6 ms·

Ask HN: Do you create music? Let's hear it!

89 points by kyro 17y ago

I've noticed that many of the hackers I've spoken to create their own music. I myself dabble in digital music, hip hop beats and what not, and know that others in this community do as well. I thought it'd be interesting to see the musical productions of hackers here. Maybe we'll see some patterns, who knows. So if you're a musician, pro or amateur, let's hear it. Also, please specify what software you use, if any, in creating your music, for recording/mixing/mastering/etc. I'll start with myself - http://www.virb.com/kyro - nothing terribly impressive. I have gotten much better since, I will tell you! I use Logic Pro 8 mainly now, but have also used Reason 4. Notes are entered in using a MIDI keyboard.

dkersten 17y ago
I mess about with Reason 4 and a MIDI keyboard, but I'm pretty bad at it and have nothing worth sharing ;-) My little brother is pretty good at it though and has just started studying sound engineering.
- tlrobinson 17y ago
  Me too. I built a x0xb0x (http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/ http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/ - it's a pretty impressive project, Ladyada does great stuff) a few years ago and play around with it occasionally, but I've realized I'm much better at enjoying other people's music than creating my own.
  - aaronblohowiak 17y ago
    the 303 has quite possibly the worst interface in the history of the galaxy (imnsho)
    - tlrobinson 17y ago
      I wasn't sure if it was 303 or the x0xb0x, but I agree (they're slightly different, I think. I haven't used a real 303)
      - dkersten 17y ago
        Regardless, I'd love a x0xb0x :-P One day, one day...
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trafficlight 17y ago
I use FL Studio myself. http://thesixtyone.com/abledanger http://thesixtyone.com/abledanger I've also recorded some vocals using Adobe Audition and the USB Rock Band microphone. Not too shabby.
- kyro 17y ago
  Great stuff. That's the kind of stuff I'd love to be able to make. I just really haven't gotten a hang of things that well yet. How long have you been doing this for? Do you have any resources that helped you along the way, other than just trial and error?
  - trafficlight 17y ago
    I started the first part of 2008. I don't have any musical training other than playing saxophone for a year in the 6th grade. It's all been trial and error for me. Youtube has actually been very helpful in learning FL Studio. There are a lot of great howto videos out there. I also try to imitate parts of songs I really like. A drum loop, a melody, or a particular effect. I also think one of the biggest factors is thesixtyone.com itself. The people on there are so helpful and encouraging you can't help but make better music.
    - JMiao 17y ago
      thanks. i've noticed a greater number of artists using thesixtyone to test/iterate on demos...one is even financing his entire canadian tour from tips on t61 (bankai). i suspect basic track analytics on t61 would create a lot of value for artists -- this is why we're hiring. http://www.thesixtyone.com/static/jobs/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/static/jobs/
      - trafficlight 17y ago
        I'm glad to hear about the analytics. Funny you brought up the Bankai tour. I'm planning on driving to Vancouver myself to see it. A little background on the tour. Bankai is an electronic artist from Australia. He puts out some awesome music. A bunch of people from the t61 group Electro Freaks live in or around the Vancouver area and they decided to put together a series of shows featuring Bankai and other t61 artists. Bankai is crowdsourcing his trip to Canada. So far he has raised $1450. Check out his progress here: http://www.bankai.fm/vancouver/ http://www.bankai.fm/vancouver/
gdp 17y ago
Neat thread, I'm keen to see what comes out of it. I've since moved away, but I was in a band called Dynamo Go back in New Zealand. We released an album for free in April this year: http://www.dynamo-go.com/ http://www.dynamo-go.com/ Drums were tracked in a pro studio using protools, then the rest of the album was recorded using Ardour and UbuntuStudio with LADSPA plugins. The final master was done by somebody else using some other software. We had done a couple of EPs and had been pretty unimpressed by the immense financial risks we had to take in order to get a distributor on board - having gone down that path previously and having had to work exceptionally hard just to recoup our investment, we released the full album for free, based on the fact that it involved zero upfront investment and lots more people would hear it. It worked out pretty well. It still gets half a dozen downloads a week, last time I checked my webserver stats.
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mattdennewitz 17y ago
http://myspace.com/motion http://myspace.com/motion two of us, both in chicago. npr says we "reinvent phil spectors wall of sound as a 50 foot tall electric fence." software-wise, we use ableton live for loop control. will be headlining our label showacse @ midpoint music fest (cincinnati, oh) on sept. 27, then pop montreal (montreal, quebec, canada) on oct. 3, if anyone wants to swing in and geek out!
- kyro 17y ago
  Awesome. I've tried getting into Live before, but the interface was a bit too different for my tastes. Everyone I speak to says great things about it though, and how it handles sampling/audio really well. I should give it another go. Congrats on the shows!
  - mattdennewitz 17y ago
    thanks! live makes loop construction and synchronized playback as easy as clicking a mouse. its just plain amazing. everything from there on is icing on the icing on the cake.
eswat 17y ago
I mostly just mess around with Korg DS-10 for the Nintendo DS. I'm very much an amateur so it takes me a long time to create anything listenable with it...
- mattdennewitz 17y ago
  ds-10 rules!
pie 17y ago
I've been a musician for about 12 years. Lost focus recently; too busy concentrating on programming projects, and much of the work is remarkably similar. Mostly I've used Cubase for sequencing and audio (although I've used Pro Tools, Sonar, and Logic too). Kontakt and the now-defunct Gigasampler for sampling. I mostly use samples, but a few synth engines are great, like the Albino series and some sample-based hybrids like Atmosphere. Waves collection for most DSP. I could go on and on here. After all that, there's nothing recent to show off. Time to haul out some of the old equipment.
dryicerx 17y ago
/dev/hda > /dev/audio
- tlrobinson 17y ago
  I ♥ Unix.
- uninverted 17y ago
  I just scared the hell out of my neighbors. :)
tjr 17y ago
Here's a couple... first one I composed, and played with numerous others (I'm on electric piano here): http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/bsol_a-merry-heart.mp3 http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/bsol_a-merry-hear... This one was improvised with another keyboard player: http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/flow_part-one.mp3 http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/flow_part-one.mp3 I mostly use Tracktion for recording software, though this first track was recorded in multiple takes at several studios, and the latter was initially recorded on ProTools.
thinkcomp 17y ago
http://www.aarongreenspan.com/speakers http://www.aarongreenspan.com/speakers Cakewalk Express on a ten-year-old SoundBlaster Live! MP3 5.1+.
licoresse 17y ago
Logic Audio http://alonetone.com/licoresse http://alonetone.com/licoresse
cdoyle85 17y ago
Jazzy, funky, socially conscious hip hop http://www.myspace.com/themetaboogie http://www.myspace.com/themetaboogie
- omgsean 17y ago
  This is fantastic.
- zandorg 17y ago
  Nice and funky!
- baddox 17y ago
  I don't like jazz, funk, or hip hop, yet I really liked your music. Good job.
ABrandt 17y ago
I too have noticed a rather obvious connection between hacking and music. Perhaps it has something to do with the parts of the brain that both require (I'm no neuroscientist though). As for me, playing music was a big part of my life growing up but I simply couldn't muster the discipline to keep practicing. My love for music is still strong though and my ultimate goal is to help those more disciplined than I succeed. And here's the shameless plug... My project is currently a very minimum viable product (hopefully) to replace record companies. If you're interested, check out http://beatnex.com http://beatnex.com
