#digital audio workstation (daw)

[techniktagebuch]

August 2024

Ich baue mir eine Band

Ich besitze eine zweistellige Anzahl an Musikinstrumenten, die meisten davon funktionieren, und ich kann einige davon ein bisschen spielen. Aber eigentlich will ich in einer Band sein. Oder in einem Ensemble. Irgendwas. Dafür gibt es genau zwei Optionen, die eine, ein anderer Mensch zu werden und Freunde zu haben. Die andere: Overdubbing, das heißt, alles selber machen. 

Seit Jahren spiele ich mit “Digital Audio Workstations” (DAW, bekanntes Beispiel ist Apples “Garage Band”), ohne damit aus dem Anfangsstadium rauszukommen. Es passiert einfach zuviel in dieser Software, als dass es Spaß machen könnte. Der Workflow fühlt sich überhaupt nicht so an wie in einer Band zu sein. Es ist eher wie grafisches Programmieren, und dafür habe ich mir kein Klavier gekauft. Seit Jahren suche ich nach dem einfachsten DAW der Welt, aber eigentlich suche ich nach etwas anderem.

Dann stieß ich durch Zufall auf Tutorials von KT Tunstall, die bei Livekonzerten mit einem Looper arbeitet. Genaugenommen mit einem Akai Headrush version 2, diesem hier.

Das ist nicht KTs Headrush, sondern meiner. Das Gerät wirkte in den Tutorials so großartig altmodisch, es ist aus Metall, kompakt, aber angenehm schwer. Ich wollte genau dasselbe. Außerdem wird es nicht mehr gebaut, ich erstand es auf dem Gebrauchtwarenmarkt für Studiohardware. Es kann drei verschiedene Dinge, aber ich brauche es, genau wie KT, nur zum Loopen. Dafür braucht man nur zwei (ZWEI) Knöpfe, die beiden am unteren Ende, und sie werden mit den Füßen bedient. Rechts ist aufnehmen, links abspielen. Ein Kabel geht rein, vom Instrument oder Mikrofon, und ein Kabel geht raus, zum Verstärker und Lautsprecher oder Kopfhörer. Insgesamt kann es 12 Sekunden aufzeichnen, zum Beispiel ein In-die-Hände-Klatschen. Dann spielt man drüber, zum Beispiel Fingerschnippen. Dann wieder, zum Beispiel zwei Akkorde. Und so weiter. Unendlich viele Schichten. Es dauert ein paar Abende, das Timing präzise hinzukriegen, aber selbst das fühlt sich schon an wie in einer Band spielen.

Jetzt muss ich nur noch die Band aufbauen. Dafür brauche ich einen Verstärker, ein Mikrofon, einen kleinen Mixer, und Instrumente. Und Kabel, Kabel sind überhaupt das wesentliche Element. Man braucht immer noch ein Kabel, das man noch nicht hat. Das große Keyboard geht direkt in den Mixer, das Mikrofon auch. Genau wie die Stompbox. Die MIDI-Instrumente gehen zum iPad, das wiederum in den Mixer geht. Der Mixer hat eigentlich nur die Funktion, alle Geräusche zu vereinen, und zwar mit Lautstärkereglern an jedem Eingang. Dann schickt der Mixer alles an den Looper, der wiederum zum Verstärker liefert. Fertig ist die Band.

Mit Hilfe des Loopers kann ich mir jetzt in wenigen Sekunden einen wirren Hintergrund erzeugen, auf dem ich improvisieren kann. Es hilft, wenn der Hintergrund nur ein, zwei Akkorde hat. Vorschläge für Songs dieser Art nehme ich gern entgegen. “Love You Madly” von Cake habe ich schon. “Seven Nation Army” auch.

Moment, was ist noch gleich eine Stompbox? Mein neues Lieblingsinstrument: Von außen sieht es aus wie ein Holzklotz, und viel mehr ist es auch nicht. Drinnen ist irgendein elektrisches Element, das elektrische Bumm-Laute erzeugt, wenn man mit dem Fuß drauf haut. Eine total einfache Bassdrum. Oder eine Stompbox. Ich fand meine Stompbox auf Facebook Marketplace, und kaufte sie auf dem Markt um die Ecke von einem schottischen Gitarristen.

