Tools necessary for making music?

[ShiningKnightX]

Okay, so I want to make music for a project, simple enough, but the problem is that I nor my friend who is working on the project with me have practically any experience or equipment at my disposal. The only tool I have is Fruity Loops 9. Is there anything else that I need to make music that won't sound like something a kindergartener made by beating on a set of pans? Thanks =)

[Ziassan]

Well as you can suppose magic instruments making any track sounds pro doesn't exist. It's even possible to do pretty tracks with only FL Studio basic instruments.

After, you can find free or not Virtual instruments (VST) or soundbank depending of what you want. You can easily search "free VST" on the net, and find that kind of site : http://www.vstplanet.com/Instruments/VS ... sizers.htm

DSK free instruments are not bad too, depending of which ones : http://www.dskmusic.com/category/vsti-all/

Then, DL or install them in a VST floder, and go in the CHANNEL>ADD ONE>More, then hit "Refresh", and select the new VST you just added to your floder (they will be in red).
After, do CHANNEL>ADD ONE and select in the list your new instrument.

For composition, make it simple at first, like some smooth violin in the bottom playing easy chords (like C - Am - F - G), and play on the notes of the chords with some piano or other instrument.
FL-studio FPC is already quite nice sounding for the battery part.

If you hit F9 you can have the mixer, and link a selected instrument to a channel by pressing Ctrl+L. Then hit one of the arrows at the right side and go to Select> and choose some effect like "Fruity Reverb" to apply effects to your instruments.

Good luck !

[Sharm]

I've been wondering this as well, but I'd like free options. I have no desire to invest hundreds of dollars that I don't have into a hobby I've never really even tried yet. How would you go about getting started making music?

[Ziassan]

If you read the post above it was more about the free options.

For the software itself, FL-Studio has a demo but well, you can try with LMMS wich is good and free : http://lmms.sourceforge.net/download.php
It works for Windows and has a nice community behind him, with even a wiki with plenty of tools and help and an easy "getting started" : http://lmms.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page