How do I start remixing? A gear guide for multiple budgets.

This guide is intended for anyone interested in getting into remixing without spending exorbitant amounts of money. I will address FOUR different possible budgets - $0, $200, $500, and $1000. This is not a guide to production or arrangement, as there are other topics for that. This is just for setting up your studio gear so you can make some music.

All of these configurations assume you have a decent (<4 years old) computer and serviceable pair of headphones or speakers. If you need help on either of these topics, browse this Guides & Tutorials forum and/or post in the Remixing forum for additional help.

Also worth noting, there are mounds of free plugins available at www.kvraudio.com and free soundfonts at www.hammersound.com , but I'll point out some specific ones I like.

Let's get right to it.

Budget: $0

Audacity

This free program is a great multitrack audio editor and recorder. It also has DSP effects like noise removal, EQ, and compression. Very useful to have.

Free Soundfonts @ Darkesword's Site

Some great instruments that can be loaded in any plugin that uses the Soundfont format. Such as...

sfz

A VST instrument that loads and plays soundfonts. Simple enough.

Reaper

A GREAT sequencer, audio editor, and VST host. Tons of features are added constantly, as there is a very talented programmer behind it. While technically not free ($30) there is an unlimited demo. If you like it, you should pick it up eventually.

MDA Effects

A collection of effect plugins that are short on fancy graphics and CPU usage, but high on usefulness.

Synth1

An extremely versatile synth instrument that can be used to make a huge variety of sounds!

ZynSubAddFX

Weird name, amazing open-source, modular synthesizer. Not exactly easy to use, but VERY powerful!

Simulanalog Guitar Suite

Guitar amp + effect modeling software in plugin format. Even if you're not a guitarist, these effects can be potentially useful for other processing purposes, so they're well worth the price (free!)

A helpful tip from Melin (VGMix forums)...

Every month, a new issue of Computer Music is out. It comes with a DVD full of neat stuff. They have their own "studio setup" called the CM Studio. As of today, buying a copy of this mag (around $10) will get you:

CMusic 1.5 - VST-compatible audio and MIDI sequencer

DSP-Quattro CM - Mac audio editor and plug-in host

Wusikstation CM - Sampling synth

Basement arts reflex CM - Loop manipulation

CM-101 - Analogue-style VST synth

SR-202 - 16-pad VST drum pachine

CM-303 - Roland TB-303 emulation plug-in

DS-404 - Powerful 16-part multitimbral VST sampler

CM-505 - Analogue drum synthesis made easy

Ohm Force Ohmygod! - Resonant/comb VST filter

SpineQ CM - Multiband parametric stereo EQ

Camel Audio CMFuzz - Great distortion

Fabfilter One 2.01 - Single oscillator analogue synth

PSP Springverb - spring reverb effect

Image-Line CM Vocoder - Special version of CT Beats's vocoder

EnergyCM - step sequencing analogue-style synth

Audio Damage Pulse Modulator - Stompbox-esque modulation effect

Betabugs audio vascillator - Semi-modular feedback delay-based multi-effects plug-in

Image-Line CM Waveshaper - waveshaping distortion effect

Kotkas Paax 3 CM - Feature-packed versino of Kotkas sampler

Linplug Alpha CM - Subtractive analogue synth with highly flexible mod matrix

Dominator - Authentic virtual analogue synth

U-HE Zebra CM - Special version of the classic zebra synth, with semi-modular effects

Acustica Audio Nebula3 CM - Multi-effects plug-in that uses convolution techniques to emulate classic gear

0D0 Unknown 64 - SID-emulation VSTi

Krakli CMorg - Vintage organ

Synthmaker CM - Create your own VST synths and effects

They keep adding stuff every month. The sequencer is not the best out there of course, but you can use all these plug-ins with your favourite DAW. I would even buy a copy just to get the Nebula3, great stuff. On top of all of this, you get a descent magazine, and lots and lots of samples and demos as well.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

Reaper

A GREAT sequencer, audio editor, and VST host. Tons of features are added constantly, as there is a very talented programmer behind it. While technically not free ($30) there is an unlimited demo. If you like it, you should pick it up eventually.

If this is as good as it looks, then I'm going to have a whole lot of fun with this tomorrow. Useful guide idea.

This is awesome, thanks a lot. I don't know how to use any of this shit, but maybe one day I will, and I will have all the tools I need.

best post ever?

By the way, on the link to darkeswords soundfonts, you have a bit of a BBcode glitch, you forgot to add an ] so the link goes to http://soundfonts.darkesword.com/[/url

I currently have two computers. One is a 4 year old XP system, that, IF I fix, I could use, the other is a 10 month old Mac OS X running Tiger (v. 10.4.10).

