u/Danoja1

I have taken a few guitar lessons here and there so I know a lot of basic stuff like bar chords and some other simple chords but I don’t know enough and can’t play well enough to pull together nice progressions. I want to learn guitar mainly so I can compose better music (I have a synth and piano I use regularly). Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should practice or look into to get better at coming up with my own music?

I use to get so frustrated that my music didn’t sound as good as X Y or Z that making became so draining. As I’ve overcame this by just creating for fun or without a worry or thought I realized that that’s how you become better.

Obviously you need to be conscious of learning technical skills to advance your work but the actual implementation of those skills takes time and is at times a subconscious experience.

Looking back at my progress I notice how many concepts I have internalized over the years through consistent creation. It wasn’t something that I could have rushed or done faster it was just knowledge digested over time.

I’ve been so happy recently with my music because I’ve noticed that if I’m unhappy with certain parts of my creating it’s fine because I will improve them over time.

The main takeaway is when you’re frustrated with an element of your work just think that it will eventually improve and that it is great that you actually KNOW what to improve on moving forward!

It isn’t crashing every time I open it up it just happens randomly. But it is too frequent too ignore and too infrequent for me to have immediately addressed it and I have no clue what’s going on. Can anyone point me in a direction to fixing it?

If the bpms are the same would I just time it and play them both at the same time or is there a way I could do this on the mixer. (I don’t have a mixer of my own yet).

I have the midi cable running from my midi controller to my synth but I’m not sure what the next steps are can anyone help?

I forget when I lost this knob but I did and I am unsure of what to search to replace it. Any suggestions?

I don’t have a huge printer but I’m looking to combine multiple smaller sheets of paper into a giant rectangle to show one image but I’m not sure how I’d divide that original image up into smaller ones so that it would match up. Can anyone help?

Looking to write out some compositions on the computer while I’m playing piano. Any software suggestions that are free?

I am looking to buy my first synth to pair with my midi keyboard and MPC Sample. I have asked on this form already and have gotten some great recommendations. I have narrowed down what I am looking for so I am hoping to get some more specific suggestions.

In order of importance I’m looking for a Polyphonic, desktop, analog, synth then I am prioritizing sound, then it would be nice to have a sequencer but not necessary and it would nice obviously for it to play a range of different sounds from strings to pads to keys but I’d say I value the actual sound of it to be 70 and versatility to be 30.

My budget is 1.4K cad

Let me know your thoughts! Or if I should be even more specific!

The title has the full question.

I understand certain concepts like major feeling more upbeat and minor feeling more down; so when choosing a scale being in major will give it a different feel than minor.

I am more unsure about progressions and chords. I know that is a pretty vague question as there are numerous chords and progressions but I guess I have more specific questions.

How do people approach theory to understand chord progressions better? Take a I V II for example how do people know to add certain chord extensions at the I versus the V?

What’s the concepts leading to that knowledge that make the most sense for composition?

This was pretty convoluted but I am happy to hear all answers vague and specific!

I am looking for a synth that is pretty versatile. I want to use it to produce but I am also really excited to get a synth + sequencer to use live.

I was wondering if

How great of a synth is it on its own minus the other features it comes with? Can it create a range of sounds from pads keys strings etc with ease?
How powerful is the sequencer? I am pairing the digitone potentially with my MPC Sample. I want to use my MPC Sample as a sequencer for percussive elements and the digitone for melodic elements. I wanted to be able to switch between many sequences on the digitone while using its synth engine to play different keys pads etc live switching between those sounds as well. Is that all possible?
What are your thoughts on it overall? How do other synths compare based on the needs listed before?

Thank you for your help this is a lot to answer so feel free to respond to only one part.

I have the 61 key Arturia key lab and I was wondering if it was hooked up to a synth if it could record into the pads on it and play it back as a sequence? If not what is the cheapest option with no extra effects or controls to have an external sequence going outside of the synth?

I know quite a bit about mixing but I have no idea how to start mastering. Can anyone boil down mastering into the key concepts and mention any VSTs (that I might already have) that I would need to master?

I know quite a bit about mixing but I have no idea how to start mastering. Can anyone boil down mastering into the key concepts and mention any VSTs (that I might already have) that I would need to master?

I want to rename sequences so they’ll be easier to arrange but I don’t know how to or if I can. For example I want to change Seq A01 to Verse 1.0 or something like that. Would this be possible?

I’m looking to get started practicing scales but I can’t find a good photo that shows fingering as well as all the scales. I was hoping someone could share some sheet music with scales or whatever other arpeggios and exercises they might think are helpful for beginner/intermediates?

I have taken lessons when I was younger but I am getting back into playing + theory. I was looking for some exercises to improve my technical playing abilities and came across the Hanon the Virtuoso Pianist in 60 exercises I was wondering if it was a good place to start or if there were other exercises that are more relevant.

I’m trying to record my piano into my DAW and I don’t want it to play out loud i was wondering if there’s any way around this other than putting my headphones into the piano (my headphones are plugged into my audio interface since I’m producing and arranging).