switching over and starting Options

[edea]

i started messing with sound on a pc and had a grasp on what i was doing.  im using a mac now and have a couple questions.
(im sorry if these have been asked before)

i need to know what i need to start tracking on a mac.  ive heard that reason is good but is it decent at editing.  ive also heard about pro tools,  ive heard that this is mostly post production.  ive also heard it's very expensive and there is no way around that.  is the free version different,  is it for more than post production??

and is there a standalone aif editor that is good or what, i havent found anything that looks like what i need.

what do i need to get started that i will stay with until the end,  that wont eat up my bank accounts to much.  thanks.

[everamzah]

Hello, Edea... I also converted from a PC and found it difficult to get started making music. I used ACID 1.0 and SF 4.0. When I started on the Mac it took me some time, but I decided upon Peak, which is real good for editing sound files. I've read that Steinberg's Wavelab (I'm pretty sure that's the name... I haven't looked into it) is pretty high up there. I've never used Pro Tools... I've never really dared. Not even the free version.

But I have used Reason (the demo version, anyway). And I make sure to play with it at LEAST 20 minutes a day (the demo's time limit). I think it's real fun because you can edit quite a bit and sequence even more. Very automated. You can create quite a bit of sound in its synth and load samples into it's sampler. For longer samples - like vocals and guitars - a work-around that I've read about is to load them into the drum machine, which is also very neat. Not only can you come up with patterns, but you can sequence all events. There is quite a few things to the software, and I won't go into it because they do have a website.

Otherwise I use Logic Audio and it's EXS (sampler) and ES1 (synth). I do not use any hardware, either. Though I tell you what - I really miss my MIDI keyboard. I wish that I had a hardware controller of some sort some days, though don't let anyone tell you it's absolutely needed.

What else? If you want to make electronic music, download the Reason demo. I actually didn't like Reason in the beginning. But then again, I didn't like ACID in the beginning (a completely different program, it is) and they're both quite capable pieces of software.

So I guess I'll end this with... As long as it works.

James