JakeIsAVirus 17y ago
I'm a CS student, a hobby programmer/very-amateur quasi-hacker, and a musician. I'm the lead singer and guitarist of a band called Martyr Your Muses. We are really just getting started, and our myspace page is still pretty ugly, but you can listen to some of the music at http://www.myspace.com/martyryourmuses http://www.myspace.com/martyryourmuses
- JakeIsAVirus 17y ago
  Oh, and for writing the music, I utilize Cubase (I think I am using LE right now) for sequencing, I will use one of the few synths I have as a midi controller, and Kontakt or Reason for samples. These things get me by for writing.
- sgrytoyr 17y ago
  Wow, that is really, really good. Excellent vocals and interesting tunes.
  - JakeIsAVirus 17y ago
    Thank you very much! We work really hard at it. I grew up listing to punk and it's variants. So there is a lot of influence from that area, but I love the sounds I find in different types of music, from ragtime to swing to blues, classic rock, indie, cabaret, folk, Celtic, and so on.
jtnak 17y ago
I use LMMS a little bit. Not much.
dfranke 17y ago
I'm a n00b at it. I'm classically trained, most of what I listen to is Renaissance or Baroque, but I try to write in relatively modern style, mostly for a solo tenor vocalist with piano accompaniment. However, I've yet to compose anything that I like enough to publish. I use Rosegarden and a Yamaha PSR-S500.
kolya3 17y ago
Last thing I put out though haven't tested on the dance floor yet: http://soundcloud.com/nickolay/nickolay-funky-zippa-ruby-skye-remix http://soundcloud.com/nickolay/nickolay-funky-zippa-ruby-sky... I use Reason 4 exclusively. Never had the time to figure out any other piece of sotware. Now that ReCord works flawlessly with Reason, I won't need to.
patrickryan 17y ago
http://www.thesixtyone.com/patrickryan/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/patrickryan/ http://www.ilike.com/artist/Patrick+Ryan+Music http://www.ilike.com/artist/Patrick+Ryan+Music Hardware - Presonus Firepod, Sterling Audio ST55 condenser mic, MXL 604 small condenser mic, ART MPA Gold Preamp Software - Logic Express (for larger projects), Garageband (Simple and Easy)
- baddox 17y ago
  +1 for Presonus Firepod. It's precisely what I use. Your stuff sounds good. http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10 http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10 if you're interested.
hotdog003 17y ago
I'm tinkering with a melody myself, but it's not much yet. You can see what I have so far with this lilypond source: \header { title="Untitled" meter="Slow and dreamfully" } \relative c'' { \clef treble \time 4/4 \key f \major bes,8. f'16 r8 c'8-> ~ c2 d,8. a'16 r8 e'8->( ~ e4 c4) bes,8. f'16 r8 c'8-> ~ c2 g,8. d'16 r8 a'8->( ~ a4 f4) }
axod 17y ago
I mess around on the piano, started using Logic Express a bit which is awesome. Here's a song with no lyrics (I haven't quite mastered the writing lyrics bit yet) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8kEoN0tJZ0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8kEoN0tJZ0
surgesg 17y ago
I'm actually a composer who got interested in coding as a way to realize my music. Using Pure Data and Max/MSP, along with a bit of SuperCollider. http://www.gregsurges.com http://www.gregsurges.com
bbgm 17y ago
Haven't written anything meaningful in a while, but you can find some of my material on Soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/dnm/sets/all-music-1 http://soundcloud.com/dnm/sets/all-music-1 Recently switched to Ableton Live after many years of Cubase. Make extensive use of Reaktor, Kontakt, and the Kore2 software these days.
24pfilms 17y ago
I'm a hack musician...played all instruments except the drums. Garageband... Sorry about the weak lyrics...placeholder. http://www.moorefilms.com/heyman.htm http://www.moorefilms.com/heyman.htm
PhilChristensen 17y ago
I go back and forth between writing electronic music and performing intensely improvisational rock music. I've got a lot of my personal music on my main site at http://www.philchristensenmusic.com http://www.philchristensenmusic.com -- for this kind of stuff, I use ProTools as my main interface, running Ableton Live and Reason as ReWire slaves, as well as using a large number of Native Instruments plugins, particularly Guitar Rig and Absynth. With my band seaflux, we've been spending a lot more time on social network promotion, and so although we've got a lot of linked content on our main site at http://seaflux.com http://seaflux.com , much of our material is available on our profiles on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/seaflux/27070655285 http://www.facebook.com/pages/seaflux/27070655285), ReverbNation (http://www.reverbnation.com/seaflux http://www.reverbnation.com/seaflux), and of course of tons of videos on YouTube (http://youtube.com/seafluxmusic http://youtube.com/seafluxmusic). Due to the improvisational nature of this band, our best recordings so far are live shows, which end up getting recorded just with a stereo mic setup.
chazchazam 17y ago
I made a little bit while I was in high school (last year) We had a music tech lab. I used garage band to start but quickly changed to Logic Pro. It's mostly loops and some of my own guitar playing. http://www.reverbnation.com/charliemccowan http://www.reverbnation.com/charliemccowan The song "Serious Injuries May Occur" was made using loops in combination with the sound files of the popular game Portal. I made lyrics by editing and combining lines from the game. A warning, it is a little on the dark side following the nature of the game.
elblanco 17y ago
I grew up in the demoscene, but got too old to keep hanging in it. I'm part of a bunch of semi-retired demo sceners and put out tunes and releases every once in a grand while. http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/ http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/ I did the music for this demo http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=102 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=102 And a few other songs...they run a gamut of styles http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=97 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=97 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=93 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=93 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=84 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=84 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=76 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=76 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=61 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=61 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=72 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=72 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=69 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=69
omgsean 17y ago
Sort of electro-pop rock, and my love for 80s synth pop mixed together: http://tindeck.com/listen/cqcc http://tindeck.com/listen/cqcc http://tindeck.com/listen/vqjv http://tindeck.com/listen/vqjv I'm looking for a vocalist to collaborate with, if anyone out there is interested.
- thesethings 17y ago
  hello madchester!
jawngee 17y ago
http://soundcloud.com/chunky-g/tracks http://soundcloud.com/chunky-g/tracks Most of the stuff is from over a decade ago. Interestingly(?) I wrote all the software I made the music with: http://www.sonicspot.com/aliendiskosystems/aliendiskosystems.html http://www.sonicspot.com/aliendiskosystems/aliendiskosystems... http://www.sonicspot.com/xrazor/xrazor.html http://www.sonicspot.com/xrazor/xrazor.html
empika 17y ago
great thread and some great music! Ive just had my first digital release on british leftfield drum and bass label Scientific Wax under the name Social Engineer :) http://soundcloud.com/social-engineer http://soundcloud.com/social-engineer http://www.scientificwax.com/ http://www.scientificwax.com/
thunk 17y ago
I got so fed up with the entire composition/synthesis/recording software genre -- for reasons I'll soon document elsewhere -- that I've written a new music authoring platform specifically for hackers. And it's Different. I've mentioned it here before, but I'll be releasing the alpha Real Soon Now (like, in days you could count on your fingers). Stay tuned.
