What software for creating riffs and songs

I use Bitwig Studio + SSD4 for drums. I often use Bitwigs internal drum machine.
Cool musical workflow. I have a lot of drums midi tracks to put up some rythm quickly.
I have an Ideas song in Bitwig in wich I record new ideas on a separate track.
Sometimes, I re-listen those tracks one after an other. I might get inspired enough to transform one into a real song. Or just loop to jam.
 
I use my phone and the app Evernote to record quick ideas. I make sure to say in the recording what tuning my is guitar is in and I give an explanation to how I want the riff to sound and what I want other instruments to do. I tell myself what frets I'm hitting too.

I then tab everything in Guitar Pro 6. If the timing is hard to figure out, I use my MIDI keyboard, drum machine or edrums and tap the timing out and record the MIDI into Cakewalk SONAR Platinum. If I'm not near my MIDI keyboard, drum machine or edrums, I record myself humming the beats and then open AudioSnap or Drum Replacer. I then export the MIDI to a MIDI file and open that into Guitar Pro 6 and then move the note pitches around.

If I have a melody in my head that I can't figure out the notes, I record myself humming the melody and then open it in Melodyne which is an Auto Tune program, so it shows me the notes I hummed. Melodyne lets you export the notes and timing to a MIDI track.

Cakewalk SONAR Platinum came with XLN Audio Addictive Drums 2 but for real recordings I usually use Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.

I use Dropbox to share my ideas with the rest of my band. I put the date I created or updated the riff at the end of the file name.

To improve on ear training and timing, I use the Android app Perfect Ear 2.

I created a post similar to this one a while ago but never got any replies: How do you write, learn, teach and practice music for your band? - http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threa...teach-and-practice-music-for-your-band.86361/
 
I mostly use ableton live. Been using it since 3 so it's workflow is kinda burnt into my brain.

I also use reason if it better suits the song. The audio recording straight into reason is pretty decent these days.
 
I really really like 2 products for writing / arranging songs. "Propellerhead Reason 6 and up" and "Presonus Studio One 3".

Reason: Blocks feature is super awesome for working your ideas. It lets you create "blocks", kind of like loops. It lets you view your block by it self and build it up with as many tracks as you want....choose if its going to be a "Verse", intro, chorus, Riff 1, Riff2, Riff 99 etc. Then exit block mode back to the timeline use the pencil and draw in Riff2, verse, verse, chorus, verse etc. Then rearrange the parts you penciled in on the timeline until you like it etc. Or go back to an individual block to make changes. Then on the timeline the block is automatically updated. Once you got it all arranged / composed etc...mix down the track for a mix or scratch track.
Pros: Easier to work with than loops because it requires no organizational skills like loops might. Tons of cool synth sounds etc come with it. I also think its easier to record midi in this app.
Cons: Its not the most common daw, plugin support is different.
I use Logic or Pro Tools to do my final mixes.

Studio One 3: Arranger Track and Scratch Pads. Similar concepts to what I said about Reason. Maybe a touch harder to figure out without reading a manual. I've only used my friends computer to try it...but I did create a full song with 3 or 4 "riffs" and a chorus and Bridge. If I only had money for one DAW right now and at a hobbyist to low end pro level I'd buy this for sure. I have Studio One Version 2 and have a decent amount of experience with it....it just doesn't have these features specific to song writing / arranging.
 
I usually start with an idea I've had in my head and, if I'm not at home, hum it into my phone. I typically always have the drums, bass, guitars, vocals, etc. worked out before actually playing it. I almost never write any of the instrument arrangements down beforehand as I'm generally able to remember them; it's just a matter of transcribing them to DAW(I've always played by ear), and my best ideas tend to be those I've heard in my head before ever picking up an instrument.
 
theo said:
Cubase for me. I'll usually record rough takes at riffs as I'm going with the song so I don't forget them.

EZ drummer 2 for drum parts until the drummer in my band does real ones.
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agreed EZDrummer 2 for getting the job done fast, easy and sounding good!
 
Just downloaded EZD2 and using in Logic Pro.
A step up from Logic drummer and can quickly get some drum tracks going so you can spend more time on axefx2.
Logic drummer is by no means bad but EZD2 seems more flexible.

EZD2 vs addictive drums? Vs ??? Your thoughts...
 
Pro Tools, Superior Drummer 2.0, and the Axe FX are my go-to software for really fleshing ideas out. If I just need to quickly get an idea down, or if I'm just noodling and jamming by myself, I just record it with the voice recorder on my phone or tablet.. I have a "Scratchpad" session in Pro Tools specifically for going through all of those sound files and trimming out the good stuff.

I do find myself wondering if SSD or Addictive Drums is better than SD2, but other than that, I'm kinda set in my ways.
 
Another Logic Pro X user. For composing quickly, I use the included Logic drummer. Once the song is written, I redo the drums with Superior Drummer or Steven Slate Drums. EZ Drummer is great as well.
 
darinj96 said:
Studio One 3: Arranger Track and Scratch Pads. Similar concepts to what I said about Reason. Maybe a touch harder to figure out without reading a manual. I've only used my friends computer to try it...but I did create a full song with 3 or 4 "riffs" and a chorus and Bridge. If I only had money for one DAW right now and at a hobbyist to low end pro level I'd buy this for sure. I have Studio One Version 2 and have a decent amount of experience with it....it just doesn't have these features specific to song writing / arranging.
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I agree these are good features and nice upgrades with SO3.
 
