Music Production Notes check Chuck - music programming language Ideas of setup for session view Launchpad (Quneo) should be enough for arrangement view keyboard and/or pads checkout launchpad95 script Arturia seems to make pretty cool devices fairly priced. Most have VC/Gate output. Books The Secrets of Dance Music Production Making Music - 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers Links http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the-best-android-music-making-apps-in-the-world-today-276167 Magazines Future Music Computer Music Audio Interfaces Behringer UMC204HD Novation Audiohub 2x4 4xRCA outputs, 3x USB hub, Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 (2G) ESI UDJ6 songs to sample Et si tu n'existais pas (Joe Dassin) Black Betty (Tom Jones) What do you need DAW, for example Ableton Live MIDI Keyboard Studio Headphones or Studio Monitors Audio Interface, for example Focusrite (optional) Microphone for instruments and/or voice (optional) dynamic microphones used for live gigs, loud sounds, low sensitivity, they don't require power source condenser microphones commonly used in studios, they require power source (48v) phantom power through XLR cables Other intruments, for example a Synth (optional) Controllers Controllers don't play sounds they only send sound information, usually through MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), to a device that generates the sounds and an audio interface can play those sounds. Instruments can play sounds, therefore they can have some or all of the devices: MIDI Controller, Synthesizer, Sequencer, Audio Interface, they are an "Appliance". They do need to be paired with a PC. Pads and Knobs There are 2 types of knobs, endless rotary encodes and fixed-position or control knobs. Encoders are used to increment or decrement values. Jog wheels are a kind of encoders. Control knobs or Pots (short for Potentiometers) are used to set absolute values, they can have center detent. Quneo Arturia BeatStep - https://www.arturia.com/beatstep/overview controller and step sequencer 16 pads (2x8) and 16 encoders (2x8) 16-step analog sequencer connectivity: USB, MIDI, CV/Gate price: 100 E Pro version: ~250 E Akai LPD8 (Laptop Pad Controller) 8 pads and 8 Q-Link knobs (they look like Control Knobs) price: 50 E Akai APC mini (Ableton Performance Controller) Akai APC40 (Ableton Performance Controller) Midi Fighter Twister 4x4 clickable encoders Center Detent function so it can be used like a potentiometer with middle LED indicator price: 280 E Novation Launchpad & LaunchControl Keyboards Arturia KeyStep keyboard controller and polyphonic step sequencer each sequence can have 64 steps, each step can have up to 8 notes can be connected to Novation Circuit connectivity: USB, MIDI, CV/Gate price: 120 E Arturia MiniLab Mk II comes with Analog Lab Lite, Ableton Live Lite, UVI Grand Piano Model D 25 slim keys, 8 RGB pads (x2 banks) and 16 encoders (2 clickable), Pitch Bend and Modulation touch strips keys and pads and encoders, but no step sequencer like with Beat- or KeyStep price: 100 E Akai APC Key 25 (Ableton Performance Controller with Keyboard) Akai MPK mini (Music Performance Keyboard and Pads) Novation LaunchKey (mini) Instruments Synthesizers Novation Circuit Hybrid Synth-Drum Machine, Sequencer, Controller allows sample uploading 4 tracks Korg Minilogue Drum Machines Drum machine is used to create drum patterns outside of your DAW sequencer. As a side note, if your drum machine supports sample upload, most don't, than it can basically become any instrument you want, it gets closer to a sampler. Novation Circuit Hybrid Synth-Drum Machine, Sequencer, Controller allows sample uploading 4 drum tracks price: 290 E Arturia Spark LE price: 200 E Elektron Analog Rytm Elektron Digitakt can sequence up to 8 external synths allows sample uploading Korg Volca Beats entry level can be connected to other Volca synths real analog sound, but not fully analogue (hybrid) only one drum kit, it can be modified in many ways single audio output * works only with computer Samplers Capable of creating long phrases or whole tracks (as opposed to a drum machine which is capable of creating drum patterns or short phrases). NI Maschine MK3 is an example of a notorious modern (as of 2018) sampler (or Groovebox), usually used as a drum machine. It only works connected to a computer. Korg Volka Sample Novation Circuit Elektron Octatrack Software To Check Mixbus EnergyXT Qtractor Tracktion 5 Mulab Free Ohm Studio PreSonus DAWs Ableton Live Reaper unlimited evaluation LMMS Linux MultiMedia Studio Plugins Free Synth1 Virtual Analog Synthesizer TAL Plugins (Togu Audio Line) TAL NoiseMaker W1 Limiter simulation of L1 limiter by Waves Rough Rider aggressive compressor Magical 8bit Plug Alchemy Player iSpinner LoudMax Popular Serum Synth1 DJ VirtualDJ Use quneo's vertical slider to control LPF of the filter knob: var "$shift" ? nothing : param_multiply 0.5 & param_greater 47% ? deck left eq_low 50% : deck left eq_low Serato DJ See serato.md file. Music Theory Freq Guide 20-50Hz Sub-bass you feel this range rather than hear it 50-250Hz Bass here is usually the bass boost in most apps and appliances 250-800Hz Muddy between bass and mid-range 800-6000Hz Mid human ear is very sensitive to it 4kHz mark - the most sensitive very small adjustments here have a big impact 6000-8000Hz Treble control the brightness of the track the magic