(Aleks Scholz)

[moxie-starre]

Me and FL studio are in a relationship but rn we’re just kinda feeling things out so it’s an open relationship and I’ve heard some good things about Logic Pro so I may ask him if he’s free

[pelman]

please reblog for larger sample size!

[thorne1435]

I wish that more people would get into composing music, because it's fun and therapeutic and neat, but like. It's really fucking expensive if you're looking into typical, professional equipment, so I understand why they don't.

Personally, I just don't think you need to start out on a DAW. It feels unnecessary, and it feels like it's an easy way to gatekeep art from the poor. "Professional" Music software ropes people into spending, like, $500+ on the software alone, and then expects them to be able to play an instrument, which involves owning an instrument which varies wildly in price depending on what the instrument is and if it's well-made.

(there's also the occasional software that's aimed at people who are able to record themselves playing that instrument and like...the logistics of that costs a lot, but it's not strictly required or anything. there's also an argument to be had here about the culture surrounding machine-produced sounds as opposed to human-performed sounds, and I'm just not gonna get into it right now)

That's why I don't fucking use a DAW. I'm poor!

I got started on Flat.io, which is not a DAW, but it is free! It's kind of like Noteflight or Musescore if you're at all familiar with either of those things, but the general consensus is that Musescore is better than Flat is better than Noteflight. I've never used Musescore. But I know that Flat is better than Noteflight. It's just a website that has really good instrument variety. It's primarily limited by the fact that you can only use western musical notation. You're also limited to 15 scores without their subscription service (which I got a lifetime membership on for like 150 dollars? but i think they've increased the price since then? dont know, cant see it anymore) but honestly it's not so bad because they don't enforce the ban on multiple accounts as hard as they say they do.

So I guess what I'm saying is like...even if you don't know what you're doing and you're really nervous and you don't want to share anything and you think it costs way too much money (because it does), like...give it a shot. Go digging for artistic software, regardless of the medium, and eventually you will find what you want. And even though the free services can get penny-pinching at times, there's usually at least one out there that can show you whether or not you really want to get into it before you hit the paywall.

And also what I'm saying is go look at Flat.io. Because it's cool. And I've used it for years. And I really like it. And you should go look at it.

[triskelia]

taking recommendations for free daws if you have the time, search engines just want to sell me junk

[soundswe]

Impact Soundworks – Ventus Series Ocarinas for Authentic

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[the-npc]

Does anybody know of a music DAW that's like. intermediate level?

I've started music making on This Shit

not to say it's bad at all, it's awesome, it's also kinda an mspaint of music making and I want to find a DAW between that and the ones with a million different features.

For example: I started drawing digital art on mspaint, then went to ibispaint x on my phone, then to clip studio, and it was the smoothest experience of my life.

I'm trying to find the Ibispaint of music production.

[extraplugins148]

Mastering Sonic Excellence: Explore Lexicon PCM Total Bundle for Unparalleled Audio Processing

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[just-jessie-d]

Editing on Reaper DAW has become silky smooth thanks to the abilities to customize track colours and add quick key shortcuts for things I use frequently. It's actually a moderately enjoyable experience now!

I put off learning it for so long because it looked complicated and I was intimidated, but most of my questions can be quickly googled and resolved.

[gagliandi]

Discovering the Power of Reaper: My Go-To DAW for Music Production

In the expansive world of digital audio workstations (DAWs), Reaper stands out not just for its robust features and affordability but as my DAW of choice for all my music production needs. From the intricate beats crafted for the Garlic Farm project to the diverse soundscapes explored in my other works, Reaper has been an indispensable tool in my creative arsenal. Here’s why Reaper has earned its…

[guitarbomb]

Universal Audio Plugin Bundles at Unbeatable Prices - Up to 60% Off!

Universal Audio Plugin Bundles at Unbeatable Prices. Experience the revolution in audio production with Universal Audio Plugins, now fully compatible and natively running on both Mac and Windows platforms. This significant advancement has made these premium plugins more accessible than ever, eliminating the need for specific UAD hardware. Embrace this change and dive into the world of superior…

[chakapriambudi]

Pengertian DAW Digital Audio Workstation

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) adalah perangkat lunak atau aplikasi yang dirancang khusus untuk merekam, mengedit, dan memproses audio secara digital. DAW digunakan oleh produser musik, insinyur suara, dan musisi untuk membuat, mengedit, dan menghasilkan musik atau proyek audio lainnya. Fungsi utama dari DAW meliputi: Rekaman Audio: DAW memungkinkan pengguna merekam sumber suara dari berbagai…

[guntersounds]

Applying Compression to my Tascam DP32SD Tracks

The Dilemma: As much as I love my Tascam DP32SDs (I use two of them), they're missing one key feature – compression. Very often, when tracking, the audio levels are inconsistent (that would be an 'operator issue' on my part). I don't particularly like compressing as I record. In the past, I've always compressed during the mixdown, using the dynamic compression inserts on my mixing board. But things are different now, and I just don't have multiple inputs and outputs to feed into my beloved analog boards.

