Today, no one doubts the fact that modern computer technology fully allows you to engage in creativity in any of its directions. Many people are interested in how to make music. For many novice computer musicians, this question is relevant.
How to create music on a computer
It should be clearly understood that the main thing is the optimal choice of the appropriate software and method of recording musical parts.
In order to create music, two types of programs are usually used: audio editors and sequencers. The first type is preferable when recording parts of live instruments and vocals, and the second can be used when there are no instruments available or the user simply cannot play any of them.
Modern sound libraries, in particular sound banks for the Kontakt software player, have such a realistic sound that it is almost impossible to distinguish them from live instruments.
You can record an instrumental part in both types of programs. But sequencers are more convenient in the sense that you can use MIDI keyboards and controllers in them, or even do without them by manually entering a part in the step sequencer. You can, of course, use the applications for recording notes, which are then transformed into music tracks using MIDI or VST, but you can’t do without knowledge of the basics of musical notation and solfeggio.
We make music ourselves
How to create your own track if there is no live instrument? One of the most popular music creation software is FL Studio. The principle of working with the application is to first create several separate parts with the necessary parts, and then build the order of their playback in the playlist. On four tracks, drums, bass and synthesizer should be placed, and one track should be left for vocals.
In order to facilitate your work, when creating a drum part, you can use the ready-made presets that are available in the plug-in sets. For example, in the Steven Slate Drum Sampler drum module, you can create the first pattern by dragging the part onto the sequencer track.
For the second pattern, you can use the Kontakt bass library of the player and enter the simplest part in the Piano Roll.
For keyboards, you can use any VST format synthesizer or your own program instruments and also enter notes for a triad or chord in the third pattern. You can also enter all the parties in one pattern, which is much simpler, but from a practical point of view (so that there is no confusion later) it is better to separate them. You can record vocals directly in the program using the Edison plug-in for this, and incorrectly sung notes should be aligned in the Melodyne plug-in.
After that, you need to set the simplest order for playing each part in the playlist. Next, for convenience, you need to send each instrument to a dedicated channel of the mixing console, add effects and perform mixing. You can, of course, adjust the volume or panorama directly on the step sequencer channel, but if you need to add effects, you can’t do without the remote control.
When everything is ready, it is advisable to install additional instruments such as an equalizer or compressor on the master track. At the end of all the actions, the finished song can be exported to the desired audio format.
Creating music on mobile systems
How to create music on Android or in apple systems? In the repositories you can find quite a lot of relevant applications: from the simplest beat-boxes and DJ remotes to almost complete analogs of computer studios.
So, for example, you can experiment with the same mobile version of FL Studio Mobile, but you should immediately pay attention to the fact that for such applications it is better to use tablets or smartphones with large screen sizes, powerful processors, enough RAM and drives to store all kinds of libraries samples.
A few words in the end
Of course, it takes a lot of time to describe the whole process. It is easier to experiment with the programs yourself, having previously studied at least the help system of the used music application. But it is worth considering that most sequencer programs have almost identical operating principles - that means, having mastered one simple application, it will be possible to easily deal with more complex programs and no longer wonder: how to create music?