- nihilocrat 17y ago
  Mind posting a link of where we can check in on the status? I'm curious what your criticisms of current software are.
  - thunk 17y ago
    There isn't a project page I can point you at yet, but I'll submit it here soon. Feel free to email me if you think you missed the post.
simonista 17y ago
I recorded and produced an EP of original songs by my brother. They're mostly acoustic guitar and voice, although we throw in harmonies, electric guitar and bass, light percussion, and an accordian(!) as well. You can find it at www.lukewilliamsmusic.com We used Pro Tools and 3 mics (sm57, sm58 and a condensor which I've forgotten the name of) to do the whole thing.
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rbreve 17y ago
yes I create electronic music http://soundcloud.com/codekat http://soundcloud.com/codekat http://www.thesixtyone.com/codekat/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/codekat/ and this is my experimental ambient project http://rizomasessions.com http://rizomasessions.com
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Rainerbird 17y ago
http://www.myspace.com/giraffeincognito http://www.myspace.com/giraffeincognito I use mainly pro tools and reason to power my drums. Most instruments other than drum samples and synth I record myself.
stevejohnson 17y ago
I write music for hobby video games using Garageband: http://www.steveasleep.com/music http://www.steveasleep.com/music
sil3ntmac 17y ago
My friend's band: http://www.myspace.com/pulse22 http://www.myspace.com/pulse22 Check it out if you like Pink Floyd, psychadelic, melodic music
HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
Funny. As I'm reading HN, I'm also watching Ghost Rider on TV and practicing flute during the commercials. Trust me, you don't want to hear anything I'll be playing for quite a while :-)
jamesbritt 17y ago
I've no new stuff to post but here's some old stuff: http://www.jamesbritt.com/chinese-forehead/ http://www.jamesbritt.com/chinese-forehead/ There are some links on there to some mp3s. I keep meaning to stick more stuff up on archive.org.
justintnt 17y ago
http://hea.dphon.es http://hea.dphon.es reaktor / kontakt
movix 17y ago
http://dptv.co.uk/weasleboy-tearmeup.mp3 http://dptv.co.uk/weasleboy-tearmeup.mp3 Old school tape recorder
gintas 17y ago
Piano & pencil.
tigerthink 17y ago
http://www.youtube.com/guitarsoloservice http://www.youtube.com/guitarsoloservice Garageband.
- aaronblohowiak 17y ago
  Well done!
NoBSWebDesign 17y ago
We've been keeping quiet for the last few months while we brought in our new singer, but are about to start performing again... Moment of Inertia (http://www.moirocks.net http://www.moirocks.net) We record in a studio which uses Logic Pro.
baddox 17y ago
I use Cubase SX3 and the occasional Reason on Windows. I focus more on melodies and progressions than the actual "radio-readiness" of my productions. Nevertheless, someone might like the stuff. Here is my most recent short instrumental piece: http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/the-point.mp3 http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/the-point... . Here are two full-blown songs with lyrics, they are both light-hearted and sort of geeky: http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/falling-for-some-time.mp3 http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/falling-f... and http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/science.mp3 http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/science.m... . All of my compositions are be found here (along with the ability to stream the MP3's): http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10 http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10
nitrogen 17y ago
Any other Acid Pro users? Here's my equipment/software list: Acid Pro ZynAddSubFX Loads of VST plugins Lexicon PCM81 BSS BLU-160 (this is an installed sound processor that I cajole into doing bizarre and unintended things) Some AKG mics Wurlitzer epiano Ensoniq SQ-80 MicroKORG A couple other keyboards Here are some old tracks from when I used to use myspace: http://myspace.com/n2a http://myspace.com/n2a
lux 17y ago
Yes! I'm actually working on transitioning in the next year to a technomad/touring lifestyle so I can focus on music more. I'm at http://thesixtyone.com/johnnybroadway http://thesixtyone.com/johnnybroadway or http://www.johnnybroadway.com/ http://www.johnnybroadway.com/
- lux 17y ago
  To also mention what I use: - GarageBand for recording through a Tascam US-122 (keep looking at higher end ones, but keep putting the purchase off... :) - Guitars mostly direct input w/ GB's built-in amps. My stage amp is a Fender Blues Jr. + jamman looper and a few other pedals... - Vocals through an Apex 460 condenser mic - Drums mostly electronic or sampled, with a V-drum lite for playing I've also got a bunch of random stuff I can break out as needed, shakers, tambourine, ukelele, banjo, harmonica, etc. I also got a little nanokey keyboard recently and wanna get the nanokontrol next since I bought Ableton suite recently to play with more electronic sounds.
andyleclair 17y ago
http://myspace.com/yaybuffet http://myspace.com/yaybuffet Weird sample manipulation / ableton live / reaktor / occasional vocoder
leif 17y ago
all my stuff's stuck on tape for the time being
Khary 17y ago
Check out my site twiturm.com. Its sorta like a twitpic for musicians. this is some of my music on it as well. http://twiturm.com/profile/blackcortez http://twiturm.com/profile/blackcortez
joshsharp 17y ago
I used to spend a lot of time mucking around in FL Studio. All decidedly amateur, but if anyone's interested there are a few songs at http://drop.io/joshs_music http://drop.io/joshs_music You might like to try "I'll be back later", it features some, uh, catchy.. vocals from a friend.
Pistos2 17y ago
My modest, slowly-expanding collection of classical piano recordings: http://blog.purepistos.net/index.php/piano/ http://blog.purepistos.net/index.php/piano/ Obviously, being classical music, I didn't compose any of it. All recordings played on a Yamaha P-120; piped directly from piano line out to onboard line in on an old P4. Recorded with Audacity on Gentoo Linux, in which minor touchups (normalization, etc.) are done. Final export is MP3 format, and these are published on my blog. Next pieces due for recording and publishing will be Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, first and third movements (the second is already published). I take requests, so if anyone had anything they'd like to hear, let me know.
nihilocrat 17y ago
I used to make music with Reason, originally purely for the music itself but later on for video games. You can listen to it here (http://nil.cjb.net/music/ http://nil.cjb.net/music/), some of the later tracks are actually present in video game competition entries. Occasionally I tried Ableton Live but the interface really bothered me and I could never get anything of the same quality out of it. I lost motivation/time to create more music at about the time I was trying to transition from randomly banging stuff out into imagining a song and then actually trying to make it. The random process was easy but ultimately frustrating, as it yielded something good only about 1 session out of 5. I have zero music education, and I can't play an actual physical instrument. When I was a kid, I hated most music and complained that rock/rap/etc all sounded the same. I only really enjoyed classical music or music from videogames, both of which were entirely instrumental. I can't understand lyrics in songs 80% of the time. I am tone deaf (probably not medically) and had to learn scales because I couldn't tell that what I was making was horribly out of key until other people told me. I get really annoyed if the stuff I make isn't mixed/mastered to sound vaguely professional, and get quite a bit of enjoyment adding and tweaking effects on synthesizers. When I listen to music, I can't help imagining how they created the sounds they did (usually when synthesizers are involved).
johnfn 17y ago
I use FL Studio. I'm a total amateur. A lot of it is pretty bad, but it's fun to write. http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/audio/ http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/audio/
adrianwaj 17y ago
Anyone with commercial success?
- lux 17y ago
  Not yet ;)
- jamesbritt 17y ago
  Well, I got to drink for free when I played ... :)