frequency 50-8000Hz is the most important part of the track 8000-20000Hz Ultra-High Treble high hats, the hiss here you get the harshness older people can't really hear this Tonality and Atonality Tonal music has a clear tonal center, the "goal note". It's called tonic or the key of the melody. Usually the first and the last note of a melody. It's the first note of the scale used to create the melody. Atonal music has no clear tonic pitch or goal note. When we say that a song has a single tonal center or tonic, we also are saying that it is in a single key. It is made from a set of notes that have the tonic pitch as the first note. This set of tones can be arranged in stepwise order as a scale. DO RE MI FA SOL LA SI DO is a scale. As example C MAJOR scale means the tonic note is C and the mode is major . Harmonic Function The most important chord in the key is called the tonic harmony and the tonic pitch is the lowest note of that chord. A chord is multiple notes played together. Harmony is succession of chords to create a sense of harmony or a story, chords progress to control the creation and resolution of tension. Harmonic function is what the chords "do". Tonic = Stable chord (at the beginning and end of the song) Predominant = Connecting chord, a chord that prepares the Dominant Dominant = Unstable chord (throughout the song and as the second to last chord) Notation Chromatic scale: 12 notes, at half step distance. Middle C = 262 Hz C4 is called the middle C. A 7 notes scale has 8 notes, the 8th is same as the 1s up an octave. The interval between the 1st note of a scale and the 5th note is called the perfect fifth . RMS = Root Mean Square Major Key all the white keys in a scale on a piano Minor Key most used in european music, especially dance music T, S, T, T, S, T, T T = tone, S = semitone Measure and Meter Signature Measure = Bar Sound Quality jitter simulation experiment http://www.sereneaudio.com/blog/what-does-jitter-sound-like bluetooth quality http://www.sereneaudio.com/blog/how-good-is-bluetooth-audio-at-its-best Online Resources https://www.musictheory.net/ Music Production A song has generally sounds in 4 categories: Drums Bass Chords Melodies Recording For recording using a microphone you will need microphone (duh), microphone stand, XLR cable, audio interface and a computer with a recording software (DAW or Audacity) How to Create Chords take a note (for example a tonic to get the tonic harmony) major chord copy the note 4 positions up copy one more time 3 positions up minor chord copy the note first 3 and than 4 positions up create a chord progression by copying the chord up on every note of the key when creating a loop start with the tonic chord and finish with the 4th or 5th chord use any from 1 to 6 in between How to Sound musical Without knowing (too much) musical theory. Stay in Key mark all the notes from a scale in the pianoroll and fold it to see only those notes copy the notes on all octaves move the scale notes off grid so you only see them not hear draw your melody, you'll be in key Chord Progessions open a chord progression and disable it draw on top of it, you'll be in key and it will probably already sound good move octaves down and draw your bass line use just the base note for the bass line Harmony find a piece of song you like convert it to harmony, it will somewhat resemble the original song edit the result until you like it use the scale plugin to change the key add drums or bass line Use MIDI Effects in Abelton Live Scale Plugin use C minor for example change the note and you will be in that key, for example chose F and you'll have F minor combine it with Chord plugin Chord Plugin (Chord Sets) How to use Samplers a sample is a piece of audio of any length between, let's say, half a second and a full song it is usually a something like a drum hit, snare or kick for example sampling tipically means to get some audio clips into a sampler, and trigger them using MIDI you can buy sample packs, cut some pieces from entire songs and use them as samples, or you can create your own samples for example in Ableton drag the Sampler instrument onto a MIDI track and an audio clip onto the sampler. Use your keyboard to trigger the sample at different pitches How to use Synthesisers Serum is a very popular and famous synth for example to create a bass sound, you start with a squared wave from an oscilator so you need and Oscilator filter out the high frequencies using a filter, since the bass has only low frequnecies so you need a Filter use an envelope to setup the attack and hold, decay and sustain and release when a key is pressed so you need and Envelope attack = the time it takes for the sound to reach it's maximum volume or the fade in time hold = TBD decay = the time it takes to get from the maximum volume to the sustain volume sustain = the main volume of the sound (in dB) when the key is hold release = the time it takes for the sound to fade out when key is released Mixing and Mastering mixing means to balance out all the elements of your final track balance levels balance ferquencies using equalisers take out what clashes control the dynamic range using compression use reverb to make it sound "somewhere" (in a room or in a hall) mastering means polishing your final track comes after mixing import back the exported track as audio and polish it further Music Genres Kizomba Sounds and Instruments Ableton Live - Muted & Bell Unpitched