I want to start producing and ive got ableton live but most of the time i get an hour in and get fed up because im finding it too hard to learn. Is it a good idea to switch over to Logic?
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I want to start producing and ive got ableton live but most of the time i get an hour in and get fed up because im finding it too hard to learn. Is it a good idea to switch over to Logic?
No.
To expand on that....
They all do about the same things, just different ways.
You might develop a preference for one or another at some point, but at this stage, you don't know enough for that preference to be based on anything but luck. So, it really doesn't matter what you're using.
It's more money you don't need to spend.
There are more free tutorials for Ableton Live than most of the alternatives, especially in the world of dance music.
Whatever you're having problems with, start searching for it on youtube or reddit. You'll find something to get you past it. If, somehow, you don't, there are a lot of helpful people on a lot of forums, subreddits, and facebook groups.
And if you're going to switch to anything, it should be to Pro Tools. But, that's just because I'm a fanboy, which comes directly from the fact that I know the most about it.
Also, you wouldn't expect to know how to play the piano after spending the odd hour here and there, playing around. It takes a lot of time to learn the craft and the instrument.
How serious are you about getting into music production? Buy a full DAW and learn the ins and outs of it. You are learning a full production sweet. Prepare to spend hours figuring everything out. What I would recommend in order are:
Cubase
Studio One
Ableton
Bitwig
Logic is probably just as frustrating to learn as Ableton realistically... With all these things you just need to learn the internal logic of the thing and then it makes sense.
I started on Logic and switched to ableton. One thing i know i am missing out on is Session mode. I never use that... i do everything in arrange mode.. probably bc i came from logic.
It takes a long time (years) to really understand a DAW and get your workflow to even have any chance of making a beat you happy with, in my experience. :)
don't get lazy. Keep trying and break through in Ableton. You won't regret it.
When I DJ'd with Live (just Live), I lived in session mode, for fairly obvious reasons. Producing in Live, session mode feels like a trap to me...you just wind up making a bunch of loops and never actually getting anywhere on making the song.
Strangely, Maschine feels like almost the exact opposite, and it's the same basic idea. I'm not sure why one works with my head and the other doesn't.
But, I'll reiterate. It really doesn't matter unless something jumps out as "why in the hell is it like that" or "how the F*** do you do these simple things".
I decided to give Studio One a try at some point because it has some cool features and it's fans are pretty vehement. I spent like five minutes trying to figure out why most of the channels in a demo project weren't making noise despite the meters saying they should, another five minutes trying to figure out where in the hell plugins are supposed to go, then gave up and deleted the demo because I already own another DAW that works fine. IIRC, it might be based on Cubase, which would make sense...because that's what I did every time I tried a Cubase demo. That software is just ass-backwards to me (Live, Logic, and Pro Tools all just make sense to me).
Sometimes, it's worth playing with stuff just for the heck of it, but I'll stand by it...pick one that sorta-kinda-almost maeks sense, learn it inside and out, and only change if you find a real reason.
I started with Ableton and despite classes and personal coaching with the program, I found that it just wasn't for me. When I switched to Logic my workflow improved and I started producing a lot more music. However Logic doesn't have the possibilities that Ableton has...
I think Ableton is great for djing live and doing mash ups and the flexibility is incredible, but it does require a certain logic to get acquainted with it's work flow. There is a huge learning curve for Ableton, but I think if you are patient enough there is so much more that one can do with it...
For me, Logic is simple and works for me needs.