  - adrianwaj 17y ago
    James, just imagine if you believed in God ;)
officiallyrad 17y ago
www.purevolume.com/theinterfaceincident
computerofmeat 17y ago
This is my band: http://www.themintchicks.com/ http://www.themintchicks.com/ We're pretty successful in my home country of New Zealand. We've won awards and had a gold record. We're now based in Portland, OR and getting a little bit happening there. We use Pro-tools mostly, with some Logic for it's bank of sounds and I made the video on that homepage with Toonboom, Photoshop and Motion.
spencerfry 17y ago
I DJ once a week at a club/lounge. Does that count? :)
davepeck 17y ago
Here are some trax I wrote for a recent laptop battle; in under three minutes they must get you grooving and/or destroy your future ability to hear bass. http://davepeck.org/battles-of-yore/ http://davepeck.org/battles-of-yore/ Fruity Loops.
th0ma5 17y ago
http://monorail42.googlepages.com/ http://monorail42.googlepages.com/ made with python ;p
shaunxcode 17y ago
http://www.purevolume.com/drugshit http://www.purevolume.com/drugshit - straight edge/hardcore band I play drums in. Recorded in one take by our friend. Lately I've been recording more life stuff with a zoom h2 and I am really happy with that.
aaronblohowiak 17y ago
I play Old-Time banjo: http://aaronblohowiak.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/cold_frosty-09-20-09.mp3 http://aaronblohowiak.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/cold_fr...
rivo 17y ago
German pop music. Formerly major label. http://www.rivodrei.de/ http://www.rivodrei.de/ The first album was recorded and mixed in Logic. The second album was recorded with Logic but the engineer who is currently mixing it switched to ProTools. The music itself is all handmade by us, the musicians. I quit a well paid job in IT to do this full-time a few years back when we got signed. I guess the experience was much like being an entrepreneur.
jfornear 17y ago
This was a band I was in a few years ago: http://www.myspace.com/sometimesitrains http://www.myspace.com/sometimesitrains We recorded with Cubase.
SwellJoe 17y ago
I just posted the first chiptune I've composed in many years here (LSDJ on an original grey Gameboy): http://8bitcollective.com/music/algernon/Snuffles/ http://8bitcollective.com/music/algernon/Snuffles/ And this is a rough mix of an old punk rock tune I wrote years ago but recorded for the first time earlier this year (live guitar and vocals, live tracked electronic drums, and synthesized bass, recorded in REAPER): http://obsceneart.com/examples/better.mp3 http://obsceneart.com/examples/better.mp3 I've been trying to figure out how to mix punk rock and chiptunes, but haven't actually made a solid attempt at it yet (though a C64 is playing bass on that second track; the later versions have live bass playing, and I liked it better, but they're inaccessible at the moment, on a machine that isn't exactly working).
DanielBMarkham 17y ago
I think this is one of the best posts on HN ever. Somebody should accumulate the top ten of these and make a Hacker News album! I'm a Sonar user but I'm still trying to figure the dang software out. I bought the full Cakewalk suite, I am an amateur keyboardist, and I can improvise melodies and such, it's just the software that is so complicated it destroys my ability to be creative. But I'll get it one day. I've setup my rack behind my development desk, so whenever I need a break from coding I'm playing with the system. It's just a matter of time.
rbxbx 17y ago
I do solo (mostly)electronic music under the handle robad pills, just put out a (free) new album at http://www.sickmode.org/ http://www.sickmode.org/ called "let's get cynical" There's also 56 other releases there, maybe more hacker in spirit than technical prowess though ;)
TTDaVeTT 17y ago
http://www.myspace.com/10jackdiamond http://www.myspace.com/10jackdiamond Using cubase, a midi keyboard and VST's. It's mainly down-tempo with electronic and hip hop.
dangrover 17y ago
I wrote this tongue-in-cheek number one night when I was frustrated and didn't feel like coding: http://files.dangrover.com/siliconvalleylament-sofar.mp4 http://files.dangrover.com/siliconvalleylament-sofar.mp4 I just thought it would be funny to write a song about Silicon Valley in a cheesy broadwayish/Sondheimish style. Might finish it if I get around to it. The song was improvised on keyboard and recorded, then I used a speech synthesizer for the vocals, as I hate the sound of my own voice.
xtimesninety 17y ago
http://nelobanda.com http://nelobanda.com i'm part of Nelo at ang Tala, a pop/rock band in the Philippines. I compose the songs and play vocals and guitars. We're planning on recording a new album all DIY using a USB condenser mic with built in mixer from Samson (GM1U).
adw 17y ago
Little netlabel I run/ran: http://www.hiddenmusic.co.uk/ http://www.hiddenmusic.co.uk/. I'm Covert. (Oh, software: Reason mostly, sample editing in Audacity.)
- thomasswift 17y ago
  Great stuff! You get Reason to sound really good, if you didn't say that I would have never guessed you were using it. Props
  - adw 17y ago
    Thank you! Actually, I reckon Redpoint – friends of mine – do an even better job of wringing un-Reason sounds out of Reason. They're even more in debt to Boards of Canada than I am, though. Of my stuff, "Symbolic" was written while I was listening to a hell of a lot of Ulrich Schnauss and quite a bit of 70s/80s Wire; there was going to be a cover of Wire's "Map Ref" on there for a while which really hammered that home...
maryrosecook 17y ago
I make music in Ableton Live. I sing, play an electric guitar, a microKORG, a child's glockenspiel and assorted things (plastic bottles, lamps, doors, cassette tapes etc.) http://maryrosecookmusic.com http://maryrosecookmusic.com
ranebo 17y ago
I'm a casual musician that lately also makes music creation software for the iPhone http://www.hopefullyuseful.com/ http://www.hopefullyuseful.com/ My brother (Co-Creator of Simple Songwriter) is a more serious musician that uses Cubase and Ableton Live from memory. http://www.thetransients.net http://www.thetransients.net
zen53 17y ago
http://music.seanmccolgan.com http://music.seanmccolgan.com couple of mashups from back in the day. Nothing special just playing around in Ableton.
patrics 17y ago
Mostly given up these days tho still messing around with Logic 9 and strumming guitar - heres an old demo track (apologies for the vocals :) http://mindshaft.net/mindshaft-old/electricblue.mp3 http://mindshaft.net/mindshaft-old/electricblue.mp3
cousin_it 17y ago
I'm a casual musician: when the fancy comes, I write acoustic guitar thingies and play them in the street. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBUq2QHXiyE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBUq2QHXiyE
crux 17y ago
I'm in a death metal band. We're actually recording a new album right now; I'm off to the studio in half an hour. But our previous album is available free here: http://music.flamingtusk.com http://music.flamingtusk.com I guess it's not a very hackery style of music to play. But when it comes to our web stuff we're very cutting edge.
jporta 17y ago
http://www.last.fm/music/Juli%C3%A1n+Porta/Detr%C3%A1s+de+la+puerta http://www.last.fm/music/Juli%C3%A1n+Porta/Detr%C3%A1s+de+la... FL, Audacity and that's it.
blinks 17y ago
Electronica, compared to Brian Eno and Joe Satriani; I'm on Last.FM (http://www.last.fm/music/Hacker+Blinks http://www.last.fm/music/Hacker+Blinks) and AmieStreet (http://amiestreet.com/music/hacker-blinks/ http://amiestreet.com/music/hacker-blinks/) Oh, and tools: earlier stuff was with Reason, later stuff with Logic; mostly just playing around on a little Oxygen synth.
thekevinscott 17y ago
I play a politician (Eugene Grant) trying to get elected. He has a rock band and sings about the joys of campaigning and politics. Our "music video" -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehsQhMbvqdA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehsQhMbvqdA I use Pro Tools with an MBox http://www.eugenegrant.us http://www.eugenegrant.us
marcamillion 17y ago
I must say that I am impressed with the amount of constructive criticism and feedback here. Normally commenters on the interwebs tend to be flaming, annoying and very derogatory, but it seems that in this thread (not sure if it's HN specific) people actually listen to other people's music and give good feedback. Impressed!

