Getting to know you all! What's your go to instrument in your DAW?

Welcome General Chat
21

So many pianos to go and investigate!!! Thank you for that! I love pianos!

I’m hearing this more and more about first creating away from the computer, and I’ve got to say, I miss that. Before I got into using a DAW some 5 years ago, that’s all I would do — sit at the piano and create music, and because I can’t read music (let alone write it down) I used to commit all my compositions to memory!

What I love about being at a real piano, is the feeling of the vibrations going through one’s chest. I wonder if this is the same for everyone?!

2 Likes
22

I have a feeling structured instruction would be helpful, but I have just been kicking it around. There’s a YouTube for everything these days.
Played guitar for years, never good enough to quit the day job but…

2 Likes
23

I always load the piano first. Even, if I won’t use in the composition, it allows me to sketch or come up with the motif, which can be later assigned to other instruments.

2 Likes
24

Not a pianist here, but I understand. When I hit a note and the flute sings or it takes a whistle soaring, I definitely feel it. Same with bodhran, and to a lesser extent with other physical instruments. I just never made the time to learn keys well enough to have the courage to sit at a public piano to try something and I will never be able to afford my own.

1 Like
26

It’s pretty versatile that way!

27

Where I live there are occasionally people trying to give old pianos away for free! Do you have local Facebook buy/sell /up cycle type pages you could keep an eye on?

Next question would be - do you have the SPACE for a real piano! :smiley:

1 Like
28

No, no space. Good idea, but sadly we are already over… er… applied to the space we have. Sad fact that, but oh well.

1 Like
29

Many of free pianos around here and some are really beautiful but no room downstairs and it would be impossible to get it upstairs, without removing the roof of the house and assistance of a crane. I use Korg Concert digital piano with Roland midi - USB adaptor and recently inherited another Korg SP250, which I’ll probably sell.

1 Like
30

You are not missing anything.

2 Likes
31

We are lucky to live in an age where a piano doesnt need to be physical - it can also just be a click away. :pray: Technology is amazing.

32

Yeah, I’m satisfied with what I have. We do what we can with what we’ve got. :sunglasses:

3 Likes
33

I think for me, it would have to be a drone of some sort. I always love layering sounds and have them evolve over time to create a foundation. One of my favourite libraries is Drones from Orchestral Tools.

3 Likes
34

Right you are! I whole heartedly agree! :slight_smile:

1 Like
35

My first go to is from in my head to humming, then I’ll probably reach for my acoustic guitar, to establish a progression/rhythm /texture or Numa-X piano’s Steinway grand for melody/motif options, if things come together I’ll probably open Reason daw and load genre appropriate instruments like glass strings, radical EP or marshal brass & promptly wander of into sound fiddling with effects & players :face_with_hand_over_mouth: but trying to get something down initially, to save, as like many, I really don’t do music theory,(reading or writing) :wink:. To be honest, I haven’t even been through many of the hundreds of daw instruments/sounds, there’s a lifetime of discovery in our modern music factory machines! As long as we make something good, and people enjoy it, Long live the daw :smiley:

3 Likes
36

I have a piano track in my template using Henson’s Shimmel Alive MP! I downloaded it a long time ago from a Christian video, and since then it’s been my go-to sketch piano.

2 Likes
37

Hi Eleri,

What a great question! I have a few go-to things, but they depend very much on what “hat” I am wearing at the time. Am I working on something for myself, or for a client. Am I the composer, the producer, or the artist.

But in most of those cases there are a few things that always get me going if I have no idea at all yet where I want to end up.

One of them is a synth called “Cube”. I just love browsing it’s very extensive preset library. It particularly shines with atmospheres and morphing pads and arps.

Another go-to for me is “Arcade” by Output. It’s pretty much the only subscription based music thing I maintain, despite hating subscriptions. What I really like about it, is that similar to a lot of the UJAM plugins or similar, it lets me get inspired quickly, and knock out rough ideas if I want to focus on singing for example, and then I can come back later and load the instruments rather than pre-made phrases and refine more.

The third one would be a combination of two that I suspect is a left over instinct from my days as a DJ. I love to just browse my collection of samples, find something that I “feel” and then combine it with a multi fx plugin like “transit 2” or “Shaperbox” to make something really different out of it.

If I feel like twiddling with knobs I will also often pull up Pigments. Very easy to get lost in though.

Finally on the more orchestral side of things, “Habitat” by orchestral tools, and Olafur Arnalds Evolutions always get me started.

If I had String Murmurations yet, ai suspect it would be high on this list too :sweat_smile:.

I also share your tendency to reach for a piano, but I don’t do it quite as often right at the start. I tend often create a simple bed or pad first. I don’t even keep them all the time, but somehow it really helps me write, and then the piano might be second.

4 Likes
38

Often I write with guitar scratch tracks to a click. After getting a rough sketch down I’ll immediately go for some type of drum kit depending on the genre or feel of the idea. Once that basic “room” track is sketched out I’ll lay down a bass and then go back and record the guitars. I head back to the drums and add a “close mic” track for each kit piece and copy the midi and mute everything but that kit piece. Then I blend to taste and start adding other production elements and fleshing out more solid melodies and other harmonic elements.

I will say, my process is not efficient at all. I program the drums using a step sequencer, which is often very tedious and time consuming, but I love how it turns out.

2 Likes
39

Always a piano for me.
Well, it’s a mixture of 3 pianos, actually, for a bit of depth, plus a soft string swell in the background, and other synth pads to hand if I feel the urge.
There’s one more element in my Improv template: for fun, I set up about 13 reverbs to put the pianos through. All sorts, all makers. Turning them all on makes for an immersive improv experience!
:slight_smile:

3 Likes
40

A great discussion so thanks Eleri!

At first being a guitar player the first action would be to noodle around on the 6 string and put the idea and lyrics together!

Once completed I would open the DAW and lay down an audio track as a background for the composition! Add a drum track and then, as some have suggested I would load a synth and perhaps a drone to fill the sound!

Eventually build the track as I go by adding Albion One strings, for melody harmony, perhaps choir and then lead and/or bass guitar.

Vocal/lyrics added later if desired !

Nowadays I am a little more comfortable on keyboards so the guitars can come later!

Thanks again Eleri
David

4 Likes
41

Hi Eleri you’ve seemed to have raised a very interesting question and the responses to your topic are so varied in a good way. I personally don’t have a particular brand of company or any type of particular instrument that I always first jump to in the initial early stages of sketching my pre-compositional work. I’m kind of open minded at the beginning. However, when I first open my DAW I usually just first play about with any kind of instrumental sound just to find inspiration for ideas. Once I’ve got an inkling of an idea in my head I will usually use a piano library of some sort or a string library for creating basic chord progressions and harmonic structure. I try not to limit my approach in the very early stages of my pre-compositional work to any particular fixed branded company because I want to stay open minded and flexible.

2 Likes