very nice congratulations!!!
5 stars!!
I have small language difficulties and because I am a Studio One user, but the course is very good. I hope you will take courses with S1 !!!
Excellent tutorial!.. helped be jump start my track!
I could take the concepts in this course and apply it to Reason.
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Very good tutorial. I was impressed by how simplicity can create so emotional tracks.
I downloaded the OB-XD but there is no white noise preset called noisy on it. How do you get that sound?
Hi there @Praze
Thereâs some presets in the Resourceâs download HTM_Synthwave_Resources.zip, once you expand the archive youâll find a Project Files/Presets sub-folder in the main folder. First place to check but thereâs no preset called Noisy, maybe itâs the Filtered Sweep - OBXD.fxp though, check this one first.
Alternatively since thereâs a full FL Studio Project included in the resources, another solution would be to download and install the demo version of FL Studio. While you canât save & reload projects with FL Studio demo, youâre able to open existing Projects. I tried with latest version and the project opens up. If you have the OB-XD synth installed youâll then be able to save the preset from FL.
A fine course, but with some major flaws (IMO).
Itâs not a âdeepâ tutorial, itâs just: âI use this, do this and get this result.â - thatâs it.
Is it possible to substitute one of the VSTs used with a cheaper (or even free) one? Is it really necessary to use that many different plugins? Why so many reverbs, are they really different (and how)? Who knowsâŚ
Maybe some tips & tricks along the way? Nope.
And as it was previously said: almost nothing about mixing and mastering whatsoever.
Too shallow for a tutorial, too detailed for a âin the studioâ type of video or a review.
A AMAZING COURSE WHICH HELP ME A lot in Synthwave !!!
Just wondering if anyone has a link to the drum sample library timecop uses in this tutorial?
Hey there @VANCEJACKSON7
I donât know if those drums samples comes from a specific library but if you just Google âFree Old School Drum Machineâ youâll find a load of resources. Next to free resources, Sonic Academy has got a huge 4Gb Synthwave sample pack available in their shop. This pack contains drums loops as well as single shots of classic vintage drum machine like the TR - 707, TR 727, Linn Drum LM-1, Oberheim DMX, Yamaha RX2.
You can check it out here : Synthwave Sample Pack | Sounds
Hope this helps 
Cheers !
Great course Timecop 1983!
Comment #1 - So far I quite like it and although I donât understand a lot about that he is talking about, itâs quite easy to follow along but takes a lot of time, which is to be expected of an absolute beginner that I am. He doesnât go too quickly which is nice and although he is using an older version of the software, it hasnât been a problem locating things that he has done. My immediate concern with this, is that he is using plugins that need to be purchased and I feel that is where this is going to be my downfall with this tutorial. Luckily the one plugin that I do have has been able to copy quite closely to the sounds that he has made, but doing so took me away from the tutorial for a long time to match him. Iâm only on tutorial 4 and have ground to a halt as he is using another plugin that needs to be purchased. Itâs an important step in the process and I have hit a wall because of this. It would have been wise to put in the description of these videoâs each plugin that is needed in order to follow along exactly and create the track he makes. It would have been really great for this beginner and for others coming here with zero experience of using this software, to have all the tutorials and music made with what FL Studio comes with as standard out of the box so no further purchasing is needed. This is a big turn off for me, but Iâll plough through the tutorials the best that I can and âmimicâ what he is doing - but itâll either be guesswork on my part as I have no idea what I am doing or Iâll simply have to leave parts out of my track - which isnât the best thing for a student to be doing.
Comment #2 - I am currently on lesson number #6 and about 6 beers in. So far so good. Whatever plugins used, I was able to sort of copy the sounds with FLEX - as long as I had something down to play with, I was good to go. I had to skip the tutorial for the âwhite noiseâ transition to drums as he used a plugin I donât have and the native plugin in FL is so different to what he used, I had to skip the entire episode. Itâs a shame. I will come back at a later date but Iâm not going to pay silly money just to get that plugin to do the white noise when I can probably youtube it and get something similar. Because I donât have the plugins, itâs taking me out of the tutorial and giving me a headache to try and emulate the sound in a tutorial from someone else. That canât be a good thing. Also, some of the things he does, well, just one, like the copy and pasting of patterns in to another pattern werenât explained. He just said heâs doing it and did it without showing me how he did it. As the old saying goes - âShow, donât tell.â - Iâm on the drum part now and this part I had to go and buy the plugin he uses because I have sh*t for drums and fancied a decent set. So I went and spent 50 on the plugin. I doât mind that, as I know Iâll be using it a lot. Right, back to it 
8/10 so far. Heâs a nice guy.