SirJager said:
Just downloaded EZD2 and using in Logic Pro.
A step up from Logic drummer and can quickly get some drum tracks going so you can spend more time on axefx2.
Logic drummer is by no means bad but EZD2 seems more flexible.

EZD2 vs addictive drums? Vs ??? Your thoughts...
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Never used addictive drums but EZD2 is amazing for song creation, especially if you have a bunch of drum loops (i've bought a ton of their midi packs). Tap 2 find to get the basic beat, drag the midi to the search zone, % matches come up, (you can hit the button to include the TT midi loops you haven't purchased yet as well), pick the best fit, drag it into the song creator to get multiple versions as well as fills, verse, chorus, bridge, intro, outro etc and then piece them together in the midi loop section in EZD2. Further edits then by going into the edit drums mode and changing the kit pieces, velocity etc, and, a really useful feature is you can increase or decrease the number of hits to any of the kit pieces, which it does while maintaining the feel of the loop. There are a few additional things I wish it would do but it's hard to ask for much more at this point. I rarely have to go to the piano roll at this point with it. But my songs are pretty basic.
 
ToneLabRat said:
Never used addictive drums but EZD2 is amazing for song creation, especially if you have a bunch of drum loops (i've bought a ton of their midi packs). Tap 2 find to get the basic beat, drag the midi to the search zone, % matches come up, (you can hit the button to include the TT midi loops you haven't purchased yet as well), pick the best fit, drag it into the song creator to get multiple versions as well as fills, verse, chorus, bridge, intro, outro etc and then piece them together in the midi loop section in EZD2. Further edits then by going into the edit drums mode and changing the kit pieces, velocity etc, and, a really useful feature is you can increase or decrease the number of hits to any of the kit pieces, which it does while maintaining the feel of the loop. There are a few additional things I wish it would do but it's hard to ask for much more at this point. I rarely have to go to the piano roll at this point with it. But my songs are pretty basic.
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Anyone have any good youtube tutorial link for a process like this for getting started with EZD2? Seems like that would be worthwhile, I just got it and have not even messed with it much, although, I assume it should be EZ to use. ;)
 
Try this with Drummer/Logic, create one drummer region, copy this to all the verses and do slight variations in the drummer settings including fills and swing. Take one of those and make it a chorus and do the same. Also with a bridge. You have basically a song structure done in less than a minute. The only drawback is that it's hard to map how you want drums to play versus how to control the drummer -- but what I do is to write the song around the drums, hehehe..

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I use Cubase with Kontakt, Maschine 2 and superior. Lots of options these days
 
zenaxe said:
Anyone have any good youtube tutorial link for a process like this for getting started with EZD2? Seems like that would be worthwhile, I just got it and have not even messed with it much, although, I assume it should be EZ to use. ;)
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There are some. I don't have time to hunt them down but if you google EZ Drummer 2 tutorial song writing - something like that - you will get them. Or go on the Toontrack Youtube channel and they are there. A good couple hours focused on EZD2 and you will get it down. Or, I'll just restate here a little more clearly:

- Search tab: Tap2find - punch in basic pattern you want
- Search tab: pick loops that most closely match what you want (if you haven't bought a bunch highlight "show web shop MIDI" to see if the ones you like are available and you can buy them)
- Search tab: Open up Song Creator button on bottom, drag favorite loop into it. Scroll through different loops for intro, verse, bridge, chorus, etc and then drag what you want into midi bar at bottom, arrange for song.
- Right click on midi loops in midi bar as necessary and choose Edit Play Style for further edits to the loop. You can change power hand, opening hit, velocity and amount of hits to any kit piece. You can pretty dramatically alter a loop with this. Also - back up to step 2 - you can pick the best loop, drag it into midi bar, and alter it with edit play style, then, drag it back into the MIDI drop zone and search for best fits for that loop and repeat process to get even closer.
- If you want to make further edits from there, if you want to add hits strategically, have your loop in the midi bar, turn the looping on, hit record and then go to Drums tab and tap in the added hits. You can also right click on loop and remove notes to remove an entire kit piece from the loop. You can always then redrag your loop into MIDI drop zone and start over and drag into song creator for more options etc.
- If you need further edits that can't be done in this way, drag the loop from EZD2 to your DAW track directly and edit the piano roll the old fashion way. You can then keep it there or bring it back into EZD2. Some DAWs won't let you drag it back so you can use the "record method" - which is with a blank midi section in EZD2, hit record on EZD2 and play your song, it will then record the midi back into EZD2.

I hope this helps.
 
ToneLabRat said:
There are some. I don't have time to hunt them down but if you google EZ Drummer 2 tutorial song writing - something like that - you will get them. Or go on the Toontrack Youtube channel and they are there. A good couple hours focused on EZD2 and you will get it down. Or, I'll just restate here a little more clearly:

I hope this helps.
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Thanks TLR, appreciate you knocking out the quick tut/tips. I'm going to clip-n-save save this post for this weekend, hopefully my schedule will allow some knock around time.
 
muudrock said:
Another Logic Pro X user. For composing quickly, I use the included Logic drummer. Once the song is written, I redo the drums with Superior Drummer or Steven Slate Drums. EZ Drummer is great as well.
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Slate Drums are nice... I've used the trigger replace on recordings which works great!
 
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