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Old 01-31-2014, 09:11 PM   #41
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I don't make much dancefloor music anymore, but I do what would still be considered electronic music. Actually, the first song I made in Reaper was drum'n'bass. I used to write dnb songs in fruity loops, then in acid pro, then in cubase sx. I even used a yamaha sequencer and a bunch of hardware synths for awhile. Now I'm a Reaper user and I feel more freedom using it than all the others before. I used to a lot of sampling, now I use a ton of midi and fx. I think it would be a lot easier to chop up beats and work with audio in acid pro, but that's me, it all depends on your preferred workflow.
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Old 02-01-2014, 04:36 AM   #42
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I used to use the older trackers in my time (I really liked the various incarnations of buzz machines!), then ACID 2.0 for audio clippage work, used my Gravis Ultrasound for samples (was an early tester for them I Win95 days). I did flirt with Fruiyloops for a while, but moved over to MIDI based systems (hard and soft). I dabble now with various items of software, all depending on quite what I want to create ... so Reason, Live, REAPER of course, Sibelius, BIAB, NoaTikl (re-incarnation of Koan-X and Koan Pro for ambient styles, but can make interesting rhythms).

But, REAPER always is the last in any chain - I will always export individual tracks from whatever software I use and re-mix them with added fx etc for final rendering ... I find REAPER always does the job

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Old 02-01-2014, 05:12 AM   #43
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Originally Posted by hathor View Post
Thank you I'm not sure who paid to create the image but I found it on DeviantArt and was very drawn to it: http://theartoftk.deviantart.com/art...ound-389574986
It's beautiful - very nautical with the deep blue and the way the hair looks like it's drifting around in water.
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Old 02-02-2014, 08:36 AM   #44
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One of my first Reaper projects, just to illustrate to a fellow Reaper Forumite how easy it is to use FREE VSTI's to make music.

Turned out to be one of my highest listened to and liked.

https://soundcloud.com/mididreamer/l...sary-restraint

And then, now, although I really am not a guitar player, it is a sort of a side hobby with me...

This one has a little guitar with digital pyrotech near the end.
It is an excerpt from a 38 min Reaper FreeForm Jam I recently did.
It pretty much has all the elements I use in Reaper all going on in a REAL TIME JAM!!!.

https://soundcloud.com/mididreamer/on-the-fly-excerpt

And...the full 38 minutes!!! This kinda shows all the techniques I have learned with Reaper...and using it all "on the fly" in real time as
ONE INSTRUMENT...
know what I mean?


https://soundcloud.com/mididreamer/on-the-fly

Please remember, I am just a hobbyist...
But, If I can get this kind of results, imagine what someone who really knows what they are doing can do!!!

I Love Reaper!

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Old 02-03-2014, 05:08 AM   #45
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Default Reaper Dance Music

Hi,

here a two dance songs from Happy Dead Rabbit, I produced mostly with Reaper:

https://soundcloud.com/happy-dead-ra...erstartstoflow
(Recording mostly in Reaper; Keys are recorded with Cubase; no midi, just the Keyboard-Audio; Mixing completly in Reaper)

https://soundcloud.com/happy-dead-ra...appydeadrabbit
(Recording mostly with Ardour 2 under AVLinux; no midi; mixing with Reaper)
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Old 02-12-2014, 12:23 PM   #46
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I do everything from beginning to end in Reaper. All ITB. It can be done and I like the workflow even though there are other programs that do MIDI and looping better. However, I prefer the plugin and routing options that Reaper offers. My favorite thing is easily creating folders with fx on them to effect multiple tracks, I use this alot for drum busses, vocal groups, and side chaining ducking things. I usually glue specific items and loop, but sometimes create regions for easy looping multiple tracks and trying out different composition structures. Samples are in my signature, under the first link
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Old 02-12-2014, 03:23 PM   #47
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I downloaded the demo of Ozone's BreakTweaker for a looksee yesterday. I haven't opened it today. I don't think the demo is sufficient to judge it correctly, and I certainly wouldn't fork our for the full version on the strength of it. Anybody else tried it?