Comment #3 - day 2 - Iâve just thrown down my pen, shouting âFâking idiot!â and thatâs not toward me. There are times when he goes too fast and I have no idea what he has done. When this happens, I am left guessing and clicking anything in the hope it is what he did. Thatâs a massive headache. He did something to create a transition to another part of the track - I could clearly see him changing things, but he didnât show me what he actually did to change it. This only led me to have holes in my track as I simply couldnât follow him at times. When I am PAYING for a tutorial, I shouldnât have to skip anything at all. Thaâs why Iâm here. Thatâs what Iâm paying for. The goods. The beans. All I end up doing here is watching you do your thing. I am not PAYING to watch you do your thing, I can get tha from youtube.
Automation clip - I have no idea what youâre talking about. Donât have plugin so canât follow along. Just sat watching. As said, I can get that for free on youtube ⌠just sit and watch. I donât even know how to emulate what you did. Have to skip this part in the track. So my track has holes now. Two holes - because I either donât have the plugin or you didnât explain things.
Hey there @mfairhurst75
First thing first, thank you for sharing your feedback & personal experience as well as encountered frustrations or/and struggle while diving into this full course here on the forums, thatâs why the forums is here for
Been through your comments and Iâll try to provide some general feedback and rules when it comes to online learning from those âHow to makeâ full tracks courses.
IMO, one of the most common mistake we all make when watching & try to follow such tutorials is about our expectations and thinking that weâre gonna be able to reproduce & match the same sound & final Mix out of it.
Well, itâs not ( and almost never ) the case in the end. Thereâs many reasons for this, going from DAW & specific plugins used by the artist/tutor as opposed to what we have at our disposal, years of experience & practice from those producers contrasting with our own understanding of terms & techniques especially when weâre beginners, our very own room & listening environment which in the end will make the end result to sound quite different from the artistâs Mix, even if we were able to use the exact same gears, DAW & Plugins and turn the knobs & adjust settings to really match what the tutor did.
So the wrong & disappointing expectation here, is to start watching such tutorial and thinking weâre gonna be able to get the same end result by simply replicating an exact process.
Sit, watch & then re-watch : take notes of terms & things you donât feel familiar or comfortable with and acknowledge those as areas you need to learn more about or dive more into. If at a certain point you feel like thereâs really no point to try to complete your own full track from a tutorial, then donât focus on achieving the all thing, pin-point & focus on areas that you think are stopping you from doing it : thatâs probably where you need to understand & learn things better as a beginner and thatâs very normal, weâve all been there
I really think that itâs more important to get a good understanding of âwhat, why & howâ instead of expecting that using the exact same plugin & settings will get you there. Thereâs a multitude of plugins available out there, from the âin the boxâ tools that come native with our DAWs from renowned & expensive 3rd party manufacturerâs ones as well as very good free alternatives. Letâs take compression as an example : are you gonna skip a lesson because the tutor is only using that very expensive 1176 comp emulation and keeps on praising it as the only & best one to achieve his sound ? The real question here is what type of compressor is the 1176 ? Tube, Fet, VCA ? How does it work ? How fast does it respond ? On which audio material is it good to use it ? Drums, vocals, synths ?..etc.
The same story goes for each âtypeâ of effects and letâs say that you watched a course, bought a 3rd party plugin and got good results with it following a tutorial, the next week youâll be watching another course and youâll find out that another producer is using something different or even says the opposite things on the previous plugin and that you should use this new one instead.
Could be a never ending story here, never gonna be good for making progress & get some fundamentals knowledge in the end.
Another point with those tutorials is about how each producer/tutor explains things. Keep in mind thatâs thereâs a huge difference between having skills to make a hit record or a good damn Mix and then explaining how it was made to others. Not all producers have equal teaching experience and ease to share their knowledge, thereâs nothing wrong with this, we all remember good & bad teachers from school too, not everyone has got the same skills for it, simple as that.
When it comes to learn about Music Production and especially as a beginner, I think itâs important to realize that nothing is gonna happen overnight. Itâs a journey and a never ending one, it takes a lot of time & practice, trials & errors and more than this the ability to learn, unlearn & relearn. Nothing is written in stone, there are not real golden rules that work 100% of the time, youâll have to adapt for each tracks, the only thing that matters is what comes out of the speakers and again, it takes a while & quite some frustration in order to get something pleasant & nice to our ears out of our speakers.
