Anyone have any recommendations about tools to create sound effects? I was reading the diaries for AlienFlux and Cas mentioned two:
1) Sound Gadget Pro - http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~nigel/software/sgpro/index.html
2) SimSynth - http://www.e-officedirect.com/FLStudio/documents/70.html
Cas, would you still recommend these?
Thanks all!
SGPro is very simple and limited but does a few simple tasks well.
SimSynth is definitely worth buying.
I also bought FruityLoops to do the title screen "music".
Another tool I used was CoolEdit, which is like SGPro on steroids.
Cas :)
Following cas's recommendations, I went out and did some research last week and over the weekend, but with a few different tools..
I downloaded SimSynth 1.3 from the net (it's free now, the latest version is sold by the fruity loops guys, if you didn't know, but I didn't get a chance to try that one). 1.3 isn't bad for "free", but it seems rather.. limited? I guess that's a good word for it. I couldn't really get a good feel for the tool and the lack of "real time" waveform generation bothered me. You make your changes, then have to press "make" and then "play" to hear it. I also couldn't figure out a way to stop the playback of the wave, but future "experimenation" may reveal that...
I installed Native Instrument's Carbon, a free soft-synth you can find on the cover of Computer Music magazine. It's actually kinda a demo thing, it installs NI Reaktor Session One, you can't save your synths (at least I haven't been able to, it keeps prompting with "FREE VERSION! Buy the full version" or something like that). However, I must say this: I've never used/played a soft-synth (or even a real synth) before and I found that within about 30 minutes, I was modifying the preset sounds and even somewhat understanding what I was doing and came up with some great stuff. However, if I want to record anything, I'd have to loop back the audio out or record externally (and then recapture later). It also generates some of the cheesiest "electronic" sounds that really make me think of 70's era sci-fi sound effects, and I can see some good uses for them.. :)
I was pretty impressed with Carbon, so I went down to Guitar Center (a local music shop) looking for a midi keyboard and stopped by one of their soft-synth "demo" machines. There I started playing through a USB MidiMan Oxygen8 midi-controller/keyboard (something like that) and started goofing off with an Absynth 2 demo. That was a ton of fun, too. Im' going to install the demo on my home machine tonight (it was on that CD I installed Carbon with). Unfortunately, the price is rather.. prohibitive (like $250 or something), and you don't get a sequencer (I think Cubasis VST is like $100, but I think you can get it "free" with a decent sound card), but as I need some "real" audio support, I might need the full Cubase setup (that way I can just play through the demo versions and record.. it's very low-tech, I suppose, but it's cheap(er)).
I need to do some more research on capture software and audio suites before I can start doing "work". Also needed is a good drum machine emulator (although I could pick up an Alesis SR-16 (I think) for like $149).
BTW, no I don't work for NI or anything, I just happened to find that their stuff is really nifty, if a bit pricey. If you're willing to do some extra "work", then their demo software seems to be really useable. Using a real keyboard also enhances the experience quite a bit as it's just hard for me to transpose a "piano" keyboard onto my typing keyboard in my head... :)
Just a small update:
I did figure out how to save my sounds in Carbon. Hooray!
Absynth demo does not allow "keyboard" input method like Carbon or FM7, their DX7 clone. Hunt and peck with the mouse on a virtual keyboard, but if you're using Absynth to create SoundScape backgrounds (it's very good for doing that, too), no big deal.. Still would like a keyboard, though...