Help me capture the sounds in my head

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I am starting to find that when I am in a semi-awake state, I hear fantastic electronic music in my head.

Can anyone recommend a Mac-compatible piece of software (for the ABSOLUTE beginner) that might allow me to recreate or approximate these masterpieces?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 11:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Bump. Forget The Sugababes, I really want someone to answer this question...

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 11:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess you could try the Propellerhead's ReBirth software. Sort of a Roland MC-909 emulator, it's user-friendly and it's fun just to mess about... at least I use it when I'm cravin' for some techno-electro sounds!

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 12:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Thanks? Where to find?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 13:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a dodgy copy of Reason. That any good?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Dodgy's as good as anything. Learn how to use REASON and it'll open up *whole new worlds* for you (or maybe not). Still - save everything you do at the end of each Reason session as an audio file before you turn it off. Work done in "dodgy" versions of Reason tends to corrupt every once in a while and go bye-byes.

Have fun!

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Learn how to use REASON

Can I do this just by playing around? What (in the layest of layman's terms) can I DO with it, exactly?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Sure, playing around is the best way to learn. And if something becomes too difficult to get around, or if you're just wondering "is it possible to do this?', *then* hit the manual. But just dicking around with it - or any other creative software for that matter - is a great way to get an early idea of what works best for you.

>>"What (in the layest of layman's terms) can I DO with it, exactly? "

Make music using the provided instruments and effects. You can't record outboard gear or instruments (yet?) with Reason, but don't let that dissuade you. Unless you're a folk musician...

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

phew!

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Reason 2 is a decent improvement on the first one. Have you got a keyboard you can midi up to it?

I say Reason 2 because they added a graintable synth in there which is great for more "out there" sounds.

And, yes, it's pretty easy to get to grips with. Have a look around Soulseek for some "refills" (nicely packaged new sounds custom compiled to be used with Reason).

Can you describe this stuff in your head in any way?

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

recommendation - acapella some of your head-beats into the answering machine before you start messing with the software... a drum machine of any kind will rechannel your conceptions into its newly revealed patterns. When you go back to listen to yr beatboxing after free play, you'll wonder what you were thinking, but you'll remember some kind of idea what tempo/fantastic you were going for at the time.

rock on

― autovac (autovac), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Can you describe this stuff in your head in any way?

Not in a way that would do it any justice-I sometimes pick up something that really does sound amazing (to me, anyway) and I try and hold on to it but it's usually gone within an hour or so. It tends to be more tones and textures than beats, a bit somnambulant. Maybe it fits into some sort of genre, but I don't actually listen to enough electronic music to tell you which (this is why it is extra strange for me to hear these songs,- and they are SONGS-, in my head).

I sometimes suffer from synaesthesia, and associate sounds with colours and shapes, so the best I can tell you is that I had a song last night that was like a blue curved drainpipe, possibly covered in ice.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 16:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Kinda like that "sliding in cave" sequence on "Ice Age"...

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

...yes but with an air of post-coital realisation of the inevitability of death.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

So I'm getting square waves, maybe some glittery, tinselly stuff on top that sounds a bit like bells but isn't, a minor chord feel, probably more implied chord changes than actual progressions. Was there beats going on?

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but very flat, muted beats. You're quite OTM with the minor chord thing, but less with the tinsel more of a metallic echo or even a sound akin to varying sizes of bottles being struck or rolled on hard pavement. The bells may be be synths but it's unclear.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

nine months pass...

So, I have a Powerbook and a (presumably functional) copy of Logic. What else do I need?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 February 2004 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Logic can be pretty complex. See if you can't get a demo of fruityloops or reason.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

*puffs cheeks*

Man this is hard work.

I thought Fruityloops was PC only.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:05 (twenty-two years ago)

adam, i have reason if you want it

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

i mean strictly for demo purposes so that you can later go out and purchase a real copy

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I Luv U

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:10 (twenty-two years ago)

adam you do know that trying to replicate sounds you hear in your head with software exactly is a fool's errand, yes?

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

[i'm just trying to save you six months of heartbreak, big guy.]

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:11 (twenty-two years ago)

b-b-b-but "Screwface" ! ;)

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

haha, you called me "big guy".

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

you are prob. about twice my height.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

just chil, chief

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 26 February 2004 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

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