Sound Creation / Design

[Gary Paul Walker]

Hello All,
I wasn't sure where to start this thread (so Moderators, apologies if it's in the wrong place..)

I've been using a mixture of Garage Band, Apple Soundtrack and a midi interface for my instruments to create soundtracks and incidental music for films. Now I've moved over entirely to Windows (using CS 5.5) and don't have access to my Apple stuff.

My question is this.. Whats the Windows alternative? What software will not only allow me to lay down my own tracks but also comes pre-loaded with a massive library of loops (a-la Soundtrack)?

Many thanks for any thoughts the community might want to share

 

[MichaelP]

Have you looked at SonicFire Pro?

http://www.smartsound.com/sonicfire/download.html

Michael

 

[PatrickFaith]

I've used Ableton for about 30 animated shorts ... has a lot of packs ( https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/ ).
It's also really nice if you want to loop off of a midi device ( example of something i did using a midi guitar for the virtual burning man ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTSbk0_5M_4 ).
It's not as easy as garage band and sonicfire, but allows for a complete sound design - normally someone took the music from ableton and mixed that in one of the adobe products to sync with the video.

 

[Bill Sepaniak]

You already mentioned Abelton. There is also Acid, Reason and Cubase. I have used Smartsound from Sonicfire for years. It takes a different approach. Not so much loops and samples, but instead, complete songs/tracks that can lengthened / shortened / re-versioned / etc. The general quality of their music libraries is not bad. However, that is the "gotcha" .... the cost of the music libraries or content. For instance, you may not need or want surf-guitar riffs or zydeco melodies, but only cinematic scores or narration back-drops. So, you only buy the libraries or types of music that might consistently use. Otherwise, it gets expensive in a hurry.

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[Gary Paul Walker]

Thanks for the suggestions guys - I'll try all the products mentioned, and see which is a fit.
I appreciated your support