89 points by kyro 17y ago

dkersten 17y ago

I mess about with Reason 4 and a MIDI keyboard, but I'm pretty bad at it and have nothing worth sharing ;-) My little brother is pretty good at it though and has just started studying sound engineering.

tlrobinson 17y ago
Me too. I built a x0xb0x (http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/ http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/ - it's a pretty impressive project, Ladyada does great stuff) a few years ago and play around with it occasionally, but I've realized I'm much better at enjoying other people's music than creating my own.
- aaronblohowiak 17y ago
  the 303 has quite possibly the worst interface in the history of the galaxy (imnsho)
  - tlrobinson 17y ago
    I wasn't sure if it was 303 or the x0xb0x, but I agree (they're slightly different, I think. I haven't used a real 303)
    - dkersten 17y ago
      Regardless, I'd love a x0xb0x :-P One day, one day...

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trafficlight 17y ago

I use FL Studio myself. http://thesixtyone.com/abledanger http://thesixtyone.com/abledanger I've also recorded some vocals using Adobe Audition and the USB Rock Band microphone. Not too shabby.

kyro 17y ago
Great stuff. That's the kind of stuff I'd love to be able to make. I just really haven't gotten a hang of things that well yet. How long have you been doing this for? Do you have any resources that helped you along the way, other than just trial and error?
- trafficlight 17y ago
  I started the first part of 2008. I don't have any musical training other than playing saxophone for a year in the 6th grade. It's all been trial and error for me. Youtube has actually been very helpful in learning FL Studio. There are a lot of great howto videos out there. I also try to imitate parts of songs I really like. A drum loop, a melody, or a particular effect. I also think one of the biggest factors is thesixtyone.com itself. The people on there are so helpful and encouraging you can't help but make better music.
  - JMiao 17y ago
    thanks. i've noticed a greater number of artists using thesixtyone to test/iterate on demos...one is even financing his entire canadian tour from tips on t61 (bankai). i suspect basic track analytics on t61 would create a lot of value for artists -- this is why we're hiring. http://www.thesixtyone.com/static/jobs/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/static/jobs/
    - trafficlight 17y ago
      I'm glad to hear about the analytics. Funny you brought up the Bankai tour. I'm planning on driving to Vancouver myself to see it. A little background on the tour. Bankai is an electronic artist from Australia. He puts out some awesome music. A bunch of people from the t61 group Electro Freaks live in or around the Vancouver area and they decided to put together a series of shows featuring Bankai and other t61 artists. Bankai is crowdsourcing his trip to Canada. So far he has raised $1450. Check out his progress here: http://www.bankai.fm/vancouver/ http://www.bankai.fm/vancouver/

gdp 17y ago

Neat thread, I'm keen to see what comes out of it. I've since moved away, but I was in a band called Dynamo Go back in New Zealand. We released an album for free in April this year: http://www.dynamo-go.com/ http://www.dynamo-go.com/ Drums were tracked in a pro studio using protools, then the rest of the album was recorded using Ardour and UbuntuStudio with LADSPA plugins. The final master was done by somebody else using some other software. We had done a couple of EPs and had been pretty unimpressed by the immense financial risks we had to take in order to get a distributor on board - having gone down that path previously and having had to work exceptionally hard just to recoup our investment, we released the full album for free, based on the fact that it involved zero upfront investment and lots more people would hear it. It worked out pretty well. It still gets half a dozen downloads a week, last time I checked my webserver stats.

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mattdennewitz 17y ago

http://myspace.com/motion http://myspace.com/motion two of us, both in chicago. npr says we "reinvent phil spectors wall of sound as a 50 foot tall electric fence." software-wise, we use ableton live for loop control. will be headlining our label showacse @ midpoint music fest (cincinnati, oh) on sept. 27, then pop montreal (montreal, quebec, canada) on oct. 3, if anyone wants to swing in and geek out!

kyro 17y ago
Awesome. I've tried getting into Live before, but the interface was a bit too different for my tastes. Everyone I speak to says great things about it though, and how it handles sampling/audio really well. I should give it another go. Congrats on the shows!
- mattdennewitz 17y ago
  thanks! live makes loop construction and synchronized playback as easy as clicking a mouse. its just plain amazing. everything from there on is icing on the icing on the cake.

eswat 17y ago

I mostly just mess around with Korg DS-10 for the Nintendo DS. I'm very much an amateur so it takes me a long time to create anything listenable with it...

mattdennewitz 17y ago
ds-10 rules!

pie 17y ago

I've been a musician for about 12 years. Lost focus recently; too busy concentrating on programming projects, and much of the work is remarkably similar. Mostly I've used Cubase for sequencing and audio (although I've used Pro Tools, Sonar, and Logic too). Kontakt and the now-defunct Gigasampler for sampling. I mostly use samples, but a few synth engines are great, like the Albino series and some sample-based hybrids like Atmosphere. Waves collection for most DSP. I could go on and on here. After all that, there's nothing recent to show off. Time to haul out some of the old equipment.

dryicerx 17y ago

/dev/hda > /dev/audio

tlrobinson 17y ago
I ♥ Unix.
uninverted 17y ago
I just scared the hell out of my neighbors. :)

tjr 17y ago

Here's a couple... first one I composed, and played with numerous others (I'm on electric piano here): http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/bsol_a-merry-heart.mp3 http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/bsol_a-merry-hear... This one was improvised with another keyboard player: http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/flow_part-one.mp3 http://www.atmospherecontrolmusic.com/free/flow_part-one.mp3 I mostly use Tracktion for recording software, though this first track was recorded in multiple takes at several studios, and the latter was initially recorded on ProTools.

thinkcomp 17y ago

http://www.aarongreenspan.com/speakers http://www.aarongreenspan.com/speakers Cakewalk Express on a ten-year-old SoundBlaster Live! MP3 5.1+.

licoresse 17y ago

Logic Audio http://alonetone.com/licoresse http://alonetone.com/licoresse

cdoyle85 17y ago

Jazzy, funky, socially conscious hip hop http://www.myspace.com/themetaboogie http://www.myspace.com/themetaboogie

omgsean 17y ago
This is fantastic.
zandorg 17y ago
Nice and funky!
baddox 17y ago
I don't like jazz, funk, or hip hop, yet I really liked your music. Good job.

