When I first heard about BTV Solo, I didn't know what to expect. I was in the studio with a producer friend and I told him about the lack of vibe I had lately. I'll try and make a day of sitting down to make beats but I get to it and nothing comes out, any inspiration. I've been a Dj all my life, I moved into producing some years ago and have been around some real talent while engineering. But as I bury myself in engineer work I watch some of the artists I work with and want to start producing more than I have been.
So my friend works with some of the bigger names right now
and is always on the inside of new gear, he had Pro Tools 10 as a beta long
before anyone knew it was even a thought (seriously, I hadn't even picked up 9
yet) he starts going on about BTV Solo and I figured (since we both came from
MPC's) I should at least check it out if he's co-signing it. He told me it was
like using hardware, in software (if that makes sense). The problem with a lot
of these hardware controller / beat making software combinations is when you
take away the controller the software is neutered. At this point the controller
might as well be a $500 mouse.
So since it wasn't out yet I made a few calls and was able
to score a preview copy in exchange for an honest opinion. Let's do it.
So I know that it comes with a ton of sounds and from what I
saw, a stack of features so I figured it was going to take a bunch of reading and
setting up before I actually got to the beat. A few minutes later I'm already
adding a second track to mix over the drums I laced first on listen. I was in
that fast. My inspiration is back! I mean, the way they got it all set up is so
that you don't have to wade through patch after patch of "Drum Kit
03". It's all right there in names like "EAST-Illadelphia" and
"HOUSE-Chicago-hard", "R&B-Motownphilly" and
"DUBSTEP-UndergroundBass" so whatever mood you're in you can grab it
and start building. This is good for me because I'm always waking up at 4am
with a vibe in my head and need to get it out before I forget, then you're just
stuck browsing kits without even remembering what you were doing in the first
place.
Another bonus is being able to save user kits as you go,
with no worrying about complex index structures, you just save and that's it,
keep working on your track and save again as you go. This is why I've always
been a fan of short cuts and key commands, I like to save every few steps and
if I have to drag my mouse through a bunch of drop downs every time it gets
tedious.
Speaking about the easy customizing, it's even easier to
load back up your kits and instruments, whether stock or user special. You know
when you're vibing to a track, but you might want to try out different kits?
There's nothing worse than waiting for the "loading" across my screen
while my session comes to a halt. BTV Solo loads the sounds on the click,
easily auditioning whatever sound you want to swap out as you play along, why can't
they all be like this?
So as a beat making software this is already stacking up but
what about the sounds? For what they're asking price wise for this, along with
how streamlined it is you wouldn't expect much but as I browse through the other
instruments I was blown away by the quality and attention to detail. I'll pay
more for ONE virtual instrument than they charge for BTV Solo itself let alone
the thousands of sounds that come with it. They give us a nice choice of synth
sounds to be manipulated however you want, and recorded (well I might add)
samples that give you that live feel, whether you want it clean like they
provide to give the track that "I recorded this all live myself"
feel, or if you want to chop it up sampler style, add a vinyl effect and it
sounds like you just dug out some crazy sample nobody else knew about. And on
the flip side if you do dig real vinyl regularly and have some crazy samples,
just load them into the auto-chop and you're ready to go. Hardware style
sampling made easy in a simple beat making software.
So, you're listening to the radio and this amazing song starts playing. The beat really pumps you up and you can feel the emotions and energy thumping out of your speakers plus the lyrics are nice and easy to remember and have now been stuck in your head for days.
This is the kind of music you need to create to get your
audience's attention. A good rap song will have deep and meaningful lyrics and
a beat that will move people. To do this you're going to need something to
create your beats with, some creativity and some recording skills.
These days we are lucky enough to have the power of
technology on our side. In the early days of rap and hip hop it involved a lot
more work and was a very timely process. Then you had to pay hundreds, even
thousands of dollars to master it all in a studio.
These days people can also produce their own music from
their own home studio or even from a home computer. You can even get started by
having a simple set up using beat making software for under $50 a cheap mic and
some recording software.
There are free programs out there that you can learn from
but the only way to make amazing music is by using premium software that has
all the features you need built-in. Good software will already have hundreds of
sounds kits, samples and the functions you need to produce a full song.
There are a lot of solid beat makers out there that you can
use to make your own beats like FL Studio, Sonic Producer, Dub Turbo, BTV SOLO
and Ableton Live just to name a few. Below are some tips to help choose a good
beat maker -
1. Make sure the software comes preloaded with sound kits
2. Lets you import your own sound kits so you can make fresh
music.
3. The ability to work both offline and online
4. Is feature rich and is updated regularly
5. Comes with free training videos or material
6. Has good reviews, testimonials and a strong user base
7. Has good customer support - test this by sending in an
email asking about the software.
I personally always do a quick search on the net for reviews
or ask some friends of mine that make music what they use. You can try free
beat makers but you just wont get the results like you do with premium
software.
You can find programs that have everything you need for
under $50 so if you have a tight budget start with something like that, then
later on upgrade to the more expensive programs if needed.
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