Hey there fella’s - I’ve been sent many hundreds of asks inquiring what I use for my music! So I thought I’d compile a list of helpful resources and my favorite tools that I use for my production -
Now the amount I own is overkill. I’m an enthusiast and I’ve spent the past 11 years building up my repertoire of tools and instruments and a bunch of fun stuff to play around with - but you really only need one synth, one workstation, a few effects and sounds to get started making your own music!Â
1. DAW (Digital Audio Workstation!)Â
I use FL studio the most, it’s easy for beginners to pick up yet has a decently in-depth feature set! I use it more than any other DAW thanks to its ease of use and great piano roll !! (10/10)
Cubase is the second DAW I own, it’s highly advanced, great for building huge orchestral templates due to a useful folder-system and plug-in on and off switch that hugely saves on CPU performance when working with huge sample sizes! But registering and setting up the DAW is a huge bitch due to their licensing shenanigans (8/10)
Pro Tools is the professional standard for most Hollywood studios, it’s complex and GREAT for mixing live tracks, but it doesn’t have the same streamlined convenience the other two have (7/10)
(I don’t own Ableton but I’ve heard great things, it’s a bit on the pricier end for the same performance you can get in FL studio for less, so I never bought it)
I’ll list my favorite synths in order from most used to least used!
Omnisphere is the synth I use the most, it’s a hybrid synth that uses thousands of samples and waveforms to generate very unique and complex sounds - it has a huge number of presets, and might be the most impressive virtual synth in the market, honestly, it’s so good, if you could afford the hefty $500 price tag, you won’t need any other synth I suggest to you on this list - that’s how comprehensive it is.Â
Serum is the Internets favorite bog-standard wavetable synthesizer, it’s great for a variety of sounds, but most comfortably works with heavy bass and EDM - it has a very clean sound, it has a nice list of effects and it’s only $189
U-HE Diva is a synth that emulates older, more vintage synths from the good ol days, it sounds phenomenal and works great in more chill genres, or, of course, outrun and 80s - it’s not too pricey at $200 but it’s very CPU intensiveÂ
Massive X is the resurgence of one of the most popular soft synths of the early 2010s that came out last month - I haven’t played with it, really, but I’ve heard good things, definitely not a bad choice if you plan on buying the Native instruments Komplete bundle, which is a great deal!Â
There are hundreds of synths out there, some very good ones I didn’t mention, however, these are the ones I use, and they’ll keep you preoccupied for a very long time.Â
An equally important aspect for producing music is having effects and mixing and mastering plug-ins to louden your music, make it cleaner and crisper, or all around more interesting! The great thing about DAW’s like Pro tools, Ableton, and Cubase, is that they offer most of these effects included with the DAW - FL studio has a less comprehensive number of built-in effects, but thanks to this, is much cheaper - and frankly, sooner or later, you’re going to want to change the factory plug-ins for more professional 3rd party ones!
I use the ozone 8 and neutron 3 to mix and master my tracks, from Izotope!! Waves products is a good cheaper alternative and they often have sales!Â
for reverbs (think of that cool echo effect you hear sometimes on voices) - I use vss3 and valhalla room - oftentimes, synths will come included with their own built in effects and reverbs, serum and omnisphere have great ones.
There are dozens more effects I didn’t get into in this list, but the learning process is quite high, so be sure to understand what saturation is, or a compressor, equalizers, Flanger, Phaser, Delays, LFO’s, and more!Â
So once you get used to the wonderful world of synthesis, or maybe you’re a pianist and want something physical right off the bat, you can get into hardware! It is very useful to buy yourself a MIDI piano if you plan on using a digital audio workstation!Â
Just a warning! If you’re new, I’d suggest you don’t pick up these mutli-thousand dollar synths, I’d suggest checking out some cheaper synths by Korg or Roland, that may not offer as many features as the ones I’m about list, but will be good regardless, and will help you understand the world of synthesis.Â
OP-1 - $1200 This is an incredibly unique piece of hardware, you could almost consider it a small physical, portable DAW! It’s so much fun to use and it’s great for getting ideas, its not nearly as comprehensive as a real DAW, however, and is limited by its own software!
Moog Matriarch - $2000 this synth isn’t technically out yet, but it is the upgraded version to the Moog grandmother (which I own), which is a less powerful, smaller version of the upcoming matriarch! This synth oozes analog - if you plan on learning synths, you must learn the difference between analog gear and digital gear - but the matriarch and grandmother makes AMAZING use of its physical analog hardware, and offers you super rich, fat, complex tones, filters, and oscillators!Â
Prophet Rev 2 - $2000 This is one of my favorite analog synths I’ve ever owned, it has 16 voices, which means 16 notes can be played at a time (2 oscillators per note) - unlike the matriarch and grandmother, which can only play 4 or 1 note respectively - this one focuses on making the oscillators and filters less complex, but in turn, allowing a greater number of notes! That doesn’t mean it sounds worse, however, it just means the performance was allocated some place else - this synth sounds beautiful, and I use it often for huge pads and chords! (the moog is great for leads and bass!)
Focusrite 2i4 - $169 This is a relatively cheap and popular audio interface that’s use to allow cleaner, faster and better playback! If you get into production, you’ll need an audio interface! It’s honestly, just good to have in general!Â
Desk I use is Platform by Output - $800
Speakers I use are the bower and wilkins 606 - $900 (I suggest rokit 5s to start) - must have amplifier for the wilkins (I use the emotiva Basx A-150)
I have two really cool pedals, both by chasebliss audio, one called MOOD and the other called Warped Vinyl hi-fi  - they both have a variety of uses, so please refer to their features on the site, these really are only useful if you have a lot of external gear! Both $349
I put all of my physical hardware through a Mackie ProFX 8v2 - A cheap and relatively compact mixer, directly into my audio interface!Â
I own a few hi-fi headphones (the ibasso sr1 and the Audeze LCD-X) but you really only need a good pair of studio headphones to get started, especially if you don’t want to deal with the expensive hassle of speakers right away! Check out audio technica and sennheiser for some great cheaper alternatives!Â
Okay anyways! despite how long and intense this list may seem, this really isn’t everything I own, but it’s a good list of tools I most enjoy using, and tools I think can add a great deal of production value to your music !!! I’ll update this list as new things are added!!!Â
I hope this helped! Remember, there’s nothing wrong with starting off much smaller!Â