The Challenge: My usual suspects for recording the majority of my tracks involve a combination of my Roland TD-50 drum module, an Optimus MD-1200 keyboard, Carvin X1 amp pedal and a Boss IR-200 cabinet simulator. This pretty much covers a whole band – drums, bass, guitar, keys. They sounded great with the proper levels, but what they really needed was a bit of compression to bring them to life. The DP-32SD, for all its merits, doesn't come with the tools for this job. I thought about upgrading to the later (and yes, very sleek) Tascam Model24s, but the thought of spending over $2,500 and having my faithful DP32SDs collecting dust? This is not practical for a number of reasons and I'm sure I'll arrive to this explanation on a later post.

My Strategy: As much as I avoid Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), I needed something to tame and brighten the dynamics of my raw audio tracks. Now I would never tell a person how to manage their equipment, or which tools to use, but I personally believe that understanding DAWs is necessary and we should maintain access to one. This could be an inexpensive DAW with limited features. This is why when it comes to computing, I use open source software and my DAW of choice is REAPER. Years ago, I could have given you all kinds of tips on Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro and Sonar, but notice how they no longer exist? Okay, I'm jumping the shark again- I'll talk about this in another post.

Exporting Tracks: The Tascam records all files in WAV format, and I have them defaulted to 16-bit. These files can be exported separately by use of the DP32SDs "Audio Depot." The Audio Depot is a reserved directory found on the SD Card used for your recording sessions. I exported all my raw tracks to the Tascam Audio Depot in the defaulted WAV format.

DAW Integration: Next, I brought these tracks into REAPER, my Rocky Linux digital audio workstation and this is actually a simple process. Shut down your Tascam (save your work!) and move your SD card from the Tascam to the DAW. From this point, you use the REAPER graphical user interface (GUI) to add each raw WAV file as a track. A beautiful feature about the Tascam Audio Depot, is that every file you export to the depot is the exact same time length. This makes it VERY easy to align your tracks in your DAW to play the tracks in sync.

Applying Compression: REAPER has a native set of plugins that are arguably industry standard, especially if you don't rely on audio effects exclusively. Each plugin name is prefaced with "Real," so I chose the RealComp VST compressor and applied one instance of this plugin to each raw track. This compressor reminds me of the outboard Behringer Autocom Pro and some of the other ART, Alesis and Nady compressors from the 80s and 90s. The developers built out numerous presets, so I was able to choose "Rock Snare" for the snare, "Rock Bass Drum" for the kick, etc. I was also able to apply similar presets to the guitars and the keys. Fine-tuning each preset was very easy to do by adjusting the threshold or even a ratio adjustment. Each track ended up with its own perfect compression setting.

Rendering and Returning: REAPER uses the term 'render' to finalize a mix. Rendering will basically 'play' the track internally and record this mixed version to a new file. This can all be done under the File -> Render section. Once I had all my tracks dialed in with the right compression, I rendered each one separately to their own dedicated tracks. Now when you render your tracks in REAPER, it's a good idea to set up your naming convention. Under the Render options interface, I was able to auto-name each track to be the same as the name of each track on the REAPER virtual mixing board. Examples of track names could be: 01-BD (track one, bass drum), 02-SN (track two, snare), 11-BASS (track eleven, bass guitar), 12-GTR1 (track twelve, guitar 1), 13-GTR (track thirteen, guitar 2)... Once this was complete, I copied these files to the DP32SD SD card's Audio Depot directory (delete the old files first!). Eject the SD card, and place back into the Tascam.

Re-importing to Tascam: The final step was bringing these compressed tracks back as a new song on my DP32SD. You create a new song and then under the song options, select IMPORT. IMPORT takes you to the Audio Depot and you can simply add each track according to the naming convention you used. 01-BD would be imported to track one, and 13-GTR1 would be imported to track thirteen. At this point, you have a brand new song with your files compressed and ready to mix.