http://izotope.com/products/audio/breaktweaker/
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Old 02-13-2014, 02:24 AM   #48
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It can't be done. You have to use Sonar for dance music.
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Old 03-02-2014, 10:53 AM   #49
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I only make electronic music, and I just finished a bonafide pure techno tune, 100% rave dancefloor, 100% with Reaper:

https://soundcloud.com/da-finga-1/convergence-0v259-l
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Old 03-02-2014, 10:57 AM   #50
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It can't be done. You have to use Sonar for dance music.
I assume that this is sarcasm....? If not, it ought to be...this is silliness.
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Old 03-02-2014, 02:26 PM   #51
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If I had made this track with Sonar, I would have been pulling my hair out. At least that was my experience with three of my earlier tunes. When things still weren't finished, I then transferred everything from Sonar to Reaper, which took days to figure out, but when I finally managed the difference in workflows and frustration were day and night. In Reaper, everything just worked, and it was fast.
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Old 03-03-2014, 08:02 PM   #52
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what do you use for your drum grooves?
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Old 03-04-2014, 11:50 AM   #53
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what do you use for your drum grooves?
The sounds are all from Nerve. There's a fullness to their sounds that I love. I didn't use any of their patterns though - I made some simple ones myself in Nerve.
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Old 03-10-2014, 08:04 PM   #54
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The sounds are all from Nerve. There's a fullness to their sounds that I love. I didn't use any of their patterns though - I made some simple ones myself in Nerve.
I tried demoing it, but everything I clicked on caused a pop up nag window that I had to close to do anything. The nagware was too annoying to give me any insights on software that costs $200...this sort of thing is why I've been spending more time trying to learn how to code my own VSTs over saving up to buy tools like Geist or Nerve. I really would like to make my own drum sounds in Reaper but I feel a bit frustrated without a good drum sequencer and am torn between saving up money to buy a good one or coding my own from scratch.

I don't get why software publishers are so scared to offer a decent trial version of stuff to sell their products. I like how Cockos and Image-Line have structured their business models, and wish more companies would do business that way instead of being overly anal with the protections to the point of alienating potential customers.
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Old 03-11-2014, 02:31 AM   #55
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A house remix i just uploaded to Indaba for one of their competitions if anyone's interested. All made/mixed in Reaper.

https://www.indabamusic.com/opportun...3-22000a23954b
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Old 03-11-2014, 03:21 AM   #56
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I would like to know if it has benefited or limited your production in any way and whether it's just as good long term option as any top tier sequencer or do you still have the urge to go back to another sequencer for electronic music?
I'm doing nearly all my stuff in Reaper, my EDM/Trance songs as well (see my signature, the electronica link - the trance stuff is mostly further down that SC page). I'm currently working on a new trance song and really love the flexibility that Reaper allows in terms of workflow. I have a few of the older ones where I used only samples for the drums, but recently I use NI's Maschine for that. I have one song (https://soundcloud.com/nowo/vertiginous-abnormalities) which was done exclusively in Maschine, but I have to admit, I'm not that big a fan of the Maschine's midi editing capabilities (apart from for drums) and I feel that Reaper with Maschine as a VSTi gives me exactly what I need, plus I have great flexibility for synths and samples.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jerome_oneil View Post
I've been using Reaper for a while, but it hasn't made me a better dancer.

Me neither ...
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Old 03-11-2014, 08:58 AM   #57
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As of right now - I prefer Ableton for general composition and rough structuring of dance music. It's MIDI/Rack capabilities just make it so easy to pop-out ideas in an instant. If i'm recording any live instruments or editing/chopping audio for the track, I usually do that in Reaper.

I will ALWAYS mix dance tracks in reaper though. It's much more intuitive

As I use reaper more, and more I might make the switch completely. For now though, a hybrid setup works nicely.
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Old 03-11-2014, 09:14 AM   #58
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As of right now - I prefer Ableton for general composition and rough structuring of dance music. It's MIDI/Rack capabilities just make it so easy to pop-out ideas in an instant.
I've heard that a lot, but I just can't get my head round Ableton. Admittedly I only have the light version, but I just can't get to grips with it. Even after watching Youtube tutorials and recreating the examples, I still can't produce anything worthwhile by myself.

So I think I'll stick to the Reaper / Maschine Combo for all my EDM creation needs
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Old 03-11-2014, 12:24 PM   #59
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Pretty busy remixing these days - so I guess that would qualify as producing "dance music". Some of my stuff is quite techno/deep house influenced, but with a krautrock twist, and among other genres I cover are oldschoolish disco-dub, dub reggae and retro rocksteady.

