Making beats on a Mac
LooksLikeSinbad
187 Posts
I know this has been discussed before on the strut, but I can't find an answer to a relatively simple question - What is the best / easiest software to use on the mac for manipulating samples, loops, and sampled drum hits?[/b] My MPC is currently on hiatus and I want something on the computer to mimic it. I have tried to make music with garage band but it just feels like manipulating samples with it is very awkward. For example, looping stuff, timestretching, and even pitching samples can be a pain in the ass. Software synths, mutlti-track recording, and effects are not a major necessity. I have a decent sound card and a midi keyboard. So what should I use?
Comments
You be the judge:
http://www.ableton.com/
I don't use soft synths. I'm mostly a sample dude, but if I need synths, i prefer hardware. I use Logic with an external soft sampler, cause the built-in sample player EXS24 is too rinky-dink for my needs, and I don't like operating directly on audio files in audio tracks, that's much too rigid. I like to MIDIfy my samples, for more flexibility and control, and then record the tracks when the song is all done. I want to try the soft sampler Kontakt from Native Instruments. Does anyone have any experience with that?
Yea! The automation for synths is real ill. They got some nice VSTis too like:
EVP88 (dope rhodes emu), EVB3 (Hammond b3 emu w/ drawbar), EVOC (crazy multiband filters
Yea. I've used Kontakt, Halion (ewww), EXS and what not with Logic back when I didnt have a MP. I never touched software again after getting my first mp, apart from recording,and preediting samples,etc. So my knowledge is pretty dusty on this Subject. Back when I was using Kontakt it was new on the Market and buggy as hell. From what I see by scanning over some keyboard magazine covers nowadays it looks like it has emerged into the most powerfull Softsampler there is so far (I havnt tried the other candidates. MOTU MACH5 is one of em). Oh yea, do ppl still use gigasampler????)
The dope thing about Kontakt is you have realtime timestreching/pitchshifting, loads of tweaking "modules" you can load into your instrument to fuck around with the sound. So it leaves you 100s of methods to crazy-up your sound by combining/linking/stacking these modules like EQ, Envelopes, etc..
All these parts can be automated with logic.
Back when I was fucking around with Kontakt they just included multi-midi and multi-outs making it possible to have like 16(if my memory aint playing tricks on me they lateron changed this to as many audio outputs as your cpu would allow) different channels you can automate and also mixing your samples with dedicated channels...
I would love to go back to Logic but a g5 is just too expensive for me now. I wouldnt jump on it blind without testing it before (you can DL a "try before buy version"
I used to work at a place running Logic with TDM hardware, which is
peace
Daily
never worked with kontakt, but sounds like i should try.
If you're into breakbeatish production you really should. you can do some insane stuff with Kontakt...as I said
As a sampler player battery is so fucking easy and dope to use... very much like an MPC player.
PM me your AOL id again or whatever it was you prefered to MSN.
Cuz I never catch you there....
Never really liked battery, but its pretty sollid!
is there any way to slave soft synths to external hardware like an ASR-10? It sounds stupid but I just want to use reason as a synth, I wanna do everything else on the ASR and then track it to pro-tools later.
yeah I'll do drums on a MP someday.. hate learning new machines
please don't respond making fun of the ASR
Never that, son. The ASR is a great machine. I used to have one too.
dont know if i got you right, but i'll do kinda stuff in combination of reason and logic. you can "connect" reasons sound out (every single channel, so you can route several softsynths) via the rewire protocol to logic or other software that uses the rewire protocol.
my analogue synth is connected via midi and sound (midi in/out to logic, sound in to logic), so i'll afterwards record the analogue synth sound in logic and merge it with the sound of reasons softsynths... thats it.
Ableton Live is great but it's pretty far removed from traditional hip-hop beat making, as if it matters, so I prefer Reason. I use both at times.
midi?
this is just some basic midi shit...maybe will get you started.
Rewire can slave all your ouputs to one master - like Logic, Digital Performer, etc - you can also do this w/ tools like Soundflower - point all your audio outputs (buses) to logic or whatever you use, and then hook up an external midi controller using a midi interface, or use a USB controller, or whatever you can get you hands on to give you values...a USB keyboard controller, anything.
Map that controller to your synth. You need to tell your instrument to receive midi input, then assign it to channel that cooresponds to your device.
Bottom line is you need a midi interface to connect your device to Reason or whatever you use. The interface translates your device's controller data to your computer, which can map the data to whatever you want.
... since 1992.
there was an small (230kb) and easy to use drag&drop mp3 to aiff converter called "macast mp3 converter" for osx. has been removed from all download pages, but if you like to have it, just pm me.
peace,
dk essence
Why? Aren't the functions redundant? I used Reason but don't know why I should use live...
Damn, I forgot the obvious. You can use good ol' Itunes, of course! Drag the .mp3 or .wav into the library. From the menu bar, go to Itunes->Preferences->Advanced->Importing and select "import using AIFF decoder". Highlight the file in the library list and select Advanced->Convert selection to AIFF in the menu bar. The converted file will be in your specified music folder. If you want it somewhere else than with all your mp3s, you should change the folder in your preferences before converting, just change it back again afterwards. You can do conversions back and forth from different formats, you just have to select the decoder you want to use in your preferences first. Again, remember to change it back to the mp3 decoder afterwards.
Sometimes I use Live as the Rewire host. I also use live to pitch shift and time stretch samples. I rarely use them both at the same time, but I do, just sayin'.