The Outcome: Immediately, I noticed my audio levels to be much easier to work with. I almost felt like I was mixing tape! I think the biggest takeaway regarding recording digitally, is that your digital recorder is going to capture sound much differently than your older analog tape recorders. I remember so many times in the past, when I would set up a couple microphones on some instruments and run them through a mixer to tape, and the dynamics were much easier to manage. My opinion on this is that tape itself does have a natural compression and saturation, which makes the levels easier to work with. Many engineers like to use tape to ride the red lines on the VU meters. Unfortunately for us, these are expensive glory days for us to reflect on. We do have to adapt to the economics of technology by convenience, and this is not a complaint. A good adaptation is adding minor compression to your tracks. The challenge is what is the best way to do this? Well, you could compress as you track, but depending your project, you many need a rack of compressors and preamps. This is a space, resource and price problem. And once your track is recorded with compression, you can't change what was recorded. So, compressing after in a DAW seems to be my current method. This will change in the future. Tascam is continuously making improvements, especially in the newer Model24 series. I'll eventually get to write about why the Model24 isn't quite where I want to be in terms of an upgrade. So for now, the DP-32SD is still my choice of platform. The process of compressing my files in REAPER took about two hours and that included the learning curve, and other interruptions, but within a couple hours, my tracks were transformed. They sounded incredible, like they had been given a new lease on life. So this wasn't just about avoiding an upgrade. It was about taking control of my sound in a way I hadn't imagined before. The Model24s might have been a neat upgrade, but the Model24s also have their own issues. I will likely discuss this on future episodes of the guntersouds.NET podcast.

Reflections: The developers who contribute to REAPER's VST plugins should be awarded Medals of Honor. Think of the contribution that these unknown heroes have made! I strongly recommend a donation to the REAPER team when possible. What I learned from this whole process is that usually, the best gear is what you already have, combined with a little ingenuity. It's about marrying the tactile, hands-on feel of analog with the endless possibilities of digital. In the end, not only did REAPER help me resolve my compression issue, but I also discovered a new and exciting way to prolong the lifespan of my Tascam DP-32SD.

[extraplugins077]

Celemony Melodyne Studio 5 Download Windows & Mac Full Version

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Innovative Tools for Artistic Control: The Fade Tool, a standout feature, empowers you to create note-based fades even in polyphonic recordings. The Melodic algorithm edits pitched and noise-like components separately, offering unparalleled control. The Sibilant Tool allows per-note adjustment of volume between pitched and unpitched vocal sounds, while the Leveling Macro minimizes volume disparities between notes.

Harmonic Adaptation with Chord Track: Introducing the Chord Track and Chord Grid, Melodyne 5 Studio enables swift adaptation of notes or entire chords to harmonically suit your composition. This feature, coupled with musically weighted pitch analysis, ensures psychoacoustically optimal intonation correction.

Enhanced Polyphonic Editing: Melodyne 5 Studio introduces advanced algorithms, including the Percussive Pitched algorithm designed for instruments like tabla, berimbau, and 808 kick drums. The software facilitates recallable search functions for keyboard shortcuts, enhancing your workflow efficiency.

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Integration Options for Ultimate Workflow: Melodyne 5 Studio offers flexibility in integration. Whether used as a standalone application or as a plug-in within your DAW, the software adapts to your preferred workflow. The ARA interface provides complete integration with selected DAWs, allowing you to open and edit tracks directly in Melodyne.

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[noctumsolis]

Actually, new post with tags in hope of help.

I need some decent sound fonts or DAW software, preferable that I can use in our around a MuseScore→Audacity workflow on Linux. But I do have windows too if needs must.

The instruments that I need are:

Electric guitar with variable overdrive

Electric bass

Horns

Toms

Snare (can probably use one I already have)

Rainstick

Synth strings (again, can probably use one I have)

I wish I had a Soundblaster or something but everything must run in software.

[andreaornetti-com]

The Ultimate Guide to Dubstep Music Production

The Ultimate Guide to Dubstep Music Production This comprehensive guide to producing dubstep music is perfect for both beginners and experienced producers looking to take their tracks to the next level. With a focus on technical tips, tricks, and practical suggestions, this book covers everything from sound design and arrangement to mixing and mastering. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re…