So here's what working in Reaper taught me: a good "track" is still a "tune" somehow. Not being slave to a grid ends up in so much more musical and interesting music than e.g. in Logic with which I worked for almost 10 years. Tried Ableton once and couldn't avoid the obvious 1-bar, 2-bar, 4-bar pattern structure. Of course I can do that in Reaper as well if I like, but I don't

Just 2 days ago I received tracks for a remix that were done in Logic. Not only that they were far too loud all over the place (a common mistake due to the Logic meters), the original tune is, erm, not really "original" to say the least. It's just a sequence of loops that fit together seemlessly. No soul, no evolution within the song. It's just too easy to be happy with that kind of outcome when the tools press you in their way of thinking. Reaper for me doesn't.
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Old 03-11-2014, 01:08 PM   #60
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Originally Posted by NowoTone View Post
I've heard that a lot, but I just can't get my head round Ableton. Admittedly I only have the light version, but I just can't get to grips with it. Even after watching Youtube tutorials and recreating the examples, I still can't produce anything worthwhile by myself.

So I think I'll stick to the Reaper / Maschine Combo for all my EDM creation needs
I use maschine as well I find Ableton handles MIDI much more intuitively so I generally start in ableton and work my way to reaper once everything ends up in the realm of audio.
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Old 03-11-2014, 01:10 PM   #61
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Tried Ableton once and couldn't avoid the obvious 1-bar, 2-bar, 4-bar pattern structure. Of course I can do that in Reaper as well if I like, but I don't
One of my biggest gripes with ableton. You get stuck on in a loop and ideas don't get anywhere.
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Old 03-11-2014, 04:05 PM   #62
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One of my biggest gripes with ableton. You get stuck on in a loop and ideas don't get anywhere.
My gripe with ableton is how damn UGLY it is. LOL. I don't even give it a try because of that and the layout. IMO, it's all about live DJ shows which I have NO interest in.
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Old 03-11-2014, 04:37 PM   #63
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Originally Posted by bladerunner View Post
A house remix i just uploaded to Indaba for one of their competitions if anyone's interested. All made/mixed in Reaper.

https://www.indabamusic.com/opportun...3-22000a23954b
What do you use for your drums? that's the last little hurdle I have to figure out with Reaper workflow for EDM is what i'm going to do for percussion...i've been using some house drum loop sets but I really would like to do my own thing, I like FPC in FL but it seems like too much work to use two DAWs to compose a single song (unfortunately FPC is a FL native plugin instead of a VSTi)
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Old 03-11-2014, 05:18 PM   #64
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What do you use for your drums? that's the last little hurdle I have to figure out with Reaper workflow for EDM is what i'm going to do for percussion...i've been using some house drum loop sets but I really would like to do my own thing, I like FPC in FL but it seems like too much work to use two DAWs to compose a single song (unfortunately FPC is a FL native plugin instead of a VSTi)
Hey I just drag and drop samples straight into the timeline. I used to use all kinds of vst's for drums but i find it less fussy to just work with audio files these days. I find samples all over the place by doing searches.

Here's a few good ones.

http://www.boxedear.com/free.html
http://cl516.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/linndrum.html
http://cl516.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/...m-machine.html
http://cl516.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/...9-samples.html
http://www.drivenmachinedrums.com/ (link at top of page for free pack - very good samples)
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Old 03-11-2014, 06:42 PM   #65
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Hey I just drag and drop samples straight into the timeline. I used to use all kinds of vst's for drums but i find it less fussy to just work with audio files these days. I find samples all over the place by doing searches.
Thanks for the links; I'll try that...do you use ReaSampomatic5000 at all?
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Old 03-11-2014, 07:23 PM   #66
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...that's the last little hurdle I have to figure out with Reaper workflow for EDM is what i'm going to do for percussion...i've been using some house drum loop sets but I really would like to do my own thing, I like FPC in FL but it seems like too much work to use two DAWs to compose a single song (unfortunately FPC is a FL native plugin instead of a VSTi)
Just some thoughts after looking over this...

Depending on your computer, you could use FLS as a slave to Reaper. Not sure if you know this or not. Also, you could always just export wav files from FLS and import them into Reaper.