Anyway, I'm out of state for college, and so the XP isn't an option, assuming I can get it fixed. I haven't noticed many remixing programs for Mac, although GarageBand is good, it doesn't have some of the sampling capabilities of XP programs I've used.

Does anyone have any advice? I'd love to start some working on some remixes.

I haven't noticed many remixing programs for Mac

I hope you're kidding or at least failing to find anything because your search words are incorrect .

Digital Performer

Logic ('s cheap now and pretty damn awesome)

Ableton Live (comes in an SE version too now)

Cubase (ok, so that's more expensive)

it doesn't have some of the sampling capabilities of XP programs I've used.

Which were those then?

The past two posts, plus this one, should probably be its own thread. Maybe someone should do a guide to mac remixing software and tips.

Anyway, I use Logic express. It costs a little, but works fine for me. It doesn't really come with a good way of importing your own samples (not that I've found, at least), but there's a free Audio Unit synth that can be used for those samples. Also, Logic is compatible with the Jam Packs, and I've only begun to explore what the two I've got can do.

Even so, using the Jam Packs with Garageband probably works just as well. You can get a lot of different sounds from most of those instruments using the modulation wheel (or entering modulation wheel commands with the mouse). There's some manuals on apple's website that explains just what the Jam Pack instsruments can do. I don't think GarageBand can't do good music.

Note that it can also import MIDI. Drag n' drop a MIDI file into GB and voilà, you've imported it.

I don't have much, if any, experience with the other sortware Yoozer suggested, but if you're short on cash, I suggest getting a Jam Pack and using GarageBand.

Very useful information, thanks alot

This could've saved me from Cubase.

I hope you're kidding or at least failing to find anything because your search words are incorrect .

Digital Performer

Logic ('s cheap now and pretty damn awesome)

Ableton Live (comes in an SE version too now)

Cubase (ok, so that's more expensive)

Which were those then?

I think I should've been more clear. I have found those programs, but I'm looking for something inexpensive because I'm currently in school and can't splurge too much. I can probably spend $100 max, and Logic, Ableton, and Cubase all seem expenisve. I haven't heard much about Digital Performer; thanks for the clue-in.

Actually I thought about the Jam-Packs but didn't know how good they were. Thanks for the information, I had no idea I could import midi into GarageBand.

Nice to know I've said something useful.

Note that what I said about GB was with an older version, one that didn't have mp3 export and a number of other fancy features. It's usually a good idea to check a program's feature list on the developer's website, so do that to see what your version of GB can do.

But look for some free Audio Units if you want to use samples... unless GB nowadays come with a sampler instrument as well.

Bump, updated with more info. More to come.

Simulanalog Guitar Suite

Guitar amp + effect modeling software in plugin format. Even if you're not a guitarist, these effects can be potentially useful for other processing purposes, so they're well worth the price (free!)

Does your guitar have to be active or is it possible just to plug it into your soundcard with a jackstik with a converter on.

And you still need a instrument to use all these things right? To remix I mean.

No, actually, you don't need an instrument at all, although it could help.

That sfz program? The given link was broken for me, so i've gone and found another:

http://www.antilicense.com/sfz197.exe

Yeah, I don't know what's up with Cakewalk and rgc audio but I can't find an official sfz download site anymore. There's always the webarchive of the rcg:audio site which provides the download as well as the info that was on the original site:

http://web.archive.org/web/20060616173559/www.rgcaudio.com/sfz.htm

Too bad it doesn't look like they'll be updating sfz anytime soon

i'd like to know what SE means as well, thx

Special Edition. (and LE is Lite Edition). Generally, these mean the same thing (albeit that "Lite" is more honest) - a cheaper, stripped down version that usually allows an upgrade for a discount.

Halo...uh...I'm a bit nervous...

Hi, I'm a newbie...uh...well, not really...

I do have some arranging experience before with my Technics SX-KN2600 Keyboard. I can pretty much copy a music and make a sequencer for the piece in question and then perform with it.(oh great, now I'm confused about my own statement...)

Now I really want to try using some computer program to help me with my projects since purely using my keyboard to do all the sequencing and arrangements can get really confusing and time consuming because of the machine's limitations.

I've tried playing around with ACID Pro6.0a and did get quite a good picture of how to use it. It's just that I can't figure out how to record the pan settings on a track and the meaning of those "nodes"(I think it's what it was called...).

I'm thinking of trying Audacity that Zircon recommended. If I may, I would like to ask a few questions:

1. How easy is it to master the program?
   
2. Is there any kind of tutorial literature that can help me study the program?
   
3. What is "soundfont"?(Have mercy! Please don't hit me!)
   
4. How do I connect my keyboard to the program?
   
5. Do I need Finale?
   
6. Are effects like modulation, echo, and that-machine-gun-speed-sound-repetition supposed to be created with different program?
   

