I know a couple ppl here make beats. Wondering how I get started. I want something that separates me from other musicians. I need a keyboard or w.e. I used to be fantastic at the piano. So figure I can pick it up and get good at the keyboard within ten years… @IndustrialLad I think u said u make beats. What instruments do u need and what do u recommend. Do u need certain softwares? My aunt told me to do this.
2 Likes
Download the program ableton. You can get it for free if you crack the software otherwise your looking at $800. I found the one by Ching Liu provider to be easiest
1 Like
Is it like a better version of fruity loops?? I’ll do some research into what u just said.
@lostinthespace says he does his own stuff as well.
Maybe google for “royalty free beats/music/dj creator”
Edit : deleted stuff
1 Like
Yeah pretty much. I haven’t used fruity loops but from what I hear it’s similar but better. It has everything you need on it. A lot of professional beat makers use it. But because there’s a lot of content, there’s also a lot to learn about how to use it so it can get quite complicated. There’s YouTube tutorials though that guide you through step by step so i recommend having a look at those if you end up getting it
1 Like
Yeah lost in space makes his own beats. Pretty sure his involves playing guitar (maybe not I’m not sure) but he could probably give me some good advice as well.
I think I wanna do it legit so I’m gonna buy my software. They say not to buy expensive software right off the bat. Fruity loops is cheap. I wanna get a keyboard cuz it seems easier and more fun. Either a midi keyboard or a regular keyboard with a looper and amplifier? I will feel more legit and professional if I buy my software than crack it. Fruity loops seems to run 1-300$ depending what version. MIDI keyboard is 100 for a good one. I can afford this. Plus my birthday is in a week. I can ask my aunt for a keyboard lol???
GoYankees, I use FlStudio. What you should get depends on how much you want to do for yourself and how much you know.
So, uh how much do you know about music theory and synthesis?
If you don’t know that much I would reccommend learning on 3osc if you get FL studio. Simsynth is good to learn on and is cheap when image line has a sale.
3 osc comes with fl studio.
1 Like
Thank you sir. I used to know a lot about music theory but I’m rusty now for sure so I will get that if I decide. So thanks for the advice so much!
I use Ableton (cracked version from a decade ago, statute of limitations—piracy violation has expired)
For Ableton you don’t even need a MIDI keyboard (although I have one), you can just drop visual notes on the sound you want. So for like a G chord you’d just scroll down until you see that note on the left side and stick your notes where you want them to go. You can change the tempo, make it faster, make it slower, make it repeat a longer loop…pretty good!
I used to use a MIDI keyboard, but I’m not good at playing keyboards, so I quit with it and just stuck to straight-through-the-pc music making.
Here’s a pic of Ableton’s interface:
http://cdn1.ableton.com/resource/d13218f398d8bab5d28700893b701584/launchpad-ableton-screenshot.png
Instruments are on the left hand window, each loop is separate boxes that you see up on top. You can toggle between the note-dropping view for an individual loop and the view for the entire song with all the loops vertically stacked (at least in my aging edition lol)
Good luck!
1 Like
You’re very welcome sir. If you don’t know much about synthesis, there’s lots of ways to learn. I read some books that were probably overkill. Lol. One explained kind of how many oscillators, envelope types etc of classic synths but I forgot a lot of it.
1 Like
Well it turns out my parents bought me a Cassio piano for my birthday with like 200 instruments and 150 rhythms and built in interface to teach u how to play piano. So first I’m gonna teach myself to play an electric keyboard. Then I’m gonna built from there. I’m slowly gonna built up my musical instruments, software, recording devices, etc… over the next ten years or so till it all comes together and then I’m gonna record an album and take the world by friggin storm 
!!! I didn’t know u did that @HQuinn
Cool!!
3 Likes
I ask you and maybe I’m totally ignorant, but what makes me stop from recording keyboard loops into a microphone, and then splicing them and making them into a beat in audacity???
like not using a recording software but kind of creating a band, but just with a keyboard, but I only need to record one chord at a time because I can duplicate each chord by copying and pasting, and stuff?
Audacity is a great program! I guess if you have an excellent quality microphone you can do that and have good quality beats! I used to record on cheap, 20 dollar mic and I hated the static, background noise, and pops when I recorded my voice, but hey, I was broke lol.
1 Like
Right now my mic is pretty decent…I plan on upgrading one day but for now that could do. if that works. I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t. U can use “noise reduction” on audacity to get rid of the static. It’s the first thing I do whenever I record a vocal track.
1 Like