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Ask HN: Help me get into electronic music?

3 points by jason_slack ↗ HN
I listen to a lot of di.fm. I like Giraffage and other electronic artists.

I am looking to obtain some equipment so I can start to make electronic music. I am on OS X.

Can anyone help me pick out equipment? Garage band? or Logic? Hardware?

Here are some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyGuYtpM9o4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdbck5qisMI

The winters here are brutal, so looking for a winter hobby.

7 comments

[ 24.0 ms ] story [ 13.1 ms ] thread
404error
This might be the wrong place for this. A quick google search for subreddits returned these:

http://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildastudio/

https://www.reddit.com/r/InTheStudio/

https://www.reddit.com/r/WeAreTheMusicMakers/

https://www.reddit.com/r/GarageBand/

Hope these help.

jason_slack
Appreciate it. I will look at these and decide where to ask.
404error
no problem, hope it helps. if it helps at all my friend uses https://www.ableton.com/ he produces everything from hip hop to electronica with it. they have some great plug ins...for a price though.
siquick
I would most definitely go for Ableton, you can free versions to try it out.

Sounds like that guy is using a lot of Beat Repeat effects, this is already built into Ableton but you can also use an external VST* called Glitch which is perfect for these sounds http://illformed.com/

*a VST is a 3rd party plug in for Ableton/Logic etc

There are literally thousands of tutorials on YT for how to get started making beats in Ableton, and the big advantage of Ableton is that you can get a loop going incredibly quickly compared to most other DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).

I found the best way to learn is to listen intently to your favourite tracks and try and seperate out the elements that make up the track.

e.g. what do the drums sound like? how many synths are playing and what are they doing? are their vocal samples and do you recognise them?

Write all this down as you are listening to the track, along with a timeline of when the different elements come in and out. This will put you on a good path to understanding the makeup of electronic music.

kleer001
Another vote for Ableton and also a vote to keep far away from hardware synths, drum machines, samplers, etc. They take up a lot of space, are super specialized, and become out of date quickly. Then again like classical instruments a musician can specialize in said instrument for their entire career.
Polyphonie
I'd start off simple by getting a midi controller like a Novation Launchpad (or Ableton Push if you can afford it) or a midi keyboard like the Akai MPK Mini. Pretty much all these controllers/keyboard comes with a software package or coupons/discount for Ableton Live. Or if you haven't already, you may download a 30 day trial of the full version of Ableton Live 9. And then you might want to head here for a free course on Ableton:

https://www.kadenze.com/courses/sound-production-in-ableton-...

[dead] sharash2
Do it! Just... Do it!!!