contributes more than anything else does. It's just a beautiful thing, piece of piss to use, dead obvious, stable, creative and unbelievably deep...
Other people may disagree :Smile3:
 
I am selling Reason 2.5 if you are interested, $250 (its approx £245 on Amazon UK) gets you three CDs (no case), the plastic SN/Registration number card and manual, also if my PC is working by then I will throw in about a gigabyte of refills, you will also have to cover shipping from Hawaii but that shouldn't be much depending on how you want it sent.

Alternatively you can get a copy of Computer Music Mag for five squid or there abouts and use the included software, this should give you a good idea as to how this stuff works, some of their stuff is supposed to be fairly good too, like the Ohmygod plugin made by the froggies at Ohm Force.
 
Orion Platinum

Orion Platinum-

1)it is intuitive and easy to use.
2)it has tons of built in generators and can use vsts and dxi's as well...
3)its mixer is very very very very very very good.
4)you can automate everything- you can easily connect your midi knobs to on-screen controllers- easier than reason, wayyyy easier than cubase, nuendo, or logic CC assignation etc....
5)you can record and edit audio like nobodies business- audio editing is a BREEZE in orion...


i use it almost exclusively (using nuendo a bit here a there...)
i even use it with midi tracks, external synths, and audio recording...
it is about 10 million trillion times better than reason and easier to use than nuendo, cubase, logic, etc...

just my opinion of course...

www.synapse-audio.com
product name is Orion Platinum. version 5.5 is what they are up to now...
 
I like SOnar for a more easy-to-use approach. It has everything you need to learn and to advance, but lacks some more advanced features that might confuse in Logic or Cubase.
But otherwise I always think that you have to be willing to jump into the deep end a bit and go for the sequencer that you're going to stick with, or you'll just be very frustrated when you realise the limitations of the simple one you're using.

But if you've never made a sound on a computer before, then go for Reason cos you might end up having to learn a lot about Logic's environment (eg) before you can even get a sound out of it!
 
You'd be far better off going for Logic express, then upgrading to Pro when you've mastered that. Logic is an immense package and you will also be able to upgrade in the future to an industry standard studio package, but only downside is you need a Mac and once you have used a Mac there is no going back, you'll love it. :Grin:
 
RANA said:
You'd be far better off going for Logic express, then upgrading to Pro when you've mastered that. Logic is an immense package and you will also be able to upgrade in the future to an industry standard studio package, but only downside is you need a Mac and once you have used a Mac there is no going back, you'll love it. :Grin:
Click to expand...

Don't make me angry.... :mad:

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry....

:P

J.

*wanders off mumbling about cheesy, counter-intuitive GUIs, one-button mice, obfuscated system settings, overpriced, underpowered machines and constantly talking down to the user... to say nothing of what an insufferable, arse-achingly smug c**t Steve Jobs is...*
 
*wanders off mumbling about cheesy, counter-intuitive GUIs, one-button mice, obfuscated system settings, overpriced, underpowered machines and constantly talking down to the user... to say nothing of what an insufferable, arse-achingly smug c**t Steve Jobs is...*
Click to expand...

I've been primarily a PC/windows user for the past 10 years (and still have to use Windows in my job as a web applications developer), but I recently bought myself an Apple Powerbook. I love it, and no way would I swap it for a PC laptop, but I do agree with 2 few things you said:

* one-button mouse is crap - so I've bought a 2/3 button Macally Pocket Bluetooth mouse http://www.macally-europe.com/mainframeset.php?lang=EN&new=1 problem solved

* Steve Jobs is a prat

FlameBoy
 
Naah :Wink3:

Personally I like people to tell both sides of the story (Windows machines better for propellerheads* and raw performance, Macintosh better if you want to ignore the tech side, to generalise wildly).

J.

* - As in techies, *not* the makers of Rebirth/ason/cycle!
 
JPsychodelicacy said:
Naah :Wink3:

Personally I like people to tell both sides of the story (Windows machines better for propellerheads* and raw performance, Macintosh better if you want to ignore the tech side, to generalise wildly).
Click to expand...

But then again under Mac OS X you get to play with a UNIX-like OS, which is much more tweakable and techie than the XP command line...

FB
 
You still have the homogenised hardware though - I like to be able to pick and choose my components.

Darwin isn't a UNIX-like OS layer, it's a true BSD... but the kludges that have been applied to graft Quartz to it make it far more fiddly than it should be... I've said many a time that if someone makes a decent audio package for Linux, I'll be there like the proverbial bear.

I have to say I wouldn't like to code a graphical mixer using vanilla XWindows though.... *grooh!*

J.
 
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