audio sequencers
Audio Sequencers for Music Production
Audio Sequencers for Music Production
There are basically two main levels of sequencing that will be important for you when you first start making music. The DAW, which is the overall track arrangement of all your samples, and the sequencer within the DAW, which allows you to arrange the fine points of a drum beat, or a synthesizer line for example. I’ll dissect some of the most popular DAW’s and then give you an overview of how an internal sequencer works using my favorite DAW, Ableton Live.
DAW’S:
The sequencer is the overall arrangement and production tool that will make most of your productions possible. It is the software program that you will be building your entire home studio around, so you will want to choose the one that best fits your requirements. The things I was looking for when I had the opportunity to test a variety of different sequencers were simplicity of use, variety of tools, quality of sound, and compatibility. In this chapter, I will review 4 of the most popular DAW’s so you don’t need to spend the HOURS AND HOURS that I spent testing them all. The sequencers I will review include: Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, Propellerheads Reason, and DigiDesign Pro Tools.
ABLETON LIVE – Overview:
This sequencer comes with an extremely high recommendation from me. The best thing about Ableton Live is the relatively small learning curve and it’s flexibility. You can use Ableton to do almost everything you would need to do to create a solid mix. You can also use Ableton as a live ‘jamming’ tool. Ableton’s double interface makes it easy for you to jam out a series of loops and samples in one interface and then tweak your resulting mix in another.
The thing I noticed about other sequencers was that I would be limited in what I could do with my samples. If I wanted to add an effect, I could not adjust this effect in real time most of the time. So, lets say I wanted to add a common reverb effect to a piano sample. In other sequencers, I had to destroy the sample and re-sample it with the reverb effect applied. This made it difficult to experiment with different effects and it made undoing changes made too far back in the process. To get around this challenge, one would need to create backup files and take extra care during the process to ensure that mistakes could be easily corrected. Isn’t that unnatural? This kind of interference with the creative process was not something I could tolerate at all. Ableton solved this problem miraculously for me. The interface in Live is non-destructive. So you can apply whatever effects to whatever samples you want and freely change the parameters on those effective in real time. If something doesn’t work out how you want it to, or if you change your mind somewhere down the road in the process, you can do so easily and you will not have to worry about keeping backups of your samples. Noice!
Live’s innovative “Jam Mode” makes it easy and fun to experiment. The simplicity of Live was a key factor in my ability to learn how to create professional quality music. When I first loaded up a program like Pro-tools I was befuddled by the interface. I couldn’t figure out how to get anything to work! Ableton’s simple interface made the learning curve much more forgiving. Don’t get my wrong though, just because Live has a simple, easy to use interface, it doesn’t mean you will have to sacrifice quality. Not even a bit! The quality of sound that Ableton Live is capable of producing is phenomenal! It works with most plug-ins (all that I have tried), so you are not limited to what tools are available with Live initially. Overall, Ableton Live is a flexible, versatile sequencer that makes music making easy and fun. After working out a jam, Live lets you play with all of the parameters just like you can in other DAW’s.
Final Verdict:
Get Ableton Live if you want an easy to use, versatile DAW that only gets better every time you use it. Live is top notch in every category and is a great tool for novice and advanced users. This is the DAW that I use! It rocks!
• Non destructive interface
• Jam/DJ Mode
• Easy to use
• Cheap!
• Tons of effects
STEINBERG CUBASE – Overview:
When I first loaded up Cubase I thought it was just another one of the sequencers that was just another Pro Tools clone. Turns out I was right. But this one comes at a much lowerprice tag. But still, it does come at a higher price than Ableton Live, and it does not offer a whole ton more.
One thing that Cubase has over Ableton Live is more plug-insand effects out of the box. Cubase does indeed have a lot of powerful and useful effects and processing tools, most of which are due to the worldliness of the company that birthed Cubase: Steinberg. But do these extra plug-insset Cubase apart from Ableton Live? Well, they might in the short term. When you are purchasing a DAW it can be costly. Those extra plug-ins that Cubase comes with definitely come at a high value and low price, considering what it would cost to but something comparable on average. But, the fact is that most people will have no idea which effects and which plug-ins will be necessary for their studio when they are first starting out. But, that is the beauty of the Demo. You can try this out, try Ableton out, try almost any DAW out for free. Everybody has preferences and it really comes down to what works well for the individual.
The thing about Cubase that I do not like is that the interface is not as intuitive as it could be. It may have made things more complicated in an effort to stand out or be different. The interface is also quite ugly, and although this is a minor gripe, I myself have spent thousands of hours locked onto my computer screen and if I did not like what I saw, it might affect what I use to make my creations.
Another innovation that began with Cubase 4 is the Steinberg USB key. This is a copy protection tool that helps keep pirates at bay. It’s a brilliant solution that solves a problem for Steinberg. But hold on, if you want to upgrade from a lower version of Cubase, YOU HAVE TO PAY EXTRA FOR A USB KEY! This is, at least for me, inexcusable practice! I understand that a company must be innovative to protect itself from piracy, but to put the cost of that burden on the customer so blatantly is an absolute disgrace. As far as I’m concerned, this is Steinberg’s battle, and it should not cost the consumer a dime. Regardless, it made my decision not to upgrade my trial version to the full version a whole lot easier.
