The beginning of the journey - Part 1. Software solutions.

    Good day to all readers of our blog! This is the first article in the Beginning of the Road series in which I will talk about the software part of our small recording studio. During the week, three more articles will be published - one about the hardware, the second about the basic terms that we may come across and one more about the basics of information. This series is primarily useful for beginners, experts are likely to discover nothing useful for themselves.

    Summary.


    In this article, we will introduce you to five types of programs: sequencers, audio editors, VSTi (VST-instruments), VST-effects and samplers.

    Below is a list of the software under consideration:
    - Image-Line FL Studio 8.
    - Propellerheads Reason 4.
    - Ableton Live! 7.
    - Steinberg Cubase 4. ( approx. - there’s already 5th already, but I haven’t seen it yet, if someone writes a review it will be great ))
    - Cockos Reaper 2.
    - Adobe Audition 3.
    - NI Reaktor 5.
    - Izotope Ozone 4.
    - NI Kontakt 2.

    Some of them we will consider more or less in detail, and some will only be mentioned as an example.

    Sequencers


    Sequencer (or sequencer, from the English. "Sequence" - sequence) - a hardware or software device for recording and playing MIDI messages. The principle of the sequencer is that a MIDI device, such as a keyboard synthesizer, MIDI keyboard, controller, drum machine, etc., transmits a stream of MIDI messages containing complete information about the playback tempo, selected voices, played notes , effects settings, etc. The sequencer writes these messages to internal memory for later playback. Thus, the sequencer in its functions is completely analogous to a tape recorder (and is most often equipped with a tape recorder type control), except that it records not audio data, but commands for various MIDI devices.

    This is taken from Wikipedia . We are currently interested in software sequencers, and we'll talk about them.

    Sequencers are different, good and not very beautiful and not beautiful, in general there are many, but many do not know which one to choose. In fact, the best sequencer is the one on which you can best make music. Unfortunately, this truth does not come to people right away, and to some it does not come at all. In this article, we briefly go over the four most popular programs and one not very popular, but nonetheless worthy of attention. If someone in the future wants to learn more about a program, you can write a review.

    Image-Line FL Studio 8.

    FL Studio, popularly referred to as "fruit" or "frutiloops", has ruined many aspiring musicians. With the most user-friendly interface, it is ideal for beginners who, over time, lose their craving for knowledge and forget that there is other software that they may like. FL Studio, in addition to the interface, has a number of advantages, although it should not be disadvantageous.

    Pros:
    - The most “successful” interface.
    - The presence of a step sequencer.
    - Support for VST / VSTi.
    - Easy to learn.

    Cons:
    - "Plastic" sound. ( approx. in principle, this is a moot point, someone agrees with this, someone does not )
    - Poor support for some plugins in some places. For example, none of my Waves plugins worked fine and Reaktor constantly drove. And I have no such problems.
    - Not the most successful implementation of ReWire. For example, Reason works very badly.

    And this is our FL Studio interface. The picture is clickable, on the other side you will find a huge screenshot with a description in English. Propellerheads Reason 4.






    The idol and blood enemy of thousands of musicians. Some adore him, others wholeheartedly hate him. By the way, I adore him;) Reason is a unique program, its interface is a virtual rack rack on which various devices are placed. Another feature of Reason is the lack of support for external plugins. Many do not like him because of this, although this is a minus, but it is solved very simply - through ReWire. Yes, and there is no particular need for this, Reason, although at the moment it has only three synthesizers, a drum machine, two samplers and a Rex file player, can handle almost any task.

    The image below shows the Reason interface with a few comments.



    Pros:
    - A unique interface that allows you to create real miracles with switching devices. About switching, by the way there will be a separate article.
    - A unique device - Combinator, a kind of mini-Reaktor.
    - Excellent support for MIDI devices.

    Cons:
    - No support for external plugins.
    - There is no way to record audio: '(

    Ableton Live! 7.

    Another program I love so much, which at one time replaced me with FL Studio. Live !, by the way, also has two unique features! Firstly, for some reason many people call it “Ableton”, and secondly, it can work in two modes “Session” and “Arrangement”. The first mode, in addition to being the main “feature” of the program, allows you to conduct live performances, and not just engage in mixing, but on the go to compose music! Of course, you can try it in other programs, but the result is likely to be unsatisfactory.

    Session viewArrangement view


    Pros:
    - The ability to conduct live performances.
    - Excellent support for MIDI devices.
    - Excellent support for VST / VSTi plugins.
    - Excellent ReWire support.

    Minuses:
    - Not the most successful, in my opinion, the interface in the "Arrangement" mode.

    Steinberg Cubase 4. The

    monster of "music". Sometimes I’m sure that if the “cube” cannot do anything, it is impossible to do in principle. Even theoretically impossible. Unfortunately for the extensive capabilities, I had to complicate the interface and now the path to knowing Cubase is available only to the most assiduous and persistent. In addition to working comfortably with Cubase, it is advisable to find a second monitor. By the way, and his system requirements are not the smallest. I won’t write about the pros, because too many of them.

    Cons:
    - A very unfriendly interface, but with the presence of a MIDI keyboard and a good MIDI controller, everything seems to be getting better.

    Fortunately, not a single additional window is open on the screenshot, and we do not see how bad everything is.

    Cockos Reaper 2.

