Getting started...

[redtop]

im just starting out with music production, i have a PC and an Alesis Photon X25 midi/USB controller to work with. I need help on what software to use to make tune along the lines of DJ Slideout, Uberdruck, Hellraiser etc. I'm very familiar with FL6 but dont know if thats any good for making this stuff! I want dark basslines, acid lines, sinister trancy riffs and nice fat kicks with clean purcussion, and something for experimenting with vocals like slicing, stretching etc.

Any help would be appreciated!

[rounser]

FL6 should be fine for making hardstyle. There's probably a lot more information specific to hardstyle production here:
http://forum.screamer-hardstyle.com/index.php

I've heard that Uberdruck use a creamware card for their synths, but there's nothing particularly special about creamware synths versus vst, so you should be able to get away with most anything synthwise (not that there's anything wrong with creamware cards; I own one and it's good for what it is). It'll probably be just as much about the effects and envelopes you use. Amplitube is a "go to" plugin for all kinds of distortion, and VCS Reducer is probably the best bitcrusher/decimator around, IMO.

I notice a lot of customised samples in hardstyle (e.g. pitch bent, resonated, reversed, distorted etc). The host I'd recommend for sample mangling is renoise because of it's "apply FX to sample" and "render to sample slot" features, but that's just a personal opinion - I'm sure there's far more people using FL6 to make hardstyle, for instance.

For learning production in general, I don't think you can go past reason because of the limited environment, and the fact that you can download and deconstruct other people's tracks from reasonstation and the propellerheads site to see how they did it.

HTH.

[Jay Pace]

Can't beat reason as a place to start for any style of electronic music.

Solid grounding in production and hardware equipment, routing, processing etc.

can't recommend highly enough.