If you hate the interface of one, try another. Some DAWs don’t offer trials, but Ableton and FL Studio do.
Instead of spending hours upon hours researching which DAW to use (that includes reading this guide, by the way)-download a trial version of a DAW and start playing with it. Just goes to show that all these DAWs have the potential to output great music (if the user is skilled). I thought the way to get there was to use the same DAW as them.įor every full-time, successful artist that uses Ableton Live-there’s another one that uses FL Studio, or Logic. Specifically, I was trying to find which artists used FL Studio and who used Ableton.Īfter all, I wanted to be like my favorite artists. When I was starting out as a producer, I had one burning question… Your DAW is only as good as the time and effort you put into making music. It’s not going to be the “one thing” that increases the quality of your music tenfold. The DAW you choose is not going to make or break your career as an artist. That’s what they’re designed for.Īnd unless you’re making ultra-complex or highly-technical music (in which case you wouldn’t be reading this guide), then you shouldn’t have any issues with any of the big 3.Ībleton Live, Logic and FL Studio. Here’s the thing: most popular DAWs can do everything you need and more. One fault with the APC however is that it isn’t bus powered and requires a power lead, and many artists could do without an extra lead to deal with.A lot of new producers and musicians who are looking to purchase a DAW worry about whether it will meet their needs. As well as track and device controls on the side including send options and general controls such as play, stop and record, either for loop making or sequencing. As you can see in the image below the APC has individual mixer channel controllers such as faders, solo, record arm and more. The APC40 is very similar to the Launchpad when it comes down to it’s actual function, but the APC’s editing controls are far superior.
The novation launchpad isn’t the only launchpad controller used by Flume, he has also been known to use Akai Professional APC40 Ableton Performance Controller. The most common use for the Launchpad is for triggering samples from Ableton, the samples can be edited in Ableton and then using the navigation buttons you can scroll through pages and pages of samples you may have pre-loaded. It allows you to either assign individual samples to the buttons or alternatively instruments that are spread over the buttons like keys on a piano. This particular controller is very flexible. So it is the perfect companion for live performances through Ableton. As this product is made by Ableton it is tailored for use as an Ableton Live Controller.
The last feature of this MIDI controller is a simple octave selector, which allows you to navigate through several octaves.Ī second piece of equipment used by Flume is the Novation Launchpad from Ableton.
This is useful for quickly switching from one timbre to the next during a live performance.
Next to this is a program button where pre made programs on an exterior DAW software can be selected using the last four keys on the controller. The sustain button simply triggers the sustain feature allowing notes to be held for longer or for a desired length. Not only that but the temperature can then be adjusted to a ‘tapped tempo’ bpm. This arpeggiator can be triggered on the keys for four different octaves. This MIDI keyboard has a few useful features to enhance live performance. He mostly uses this for assignment to synths and various timbres from his tracks in order to perform the parts live, often adding tweaks to the original melodies we hear in his tracks.
By doing this it enables him to improvise throughout his sets, which means fans are unlikely to hear two separate identical performances.įirstly the midi keyboard he uses for his live sets is the Akai Pro LPK25 25-Key USB MIDI Laptop Performance Keyboard. He does this by assigning various samples into his Ableton controllers or assigning a MIDI keyboard to an instrument within his Live session. He incorporates the live format of the software to perform his sets through Ableton, enabling him to tweak a sequenced set and use various controllers to perform parts of his tracks live. Flume also uses Ableton for it’s live performance feature. The reason being he said Ableton could do a lot of things FL couldn’t, despite him still preferring a lot of FL features. First and foremost what platform does Flume use to create his music? Flume began using FL studio in his early days but then moved onto using Ableton Live after being recommended it by a friend.