#I've bought a couple things. But really theres almost nothing you can do with a paid program that you can't do with a free program nowadays.

[quotientofthemind]

All of this. TLDR: take full advantage of things also like youtube tutorials and sample libraries, i mention a few below. Google anything specific you want/need with the word “free” after it and it’ll probably come up

I’m teaching a class on music production this semester and these are all amazing resources that I’m using in my class. I’d say Vital is the most comparable to Serum, Helm is a bit more lightweight but is a really good synth nonetheless.  Spitfire also has a ton of other sounds and samples in their LABS collection which are amazing, and the same person who makes Spitfire also helps run Pianobook which is a crowd-sourced sampled intsrument project, of which the vast majority are free. Consistently the biggest hurdle to music production in my experience is just having the digital space for a bunch of sample libraries of these things. In the same vein, Native Instruments First is also a great free collection of sounds and plugins. Kontakt is a really nice plugin but also takes up a bunch of space.  People have also mentioned Cymatics in other replies also, which I would also recommend for a bunch of free samples. Most of theirs are in the hip-hop producer direction, but kicks and snares and stuff are universal, and with some free effects that you can find basically anywhere you can really transform anything into anything else. but, my number one tip, out of all of these, is to GOOGLE THE HELL OUT OF IT. Because of COVID a ton more people got into music production and started making all sorts of free software and samples and instructions and just searching for something specific you want will give you oodles canoodles and toaster strudels amount of options to choose from. Learn everything you can from youtube tutorials and articles and stuff. Thats all you really need to do. 

Puki if you don't give me advice on how to start getting into making music I'm gonna die from idiot disorder my life is literally in your hands please don't fail me puki

What do u wanna learn? Download a DAW first, I think FL, Ableton and Logic pro are some of the best. FL is the cheap, Reaper is cheaper but if ur a mac owner Logic Pro is the go-to, unless u wanna splurge for Ableton, which is the best >:) (Logic pro is like a pro version of garage band) - - Get a nice virtual synth, Ableton includes loads, different versions of FL give u access to their vsts - harmor is a great synth, btw all synths will work in all DAW's (except Logic which uses AAX but most virtual synths come with that too.) - my favorite VST's are Serum, Sylenth1, Zebra2, Diva, Dune3, omnisphere, and I use loads of Kontakt libraries and other things - this isn't a comprehensive list but I'd suggest shooting for Zebra2 or Serum for your first purchased synth since they have massive comprehensive presets, both user-made and built-in. Then go to splice or loopmasters or find all the free samples ur heart desires on reddit and then ur good to start learning. Get going.

[jaxhol]

People say I love you too soon

I haven't been up to too much recently. Well mostly. Nothing creatively. I've been out almost ever weekend, and every opportunity I've been given. I've made a few beats, and rapped a couple songs. I've barely draw, and stayed up finishing a project. Just kinda redoing things I made in the past. I learned how to use a cad software, and made the motel sign with that. I can still add to it, but I really haven't yet.

I wish I could recall every single things I've done since I last wrote, but that would take a while. I could go through pictures and tweets, and I might. But I've been taking less pictures, and on my phone less in general. So it might be harder than I think it would be. But It'd be nice to just have a list of everything so I never forget. I did get a (almost) girlfriend.

This girl I met on the first day, and I've kinda been pursuing since then. And we've been talking almost nonstop for exactly 4 weeks now. We've gone on a couple dates, and it's awesome. I haven't asked her to be my girlfriend yet, theres a couple reasons. But there's a semi formal dance next weekend, and I think I'm going to ask her to that. I've know about it since school started, and I've been spending the entire time trying to convince my friends to go. I've had to force them to do something event, because it's out of their comfort zone. But being uncomfy is how you grow. But i'm not even sure if I'll be able to go. My dad bought tickets to a Boyz II Men concert like late 2019, and it's been delayed a couple times because of covid and stuff. I don't know how many other opportunities there will be to go a concert like this. And I can always go to the dance next year. But it'll be a completely different thing every year. I also have a debate tournament earlier in the day. But that doesn't really interfere with anything.

