What are /r/synthwaveproducers' favorite Products & Services?

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I made this before I knew synth wave was a thing. I will definitely be making this more synth wave-y!! I cannot express how happy I am that I found synth wave. I've always longed for the old 80's music and stuff.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think!!! https://clyp.it/bojpn3tp

I think in the end nobody will read too much into it anyway. For example I used a Retrowave name generator for mine. I got Velvet System but it's the name of a Klaus Schulze song so I added an 82 to end up with Velvet System 82.

I wrote a much longer post, but here’s the short version. You can DM me if you want to know more/get the background story:

Start with this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Electronic-Producers-progressions-ebook/dp/B07CGDG2ZW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548779899&sr=8-1

Get started now:

Buy yourself two notebooks (both hard cover so that you can write while at an instrument): One with ruled lines, and one with music notation lines. As you read through the book, for every new concept write out several examples of the idea in whichever notebook makes sense, then transpose it to 5 or 6 other keys. In this way you're mentally interacting the theory and also creating a good reference journal of your own work to start from when you decide to work on a new song with the computer

Make a bigger investment:

Do the above, but also start taking piano lessons. Get a stage piano/keyboard that doesn’t need to be connected to your computer to play. Spend the first 4 to 6 months doing exactly what your teach says, just to learn the instrument and sight reading (you need some foundation). After that talk with your instructor about going into more of a technique/theory direction. Most instructors are very happy to do so. The advantage of the physical instrument is that you can start working out the ideas that you learn, and you’re not bound by the grid-and-mouse way of thinking or the constant stream of distractions that is the computer in general.

Thanks!

Reaper did come up in my research, I've also heard good things about it from Podcast producers (I've been making a podcast since February and have stuck with Audacity so far, but this gives me a good reason to try Reaper for podcasting as well!)

Big things that were holding me back from Reaper were:

• The $60 pricetag on their website (didn't realize it's "WinRAR free" like someone commented below, as in, just closing an annoying message each time.)

• The fact that it doesn't provide instruments right out of the box like other DAWs, and finding/sourcing and potentially wasting money on a bunch of paid plugins seemed intimidating. But if I'm saving $250 I'll give it a try with the free ones you've recommended :)

• I assumed that there would be more Youtube tutorials available for FL Studio and Ableton than Reaper, but I didn't actually check and could be totally wrong here.

But I'll give Reaper a try first.

Follow-up Question:

• If I'm using the money I would've spent on a DAW to buy a midi controller instead, do you have any recommendations? Does brand matter like when buying an actual synth? Since it's just for inputting notes more easily, could I just go with something cheaper like this? https://www.amazon.ca/Worlde-Portable-Keyboard-Controller-Colorful/dp/B079FGP3BH Or is it worth investing in something better upfront?

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's so I think I'm covered for headphones.

All right, then. Let's start evaluating your song. It starts nice, has a good vibe. The guitar at the beginning sounds a bit lax, the melody is fitting. The sound design of the lead synth and the pads is great. What might be strange to many people is that it is played very staccato and you squeeze the whole song into the four quarter rhythm. That comes across a bit artificial. If you would start one or two bars earlier with the vocal passages, I would imagine it a bit more harmonious. But of course it's a matter of taste. Your voice sounds mega, beautifully deep, full and masculine! The drums also sound well mixed. The electric guitar also sounds great, is played great. The Flanger gives a typical 80s feeling. From about 2:30 min the synths start to modulate something and bring some variety. I find the pads partly too loud and your voice too quiet (3:15). All around a great number, but not very different from many other Synthwave songs. Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion and that music is of course something very subjective! I usually concentrate more on things that I find negative than positive when I'm criticizing songs and compare them to songs that are very popular in the genre.

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Hi guys,

here's my first synthwave track, well at least I think it's "synthwave-ish":

https://www.bandlab.com/thodd/nice-to-be-in-orbit-0c726ccf?revId=ae2660f6-88f4-eb11-b563-501ac5b31db1

Up to now I have only tried my hand at making lo-fi hip-hop style tracks, so this one is quite different. But you know what? It was much more fun to make!