Here's a couple of drum vsts that I've liked.

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=164

Dr Fusion 2 is a bit finicky with some, I've heard. And I still don't know if it's pro sounding or not. But you can tweak the sounds a lot, which is sorta cool. I'm still experimenting with it.

The other one is Microtonic. You can demo it fully functional for several weeks. And (last time I tried) the timer only operates when you use it.

http://soniccharge.com/microtonic

There's also a subsonic VST that adds depth to a kick.

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=378

But I think if you're using FLS as a slave to Reaper, you can layer kicks, anyhow.

I tried wav samples in the beginning but am not sure if they can be tuned as well as vst's. Also, as the tune evolves you might want to try different sounds with the same pattern..
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Old 03-11-2014, 09:50 PM   #67
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Thanks for all the links, msea. I downloaded the trial of microtonic. I'm also playing with DirectWave with some ESX24 drumkit patches.

I do still think that FLS/FPC may be my best bet to make my own custom grooves with drum hit samples...I just have to figure out some kind of workflow. I like how in FLS the FPC patches show up with each sample named in the piano roll. I noticed that with some VSTi's Reaper shows patch names in the piano roll too but I'm not sure how to go about naming midi notes in Reaper. When I switch the view mode to named notes it just shows numbers in parentheses that don't appear to be editable. If I could name each note individually then i could make some beats in FLS and export the midi to drop on the timeline, which would make it easier to do piano roll edits of the drums. If I figured that out then I'd be able to start building up a collection of correctly mapped midi drum loops that I can just drop into the timeline.

The way FLS is set up is awesome for creating multi-instrument sequenced patterns and dropping them on the timeline, but it falls short with recording VSTi performances and automation, and the mixer is tied to instrument channels instead of tracks which isn't as intuitive.

If I had money to throw around I'd probably just buy Geist or Maschine, but since I am broke it probably would be better to spend my time figuring out how to do what I want to do using some combo of Reaper and FLS. I just have to figure out a good workflow for getting them to play well together in some way that is intuitive enough to be creative instead of fumbling with the software. I suppose I could just start songs in FLS and then once I have the basic idea of something I could export all the patterns and drop them into Reaper.

However, I've tried to figure out something along those lines a few times but I tend to get frustrated and go back to drum loop sets. I guess it's not the end of the world to use pre-made drum loops as many of them do sound quite good, but it feels less professional than making my own loops with custom-made drum kits.
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Old 03-12-2014, 07:30 AM   #68
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i

Theres a way to do everything here, im still learning, but if you follow threads with beatbybit, pitchslap, airon, musicbynumbers, bladerunner, evildragon and a bunch of other cats (sorry for not dropping ur name here)you can pick up new stuff and workflows all the time.

Actually, id love it if these cats got together and wrote a definitive guide on how to get all that shit done. Aimed at the crew into EDM and the workflows suited to it. Ive been here a while now and it still blows me out with some of the stuff being done in Reaper. I feel like a noob on a weekly basis of late. Esp reading pre release threads.

V4 and beyond looks really promising.
THIS! I've been trying to wean myself from protools and logic and settle on "reaps" for its flexibility but getting my main tools to work (geist and microtonic) has been trying. I like reaper and all but you do have to be quite the tinkerer to achieve the workflow you want.
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Old 03-12-2014, 08:07 AM   #69
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One of my biggest gripes with ableton. You get stuck on in a loop and ideas don't get anywhere.
Check out holly Herndon and what she does with Live.

http://youtu.be/nHujh3yA3BE

I guess the moral of the story is that it's in what you make and not what youse to make it. That said, it is a lot easier to get in a loopy rut with logic than with reaper hence my present attempt at migration.
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Old 03-13-2014, 12:09 PM   #70
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Thanks for the links; I'll try that...do you use ReaSampomatic5000 at all?
Not really - I don't use any sample players much (and it's usually shortcircuit rather than rsk5 if i do - awesome bit of kit). I guess I'm not typical of how most dance musicians work. I prefer working with audio as I'm a very 'visual' kind of person if that makes sense. I don't like to use sequencers that play loops that i can't 'see' in the timeline - I get confused about what's where etc!! I like to see the audio - exactly where things are placed. Sorry that doesn't really help you in your mission to find drum software!
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Old 04-30-2015, 11:08 AM   #71
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Originally Posted by hathor View Post
Thanks for all the links, msea. I downloaded the trial of microtonic. I'm also playing with DirectWave with some ESX24 drumkit patches.

