How To Make Music On Computer
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The following guidance is about transferring music from computer to iPad with iTunes Match in detail. Subscribe iTunes Match in iTunes by clicking Store > iTunes Match. Enable iTunes Match on iPad by tapping Settings > Music > Subscribe to iTunes Match.
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The basis for making music with a computer is a digital audio workstation (abbreviated as DAW). It is a software for the purpose of recording, editing and mixing audio.
Some examples: FL Studio, Ableton Live, Bitwig, Logic Pro, Cubase, Reaper, Reason. You can download a demo of any DAW to start experimenting.
Many DAWs come bundled with virtual studio technology (abbreviated as VST; or just 'plugin'). This is software that can generate and/or modify the sounds that will eventually become your music. For example: a software synthesizer, equalizer, dynamics compressor, reverberation. You might need to invest in a sound card, if your computer doesn't have one already. A sound card takes audio information from your computer, processes it and sends it to a speaker via an electrical cable. For speakers you can use headphones or dedicated monitor speakers.
As always, the internet is your friend. Visit and (take a look at the sidebars and menus).
Google 'music production', 'digital audio workstation', 'electronic music' etc. Watch YouTube videos and tutorials on the subject. Download/torrent FL Studio (or any other DAW like Ableton, Reason, etc.). Read the fucking manual (RTFM).
Watch some tutorial videos online. The synths/drum sample presets in the DAW you get will probably be pretty cheesy.
Download some synths (Massive, Zeta2, Nexus, etc.) and some drum packs. If you want to create your own synth sounds, learn FM synthesis. There are countless tutorials online. Think about what genre(s) of music you want to create.
Listen to as much music in those genres as possible. And I mean REALLY listen. Dissect the songs, the rhythms, melodies, structure, etc.
Pick a song and try to create something similar. Do this until you don't suck and start developing your own sound. But really though, RTFM. If you have no musical knowledge and want to create melodically/rhythmically complex music, it might be worth studying some music theory.
If you just want to make music for people to dance too then it might not be too important. If you don't like the music you make at first please don't get discouraged! Before you know it you'll be making some awesome shit. I'm embarrassed with the first demo I put out.
4 years later after, I'm still improving with every track I make and have been slowly building up a small yet incredibly supportive fanbase. Talk to other musicians who make music similar to yours and seek as much feedback as possible. Get yourself out there.
Whatever you put into it is exactly what you will get out of it. You will probably find that making electronic music is so enjoyable that it won't even seem like it's hard work or anything (though certain aspects can get pretty tedious).
Depends what kind of music you want to make. Also, how much music background do you have? To make music on a computer, you need a program called a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). These are programs such as FL Studio, Cubase, Reason, Ableton. Personally I would recommend FL Studio.
DAWs tend to be a bit expensive, but you can find many of them on sites such as The Pirate Bay. If you aren't familiar with how DAWs work, I recommend watching some tutorial videos on Youtube. If you decide to go with FL Studio, here are two videos to get started with. Some important things to know, VSTs are basically software synths or programs that create sound within the DAW. You can also use.wav (or.mp3, etc) files, loops, and recordings to create your music.
Depending on what kind of music you want to make, you may also need to learn recording. The main parts of a DAW are the playlist, piano roll, and mixer: - The playlist is where stuff happens. You lay out your loops and parts of the song here. It plays from left to right. The piano roll is how you input notes. Basically a different approach to sheet music. Think of it as a graph of pitch (the notes on the vertical keyboard) vs time (plays from left to right).
The mixer is where you control the volumes/levels of your different sounds, and add effects to your sounds. As to what genre/style of music you want to make, I would recommend searching on Youtube for tutorials and watching/replicating the process. Ex: 'how to make trance'. It is important to learn the instrumentation, style, song format, and other subtleties of the genre you want to make. Don't worry if it seems a little overwhelming at first.
It may be a lot of information to take in, but take your time and most importantly, have fun! Some tricks to learn how to make a particular type of music (other than watching tutorials on Youtube) is to pick a particular song you like and try to replicate it. Don't worry if you can't find a synth that sounds exactly the same as the one in the song, but start by analysing and replicating other features. Maybe start with the drums, get the song format picked out (take not when stuff happens or when the music changes from intro to verse to chorus), map out the melody on the piano roll, take note of where the song repeats.
