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How did you get your start in EDM?
Fairly straight forward question....
How did you get started in producing electronic music? If you want, include the equipment you started with, what music inspired you etc.
I'm in a rut right now musicly, I seem to find myself dabbling more with sound than song lately.
So... I figured I'd throw this question out to all of you people's here who write or have written a fair amount of original music, primarily in hopes of getting a little more inspired with my own music.
So, if you have a little time, think about how you got started, what you did to get started (like ran out and bought a slew of synth's or soft synth's and started plinking, or started thumbing through books to see how everything works etc), basically how you approached this art when you were starting out...
I got a program from a friend called impulse tracker and some samples from him about 12 years ago or so and started using that. Producing all sorts of styles back then. Not alot of my track from back then were any good but there were a few exeptions :P
I started 11 years ago with scream tracker... the granddad of Impulse 
I found out about impulse somewhere around 97-98..
This was all sample based and gives you a quite decent knowledge about sample based composing, which is fun and easy... especially back then with a lack of better tools which cost less than 20$.
Currently working in renoise... tried a lot stuff along the way
Just work your way up one step at a time.
Trackers just rock.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Storyteller Trackers just rock. |

I should download Impulse Tracker just so that I can make .mod files for amatuer video game developers.
Seriously, though... I got started off a demo of FLStudio. Now I own FLStudio 6.08, and I'm happy with the software.
I'm using FL Studio 5 Producer's Edition presently, it's cool and I definitely like it but I guess what frustrates me the most about putting something together is all the sound tailoring that goes into it.
For instance, Mixing, compression, the 'right' kick drum sound and the wrong, the 'right' bass sound and the wrong, making sure you're not clipping, making sure all the sounds you're adding on don't interfere with eachother or take up eachother's space in the stereo spectrum (also known as one sound drowning out the other).
After reading article upon article and book upon book about the technical side of making good music I've found it really kind of takes the 'fun' out of making music when concentrating on these aspects.
I have shitloads of ideas for songs and music in general but it seems to get ruined or I lose interest when I have to get scientific about it.
Is this a typical feeling that you all have been through or did you find this learning curve interesting and entertaining?
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DJMiakoda For instance, Mixing, compression, the 'right' kick drum sound and the wrong, the 'right' bass sound and the wrong, making sure you're not clipping, making sure all the sounds you're adding on don't interfere with eachother or take up eachother's space in the stereo spectrum (also known as one sound drowning out the other). |
I started 3 years ago with Techno Ejay
... I produced mainly acid, some DnB and Industrial back then... soon I got my hands on FL Studio 4 and that's where it really started. One and half a year ago, once I got my hands on good synths, I started producing Goa and Psytrance, and that's still my favorite style now... both for listening and producing 
LOL! Techno Ejay was my foray into production as well. Thank god I finally took the dive into FL... I listen to my old Ejay stuff now and laugh. I thought I was going to be a star... 
My passion for making music began in 1998-1999 when I discovered Techno Maker which is basically worse than any Ejay program. It only had about 200 samples to play with 
The sound from Fruity Loops isn't good, in fact it's terrible. Try and buy a copy of Ableton Live or Reason, they're both great.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by BOOsTER actually if you find it that boring you should sell your copy of FL to someone and...maybe you could find a job at K-Mart? errrrm...now seriously...what you mentioned is half the fun...now say I'm a freak, but hell I love the sonic mayhem I can cause...and also...the feeling that I control my "own world" is great |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by jahnlay The sound from Fruity Loops isn't good, in fact it's terrible. Try and buy a copy of Ableton Live or Reason, they're both great. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by jahnlay The sound from Fruity Loops isn't good, in fact it's terrible. Try and buy a copy of Ableton Live or Reason, they're both great. |
I began in 1998 with Dance Ejay 1 
Continued with magix music maker some years later, and used it untill 2002.
Tried Cubasis for a while at school, but then I found Frutiloops 3 and evolved my music very much with it.