No need to be nervous, welcome to the boards

Audacity is an audio editor, which means it takes in or records audio files (for example, .wav, .mp3, .aif) and allows you to manipulate them (for example, add effects, change the pitch/volume/speed). Those effects are performed by what are loosely called “plugins”. Some plugins come with Audacity and others (usually in a format called VST) can be bought or freely downloaded.

Now, while you can use Audacity for sequencing entire songs, it's not the best tool for the job and it doesn't offer all of the features that a full multi-track sequencer (sometimes referred to as a DAW) will have. Reaper and Mixcraft are two good options that offer free unlimited trials and cost about $60 if you decide to buy. There are more expensive and potentially better options, but these are absolutely fine to get started with. I'd still get Audacity to use as a great audio editor, but for your sequencing, go with a full sequencer. So I'll try to answer your questions with that advice in mind.

1. How easy is it to master the program?
   
2. Is there any kind of tutorial literature that can help me study the program?
   
3. What is "soundfont"?(Have mercy! Please don't hit me!)
   
4. How do I connect my keyboard to the program?
   
5. Do I need Finale?
   
6. Are effects like modulation, echo, and that-machine-gun-speed-sound-repetition supposed to be created with different program?
   

1)Audacity is cake to use. Reaper takes a little getting used to if you've never used a sequencer before, but once you get the hang of it, or any sequencer, it's very straightforward. Everything is nicely laid out and it didn't give me any problems when I tried it a while ago. I actually just found out about Mixcraft yesterday when I saw a friend of mine using it, but it looked really good. Mixcraft is modeled after GarageBand, so it's goal is ease of use.

2)Reaper has a users guide and a forum that can be helpful. A YouTube search pulled up

, which looks helpful for newbies.

3)A soundfont is a collection of audio samples. Those samples are bundled with instructions used to tell a program how to play them (volume/length/pitch/effects) when they are triggered with MIDI data (see the next question if you don't understand MIDI). Most sequencers, Reaper included, don't natively read soundfonts, but most sequencers, Reaper included, can load a soundfont player which in turn loads the soundfont, reads the MIDI data that you send to it, which then triggers the sounds. They're incredibly useful and I'm a huge fan of soundfonts.

4)There are a couple of ways in general. You have to understand the difference between MIDI and audio data though. Audio is a digital or analog representation of sound. Your keyboard produces audio. MIDI is a digital instruction that tells hardware or software how and when to play a certain piece of audio. Therefore, MIDI itself has no sound. Your keyboard also can send and receive MIDI data. Knowing this, there are 3 basic ways to use your keyboard in any given sequencer.

• You can connect the audio output of the keyboard (e.g. a headphone jack or line-out port) to the audio input of your computer (e.g. a line-in port) and record whatever audio is coming out of your keyboard directly into Reaper/Audacity/Mixcraft as an audio track. You play the performance live, or use one of your recorded sequences stored in the keyboard. Problem is, if you play live and mess up, there's no easy editing. If you use one of your recorded sequences, you could edit the sequence, but then you're not really taking advantage of the sequencer on your computer, are you?
  
• You could connect the MIDI out from your keyboard to the MIDI in of your soundcard. Even if you don't have a MIDI-in on your soundcard, you're fortunate enough to have a keyboard that transmits MIDI through USB in addition to the standard dedicated MIDI lines. Take your pick of which to connect. After it's connected, you can send MIDI messages directly to Reaper/Mixcraft (not Audacity though, it's an *audio* editor!). Reaper/Mixcraft are “hosts” which means they can load lots of other programs (“plugins”) within them. Some of these plugins are instruments and some of these are effects (both commonly in the VST format). If you have a VST instrument, for example a VST electric piano, you can load it in Reaper/Mixcraft then use your keyboard to play that virtual instrument using MIDI. There are lots of advantages to this method. First, your sequencer will record MIDI, not audio. This means that if you make a mistake, you can immediately go in and correct the bad note without having to replay the entire thing. You can make your performances quantized, which means that all of the notes start perfectly in time with the tempo. In general, there's just lots of flexibility with editing the performance, once it's recorded. Also, there are tens of thousands...maybe more...virtual instruments out there that can be loaded into Reaper/Mixcraft. Many of these will be free and many of them will sound better than the sounds that came with your keyboard! The possibilities are endless.
  