I do still think that FLS/FPC may be my best bet to make my own custom grooves with drum hit samples...I just have to figure out some kind of workflow. I like how in FLS the FPC patches show up with each sample named in the piano roll. I noticed that with some VSTi's Reaper shows patch names in the piano roll too but I'm not sure how to go about naming midi notes in Reaper. When I switch the view mode to named notes it just shows numbers in parentheses that don't appear to be editable. If I could name each note individually then i could make some beats in FLS and export the midi to drop on the timeline, which would make it easier to do piano roll edits of the drums. If I figured that out then I'd be able to start building up a collection of correctly mapped midi drum loops that I can just drop into the timeline.

The way FLS is set up is awesome for creating multi-instrument sequenced patterns and dropping them on the timeline, but it falls short with recording VSTi performances and automation, and the mixer is tied to instrument channels instead of tracks which isn't as intuitive.

If I had money to throw around I'd probably just buy Geist or Maschine, but since I am broke it probably would be better to spend my time figuring out how to do what I want to do using some combo of Reaper and FLS. I just have to figure out a good workflow for getting them to play well together in some way that is intuitive enough to be creative instead of fumbling with the software. I suppose I could just start songs in FLS and then once I have the basic idea of something I could export all the patterns and drop them into Reaper.

However, I've tried to figure out something along those lines a few times but I tend to get frustrated and go back to drum loop sets. I guess it's not the end of the world to use pre-made drum loops as many of them do sound quite good, but it feels less professional than making my own loops with custom-made drum kits.
Hey Hathor, not sure if you're still around here but I've been thinking of you from time to time while checking out FLS myself. After my preliminary self-education, I'm really coming to appreciate how you can play around with samples in FLS. Especially with Channel Settings >> FUNC. That's something I find lacking in Reaper. ALthough I love Reaper's overall precision. And maybe you could get the same kinda thing with the JS plugins.

I find automation is way easier in FLS. But I'm not so much recording it live; rather, drawing it in, after the fact.

I also really dig the groove templates in FLS... found in the Quantize area. Reaper's "humanize" is good but it isn't as focussed as the FLS templates (which, you can always change to suit your needs).

Last, i guess the Midi editor is nice in FLS. Took me a while to appreciate it, but shifting notes a bit (so they don't sound robotic) and adjusting velocity is nice in FLS. All this can be done in Reaper. But I just find that FLS is easier on the eyes or something. Another person might feel the opposite...

Anyhow, just thought I'd check in. I know you're an aspiring producer. I still have the dream too.
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Old 04-30-2015, 06:39 PM   #72
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I've been making dance/electronic music in Reaper for a few years, what really made things take off though was rewiring Reaper with Renoise. Basically I slave Renoise to Reaper and use Renoise mainly as a sampler that happens to have an interesting, inspiring sequencer built in. Awesome for breakbeat-style drums, any kind of arp or other rapid synth line, sometimes bass as well. They work incredibly well together even on my crap computer and complement each other very well also. Really though Reaper alone can handle any genre, I've done everything from symphonic to house in it.

Last edited by manyserious; 04-30-2015 at 06:47 PM.
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Old 04-30-2015, 08:11 PM   #73
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Originally Posted by manyserious View Post
I've been making dance/electronic music in Reaper for a few years, what really made things take off though was rewiring Reaper with Renoise. Basically I slave Renoise to Reaper and use Renoise mainly as a sampler that happens to have an interesting, inspiring sequencer built in. Awesome for breakbeat-style drums, any kind of arp or other rapid synth line, sometimes bass as well. They work incredibly well together even on my crap computer and complement each other very well also. Really though Reaper alone can handle any genre, I've done everything from symphonic to house in it.
That sounds good. I may check it out down the line. I'm just starting to realize that each DAW has its own plusses and minuses. Reaper has SO many pluses that I can see why people want to use other software as a slave to it. I did that with FLS and Reaper for a while. But I felt I just had to branch out and learn the logic in FLS.