Part of the reason I'm scared to ask Ash out is because I'm scared of commitment. Like every time I've committed to a relationship with someone, I've fallen straight on my ass. And I hate it. And the last one truly fucked me. Like I was genuinely depressed for like 2 months, I didn't want anything else other than to be happy. And It took me a while to find that in myself. But I eventually did. And I feel absolutely terrible about this but I've been trying with everything in me to not get attached, because I can't think this is gonna last forever. I know it wont. And I think the lack of commitment helps the relationship, because theres nothing keeping you there. I feel like having a title forces you to stay when things get bad. I realize that sounds like I want other people, but I don't. I want to stay exclusive to her, without the titles. Theres no requirement, It's all will. But that's not fair for her, if that's what she want, and I want to stay with her. I have to go for the titles. And thats a fair enough sacrifice.

I also question if I like her sometimes. That sounds like an automatic "I should drop it." But maybe this is like, and everything else I've felt has been lust. Like I'll beat off, and think "Man I don't want to have sex with her at all." And like post nut clarity really hits. Maybe that's what real love is. I've always thought the feeling I've felt going into a new relationship, where you want everything there is to do with that person, all you want to do is talk to them, you stay up till 4:00 on a school night just to finish your conversation. But that feeling wears off. It goes away, so maybe it's lust. Maybe it's that feeling of adventure, but once you figure everything out, once you get what you want, it's boring. But this one feels different starting out. It wont kill me to go all in

One thing I very strongly dislike about her is her friends, like its nothing about what they're into. It's just how they're into it. If that makes since, like it seems like they're trying to be edgy just because it's edgy. And nothing against that, I use to be like that, but they're very over the top about it. Some of her friends are cool, like 3 or so I'm cool with. But some of them are just weird. And I'm not hating, just saying they're not my kind of people. But she's not her friends, and I don't plan to be around all of them all of the time. They're into the same shit I am, and that's cool, but they express it differently than my forte. But thats fine, they doing them. I'm not gonna hate.

Me typing out "I use to be like that" is kinda sad. I loved that part of myself, (I'm listening to reborn, and typing that last sentence Kid Cudi said "time goes on" which is kinda cool.) but me being edgy and all "ooooooo upside down crosses, and goblins" is kinda gone, I don't find myself actively looking for that kinda thing anymore. I don't draw as much, but what I do draw is softer bubble letters of the same Skoen Nation, or WOLD logo, or song lyric. I was insanely happy and excited to do edgy shit, but that's not really what I'm doing anymore. Maybe I matured, but I was hoping it'd be a slower process. Maybe I can blame the break up, and the summer for teaching me to take things more serious. And I don't want to live in the past, but maybe I should start doing that kinda thing again. Like watching old Tyler interviews, cause that was the shit that I found cool, and awesome, and inspiring. Was the shit that I've always been told isn't cool. But I don't wanna force it, or get a stigma that's not really me. But I think that comes from forcing it.

Ehhh thinking about it, I don't know if I'm not doing creative things anymore. I think it's just different than what it's been in the past. Like I made these sick ass fucking Ambush glasses. Like I designed them and 3d printed them, I've been making a lot more beats recently (maybe that's because I finally figured out how to do it), I've been experimenting with outfits a little bit, taking pictures, making videos with Alex, everything. Maybe it has been less, but that's probably because school's a bitch. I still wanna make that magazine. That shits getting done one day. I kinda wanna get a nice camera to take good pictures and videos and stuff, but I've got my phone. I think I'm gonna start working closer to that.

Make a list of all the events and things you do/have done

Organize pictures and videos from those things

Locate and organize all your drawings, and continue to keep them together

Edit, and put together pictures and put them into a folder

All love, keep making shit