Final Verdict:
Cubase may or may not be your bag. It is a powerful DAW and it can create solid mixes, comes with a lot of good plug-ins and effects, but it is not as intuitive as Ableton Live. Try the demo and see if it clicks.
Cubase offers a ton of good plug-ins and effects for the price
• Lots of good effects
• Tons of plug-ins
• Not for beginners
• Ugly interface
• Quality sound
Propellerheads Reason – Overview:
This original sequencer takes a different approach than most other DAW’s. Instead of going for the classic DAW interface (something like what we have seen in the Ableton Live and Cubase examples.) Reason takes another approach. It actually mimics the look of a traditional “studio rack”. For those of you who do not know, a rack is something that a producer will stack their hardware instruments and effects tools on for easy access and organization.
Great idea? Well, that depends on what you like. The interface on Reason did not work for me, but I have talked to people who have used it with great success. It took me a while to figure out how to use this DAW; and this was after I had mastered other DAW’s. I didn’t find it very intuitive at all. One thing that reason does not do well is any style of music that isn’t made on drum machines. With Reason, I felt a bit stifled in what I could do because of the way the program works. For me, it seemed like Reason wanted to replicate traditional hardware, but not take advantage of the software interface that they could potentially build. In Reason, the arrangement area is small and there are not a huge amount of tools visible nearby. If somebody new to the production game loaded up this program, they would have a really hard time piecing everything together. As well, The Reason interface looks cluttered, and it does not do what other DAW’s do really well on average: save space.
One thing that Reason does well is Techno (or Electronica, basically anything that involves mixing a bunch of loops.) The interface of Reason is built for looping and this makes it very easy to learn how to use a sequencer and a combination of loops to form a song. It is a great place to practice with different kinds of beat arrangements and different kinds of samples.
Final Verdict:
Reason is a very innovative DAW, there are not many that take it’s approach to audio sequencing. One thing I have not mentioned yet is the Rewire plug-in. This plug-in allows users to record sounds sequenced inside Reason in another application. This might come in handy for those who enjoy the Reason sequencer, which is easily one of the best features for this DAW. But whether or not this program will work with or against your audio productions is up to the user. Personally, I think Reason is a bit confusing, but like I said before, it has been used with fantastic results by people I know. Try the demo out and see if Reason works for you.
• Innovative interface
• Cluttered
• Not for beginners
• ReWire plug-in
• Good internal sequencer
Pro Tools – Overview:
Ahh Pro Tools, the crème de la crème of music production. If only it were true. I’m sorry to say, but the number one thing Pro Tools does well is marketing. If you are looking for a review of Pro Tools, you won’t find it here. In fact, if you are reading this book, I can say with absolute certainty that Pro Tools is NOT the solution you are looking for. I’m not going to review it, I’m only going to rant about how much of a con it is.
The first thing about Pro Tools that immediately turned me off is its lack of compatibility. Basically you are forced into using a “Pro Tools System”. That means that if you want the software, you have to buy their sound cards too. That can get really pricey, to the tune of $8000 for a software/hardware package that actually has some audio processing capability. Is that too expensive? Well, you could buy one of their M-Audio systems starting at $329. Of course, that would be like buy a Ferrari with NO ENGINE. These low priced systems come with a severely limited software package that basically is a lead in for you to buy an upgrade.
Does Pro Tools have good audio production capability? Sure it does. Do you need a Pro Tools system to be successful? NO. I’m sick of every joker who thinks they know about music production telling me that Pro Tools is the best. About half of these people have not even tried Pro Tools, and the other half hasn’t even tried anything else.
So, go ahead and buy a Pro Tools system, but to do so would be to completely ignore every other premise in this book!
MIDI SEQUENCER’S:
The sequencer inside the DAW is one of the most important parts of the puzzle when it comes to creating songs and sound designs. Your mastery of this part of the puzzle will set you apart from the crowd. It’s not as difficult as some think, in fact, the concepts are dead simple. In this section, I will give a basic overview of how the internal sequencer works using Ableton Live as my example.
The Basics
A sequencer is the tool that you will use to ‘sequence’ information from any midi instrument or sample(s) that you have at your disposal. For example, you can play notes into a midi keyboard that play sounds from a synthesizer and then you can edit them in your sequencer to make it sound perfect. Or you can craft a complicated drum pattern by manually placing ‘hits’ in the right places within the sequencer.
The trick is learning what to do to get what effect.
In the sequencer inside Ableton Live, you are able to make long complex drum beats quite easily. But learning how to do so is not something that came to me naturally, and if it came to you naturally, then you are truly gifted! Maybe you should have written the book, huh punk? Most sequencers work in a similar fashion to the one found in Ableton Live. The sequencer is basically a grid. Double click on any spot on the grid to play a note or sample. Drag or stretch the note so that it plays longer. Usually the space bar will start or stop audio so you can quickly hear the effects of all your clicking.
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