• The final connection method is if you want to use the computer sequencer to sequence the sounds that come with your keyboard. To do so you hook up the MIDI in/out of your keyboard to the MIDI out/in of your soundcard (again, your keyboard allows you to do it just by using the usb cable). You also hook up the audio out of the keyboard to the audio in of the soundcard, as in the first method. Now Reaper/Mixcraft are receiving AND sending MIDI data, and receiving audio. With this setup you can use a Piano Roll View (see below) to program in MIDI “notes”. That MIDI sequence is then sent to your keyboard where it is used to play one of the keyboard's sounds. That sound is then sent back to Reaper/Mixcraft and is recorded as an audio track. You could also play the keyboard into Reaper/Mixcraft, record the MIDI sequence, have that MIDI sequence sent back out to the keyboard which it will control one of the keyboards sounds, then send that audio back into Reaper/Mixcraft and record it as audio.
  

5)No, that's a separate program for a separate purpose. Essentially the functionality of Finale is replaced by the Piano Roll View (PRV) in most sequencers. With the PRV you can use your mouse to directly input midi notes which tell the virtual instruments you have loaded (or external instruments, like your keyboard) what to play.

6) As I've said, effects and instruments popularly come in a format called VST (sometimes called VSTi if it's an instrument). Reaper/Mixcraft can load these VSTs onto your audio tracks. So lets say you go to this huge archive of VSTs (and other stuff) and pick up a free modulation VST effect. Lets also say that you also used the first method above to record yourself playing the piano into an audio track. Now, once that modulation VST is installed, you can go to Reaper/Mixcraft's list of plugins and and select your new modulation effect and place it on the piano audio track. BAM! You've got a modulated piano.

Isn't music fun!

Wow! It sounds like a lot of fun!

Oh! I just remembered some things...

1. If my keyboard comes with a driver installer CD, should I install it before or after I install the DAW and audio editor programs or does it not really matter at all?
   
2. So, how do you tell the DAW program what tempo you are playing at when you are inputting a MIDI data via playing the electrical instrument analogously? I would suspect that it will be different from one program to another.
   
3. I you don't mind me asking a personal question, how long does it take for you to compose a single project now that you are a pro with music related programs? What about the "gods" of the composers?
   
4. When you say that there are "better" programs out there, do you mean they are easier to use, can perform more detailed task, or both of them with some more stuff that I don't know?
   

Thanks a lot for the education! I guess musicians DO have great attitude. I wish other forums also have members like you.()

P.S.:

Ah! I completely missed you very last sentence! I just noticed it after I finished writing my reply.

Isn't music fun!

So...HELL Yeah!!!!(Well, at least it is for us melancholies...)()

Reminds me of the feeling when I finished performing my remixed "Force your Way" from FFVIII at a small concert held by my music school.

Wow! It sounds like a lot of fun!

Oh! I just remembered some things...

1. If my keyboard comes with a driver installer CD, should I install it before or after I install the DAW and audio editor programs or does it not really matter at all?
   
2. So, how do you tell the DAW program what tempo you are playing at when you are inputting a MIDI data via playing the electrical instrument analogously? I would suspect that it will be different from one program to another.
   
3. I you don't mind me asking a personal question, how long does it take for you to compose a single project now that you are a pro with music related programs? What about the "gods" of the composers?
   
4. When you say that there are "better" programs out there, do you mean they are easier to use, can perform more detailed task, or both of them with some more stuff that I don't know?
   

1) I'd install any drivers first, though if you don't (or if you ever get a new keyboard with new drivers), it's not a big deal. Any decent DAW should have no problem with hardware changes of that nature (though you may have to do a bit of configuration, obviously, to use the new hardware - you'd have to do this kind of thing in either case).

2) You typically want to set the tempo in your DAW (it should be pretty obvious in most) and then play along with that. Most, if not all, DAWs will give you a clicktrack or metronome to play along with.

4) Easier to use, in some cases, but mostly having more and better features and more and better plugins, particularly effects.

Kanthos summed it up. I'll add that aside from having a few extra features that may be helpful for really large or complex projects, the bigger more expensive sequencers (SONAR, Cubase, Logic, etc) potentially will give you fewer headaches when trying to work with third-party software and hardware. Does Kontakt (a popular software sampler) work with SONAR? Absolutely. Does it work with Mixcraft? eh...maybe...it should...right?

I you don't mind me asking a personal question, how long does it take for you to compose a single project now that you are a pro with music related programs? What about the "gods" of the composers?

Everyone's different. I take weeks or months to finish a full song. The length is partially due to the fact that I work with a lot of live instruments, and setting them up to record isn't always a fast process. But I'm also a perfectionist when it comes to my own music, not because I (or anyone else) need to be to get good results, but because for me it's fun Some people crank out the hits it hours or days. There's a music competition over at ThaSauce called the One Hour Compo in which musicians have a single hour to finish a song. The quality some people get in an hour is amazing sometimes. So yeah, it just depends.

Thanks a lot for the education! I guess musicians DO have great attitude. I wish other forums also have members like you

No problem, and thanks