I tinkered with this song for quite some time, but it never felt quite right... something just feels off, maybe you can help me out here... I have the feeling its monotonous(?)

Anyway, I think it's time to let this one go and start something fresh with new ideas :)

For those interested, I'm using Garageband and have not yet figured out how to use additional plugins and stuff... so only stock instruments and drum kits for now. Any recommendations are appreciated :)

I learned synthesis primarily through hardware synths and only recently started exploring software synths; therefore, you should definitely get a second opinion on this. I found Retro Synth quite easy to use, but I didn't really like the sound of it (it was too hard to make the sound beefy enough IMO). Never really took the time to dive into Alchemy, though. However, I will recommend downloading Helm (if you haven't already) which is a freeware/donationware software synthesizer that I find very manageable and quite precise. It features two oscillators with a bunch of different waveforms, a sub oscillator and a noise generator. It also has three LFOs and envelopes, a filter and a bunch of effects. Definitely check Helm out!

I suggest getting a small midi controller with ableton live lite. Ableton has almost everything you need.

Then, you need a very good softh synth, my choice would be either synth1 or helm. I prefer designing my own sounds and Helm is my number one free choice for that aspect. You can make a lot of synthwavy sounds with basic wave forms, subtracting synthesis and some modulation. Helm is good for getting your feet wet with sound design.

You need basic effects:

• Compressors (DAW stock are usually ok)
• Reverb (DAW stock can be good, otherwise I suggest TAL)
• Chorus (idem)
• Distortion, headcrusher free is IMO the best free disto.

You absolutely need an arpegiator if your DAW does not provide one.

ok so... i'm a poor producer so this is very nice but i'm trying to use https://surge-synthesizer.github.io that plugin and for any reason doesn't work... please help me ;;

Dunno, I'd be stoked to receive one of these! https://www.amazon.com/Novation-Launchpad-Grid-Controller-Ableton/dp/B07WNSHR3V?th=1

I've yet to bite the bullet and actually jump into the creation, only playing around with software tools and the like, but something like this seems like it would have a TON of utility uses and could really kickstart someone.

Other people have already said the most important things. I just want to chime in and say:

• Keep at it. Making art is a marathon, not a sprint.
• Learning basic music theory is important imho, in case you haven't already.
• There's plenty of good synthwave production tutorials on YouTube.
• Are you sure you cannot afford the most basic MIDI keyboard? Something like this ($75) will do.

I've been using the IK iRIG 37 Pro

I would not say its the best, but it gets the job done. Keys have developed a slight pop sound with left/right jiggle. Meaning if you move positions or you're sliding your fingers up/down the keys without completely lifting off the keys they make a sound and have a weird feel.

It works, just feels cheap. Probably because it is.

How do you come up with your ideas for melodies now? By drawing them into the piano roll? I personally find that workflow pretty annoying, and I prefer just noodling around using a midi keyboard until I find a melody that sounds nice. If you really can't afford a midi keyboard, maybe you can look into options for using your regular QWERTY computer keyboard for playing melodies. A quick google shows that that should be possible in Cakewalk. If that workflow suits you better, then I'd look into getting a cheap midi keyboard. I bought this one from Amazon for $34, and it's been working perfectly fine for me.

Also, maybe look for a beginner's tutorial that will guide you through a process of making a complete (but simple) song. It doesn't really matter what genre (though it should use midi instruments), but just getting familiar with the general steps that you go through to finish a song might remove some cognitive load and make it easier to move forward. There are so many things to learn when you start producing that it can feel pretty overwhelming. The important thing for me was to keep it simple and not get to caught up in all the details. In order to get started, I think it is much better to complete a bunch of simple and rough songs using presets and samples than it is to get stuck in sound design or getting that perfect mix. That stuff can come later when you're more comfortable with basic production/song writing.