DAWs & Plugins are just tools and while we can discuss or argue than ones performs better than others, itâs not the key point in the end, the real thing is about how they affect our audio sources, why & when we should or shouldnât use them as well as understanding that we have many ways to achieve similar results. Another example here could be achieving side-chain compression : back in time we only knew about using a compressor to get that pumping effect, now we have ducking filters like Xfer âLFO Toolsâ, dynamic EQ like Waves Factory âTrackspacerâ and many more.
So on a more practical approach when following any online tutorials, I think itâs good to highlight whatâs not clear to you and try to put in in a topic like âcompressionâ, âside-chainâ, âdelaysâ or âreverbââŚetc.
Separate your technical learning sessions from your more creative ones, donât hesitate to try different techniques & to use different tools and keep on with trial & errors until you feel that youâre making progress with your own productions. The very good point about tutorials here on Sonic Academy is that we have the chance to dive into seasoned and experts artists/producers tracks & workflow, with tracks that work for the listeners. While you can also grab a lot of knowledge from other YT videos, some teaching & techniques are not always reliable or they will cover something very specific that wonât work in a full Mix & song crafting contest.
If you have something that you feel needs to be more explained, point the matching videos number/title and a specific time-frame and ask your question here on the forums, me, someone else, or even the tutor himself sometime, will try to answer your question or/and point you to other interesting learning resources as well.
Itâs definitely overwhelming at the start of the journey, thereâs no doubt about this and even experienced producers are still struggling with certain topics & techniques in Music Production. Youâll be learning along the way, yes it takes time & efforts and I would be lying telling you that youâll get instant gratification & success overnight : no, progress comes at the cost of a long time learning & practicing as well as numerous and big frustration moments, but if youâre passionate about it, youâll get through this mind set and it will definitely be rewarding after some time.
Hope this helps
Cheers !
hi @mfairhurst75 - I remember when I started in the Daw world around 2011, I was sooooooo frustrated. I came here on Sonic Academy and everything from the 2009 tutorials seemed so magical⌠you eventually will catch on - like anything learning, from riding a bike to driving a car to cooking your favorite dish âperfectlyâ it takes coming back to it with a fresh perspective - and not giving up.
Here in this tutorial, Timecopâs version of fl studio is really really different from what we have today. fl studio has come a long way. itâs evolved. and actually, the truth is a lot of what is shown here can now be done easier thanks to the new features. i read your comment about automation clips.
here is a good resource i just found: https://itsgratuitous.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-using-automation-clips-in-fl-studio-20/#:~:text=%20I%20just%20showed%20you%20how%20to%20create,will%20now%20be%20the%20length%20of...%20More%20
I also recommend the Firewalk tutorials for Fl Studio. free on youtube. The guy has an amazing voice. I think of him as the âBob Rossâ of Fl studio (Bob Ross is the legendary painter from old-days public television - you can google him - heâs the source of many an inspired meme!)
hey, if you want to contact me with your questions, Iâd be happy to help however I can: marztecheque@gmail.com
I have OBS and voiceweeter, allowing me to screen capture my sessions and then I could send videos over to you on email, no problem! good luck! the image-line.com forum is a great resource too, many people post questions and the community there is largely supportive and encouraging! Good luck!
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oh i forgot to mention: @mfairhurst75: you should watch the âHow to Use Fl Studioâ courses done by Owsey. They are really good. I even watched Beginner 1 a few months back - and the coverage of important, handy shortcut key combinations in the first 5 minutes alone had be going, âdang! I didnât know that! I better watch this!â Itâs a great tutorial. Try that one first⌠you can search in the courses by âsoftwareâ and you will find it⌠ugh⌠if I leave the chat post now to find the url, Iâll have to type all this again. I think thereâs How to use Fl Studio level 1 and then Owsey again does How to use Fl Studio level 2 - from about say a year and half or so - maybe 2017? canât remember exactly. but most if is still very relevant/on target! iâm such a duh - I meant to mention Owseyâs courses here as the very first thing!!!
Edit : Hereâs the link to the tutorial https://www.sonicacademy.com/courses/fl-studio-12-beginner-level-1
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Damn good !
Great course!
Excelent course! At last something easy to follow.
Good video but its a shame that the arrange window in this old version of fruity loops actually hides a great deal of information. Watching the track play and watching it scroll there isnât much too see and what you do see doesnât seem to reflect what you hear. I found the arranging and building parts of this track really hard to follow which is a shame as its actually pretty simple. it would have been nice to watch this play in any other DAW but this old version of fruity loops.
This is the best kind of synthwave. The vocal pop stuff is awful. More of this please.