Professional Software Developer • Hobbyist Musician

  • 18 Posts
  • 157 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • As with any creative field, the proces is:

    1. Try something
    2. Get stuck
    3. Overcome the problem
    4. Repeat

    So the key part is to do things that are fun to you so you stay motivated.

    My route started with learning an instrument (trumpet and drums) from a teacher. That way I learned the basic music theory. But everyone’s path is different. I don’t think there is a general way to learn.

    For example: If you want to learn to make beats. That’s a skill you can develop without a complicated DAW. I would but Koala Sampler for Android or iPhone, record some simple sounds from your environment and try to recreate drums from songs you like.

    Then you have learned one of the skills needed to progress to the next step. And when you start to learn a DAW, you’ll already have the drum programming skill available to apply there.



  • I’ve been practicing piano and drums a lot. As a kid I used to be an instrumentalist (and played a bunch of different instruments in bands). Lately I haven’t performed anything. To be fair, my current music is better, but I think I miss the pride in being able to perform something right then and there.

    So I am now working on a routine practicing piano and drums almost daily. I’m considering getting lessons again, but not sure how much that would help a 29 year old.

    Oh and I have been trying to sell some stuff. I’ve got a Drumbrute Impact and an MPC Live II left. Not getting much interest in those sadly.


  • I feel you. I’ve spent more money on synths than would be healthy. I’ve bought and sold the same synth multiple times. The new and shiny thing is always so attractive…

    I’ve yet to find a solution. What helped me temporarily is forcing myself to make music. I am ha hobbyist, not a professional. So I don’t put a value on my time making music. Me making music IS the value.

    So what I did for a while (until I got too busy to pick them up) was make music for people who needed it and release that music into the public domain. Kinda like open source music. I got a few people who were making documentaries, videogames, video stories, and the like. It was good to have someone you’d disappoint if you didn’t make them a full track. I drove me to actually get the music done.

    But when I got too busy, I shut down the website.





  • No I feel absolutely the same! I use Ableton Live as my primary daw but rarely ever touch session view. Straight to arrangement. In my case, a song evolves as I am writing it. And when you make changes in arrangement view you make a change in one place. It doesn’t change every copy-paste of a clip. This feel more like it inspires change to me.

    Of course everyone has their own flow and I’m just a hobbyist but yeah. This is the reason I went back into the DAW. Hardware is a ton of fun but actually making music was harder for me.

    I’m sure you can break through that block. It just takes more discipline and practice. Practicing small loops is quick. Only takes about 10 minutes to make a loop and if you repeat it long enough it’ll always sound right. That’s why ostinato have always been popular. To practice making songs you need to finish songs… takes a while.