FruityLoops Express?

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 4:59 am

Has anyone here used this product? I just need to be able to make some simple music and effects for my Flash animations, maybe also make loopable bits and was wondering if this might be a good place to start.?Only $49. They have the 'Fruity' edition for $99 but even with the featur comparison, given that I know nothing about sound, not sure what edition I should -looking to do what I want with least expence.

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:15 am

Hi Bupaje,

I have the Producer Edition of Flstudio (was called Fruityloops in the past)
Download the demo and check it out.
There are so many music production software outthere, its difficult to say if this is the one for you.

hmm..you may want to play with one of the magix music programs..music maker is much simpler than music studio.

there is also synapse audio's Orion, Sony's Acid.

I own most of the above and they all good in their own ways, much like animation software.

i would strongly advise checking the demo software out first, see which gets you working quicker.

J. Baker · Post by **J. Baker** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:42 am

If you want free that can do midi and audio, give Cantabile a try. You can even use your pc keyboard as a music keyboard.

If you are wanting more, I would suggest Orion. Best UI and easy to learn, IMO. Let's you use your pc keyboard as well.

DK · Post by DK » Mon Sep 25, 2006 9:33 am

Hi,
I'm a musician as well as an animator and wanted for a long time to find a no nonsense midi programming app that was NOT complicated. I found this prog called Superjam. It's free. You can create hundreds of styles easily as well as get into and play with the guts of your song of you want. I use it to quickly churn out a midi file for a backing track and then output the midi file through a tone generator to make the drums and other sounds more realistic. I've made many jingles with it for TV. Just remember it's great for spitting out quick midi files. If you want a better result you need to get hold of a tone generator like Roland Sound Canvas. Superjam can be downloaded from this link -

http://www.musicmachines.net/faqsj.htm

Have fun
D.K

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 3:44 pm

Hey, thanks for all the great suggestions. I am going to check out everything suggested. Thanks!

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:14 pm

I've done a little music here and there. Please check my links.

Very complicated question you have there. I'm assuming you don't want to spend a lot right now and need this to be simple.

If you're on a Mac, Garageband might be worth looking into. If you're on a PC, there is Sony Acid. These two might be the easiest if you are not a musician. I believe they both have "lite" versions that you can then upgrade as you grow.

The one thing that in my honest opinion I would not recommend is wasting your money on the Sound Canvas. Absolutely NOT necessary in this day and age and you can get excellent results using software only. Unless you have a very old and weak computer. I only use a 1ghz piii for my music and I do okay though, so I imagine you should be fine.

No offense to DK and nothing against Roland... I have a lot of hardware items, including Roland as well - but I also have a lot of software items. Just trying to save you a few bucks.

As you can see from this thread... there are a lot of options and a lot of different user experiences. If you want to get even more opinions... check out www.kvraudio.com

Cheers, and good luck!

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 12:04 am

Thanks again. Tried out a few before work. Very cool. Sony Acid has a free version that allows ten tracks and seems easy to use. Since I am in school I can get the Academic version of it and some loop collections so it is pretty attractive.

Do any of these programs allow you to view as frames (setting frame rate) so it is easier to match audio to my Flash animation?

godlike27 · Post by **godlike27** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 2:33 am

I'd say FL Studio would be a great choice, I have it since version 3,
I like it because it is easy, though I use many synthesizer VST plugins
that don't come with FL, also create beats with PC drummer and other drum machines, but FL has many great features.

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:32 am

Flstudio does have a basic video plug in , but its not free..well the demo is excluded but..

It really depends how much you are really to spend.

Sony also have recently released Cinescore.. which is based on acid and i guess vegas.

it is for film scoring but i guess its a bit expensive..
however, if you can get an academic price on Sony software..then maybe its a worthwhile option

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/produc ... p?PID=1013

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 5:35 am

Oh,

I know some sony software allows .swf import. Even movie studio platinum allows swf import so i am guessing cinescore can as well..but don't quote me on that

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:17 am

Thanks everyone. I am playing with a few things right now.

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:32 pm

Oops, i made a mistake before.

i mistakenly said that the video plugin for flstudio was "excluded" which, i meant to sy WAS included..but only the demo..its a separate plugin.

7feet · Post by **7feet** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:19 pm

I really like FruityLoops (and FLStudio, although their old promise to provide eternal free upgrades to owners, and then throwing that out the window by changing the name slightly and saying "hey, it's a new product" was extremely cheeseball of them), it's got a huge number of things you can do with it. But their documentation is pretty deficient, and there a probably hundreds of features that you'll only find by messing with it endlessly. I haven't really done that, but my brother has, and if you get it and need some tips, I'll throw any questions my bro's way. But the basics are easy to pick up.

bupaje · Post by **bupaje** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:25 am

Thanks. I tried the demo of FL Studio. It seems complex to start but loads of power. I think I will start with Acid Express as it seems easier for a novice but even with the little playing I did with FruityLoops I can see I will get this as soon as I get some experience; seems to have a lot of horsepower in there once you know what you are doing.