In 2003-2004 I fell in love with the demo of Reason 2.5, played alot with it before i got the full program. It evolved me much in programming synths and understanding them...
Now, since middle of 2005 i've used Ableton Live, and it's so great!! 
I'm totally stucked to it 
| quote: |
| Originally posted by jahnlay The sound from Fruity Loops isn't good, in fact it's terrible. Try and buy a copy of Ableton Live or Reason, they're both great. |
I started with a demo of Music 2000 on Playstation.. and i thought it was so cool i decided to buy the full version, but i thought the program sucked, so i went to the store to return it and get my money back, but that didnt work.. so i slowly started to learn the program and make music.
..then i continued with Music Generator 2 on Playstation 2, which was a bliss.. the workflow the creativity in that program still amazes me this modern day..
..until 2003 when Music 3000 was released as a huge dissapointment, and around Christmas 2003 i bought my first computer ever, and started using Cubase.. im still using Cubase and producing about 6-8 tracks a year, which is far from enough..

Hi,
I started in 1990 on an Amiga A500 with Protracker - 4 channels @ 8bit mono doing music for Amiga demos/intros etc. Those were the days!
Lol.
I'm the same as simonbostock, except that I used OctaMED instead of Protracker. The Aminet was a great source of chunky 8bit samples 
You should check out http://amp.dascene.net/home.php - they might have some Octamed stuff on there. 
I basically started with an old Atari 1040ST, running a Cubase version from 1886 (my birthyear, lol) There was an old synthesizer connected to it from Roland, which my dad eventually sold a few years ago. Later, this little studio was upgraded by a Roland "Sound Canvas". It practically had the same sounds as the synthesizer, but with more FX and banks. The music was kind of happy dance with a synthpop-byte, later untrendy house.
[Dance Goodbye]
My dad finally bought a microsoft-compatible computer and a new synth, the Yamaha PSR 740. And I still think that even the other two Roland synths had better sounds and warmer orchestral sounds.
On this equipment I started with trance & techno, although the sounds were constantly dissapointing.
[Be Quiet] [From Paris To Lyon]
Three year ago, I was given a Yamaha PSR 290... Obviously, it wasn't better than the PSR 740, but I finally discovered a good feature in the Yamaha-synths... Automation in Cubase 5 was very easy, and I was able to synthesize original sounds out of this basic learning keyboard. I also worked a lot with Acid, and didn't use any hardware-synths with it. With a whole lot of patience, I started creating my own world of Trance...
[Time Flies] [Running Up That Hill, a Kate Bush remake]
Just a few months ago, I've got myself the Roland Juno-D. I also had permission to use the old Yamaha PSR 740, for a dual MIDI possibility. The Juno-D had all that I had missed, those years after the millenium. After my track "No Problems", I don't feel like making Trance any more. I also use other software, like Cakewalk Sonar.
[No Problems] [Dark Ambient sample]
I know, I know... It's more of a history, but I felt like typing the whole thing while I was busy anywayz
| quote: |
| Originally posted by jahnlay The sound from Fruity Loops isn't good, in fact it's terrible. Try and buy a copy of Ableton Live or Reason, they're both great. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by jahnlay The sound from Fruity Loops isn't good, in fact it's terrible. Try and buy a copy of Ableton Live or Reason, they're both great. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by websley 1886 (my birthyear, lol) |
Hmm,
Somewhere around 1987 I took a wrong turn on my way to my Tuba lesson in the music block at school and I stumbled upon one of the least technically savvy teachers trying to get Steinberg Pro24 running on an Atari ST hooked up to a DX9 (eew), Tr-505 drum machine and an Alpha Juno 1. Next to it was a tascam casette 4 track and a battered SH-101.
He wouldn't let me near it because I wasn't a piano student.
But my best friend was so he'd sneak me in there and we'd futz about for hours on end trying to make Jean-Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield tracks. Of course everything we made was crap, but it got the foundations going.
:-)
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