Same, I'm drawn to the buttons and knobs and flashing lights and cables though.
Is there any good tutorial or course out there on how to evolve from making a thing create random noises to actual music?
I mean this device is a big initial investment. The Pocket Operators less so though.
A colleague also showed me the Korg Monologue, which has a lot of things going for it (synthesizer + sampler built in one, only thing lacking maybe is drums / beats but you could hook it up to idk, GarageBand maybe and stream it through or add it later?)
I started from scratch with ableton and have worked my way up to make decent techno music. [0] I've watched a ton of YouTube channels on production and just fiddled around with every effect. It's best to start out with a basic loop you enjoy and then iterate on it [1], if you're not feeling it, put it aside and work on another loop and come back later. In my opinion the most important thing is to try and imitate the things you like because it reveals a lot about the music, which is a good learning experience, and additionally about your own way of hearing etc. It's also important to see theory as a sort of praxis, most of the stuff is empiric and after the fact, nothing really matters, but it's useful to know for when you're stuck.
From talking to professional producers I know, it takes roughly 10 years of practice to produce music that’s professional quality. Those stories you see of 18 year old DJ’s knocking out number one records? Most of them have been taking music classes since they were small children (or someone else is producing their music for them).
So if you suck at it, that’s normal. You just have to stick with it.
Mmm you should watch some FL studio videos too, it’s all programming but FL was a shortcut for a lot of beats producers I’ve met in the wild. Music training def helps, sampling is alternate shortcut. I agree with yr comment but would reverse the paragraphs - it’s a learning curve and sucking is part of it but 10 years is too far away. Figure out what’s fun with it. Ableton is frustrating for someone who starts from zero but once you get going... there’s more stuff to get lost in.
Back to where I agree w you - OP and OPZ are really more tools for musicians who just need a cool keyboard. Seeing ppl who play live shows with them is nerd nirvana.
Looping a couple of beats is not pro-quality music production.
There’s more to it than music theory. Even if you’re just slapping a couple of loops together there’s a lot of knowledge about djing and such that you need to have before you know what would be successful.
10 years is probably a realistic mean. If you have experience with music, creative software and doesn't expect a finished product then it can take a shorter time of course. Teenage engineering were founded by marketers, they are selling dreams.
> Is there any good tutorial or course out there on how to evolve from making a thing create random noises to actual music?
Like anything else, you have to study it and do it a lot. I'm just starting myself. If you like book learnin', I read the book 'How Music Really Works' by Wayne Chase and found it very helpful in moving from making fun 10 second loops to actual songs. And of course learning an instrument (synths are instruments) is a whole separate task on top of learning how to compose music.
>Is there any good tutorial or course out there on how to evolve from making a thing create random noises to actual music?
I can't name any specific tutorial, but what you need to understand are the ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) controls of samplers (and synthesizers), they're essentially sculpting tools for sound tones, and then the placement of these tones within a sequence, and expanding these sequences into song sections and an entire song.
If you want to to get somewhere quickly I'd start with mixing songs (DJ'ing) and then enhance those mixes with your own sounds, sections and later songs. Otherwise you'll need much longer until you're able to make a song, or get to something you're happy with.
Due to the ubiquity of music in our culture we're all experts basically, and hitting that bar is difficult if you start without a context like a mix that can guide your decisions.
Ableton is a DAW you could check out, it touches all aspects of music production and sound design and even DJ'ing, making it possible to approach production from different angles within the same program. Their learning resources are great.
Being familiar with programming could also help, because the way things are laid out and cascade is similar.
You might be thinking of a different korg product. The monologue is a pure analog budget monosynth. Which can totally do beat patterns using the onboard sequencer with a bit of clever motion sequencing.
A good way to start is taking a piece of music you like and trying to reproduce a reasonable facsimile. Going top down like this gives you some insight into the structure of music without having to start from “first principles”.
On macos you can press <Option-u> followed by a vowel and you will get the corresponding Umlaut. (üäö)
Additionally there are other combinations for accents and stuff like that.