These days I enjoy comparing renders made on FLS and Reaper. I mean, renders of the same song. Seems Reaper renders come out cleaner but, for the music I'm making anyhow, not as big sounding. Maybe FLS adds a touch of distortion because it doesn't have real time rendering. I don't know. I'm not a tech expert. I just go with what's what.
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Old 04-30-2015, 09:08 PM   #74
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My gripe with ableton is how damn UGLY it is. LOL. I don't even give it a try because of that and the layout. IMO, it's all about live DJ shows which I have NO interest in.
The plugins look like old nasa gear. The price is what stumps me..?
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Old 04-30-2015, 10:09 PM   #75
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The stuff I do uses a lot of dance music elements but it's probably more retro 80s than dance. The one and only issue I have that isn't somehow self inflicted is VST3 to better integrate my integra7 and that should be solved with Reaper 5.

While I'm no pro by any stretch, I have yet to find anything Reaper does or doesn't do that inhibits anything I want to do or have thusfar dreamed up. And because it's so flexable It's probably better than most DAWs for dance production. Some people prefer the MIDI in other DAWs but for me it hasn't been an issue. YMMV.
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Old 04-30-2015, 11:43 PM   #76
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I have a problem with the term dance music.

Is it Joseph Strauss , orchestral waltzer ?
Is it the polka in some hidden valleys in the eastern parts of Bulgaria ?
Is it African or American tribal dance ?

Or "die grosse Hitparade der Volksmusik mit Ernst Mosch und den original Oberkrainern" ?

Gamelan Music ?

80ies süpersaw ummmtz ummmmtz ?

Surely I can't do that type of music, regardless of using reaper or not. But I can do my type of music, and reaper gives me a comfortable environment for that. Although reaper is the best for it, this does not mean it is good. It is sufficient.
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Old 05-01-2015, 06:18 AM   #77
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I have a problem with the term dance music.

Is it Joseph Strauss , orchestral waltzer ?
Is it the polka in some hidden valleys in the eastern parts of Bulgaria ?
Is it African or American tribal dance ?

Or "die grosse Hitparade der Volksmusik mit Ernst Mosch und den original Oberkrainern" ?

Gamelan Music ?

80ies süpersaw ummmtz ummmmtz ?

Surely I can't do that type of music, regardless of using reaper or not. But I can do my type of music, and reaper gives me a comfortable environment for that. Although reaper is the best for it, this does not mean it is good. It is sufficient.
That's funny. Lol. I feel the same way about music. Frack the categories. My own stuff is something of a synthesis of different forms... From classical, funk, world and edm. But I do like to have that pumping beat in their somewhere. Speaking of which, I find side chaining crazy ez with FLS. And when I tried it with reaper, there seemed to be some bleed thru of the aux input which I think is sposed to be silent. But maybe it was just me. Green and not really knowing what the frick I'm doing.
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Old 05-01-2015, 06:24 AM   #78
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The stuff I do uses a lot of dance music elements but it's probably more retro 80s than dance.
Retro 80s is cool. When you think about it, it really is all relative. Donna Summer in the 70s... Remixed in the 21C.

And I swear, when I listen to the close of Beethoven's 5th, I hear a rock and roll, nay, heavy metal guy born b4 electricity.
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Old 05-04-2015, 12:08 AM   #79
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I slave Renoise to Reaper and use Renoise mainly as a sampler
Take a look on Redux (http://renoise.com/redux), seems to be successor over Renoise when you need to use it in another DAW ... No rewiring shit, just load as any other VST.

Also ImageLine Minihost is a great tool, you should use FLS grid editor inside Reaper, many new workflows opened ...
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Old 05-04-2015, 06:25 AM   #80
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Default How to Create Electronic Dance Music

Using the DAW of your choice (any DAW will do):

Step 1. Add a kick and a snare thus: Doof-Clap-Doof-Clap, at your desired tempo.
Step 2. Add a bassline, one note will do, but up to four different notes may be more interesting, thus: Wub-Wub-Wub-Wub. Use sidechain compression.
Step 3. Add a plinky plonky arpeggio sound. Use plenty of delay.
Step 4. Add wooshy noises. Use filter sweep.
Step 5. Mix.

If you want a more commercial sound, get some chick to sing a few random lines. Repeat throughout the tune.
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