basic software for music production? (2 Viewers)

[magicbastarder]

my wife was given one of these for christmas

🎹 AKAI Professional MPK mini Play MK3

Mini USB Keyboard Controller with Speaker More than 100 internal drum and instrument sounds, Gen 2 keyboard with 25 velocity-sensitive mini keys, 8 Backlit MPC pads with note repeat and full level function (x2 banks), 4 Controls for editing...

www.thomann.de

and i downloaded the suggested software (called MPC beats) and it's stupidly complicated and seems more directed at beats/sampling. she also has a full size roland electric piano; is there any more stripped back software she could use which would be fun and not overly complicated to play with?

 

[UnicronUnicron is verified member.]

my wife was given one of these for christmas

🎹 AKAI Professional MPK mini Play MK3

Mini USB Keyboard Controller with Speaker More than 100 internal drum and instrument sounds, Gen 2 keyboard with 25 velocity-sensitive mini keys, 8 Backlit MPC pads with note repeat and full level function (x2 banks), 4 Controls for editing...

www.thomann.de

and i downloaded the suggested software (called MPC beats) and it's stupidly complicated and seems more directed at beats/sampling. she also has a full size roland electric piano; is there any more stripped back software she could use which would be fun and not overly complicated to play with?

Does she just want to record into it? If so I'd recommend Reaper, powerful enough for pros to use for recording and mixing but simple enough for anyone to get started with.

Technically not free though if you don't pay for it it's fully functional it's just that after 30 or 90 days I don't recall there's a pop up on launch that'll go "hey, it'd be cool if you paid for a licence" that'll be up for a few.seconds

If she's like to also do some production I believe Ableton is very popular and there's a stripped down free version ableton (lite???)

 

[magicbastarder]

Cheers, I've looked at reaper before and it's very complicated. May just be a case of switching off parts of the UI that are not being used, maybe?

 

[Anthony]

If she has a mac she already has Garageband which is a stripped down Logic but still powerful.

 

[UnicronUnicron is verified member.]

Cheers, I've looked at reaper before and it's very complicated. May just be a case of switching off parts of the UI that are not being used, maybe?

This guy's channel is a great resource. At the simplest level you open a project, create a track, select your source and arm it for recording and you're good.

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[egg_]

John out of Stoat uses mixcraft and likes it - it's cheap (€50) and not over complicated (unlike pro tools, which I'm still using after 20 years cos I'm not arsed learning anything else)

 

[JohnnyRaz]

If she has a mac she already has Garageband which is a stripped down Logic but still powerful.

+1 on GarageBand. They’ve almost made recent versions UI accessible to the point that the meatier functions are hard to find behind the fun stuff

 

[magicbastarder]

Cheers, I do have a Mac which I lent to my dad a couple of years ago which he doesn't really use...

 

[ann post]

what does she want to do

 

[magicbastarder]

If she has a mac she already has Garageband which is a stripped down Logic but still powerful.

so far Anthony (and JR) have the prize for the best suggestion. this is so much cleaner and less cluttered than the other options i've seen.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

so far Anthony (and JR) have the prize for the best suggestion. this is so much cleaner and less cluttered than the other options i've seen.

I’ve had good fun using it over the years. I’ve never really used midi on it thought - just live tracks and mixing

 

[magicbastarder]

It's just a lot easier to use. Create a midi track, select an instrument, start recording. Create a line in track, start recording.

 

[Anthony]

I did all my demos in Garageband until I bought Logic in order to do my Like There's No Tomorrow album. And even then I opened the Garageband files in Logic and addedto them there.