Frutiy Loops and HELP!!

[TaPh]

I've got Fruity Loops 3 which I find fantastic for creating quality beats, but I'm not sure where to go from here. I'm finding it hard to create any solid basslines or even any that resemble some form of music. Can anyone give me any pointers?? Ive got Cubase as well but I don't know how to use it properly.

Ive only got my PC and the software - is that a problem or do I need to invest in a Keyboard?

[poi]

I've only glanced quicky at FruityLoops - Have a look on <a href="http://www.spinwarp.com" target="_blank">www.spinwarp.com</a> they seemed to have some tutorials, dont know if they're any good tho.

A few years ago i managed to put together tracks that actually sounded like drum and bass with FastTrakkerII. Although i cant make it run under WindowsXP now :(

Bring back the DOS days!

[PAEBAC]

Ok, to get the most out of a program like fruity loops u need to press F9 and use the fx channels. Download yourself some decent VSTI instruments and add them as channels (like with soft synths) this will hammer your cpu so make some sounds as a single file then save them ...... take them into a sound editor like wavelab, normalize your sounds n phatten em up ... save them as wavs and use them as samples when you sequence your tune ..this process is known as resampling and the possibilities are endless ..its all down to your imagination ......there are so many things you can do to basslines I could carry on forever , but get used to using these channels.

When u come to sequencing your tune use the fx channels for plug ins , eq your tracks , add equalisers, compression whatever. Like Poi said try Spinwarp for some techniques ....when your tune sounds good then u look towards compression for single elements such as your bass drum /snare/bass/high hats/vocals ..whatever .... there are plenty of tutorials on compression on sites such as future music/computer music.


The main thing to remember about fruity loops is if you write anything on it u want to use save it as a .wav at the highest bitrate, dont use the program for mp3 encoding cos it is pure shite ..use an audio editor like wavelab or soundforge to encode.

It is not a problem only having a PC , Tech Itch sold all of his studio gear because of the capabilities of software. Also another inspiring element about fruity is that concord dawn have produced all of their tracks using only fruity loops (before mastering).

I advise you to learn the ins and outs of fruity as it is a good learning tool before you begin to tackle cubase or logic which are much more complex and will take much longer to learn. Fruity is wicked because you can get your ideas down fast ...cubase and logic are not so straightforward and the user interfaces are much more difficult.

If you complete your tune with a program like fruity you may find the overall sound quality to be a bit "unproffesional" compared to other tracks ..this is where mastering comes in and I would strongly recommend T-Racks for this ...its pretty easy to download from the net ..if u wanna know where from PM me.

Hope that helps :)

Ez

[TaPh]

Wow! Thanks for the mass of information and help (Poi and Paebac). I'll give these a go and i'll let you know how I get on - might even send you a tune!!