Bounce track/sample to WAV, put it on a cassette tape, bounce it back to computer, do some smart EQing so I dont lose all the bass. I have a crap ton of empty cassette tapes, and this is really the best use for them. Plugins are nice, but a cassette will give you a different sound every time. I stil...

Oh gosh, im such a freeware junky. I literally spend days just downloading loads and loads of random plugins and testing them out, I have hundreds. Im a fan of TAL Noise Maker and Elektro, plus TAL's Dub and Delay plugs. Zebralette is kickass. There is a really sweet modular synth I cant remember th...

Yeah, definitely try it. If the a capella is a high quality one, it probably can withstand a bit of stretching. If not, I suggest changing the tempo of your piece. Personally, just for kicks I change the tempo of my music every time I make a new song, just so I dont get stuck with the same drumloops...

I'm a big freeware junky, often I just use basic synthesizers, load them up with effects, export them and sample them. Or just randomize them, gives me nice sounds that I save the preset for another song. Or I layer up to four-six synths at the same time and resample them. Can get nice fat sounds th...

Personally I never use the same samples more than once, perhaps twice. I do hear a lot of musicians using the same samples over and over again though. Just my personal preference to never reuse samples... You said they were chunky hihats, no? You could layer them and EQ them to get a different sound...

Ham VST comes free with every studio, its currently in beta form, but has been disabled on some people. It enables you to create thick, fat, nasty wobbles with ease, and basically makes your track for you. Its amazing. Every good studio has it. Its also known as Practice 2.0 Seriously. You can make ...

dude, there are no torrents, everyone "used" to have a version, there are NO critics of it (Massive, Z3ta, they all have critics), everyone says its awesome, there isnt any site for it, and no DL link. It doesnt exist. Its a joke dude. I think its so people can just say to noobs who want a...

FINALEDIT: Apparently the whole Ham thing is a joke XD haha

Go with something like z3ta, massive, albino... loads of great synths out there. Oh and Zebra.

Im pretty sure everyone covered all the techniques for getting a big fat kick... but you could also go the other way. If you listen to Pendulum (drum and bass band, totally dope), they have an interesting tactic I employ all the time. Get a nice punchy kick with a lot of mid/high end. Now, load an E...

Yep, 909 and 808 packs are definitely good. Gives it that classic feel to the music. If you have a half decent mic, I suggest recording some stuff, and in different areas of your house as well (or outside). Then pop 'em into your DAW, clean 'em up, maybe add a few effects (slight reverb, short delay...

Totally 1+ on voxengo span. Great plugin, plus with the zoom, its super accurate.

Alternately you can use an equalizer with built in graphic analyser.

If you want to run lots of VST's / soft-synth's then you want as much processing power as money can buy. I'd lean more towards getting a higher clock speed than more core's. Yes it's nice to have them if they run efficiently but as soon as one core gets maxed (can happen if your plugin's aren't opt...

I would get a tower (assuming you mean desktop) but the problem is, I am looking to do some casual performances, and laptops are just more portable frankly. If I ever get serious, then I would lug a custom computer around with me, but as it is, I am a casual teen musician, so Im not looking for anyt...

If you are making a song that is pure 8-bit, I suggest using a tracker like Famitracker (not a VST, a separate program). Here is an all round synth that I really am a fan of, its great for all kinds of music, but if you keep it simple, you can get some nice chiptune sounding sounds http://www.braind...

Thanks everyone for the replies, I will keep this all in mind. I think I am going to go with a PC, because this isn't a computer I am going to use forever, just for a few years. Thank you VirtualMark and daeMTHAFKNkim, your posts were very helpful. It's all good to go to a store and look at specs, b...

Where on earth did you hear that macs are a pain to use? They're the exact opposite. Also, this topic has come up before and there are several threads around on particular components, soundcards and such. Thanks for the link, I will surf through that topic. I used to program video games (that's whe...

This if you can handle not having FL http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC374LL/A or if you wait apple is refreshing there macbook pro line entirley which will mean you could buy a refurb or older model for even cheaper. I have a core 2 duo 15" mbp and i personally never hit a cpu bottleneck an...

Hello everybody! I need a computer for audio production, if possible a laptop would be preferable. My current computer has got to the point where it is preventing me from moving forward as a musician. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I should get. I know how computers work, but I don't know much abo...

Hey everyone! I've just started getting into electronic music last year, and I've been producing it for as long. I am by no means a noob, but I'm not a pro either. I'm just your average teenage hobbyist! I listen to almost all kinds of music to a certain degree, and because of this I don't write str...