Hi guys,

How do you sketch out your song ideas? I've mostly done it in sonar but starting to look elsewhere since feel its to slow.
I've looked in the direction of Chord pulse and Odesi but not totally convinced. I want to be able to just select chords instead of painting them in by hand in the piano roll. Surprised this isn't basic functionality of every DAW.

Any suggestions?

1. EZKeys if piano based
2. BIAB if looking for overall feel
3. AAS GS-2, IRON/AMBER(By Virtual Guitarist), Real Guitar, OTS, Shreddage II if guitar based
4. Guitar loop libs
 

Guitar...I don't play keys :(  Even that is a stretch for me as I am a drummer!
 
Typically try to get Chorus Verse and any bridge happening, then do Lyrics.  Anyone else do it the other way around?
 
BTW, Should this be in Techniques?

No im mainly after the software you are after

I use guitar/guitar synth to track. For traditional song structures I use Sonar Platinum for ambient/soundscapes I use Live 9.

metz
Hi guys,

How do you sketch out your song ideas? I've mostly done it in sonar but starting to look elsewhere since feel its to slow.
I've looked in the direction of Chord pulse and Odesi but not totally convinced. I want to be able to just select chords instead of painting them in by hand in the piano roll. Surprised this isn't basic functionality of every DAW.

Any suggestions?

Never heard of Odesi before. Will have to take a look. I use Chord Pulse, and like it, but I think another app I use might be a better fit: Sundog Scale Studio.
 
http://feelyoursound.com/sundog/
 
Nice to have multiple tools to pick from.

Sonar SPLAT...That is all I use...Take Lanes are sweet!
I have done voice over stuff and the comping is wonderful for that...

TheMaartian

metz
Hi guys,

How do you sketch out your song ideas? I've mostly done it in sonar but starting to look elsewhere since feel its to slow.
I've looked in the direction of Chord pulse and Odesi but not totally convinced. I want to be able to just select chords instead of painting them in by hand in the piano roll. Surprised this isn't basic functionality of every DAW.

Any suggestions?

Never heard of Odesi before. Will have to take a look. I use Chord Pulse, and like it, but I think another app I use might be a better fit: Sundog Scale Studio.
 
http://feelyoursound.com/sundog/
 
Nice to have multiple tools to pick from.

This looks very interesting......my main instrument is the guitar and if this software is fairly easy/quick in fleshing out ideas, I'm in. Do you find this software to be pretty good in doing that?
 
ATM, I'm watching some EZ Keys tutorials and planning on going that route for song ideas.

I throw an instance of BFD 3 and Stylus in a project and use the two to start getting some sort of groove going. Sometimes I'll start with a BFD 3 groove that gets my attention, sometimes with a Stylus groove. I now use Ableton Live for this part of the process (and then bring into Sonar), so I'll put a number of drum parts from BFD 3 into Live clips, as well as each Stylus part on it's own track and use variations in different clips. I then use the Ableton Push in arrange mode and I can actually "play" the clips like they are instruments and everything stays in sync (this part is a lot of fun).
 
Once I start getting something that works well, I'll record what I'm doing with the Push in the Arrangement view (much like the track view in Sonar).
 
I'm a guitar player, so the next thing I'll do is start noodling some guitar parts until something jumps out at me. I usually record a number of different guitar parts using different tones - and more importantly to me - different delays. I each tone goes on it's own track and I'll make a few clips of variations. 
 
Then I get stuck for a very long time. :)

Some interesting approaches. I am primarily a guitar/bass player but I can muddle my way through on a keyboard enough to get a chord/melody struture together. For me it really depends what I'm trying to write. I usually open a project in Splat with EZ Drummer open and pull up a pattern that's close to the feel I'm looking for and start banging away on the guitar/piano in loop/comp mode till I get a couple of things happening that I like. Anderton had a good tip about dragging some takes over to the browser then dragging them back into a fresh track to assemble a rough draft/arrangement which I find very useful. Or..
 
I open Maschine Micro in standalone mode if it's more of a loop based feel I'm going for. Get some patterns and sounds/arrangments together and then bring it into Sonar. Or..
 
Run Splat with VIP/ Komplete Kontrol open if I'm trying to do a Tension/Hybrid type thing and I'm just browsing through sounds to get a mood happening. I'll record to different tracks and start building from there.
 
Then again I might just sit down at the piano/guitar with a pen and paper and not go anywhere near a computer! 
 
At the end of the day, it's all about whatever gets my creativity going. It all ends up in Splat at some point, which is just the medium that I prefer to use. I love hearing about the different ways people get their creativity on! Very inspiring!
 
Yours in Music,
Rip