ABrandt 17y ago

I too have noticed a rather obvious connection between hacking and music. Perhaps it has something to do with the parts of the brain that both require (I'm no neuroscientist though). As for me, playing music was a big part of my life growing up but I simply couldn't muster the discipline to keep practicing. My love for music is still strong though and my ultimate goal is to help those more disciplined than I succeed. And here's the shameless plug... My project is currently a very minimum viable product (hopefully) to replace record companies. If you're interested, check out http://beatnex.com http://beatnex.com

JakeIsAVirus 17y ago

I'm a CS student, a hobby programmer/very-amateur quasi-hacker, and a musician. I'm the lead singer and guitarist of a band called Martyr Your Muses. We are really just getting started, and our myspace page is still pretty ugly, but you can listen to some of the music at http://www.myspace.com/martyryourmuses http://www.myspace.com/martyryourmuses

JakeIsAVirus 17y ago
Oh, and for writing the music, I utilize Cubase (I think I am using LE right now) for sequencing, I will use one of the few synths I have as a midi controller, and Kontakt or Reason for samples. These things get me by for writing.
sgrytoyr 17y ago
Wow, that is really, really good. Excellent vocals and interesting tunes.
- JakeIsAVirus 17y ago
  Thank you very much! We work really hard at it. I grew up listing to punk and it's variants. So there is a lot of influence from that area, but I love the sounds I find in different types of music, from ragtime to swing to blues, classic rock, indie, cabaret, folk, Celtic, and so on.

jtnak 17y ago

I use LMMS a little bit. Not much.

dfranke 17y ago

I'm a n00b at it. I'm classically trained, most of what I listen to is Renaissance or Baroque, but I try to write in relatively modern style, mostly for a solo tenor vocalist with piano accompaniment. However, I've yet to compose anything that I like enough to publish. I use Rosegarden and a Yamaha PSR-S500.

kolya3 17y ago

Last thing I put out though haven't tested on the dance floor yet: http://soundcloud.com/nickolay/nickolay-funky-zippa-ruby-skye-remix http://soundcloud.com/nickolay/nickolay-funky-zippa-ruby-sky... I use Reason 4 exclusively. Never had the time to figure out any other piece of sotware. Now that ReCord works flawlessly with Reason, I won't need to.

patrickryan 17y ago

http://www.thesixtyone.com/patrickryan/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/patrickryan/ http://www.ilike.com/artist/Patrick+Ryan+Music http://www.ilike.com/artist/Patrick+Ryan+Music Hardware - Presonus Firepod, Sterling Audio ST55 condenser mic, MXL 604 small condenser mic, ART MPA Gold Preamp Software - Logic Express (for larger projects), Garageband (Simple and Easy)

baddox 17y ago
+1 for Presonus Firepod. It's precisely what I use. Your stuff sounds good. http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10 http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10 if you're interested.

hotdog003 17y ago

I'm tinkering with a melody myself, but it's not much yet. You can see what I have so far with this lilypond source: \header { title="Untitled" meter="Slow and dreamfully" } \relative c'' { \clef treble \time 4/4 \key f \major bes,8. f'16 r8 c'8-> ~ c2 d,8. a'16 r8 e'8->( ~ e4 c4) bes,8. f'16 r8 c'8-> ~ c2 g,8. d'16 r8 a'8->( ~ a4 f4) }

axod 17y ago

I mess around on the piano, started using Logic Express a bit which is awesome. Here's a song with no lyrics (I haven't quite mastered the writing lyrics bit yet) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8kEoN0tJZ0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8kEoN0tJZ0

surgesg 17y ago

I'm actually a composer who got interested in coding as a way to realize my music. Using Pure Data and Max/MSP, along with a bit of SuperCollider. http://www.gregsurges.com http://www.gregsurges.com

bbgm 17y ago

Haven't written anything meaningful in a while, but you can find some of my material on Soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/dnm/sets/all-music-1 http://soundcloud.com/dnm/sets/all-music-1 Recently switched to Ableton Live after many years of Cubase. Make extensive use of Reaktor, Kontakt, and the Kore2 software these days.

24pfilms 17y ago

I'm a hack musician...played all instruments except the drums. Garageband... Sorry about the weak lyrics...placeholder. http://www.moorefilms.com/heyman.htm http://www.moorefilms.com/heyman.htm

PhilChristensen 17y ago

I go back and forth between writing electronic music and performing intensely improvisational rock music. I've got a lot of my personal music on my main site at http://www.philchristensenmusic.com http://www.philchristensenmusic.com -- for this kind of stuff, I use ProTools as my main interface, running Ableton Live and Reason as ReWire slaves, as well as using a large number of Native Instruments plugins, particularly Guitar Rig and Absynth. With my band seaflux, we've been spending a lot more time on social network promotion, and so although we've got a lot of linked content on our main site at http://seaflux.com http://seaflux.com , much of our material is available on our profiles on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/seaflux/27070655285 http://www.facebook.com/pages/seaflux/27070655285), ReverbNation (http://www.reverbnation.com/seaflux http://www.reverbnation.com/seaflux), and of course of tons of videos on YouTube (http://youtube.com/seafluxmusic http://youtube.com/seafluxmusic). Due to the improvisational nature of this band, our best recordings so far are live shows, which end up getting recorded just with a stereo mic setup.

chazchazam 17y ago

I made a little bit while I was in high school (last year) We had a music tech lab. I used garage band to start but quickly changed to Logic Pro. It's mostly loops and some of my own guitar playing. http://www.reverbnation.com/charliemccowan http://www.reverbnation.com/charliemccowan The song "Serious Injuries May Occur" was made using loops in combination with the sound files of the popular game Portal. I made lyrics by editing and combining lines from the game. A warning, it is a little on the dark side following the nature of the game.

elblanco 17y ago

I grew up in the demoscene, but got too old to keep hanging in it. I'm part of a bunch of semi-retired demo sceners and put out tunes and releases every once in a grand while. http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/ http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/ I did the music for this demo http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=102 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=102 And a few other songs...they run a gamut of styles http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=97 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=97 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=93 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=93 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=84 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=84 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=76 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=76 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=61 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=61 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=72 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=72 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=69 http://fulcrum.antisoc.net/filemanager/active?fid=69

omgsean 17y ago

Sort of electro-pop rock, and my love for 80s synth pop mixed together: http://tindeck.com/listen/cqcc http://tindeck.com/listen/cqcc http://tindeck.com/listen/vqjv http://tindeck.com/listen/vqjv I'm looking for a vocalist to collaborate with, if anyone out there is interested.

thesethings 17y ago
hello madchester!

jawngee 17y ago

http://soundcloud.com/chunky-g/tracks http://soundcloud.com/chunky-g/tracks Most of the stuff is from over a decade ago. Interestingly(?) I wrote all the software I made the music with: http://www.sonicspot.com/aliendiskosystems/aliendiskosystems.html http://www.sonicspot.com/aliendiskosystems/aliendiskosystems... http://www.sonicspot.com/xrazor/xrazor.html http://www.sonicspot.com/xrazor/xrazor.html

empika 17y ago

great thread and some great music! Ive just had my first digital release on british leftfield drum and bass label Scientific Wax under the name Social Engineer :) http://soundcloud.com/social-engineer http://soundcloud.com/social-engineer http://www.scientificwax.com/ http://www.scientificwax.com/

thunk 17y ago

I got so fed up with the entire composition/synthesis/recording software genre -- for reasons I'll soon document elsewhere -- that I've written a new music authoring platform specifically for hackers. And it's Different. I've mentioned it here before, but I'll be releasing the alpha Real Soon Now (like, in days you could count on your fingers). Stay tuned.

nihilocrat 17y ago
Mind posting a link of where we can check in on the status? I'm curious what your criticisms of current software are.
- thunk 17y ago
  There isn't a project page I can point you at yet, but I'll submit it here soon. Feel free to email me if you think you missed the post.

simonista 17y ago

I recorded and produced an EP of original songs by my brother. They're mostly acoustic guitar and voice, although we throw in harmonies, electric guitar and bass, light percussion, and an accordian(!) as well. You can find it at www.lukewilliamsmusic.com We used Pro Tools and 3 mics (sm57, sm58 and a condensor which I've forgotten the name of) to do the whole thing.

