u/bigmonsterpen5s

Just wondering people's thoughts. I make psychedelic / progressive rock . Long form songs with real instruments but I also want to do heavy electronic layers and fx. I like experimental sound design but still traditional songwriting. I want to run into happy accidents so to speak .

I love abletons sense of experimentation and ease of making things weird . Feel like modulation is easy , max for live. Feel like warping and time stuff is awesome .

BUT I love how great studio one is for mixing and organization. And ARA integration! I use melodyne a lot. Honestly that's the biggest selling point.

So wondering your guys thoughts . I'm leaning Ableton but ARA support is really enticing me for studio one. I've demod both but feel like I'm at a pivotal point.

Just wondering people's thoughts. I make psychedelic / progressive rock . Long form songs with real instruments but I also want to do heavy electronic layers and fx. I like experimental sound design but still traditional songwriting. I want to run into happy accidents so to speak .

I love abletons sense of experimentation and ease of making things weird . Feel like modulation is easy , max for live. Feel like warping and time stuff is awesome .

BUT I love how great studio one is for mixing and organization. And ARA integration! I use melodyne a lot. Honestly that's the biggest selling point.

So wondering your guys thoughts . I'm leaning Ableton but ARA support is really enticing me for studio one. I've demod both but feel like I'm at a pivotal point.

Been collecting plugins for 10 years different saturators compressors limiters whatever. Spent hours on forums researching whether decapitor or Saturn was a better distortion plugin to buy and wasted so much time.

Then I just woke up with Ableton in front of me and went through the stock stuff. And I really just thought . I don't know even know why I have 5 delays 6 reverbs plugins when it's all just here. I'm not skilled enough to hear the difference between stock and paid. And honestly . I don't even care . I just want to make weird music . At some point someone or something told me I need these certain plugins to make my music sound better and I then I just spent so much time thinking my music sounds like shit because I didn't have an analog emulated channel strip.

Maybe my music sucked because I couldn't sing for shit and the notes were pitchy. And my composition and structure was horrible. And at the time barely knew any music theory. Nah it was definitely cause I wasn't emulating a fucking neve preamp.

Sorry just needed to rant. Feel like I had an awakening. Migrating to a new machine and Im just gonna use stock plugins and stop thinking about this shit . I'm not even really a proper audio engineer I don't know if this is the right sub. So I'm sure many will disagree with me. Just someone whos been producing their own music for a while.

So I have an album I recorded and mixed in studio one but our band now wants to take it live. So im thinking about learning ableton for that purpose , but playing around with it it does seem really fun and creative as a tool.

For those who have switched to ableton from another daw , how much of a difference did it make? I know for sure for live stuff I need it but Im thinking about making music with it too now. Is it worth the learning curve or will it fundamentally not change my workflow too much and be a waste of time learning a new software for production?

One thing I do like alot about ableton is it feels so easy to modulate things . Feels like an instrument where studio one feels more static .

(Used ai to make my thoughts more coherent , sorry if it sounds like slop but hopefully it gets my point across)

I'm producing an experimental/post-rock/prog project where the live show is a huge part of the vision. Think bands like Swans or Tool in terms of live immersion, but with a heavy focus on generative visuals driven by TouchDesigner.

I'm deciding between investing in recording an acoustic kit at home versus using an electronic kit (likely as a MIDI controller with Superior Drummer/EZDrummer or custom samples).

My situation:

-We have a real drummer.

-We already own an acoustic kit.

-We'd need an 8-input interface, drum mics, and some room treatment to record it properly.

-A friend is selling me an Alesis Nitro Mesh kit for $100.

What makes me hesitate is that the e-kit isn't just about convenience. Every drum hit becomes clean MIDI that can:

-trigger custom samples,

-change drum sounds dynamically,

-drive TouchDesigner visuals in real time,

-eliminate bleed and simplify editing,

-let us spend more time on composition instead of engineering.

On the other hand, I know real drums have interaction between the room, cymbals, and the drummer that can make recordings feel more alive and unique.

If your goal wasn't simply the "best sounding drums," but building a distinctive audiovisual project with live visuals, where would you invest your time and money?

I'd especially love to hear from people who have worked with both acoustic kits and e-kits in experimental music.

So I started a psychedelic rock project, and I've been a musician my whole life, but I know very little about visuals. Been making stuff in Blender for about 6 months and have some cool renders.

I ultimately want to make our setlist work with live visuals. We do long improv jams, and I think it would be cool for the audio to react to us playing in real time. I'd also like to incorporate the Blender forms and renders I'm creating.

Not really sure where to start. TouchDesigner looks intimidating, but I'm willing to learn. Or do I render stuff out of Blender and drive parameters in Resolume with audio? Not really sure how any of this works in practice, would love some insight on what a realistic stack looks like for a band doing this.

So I started a psychedelic rock project, and I've been a musician my whole life, but I know very little about visuals. Been making stuff in Blender for about 6 months and have some cool renders.

I ultimately want to make our setlist work with live visuals. We do long improv jams, and I think it would be cool for the audio to react to us playing in real time. I'd also like to incorporate the Blender forms and renders I'm creating.

Not really sure where to start. TouchDesigner looks intimidating, but I'm willing to learn. Or do I render stuff out of Blender and drive parameters in Resolume with audio? Not really sure how any of this works in practice, would love some insight on what a realistic stack looks like for a band doing this.