Quote:
Originally Posted by Schredds
Yo Freebase, alright, aside from all the downloadable programs and such, and all the computers, hardware, and software needed for creating the music, which doesnt seem too terribly complicated, is the main piece of equipment used to physically make the music the midi board combined with keyboards and foot pedals? Lets say, If Im not out to lunch in thinking the keyboards and foot pedals are in fact used for making the music, is it a better idea to have a separate system where each of the components has its own midi output? One more thing what is the purpose of a scan board?, Ive seen 32 way and 64 way scan boards mention but cant seem to find much information on it.
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Not sure where the scan board comes into play...
But here's a basic rundown:
Sequencer
This is where you compose, arrange, sequence, trigger, effect, etc... all your sound elements. It's the heart of your setup. Here is where you perform both audio and MIDI sequencing. It can be either software, or hardware.
Here's an example of this in software:
What you're doing in a sequencer (which is the core "workstation" in any music software) is placing any samples you may be using, placing your MIDI editors for use in triggering soft-synths, or even hardware synths via MIDI cable, setting your project tempo, and basically building your song structure.
The sound generation aspects are your synthesizers (for pads, synth leads, etc), Beat machines (for programming your drum lines), and Samplers (for triggering any sample).
These portions of your setup are where you're getting your actual audio from. In a hardware setup, it's the same concept, except you have actual hardware.. Most of the time, the hardware you're using will be MIDI clock synced to a host (your hardware sequencer) so that everything stays in sync with your sequencer.
Another aspect is your
mixer:
In the software world, this does the same thing as any hardware mixer that might comprise a hardware setup. It's where you set the volumes and panning and route FX sends for each individual channel that your elements are routed through.
There's more to it, but that's what's physically needed to actually create the music. There's many different ways to create your setup, but the above is the typical standard for any kind of electronic music creation.
What you have to understand is that there isn't a single "piece of equipment" that creates the music. It's a joining of different elements that's necessary to allow the creation of a full on song.
Software solutions, such as Reason, are simply the digital representations of hardware solutions. They do the same thing, but offer an all-in-one package that's invariably cheaper and just as effective.
In recap:
Synthesizers and samplers/beat machines
This is where your audio comes from.
Host sequencer
This is where you control the audio sources and create the structure of your song.
Mixer
This is where you set your levels.
There's a lot more to it, but that is the basic setup.
Now, I'm not sure where you're getting "pedals" from, but some people prefer to use MIDI keyboards to play their software synthesizers because it provides tactile control and allows for a more human touch. It's really no different than physically playing a hardware synthesizer in a hardware setup. The MIDI keyboard is simply a way to control a software sound program, be it a soft-synth, sampler, beatbox, whatever.