For example, if you wanted to make a trance track, some notes would be: Intro: 16-32 bars, usually something new every 8 bars. Notice a build-up of layers. Verse: 16-32 bars, usually each verse is slightly different.
Builds to chorus. Chorus: usually 32 bars, melodic hook, catchy and energetic. Breakdown: transition section, often no drums. Verse 2: slightly different. Chorus 2: usually the same. Bridge: optional transition, usually different from the rest of the song.
Chorus 3: sometimes repeats again. Outro: fades or breaks down to simple beats, same length as intro. If you have any questions, post here or feel free to pm me.
It's kind of disheartening the highest voted comment supports torrenting a DAW. I think this is terrible advice along with being a completely copy/paste generic response. First off I would say support the coders who make great software, they deserve it. As well, you will respect more deeply something you put your hard earned money into. If you want to make digital music or if you want record analog instruments with a digital workspace, I would first recommend spending time researching based on your goals.
Start by asking yourself some important questions and based on these I would begin to narrow down my search. Do you plan to make Electronic music mainly? Or do you wish to record traditional instruments? What artists and types of music inspire you the most? What musical background in music do you have?
If none, I highly recommend taking at least one music oriented class at your nearest community college as it will be cheap or free with the right paper work. More specifically I would recommend taking a piano or hand drum class. These will help teach you how to keep a beat and keep a rhythm. And this will transfer over nicely to DAW work.
Next I would recommend downloading demos of DAW's like Ableton, FL Studio, Reason, Logic, Cubase, Protools. And stick with the one that you gel with and feel comfortable with the most. Now for the most important part, practice. Start simple but try to learn or practice something at least once or twice a week. What I like to do is find a tutorial of something basic on youtube, for example: How to make a kick drum. As I watch the video I try to follow along.
Next week might be how to make a synth pad. Next week might be how to layer drums sounds.
Keep learning and keep practicing. There is a wealth of knowledge these days at your finger tips, the only thing limiting you is yourself. Here's how I went about composing tracker music. Trackers are basically programs stuck in the last millenium, but the best and easiest way to make music on your computer.
There's cool communities of people who make tracks in one hour, then share it around (onehourcompo) and I like doing those. Learn basic music theory - pitch and rhythm. Download a music tracker like. Download some songs, from, and play them in your tracker, figuring out what's happening.
Mess around in the program, making songs with the samples that are already in the songs you listen to. Once you get to an alright level, join some one hour compo's on internet relay chat, and keep going from there.
You are now a good music maker.
To create a new score, open the (see, below): this can also be accessed via the. Start Center This is the window that displays when you open MuseScore for the very first time: To open the Start Center (if not already visible), use any of the following options:. Press F4. From the menu bar, select View→ Start Center. From the Start Center you can:. Open the ' Getting Started' tutorial score.
View thumbnails of previously-opened scores: click on a thumbnail to open it. Open a score from your computer's file system: click on Open a score.
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(by clicking on the icon with the plus sign). See the 'In the spotlight' score of the day. Search sheet music on. Link to mobile apps. Link to follow MuseScore on social networks Create new score To open the New Score Wizard when the Start Center is not open, use one of the following options:. Click on the New Score icon in the toolbar on the top left of the window;.
Use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+ N (Mac: Cmd+ N);. From the menu, select File→ New.
Note: The following subheadings may differ slightly in versions prior to MuseScore 2.2. Enter score information Step 1: Enter score information. Enter the title, composer, or any other information as shown above, then click on Next. This step is optional: you can also add this information after the score is created (see ).
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Choose template file Step 2: Choose template file. Here, you can choose from a range of solo, ensemble and orchestral templates. Any custom stored in your will be displayed under the heading, ' Custom Templates'. From version 2.2, you can use the Search bar (top right) to find specific templates.
Click on a template to select it. This will automatically take you to the next page of the Wizard. Alternatively, to choose exactly which instruments to include in your score, click on the ' template (under 'General'). Choose instruments (or voice parts) The Choose Instruments window is divided into two columns:. The left column contains a list of instruments, or voice parts to choose from.