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rbreve 17y ago

yes I create electronic music http://soundcloud.com/codekat http://soundcloud.com/codekat http://www.thesixtyone.com/codekat/ http://www.thesixtyone.com/codekat/ and this is my experimental ambient project http://rizomasessions.com http://rizomasessions.com

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Rainerbird 17y ago

http://www.myspace.com/giraffeincognito http://www.myspace.com/giraffeincognito I use mainly pro tools and reason to power my drums. Most instruments other than drum samples and synth I record myself.

stevejohnson 17y ago

I write music for hobby video games using Garageband: http://www.steveasleep.com/music http://www.steveasleep.com/music

sil3ntmac 17y ago

My friend's band: http://www.myspace.com/pulse22 http://www.myspace.com/pulse22 Check it out if you like Pink Floyd, psychadelic, melodic music

HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago

Funny. As I'm reading HN, I'm also watching Ghost Rider on TV and practicing flute during the commercials. Trust me, you don't want to hear anything I'll be playing for quite a while :-)

jamesbritt 17y ago

I've no new stuff to post but here's some old stuff: http://www.jamesbritt.com/chinese-forehead/ http://www.jamesbritt.com/chinese-forehead/ There are some links on there to some mp3s. I keep meaning to stick more stuff up on archive.org.

justintnt 17y ago

http://hea.dphon.es http://hea.dphon.es reaktor / kontakt

movix 17y ago

http://dptv.co.uk/weasleboy-tearmeup.mp3 http://dptv.co.uk/weasleboy-tearmeup.mp3 Old school tape recorder

gintas 17y ago

Piano & pencil.

tigerthink 17y ago

http://www.youtube.com/guitarsoloservice http://www.youtube.com/guitarsoloservice Garageband.

aaronblohowiak 17y ago
Well done!

NoBSWebDesign 17y ago

We've been keeping quiet for the last few months while we brought in our new singer, but are about to start performing again... Moment of Inertia (http://www.moirocks.net http://www.moirocks.net) We record in a studio which uses Logic Pro.

baddox 17y ago

I use Cubase SX3 and the occasional Reason on Windows. I focus more on melodies and progressions than the actual "radio-readiness" of my productions. Nevertheless, someone might like the stuff. Here is my most recent short instrumental piece: http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/the-point.mp3 http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/the-point... . Here are two full-blown songs with lyrics, they are both light-hearted and sort of geeky: http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/falling-for-some-time.mp3 http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/falling-f... and http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/science.mp3 http://www.tshaddox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/science.m... . All of my compositions are be found here (along with the ability to stream the MP3's): http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10 http://www.tshaddox.com/?cat=10

nitrogen 17y ago

Any other Acid Pro users? Here's my equipment/software list: Acid Pro ZynAddSubFX Loads of VST plugins Lexicon PCM81 BSS BLU-160 (this is an installed sound processor that I cajole into doing bizarre and unintended things) Some AKG mics Wurlitzer epiano Ensoniq SQ-80 MicroKORG A couple other keyboards Here are some old tracks from when I used to use myspace: http://myspace.com/n2a http://myspace.com/n2a

lux 17y ago

Yes! I'm actually working on transitioning in the next year to a technomad/touring lifestyle so I can focus on music more. I'm at http://thesixtyone.com/johnnybroadway http://thesixtyone.com/johnnybroadway or http://www.johnnybroadway.com/ http://www.johnnybroadway.com/

lux 17y ago
To also mention what I use: - GarageBand for recording through a Tascam US-122 (keep looking at higher end ones, but keep putting the purchase off... :) - Guitars mostly direct input w/ GB's built-in amps. My stage amp is a Fender Blues Jr. + jamman looper and a few other pedals... - Vocals through an Apex 460 condenser mic - Drums mostly electronic or sampled, with a V-drum lite for playing I've also got a bunch of random stuff I can break out as needed, shakers, tambourine, ukelele, banjo, harmonica, etc. I also got a little nanokey keyboard recently and wanna get the nanokontrol next since I bought Ableton suite recently to play with more electronic sounds.

andyleclair 17y ago

http://myspace.com/yaybuffet http://myspace.com/yaybuffet Weird sample manipulation / ableton live / reaktor / occasional vocoder

leif 17y ago

all my stuff's stuck on tape for the time being

Khary 17y ago

Check out my site twiturm.com. Its sorta like a twitpic for musicians. this is some of my music on it as well. http://twiturm.com/profile/blackcortez http://twiturm.com/profile/blackcortez

joshsharp 17y ago

I used to spend a lot of time mucking around in FL Studio. All decidedly amateur, but if anyone's interested there are a few songs at http://drop.io/joshs_music http://drop.io/joshs_music You might like to try "I'll be back later", it features some, uh, catchy.. vocals from a friend.

Pistos2 17y ago

My modest, slowly-expanding collection of classical piano recordings: http://blog.purepistos.net/index.php/piano/ http://blog.purepistos.net/index.php/piano/ Obviously, being classical music, I didn't compose any of it. All recordings played on a Yamaha P-120; piped directly from piano line out to onboard line in on an old P4. Recorded with Audacity on Gentoo Linux, in which minor touchups (normalization, etc.) are done. Final export is MP3 format, and these are published on my blog. Next pieces due for recording and publishing will be Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, first and third movements (the second is already published). I take requests, so if anyone had anything they'd like to hear, let me know.

nihilocrat 17y ago

I used to make music with Reason, originally purely for the music itself but later on for video games. You can listen to it here (http://nil.cjb.net/music/ http://nil.cjb.net/music/), some of the later tracks are actually present in video game competition entries. Occasionally I tried Ableton Live but the interface really bothered me and I could never get anything of the same quality out of it. I lost motivation/time to create more music at about the time I was trying to transition from randomly banging stuff out into imagining a song and then actually trying to make it. The random process was easy but ultimately frustrating, as it yielded something good only about 1 session out of 5. I have zero music education, and I can't play an actual physical instrument. When I was a kid, I hated most music and complained that rock/rap/etc all sounded the same. I only really enjoyed classical music or music from videogames, both of which were entirely instrumental. I can't understand lyrics in songs 80% of the time. I am tone deaf (probably not medically) and had to learn scales because I couldn't tell that what I was making was horribly out of key until other people told me. I get really annoyed if the stuff I make isn't mixed/mastered to sound vaguely professional, and get quite a bit of enjoyment adding and tweaking effects on synthesizers. When I listen to music, I can't help imagining how they created the sounds they did (usually when synthesizers are involved).

johnfn 17y ago

I use FL Studio. I'm a total amateur. A lot of it is pretty bad, but it's fun to write. http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/audio/ http://johnfn.newgrounds.com/audio/

adrianwaj 17y ago

Anyone with commercial success?

lux 17y ago
Not yet ;)
jamesbritt 17y ago
Well, I got to drink for free when I played ... :)
- adrianwaj 17y ago
  James, just imagine if you believed in God ;)

officiallyrad 17y ago

www.purevolume.com/theinterfaceincident

computerofmeat 17y ago

This is my band: http://www.themintchicks.com/ http://www.themintchicks.com/ We're pretty successful in my home country of New Zealand. We've won awards and had a gold record. We're now based in Portland, OR and getting a little bit happening there. We use Pro-tools mostly, with some Logic for it's bank of sounds and I made the video on that homepage with Toonboom, Photoshop and Motion.