    And here is the special guest of our party, about which many probably have not heard! Reaper is a very young one (version 0.01 was released at the end of 2005), but a very powerful sequencer, which by the way was made by none other than Justin Frankel ! With a weight of just 3.5 MB and a relatively low price, Reaper is a full-fledged sequencer with support for VST / VSTi, audio recording and good support for MIDI devices. Moreover, it is developing at a tremendous speed (at the moment version 2.55), it works well through ReWire both as a client and as a server. In general, at least you need to pay attention to it.

    In the picture below you can see how Reaper looks. The picture is clickable. Pros: - Small price, small size, small system requirements.





    - Support for VST / VSTi.
    - Good ReWire implementation.

    I won’t tell you about the cons yet, as I started using the “ripper” just three months ago, and haven’t noticed anything significant yet.

    Audio editors.


    An audio editor is a program that includes a set of tools that allow you to edit music files on a computer. The editor allows you to work with sound depending on the set of tools and its capabilities. The most famous audio editors are Adobe Audition, Sony Sound Forge, WaveLab, Audacity, Acid Music Studio, etc.

    This is taken from Wikipedia .

    The audio editor in my opinion is one of the most important things in the arsenal of a musician. No matter how cool your sequencer is, no matter how well it records audio, but better than a specialized program, it will not do it. I will talk about the example of Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit PRO), because worked mainly with him and a bit with Sound Forge.

    Firstly, I’ll tell you why we even need an audio editor. We need him in the first place for recording audio. Some of it (for example, I) use it for information. Since I use Rizon, I sometimes lack some monitoring functions, and I like to reduce it more with the help of third-party plug-ins, and Audition just supports them. It is also convenient for audio editors to “cut” files, sometimes there is such a need.

    Secondly, I would like to tell you exactly how you need to work with audio editors, but since there is no universal answer to this question, I'll tell you how I do it. Before I sit down for Audition, the rizona has already at least made a sketch of the future composition, and as a maximum - the composition is completely ready. We save each track to a separate file, shove it all into the editor, hang up the effects where necessary and begin to reduce them. This is an option without recording audio. An example may not be the most successful, but for clarity it will do.

    VSTi (VST-tools) and VST-effects.


    Virtual Studio Technology (VST) is a real-time, real-time plug-in format developed by Propellerhead and subsequently provided by Steinberg. Currently, there are hundreds of plug-ins in this format, it has become one of the most common formats for sound programs. VST applications differ from DirectX plugins in several ways; in particular, they exist for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. In addition, unlike earlier versions of DirectX, VST plugins have an advanced automation interface.

    This is taken from Wikipedia .

    VST-plugins are connected to sequencers and some audio editor as plug-ins and serve like all plugins to expand or change functionality.

    VST plugins come in two forms:

    - VST tools (VSTi).
    - VST effects.

    I think everyone understands the differences between VST tools and VST effects, so we will not dwell on this.

    We will play the role of the instrument NI Reaktor, and the effect of Izotope Ozone.

    NI Reaktor 5.

    Perhaps for an example I chose not the simplest tool, but I want to talk about it. Reaktor is not one tool, and not a dozen, or even a hundred or a thousand. It has as many tools as you want. Reaktor is a virtual environment for creating your own tools that are assembled from different "parts". The screenshot below shows the interface of the plugin, by which you can roughly understand the scheme of its operation. In the future, a series of articles about this wonderful plugin will definitely appear. Izotope Ozone 4. Izotope Ozone is a “complete mastering system”, as the authors themselves call it. Simply put, the mastering program is one of my favorites. Has on board a bunch of useful utilities such as maximizer, equalizer, reverb and much more. It looks something like this:











    PS By the way, some VST plugins and tools have standalone options.

    Samplers.


    Sampler (English sampler) - an electronic musical instrument that allows you to record, edit and play sounds. The difference from other electro-musical instruments (EMPs), for example synthesizers, is that instead of oscillators (wave generators), a sample (digitized sound) recorded in memory is used, which is decomposed using the MIDI keyboard, changing the pitch according to the given conditions. Currently, there are many such devices and their virtual counterparts. Often a sampler is an option or the basis of EMR. The release of publicly available digital samplers stimulated the emergence of new musical trends, primarily Hip-Hop, UK Hardcore, Acid house.

    This is taken from Wikipedia .

    Of course, at the moment we are of little interest to the “iron” samplers, but it was still informative;)

    So, the sampler. A sampler is a program that plays for previously recorded audio files. The sampler itself does not represent anything, it does not know how to synthesize sound, but only knows how to reproduce already recorded sound. However, this is his main advantage!

    For example, if you wanted to add some “live” instruments to your track, for example a cello. It is currently impossible to synthesize the sound of such an instrument; technology does not allow it. But it is possible to record the sound of a cello in a studio on professional equipment. Then the recorded sounds are specially edited and packaged in “banks” (sound banks). Now we insert the “bank” into our favorite sampler (for example, NI Kontakt 2) and enjoy the sounds of our favorite instrument.

    The only minus of the samplers is the size of the libraries for them. 10-20 GB is the normal size for a sound bank, but you have to pay for quality.

    Conclusion


    The most important thing I would like to say is about software for DJs. I practically didn’t work with him and I can’t really say anything, so I have a huge request to the readers of our blog - write someone a tiny review of software for DJs, lines 10-15. Just to make it clear why it is needed and what happens.

    PS On the watch 01:06 and the article is only now ready. I apologize for the delay, and for possible grammatical errors, tomorrow I will fix everything. I sleep ...

    UPDATED .
    Many thanks to the SantaCluster user for the indicated grammatical errors. All errors that were said and not said were corrected.
    UPDATED .
    Fixed screen for Cubase. The owners of steinberg.net changed the address and sent it to "Access denied!"

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