This list is categorized into instrument families, and clicking a category shows the full list of instruments in each family. The default entry is 'Common instruments' but you can choose from others, including 'Jazz instruments' and 'Early music'. There is a search box at the bottom of the instrument window: typing the name of an instrument there will search for it in 'All instruments'. The right column starts off empty, but will eventually contain a list of instruments for your new score in the order that they will appear. Add instruments To add instruments to the score, use any of the following options:.
Select one or more instruments in the left column and click Add. Double-click an instrument in the left column. The instrument names, and their associated staff lines, now appear in the list of instruments in the right column. You can add more instruments or voice parts, as needed. Each instrument added in this way is allocated its own channel. Note: If you want staves to share the same instrument, use the or commands instead (see below).
Add Staff / Add Linked Staff To add a staff to an existing instrument in the score:. Select a staff in the score list on the right-hand side (e.g. See 'Staff 1' in the image below).
Click Add Staff or Add Linked Staff. Adjust the Staff type, if applicable. Summary of commands: Command Staff added Edit staves independently?
Share mixer channel? Examples Add Staff Unlinked Yes Yes Guitar staff/tab, Piano grand staff Add Linked Staff Linked No. Edit in one staff updates others Yes Guitar staff/tab See also,. Change order of instruments To change the order of instruments (or staves) in the score:. Click either an instrument name or a staff, in the right-hand column, and use the ↑ or ↓ buttons to move it higher/lower.
Delete an instrument To delete an instrument, or staff line, from the score. Select an instrument, or a staff line, in the right-hand column, and click Remove. Choose key signature and tempo Step 3: Choose key signature and tempo. The wizard asks for two things: The initial key signature and tempo of the score.
Select any of the former and click Next to continue. An initial tempo can be set here too. Choose time signature, pickup measure, and number of measures Step 4: Choose time signature etc. You can set your initial time signature here.
If the score starts with a (also known as an anacrusis or upbeat measure), then mark the Pickup measure checkbox and adjust the 'Duration' accordingly. Measures is set to 32 by default: you can change the number here, or add/remove measures later from the score.
Click Finish to create your new score. Adjustments to score after creation Any settings you make in the New Score Wizard can always be changed when you start work on the score itself: Add/delete measures To add/delete measures or create a, see. Add/edit text To add text, see (Text basics). To change existing text, see. Change instrument set-up To add, delete, or change the order of instruments: from the menu, select Edit→ Instruments.; or use the keyboard shortcut, I.
This opens the Instruments dialog which is virtually identical to the dialog in the New Score Wizard (see ). See also (Staff properties). Hide a staff. To hide a staff permanently: Open the dialog ( I) and untick the 'Visible' box for that staff. To hide a staff under certain conditions: See the 'Hide' options in the,. Adjust layout and formatting To adjust the distance between staves and systems, set page margins etc., see. Templates A Template is simply a standard MuseScore file that has been stored in one of two 'templates' folders: any files in these folders are automatically displayed on the ' page of the New Score Wizard.
Two templates folders are created by default:. A. System templates folder This folder contains the templates installed with MuseScore and should not be modified. It can be found in the following locations: Windows: Usually at C: Program Files MuseScore 2 templates; or in the 64-bit versions at C: Program Files (x86) MuseScore 2 templates. Linux: Under /usr/share/mscore-xxx if you installed from the package manager.
If you compiled MuseScore on Linux yourself, then look under /usr/local/share/mscore-xxx (with xxx being the version you are using). MacOS: Under /Applications/MuseScore 2.app/Contents/Resources/templates. User templates folder Any templates that you create for future use should be stored here. Once in the user 'templates' folder, they will automatically appear on the ' page of the New Score Wizard—under the heading 'Custom Templates'. Note: prior to version 2.3, you need to restart MuseScore in order to see a newly-added template.
The default location of the user templates folder is as follows: Windows:%HOMEPATH% Documents MuseScore2 Templates. MacOS and Linux: /Documents/MuseScore2/Templates. To configure the location of your private templates folder:.
From the menu, select Edit→ Preferences.→. See also. External links.