spencerfry 17y ago

I DJ once a week at a club/lounge. Does that count? :)

davepeck 17y ago

Here are some trax I wrote for a recent laptop battle; in under three minutes they must get you grooving and/or destroy your future ability to hear bass. http://davepeck.org/battles-of-yore/ http://davepeck.org/battles-of-yore/ Fruity Loops.

th0ma5 17y ago

http://monorail42.googlepages.com/ http://monorail42.googlepages.com/ made with python ;p

shaunxcode 17y ago

http://www.purevolume.com/drugshit http://www.purevolume.com/drugshit - straight edge/hardcore band I play drums in. Recorded in one take by our friend. Lately I've been recording more life stuff with a zoom h2 and I am really happy with that.

aaronblohowiak 17y ago

I play Old-Time banjo: http://aaronblohowiak.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/cold_frosty-09-20-09.mp3 http://aaronblohowiak.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/cold_fr...

rivo 17y ago

German pop music. Formerly major label. http://www.rivodrei.de/ http://www.rivodrei.de/ The first album was recorded and mixed in Logic. The second album was recorded with Logic but the engineer who is currently mixing it switched to ProTools. The music itself is all handmade by us, the musicians. I quit a well paid job in IT to do this full-time a few years back when we got signed. I guess the experience was much like being an entrepreneur.

jfornear 17y ago

This was a band I was in a few years ago: http://www.myspace.com/sometimesitrains http://www.myspace.com/sometimesitrains We recorded with Cubase.

SwellJoe 17y ago

I just posted the first chiptune I've composed in many years here (LSDJ on an original grey Gameboy): http://8bitcollective.com/music/algernon/Snuffles/ http://8bitcollective.com/music/algernon/Snuffles/ And this is a rough mix of an old punk rock tune I wrote years ago but recorded for the first time earlier this year (live guitar and vocals, live tracked electronic drums, and synthesized bass, recorded in REAPER): http://obsceneart.com/examples/better.mp3 http://obsceneart.com/examples/better.mp3 I've been trying to figure out how to mix punk rock and chiptunes, but haven't actually made a solid attempt at it yet (though a C64 is playing bass on that second track; the later versions have live bass playing, and I liked it better, but they're inaccessible at the moment, on a machine that isn't exactly working).

DanielBMarkham 17y ago

I think this is one of the best posts on HN ever. Somebody should accumulate the top ten of these and make a Hacker News album! I'm a Sonar user but I'm still trying to figure the dang software out. I bought the full Cakewalk suite, I am an amateur keyboardist, and I can improvise melodies and such, it's just the software that is so complicated it destroys my ability to be creative. But I'll get it one day. I've setup my rack behind my development desk, so whenever I need a break from coding I'm playing with the system. It's just a matter of time.

rbxbx 17y ago

I do solo (mostly)electronic music under the handle robad pills, just put out a (free) new album at http://www.sickmode.org/ http://www.sickmode.org/ called "let's get cynical" There's also 56 other releases there, maybe more hacker in spirit than technical prowess though ;)

TTDaVeTT 17y ago

http://www.myspace.com/10jackdiamond http://www.myspace.com/10jackdiamond Using cubase, a midi keyboard and VST's. It's mainly down-tempo with electronic and hip hop.

dangrover 17y ago

I wrote this tongue-in-cheek number one night when I was frustrated and didn't feel like coding: http://files.dangrover.com/siliconvalleylament-sofar.mp4 http://files.dangrover.com/siliconvalleylament-sofar.mp4 I just thought it would be funny to write a song about Silicon Valley in a cheesy broadwayish/Sondheimish style. Might finish it if I get around to it. The song was improvised on keyboard and recorded, then I used a speech synthesizer for the vocals, as I hate the sound of my own voice.

xtimesninety 17y ago

http://nelobanda.com http://nelobanda.com i'm part of Nelo at ang Tala, a pop/rock band in the Philippines. I compose the songs and play vocals and guitars. We're planning on recording a new album all DIY using a USB condenser mic with built in mixer from Samson (GM1U).

adw 17y ago

Little netlabel I run/ran: http://www.hiddenmusic.co.uk/ http://www.hiddenmusic.co.uk/. I'm Covert. (Oh, software: Reason mostly, sample editing in Audacity.)

thomasswift 17y ago
Great stuff! You get Reason to sound really good, if you didn't say that I would have never guessed you were using it. Props
- adw 17y ago
  Thank you! Actually, I reckon Redpoint – friends of mine – do an even better job of wringing un-Reason sounds out of Reason. They're even more in debt to Boards of Canada than I am, though. Of my stuff, "Symbolic" was written while I was listening to a hell of a lot of Ulrich Schnauss and quite a bit of 70s/80s Wire; there was going to be a cover of Wire's "Map Ref" on there for a while which really hammered that home...

maryrosecook 17y ago

I make music in Ableton Live. I sing, play an electric guitar, a microKORG, a child's glockenspiel and assorted things (plastic bottles, lamps, doors, cassette tapes etc.) http://maryrosecookmusic.com http://maryrosecookmusic.com

ranebo 17y ago

I'm a casual musician that lately also makes music creation software for the iPhone http://www.hopefullyuseful.com/ http://www.hopefullyuseful.com/ My brother (Co-Creator of Simple Songwriter) is a more serious musician that uses Cubase and Ableton Live from memory. http://www.thetransients.net http://www.thetransients.net

zen53 17y ago

http://music.seanmccolgan.com http://music.seanmccolgan.com couple of mashups from back in the day. Nothing special just playing around in Ableton.

patrics 17y ago

Mostly given up these days tho still messing around with Logic 9 and strumming guitar - heres an old demo track (apologies for the vocals :) http://mindshaft.net/mindshaft-old/electricblue.mp3 http://mindshaft.net/mindshaft-old/electricblue.mp3

cousin_it 17y ago

I'm a casual musician: when the fancy comes, I write acoustic guitar thingies and play them in the street. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBUq2QHXiyE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBUq2QHXiyE

crux 17y ago

I'm in a death metal band. We're actually recording a new album right now; I'm off to the studio in half an hour. But our previous album is available free here: http://music.flamingtusk.com http://music.flamingtusk.com I guess it's not a very hackery style of music to play. But when it comes to our web stuff we're very cutting edge.

jporta 17y ago

http://www.last.fm/music/Juli%C3%A1n+Porta/Detr%C3%A1s+de+la+puerta http://www.last.fm/music/Juli%C3%A1n+Porta/Detr%C3%A1s+de+la... FL, Audacity and that's it.

blinks 17y ago

Electronica, compared to Brian Eno and Joe Satriani; I'm on Last.FM (http://www.last.fm/music/Hacker+Blinks http://www.last.fm/music/Hacker+Blinks) and AmieStreet (http://amiestreet.com/music/hacker-blinks/ http://amiestreet.com/music/hacker-blinks/) Oh, and tools: earlier stuff was with Reason, later stuff with Logic; mostly just playing around on a little Oxygen synth.

thekevinscott 17y ago

I play a politician (Eugene Grant) trying to get elected. He has a rock band and sings about the joys of campaigning and politics. Our "music video" -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehsQhMbvqdA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehsQhMbvqdA I use Pro Tools with an MBox http://www.eugenegrant.us http://www.eugenegrant.us

marcamillion 17y ago

I must say that I am impressed with the amount of constructive criticism and feedback here. Normally commenters on the interwebs tend to be flaming, annoying and very derogatory, but it seems that in this thread (not sure if it's HN specific) people actually listen to other people's music and give good feedback. Impressed!