DAW Getting Started Inspiration

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

I have trouble getting started on anything in a DAW (Bitwig) whereas it’s much easier to just start jamming with a groovebox (Tracker).

The only decent track I’ve made has been for a Cover Challenge for the Fretboard which was because I had a very specific goal in mind.

In some ways I’m probably asking the wrong people given this is a forum for people who tend to prefer hardware based production, but I was interested to hear any strategies.

I haven’t tried anything like “note grid” for Bitwig so maybe that’s the answer?

#2

This might be a system-1/system-2 problem. system-1 is fast thinking, intuitive, based on stuff you already know; system-2 is logical, systemic and slow.

Creativity is usually easier when you act with system-1. Learning usually needs system-2. Repeated use of “learning” means you later have access to all the stuff you learned, in a system-1 way.

You didn’t know how to walk for months. Then you learned. Now you don’t think about walking any more; you just walk. Aim for that, with your music theory, performance/improv skills and your instruments/tools.

Weave between separate, consciously selected sessions of either practice/learning and sessions of creativity. Knowlngly avoid crossing the two roles over during any one session (although do save what you’re working on in both because they can also feed one another). You could add a third role, editing… it’s a lot like creativity but converging rather than divergent. I can’t tell you how long to spend on each one, or how regularly to do any of them. That’s up to you and your needs, learning methods, etc.

DAWs do nothing to help you separate the roles out. They’re these lumps of clay for you to mould to your will - especially Ableton and Bitwig because they’re loose and interconnected on purpose, so that their modes don’t interfere with one another. The flip-side of that loose-ness is you probably need to learn each individual part and how useful it is to your musical needs. Instruments are usually more focused. You need more conscious discipline to work the DAW, you get an amount of pre-defined discipline from the physical instruments for free because they have physical limits. Lean into these attributes as you need them.

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#3

All the note generating and mangling devices in Bitwig are a lot of fun. I know some people consider it cheating but it’s quite easy to just start with a very simple clip (say one or two bars long) with a couple of long notes and then drop in arpeggiator, note echo, multi-note, diatonic filter, note repeat etc and just fiddle until you get a sequence that you like.

You can easily turn a single static note into all kinds of different sequences. It’s sort of semi-generative and you can have a lot of fun this way.

Go on YouTube and find Polarity, he’s a Bitwig wizard and he has years worth of videos, many on the subject of taking simple note data and turning into something more complex so you can get away from the piano roll and use Bitwig more like an instrument or a modular MIDI/note generating machine.

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#4

Go deep and broad, by turns.

Deep: learn many of the parts of your tools (daw, hardware, music theory, playing technique), or learn a few parts really well.

Broad: take the music you like to make, pull back and think about the sources for the sounds - culture, film references, natural spaces where similar sounds occur spontaneously (like crowds with buskers, or echos in caves or fish scraping on the sea bed… etc). Think up scenarios and stories in those spaces, or visit them with a recorder. Make/take those sounds. Use these as a map for your own compositions.

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#5

I’m currently (on ableton but it relates to most daws) making a few templates for my different work flows.
building a bunch of sample-based instruments (racks) which load as default so I’m ready to go when I open it up.

have a DT on steroids loaded with loads of samples (30 kicks, 30 snares, hats, perc, etc etc) all macro selectable, n fx n all.

then a drum loop instrument with a rake of breakbeats, all macro selectable.

resample channel ready to record. that kinda thing. makes it more like a ready made groovebox for me, but really flexible (and with unlimited lfo’s). no faffing about with a blank slate wondering where to start.

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#6

Ableton was nothing but a tape recorder for me until I got a midi controller. Push 2 is great, but Launchpad Pro is also fantastic

Also, set up a template project and get used to it, so you never have to screw around getting set up.

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#7
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#8

Your answer is already in your question.

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#9

Yeah.

I read this as “limits: you need limits”. Start applying deadlines, or themes, or restrictions (“I can only use one synth and one drum plugin” or “I must make a whole tune out of this single Robin Williams sample”).

My current approach is “one synth, one sampler”. I’m still learning to be fluid with my OT, and I could do with practicing the weirder edges of my MS-20 more, so it’s going pretty slowly. It might be the wrong limit for me. I did a lot more last year when used just my Rytm and had a firm deadline.

#10

Deconstruct a track you like

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#11

Usually when I’m not feeling creative, I start a sound design session. Just to make some good synths sounds, or drum kits. Very often it ‘accidentally’ turns into a composition session…

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#12

This is a really great tip

When I have had success in the past was on FL and that really benefits from “In The Mix” doing huge amounts of pro tutorials and giving away stacks of templates and things like that to get you started.
I found them super useful.

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#13

DAW’s in themselves are just not inspiring.

You could be given full access to Abbey Road Studio 2 and have the same problem as a DAW.

Inspiration comes from sound sources and instruments.
Taking an audit of what equipment/sources you have that spark ideas is a good starting point (you’ve already identified the Tracker).

You tend to find that once you know these sources, they influence most of what you’re doing after that point in making music.

For example, I have a Moog Sub37 that I find it hard to not be inspired by every time I play it, and it always gives the music I make a certain sound/vibe.

If I pick up a guitar, run it through pedals, then an amp, I’ll usually start writing something in no time. This leads to a different vibe to the Sub37. (That;s not to say I can’t/won’t use the Sub37 on that track, but the vibe/inspiration will have come from the gtr).

That’s stage A.

Once you have something going, that’s when the DAW enters the process for me, to capture it and start developing the idea.

So, identify your sources… and that’s not to say that can’t be a plugin/soft synth within your DAW, but just know it’s not the DAW in itself.

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#14

yea i hear ya. I’m only recently becoming aware of the benefits of that kinda approach. n that’s after like 15 years of using ableton, never bothering with templates or taking the time to properly understand racks or learn more than 3 keyboard shortcuts :laughing: fml

#15

That’s a great idea

I’ve got a Launchkey Mini, but I just use it as a MIDI input tool. I should really get the scripts setup so I can use it as a proper controller.

#16

I’m fairly new to the DAW but every time I sit down with it I just find some sort of noisemaker and go. A cool sound begets a cool sequence or loop or however you want to describe that. A small musical passage let’s say. And that small passage, if I like it, is bound to grow into something every time. So I guess short of setting up a full-on template (I have not arrived at that stage yet) just fire up any synth and get a riff you like going.