Samples just aren't cutting it

Brendan Bonura

Brendan Bonura

Young Dienasty
ive been making rap beats for a few months now, and so far, samples are the only thing i would use for my sounds (and the occasional fl studio plugin). But i just cant get that original feel in my beats without a vst. I have seen things such as nexus 2, toxic bio hazard, and several others, but i just dont have the money to buy hundreds of dollas worth of plugins. I have used several free plugins downloaded from vst sites, but they sound, well... free. Is there any advice anybody can give me?
 
Its not the sounds, its what you do with 'em that counts. Too many guys think its all about how much gear or VST's they need, and aren't spending enough time learning how to make music with what they have. I suggest taking some time to learn a bit of music theory, perhaps take some piano lessons and learn to play some songs in the genre you were sampling from. I used to sample and after I got tired of sampling jazz, blues and soul....all that was left was to learn how to play jazz, blues and soul music so I no longer had to rely on sampling anymore. You've only been at this a few months, slow down and learn some skills and techniques to help advance your craft.
 
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It's not too many free or even cheapvstis that can compete with the sounds of a sample. You want the sound of samples without sampling, you're gonna need live instruments or vstis that do a convincing job of sounding like live instruments. These libraries take tons of work to put together and cost money for that reason.

I may be hearing you wrong, but I'm assuming you want realistic sounds. It would help to know what type of overall sound you're aiming for. If you wanna make stuff for Maxwell or D'angelo you're gonna want different options than making stuff for Rihanna or J.Lo which will still be different than making stuff for Rick Ross or Wacka Flocka. FL does come stock with lots of options for producing all of the above.
 
Good points in here, also the key with a lot of those free vsts for me has been just layering them. Takes more time but you can still get good results.
 
thanks for the advice guys.
but deranged, thats not realy what i meant. I want the sound to sort of feel good, not just sound realistic. weather its a synth or a saxophone, i could care less if it is a recorded sample, i just want the sound the feel right with the rest of the beat.
other than that, i realy appreciate it guys
 
In that case, you have all the sounds in the world at your disposal. You're just going to have to learn to make them fit into the mix.

Check out KVR: Virtual Instruments, Virtual Effects, VST Plugins, Audio Units (AU), AAX & RTAS Audio Plugin News, Reviews and Community - plus iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android Audio App News Too and look for free synths. There's so many they should keep you busy for quite a while. Just discard the ones that do nothing for you while building a library with sounds that work.

I'm not sure what ver. of FL you have, but explore the synths in there you own as well. Some good stuff in the factory banks of FL.
 
nvm pm'd you
 
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TAL has some good freeware synths, bassline, elec7ro, and noisemaker are all good synths

google them they are free from the Togu Audio Line
 
Sounds like you've hit a creative turn. It's a good thing, don't run away from samples and don't consume yourself in the next phase you try. As a producer you gotta recognize that if this is truley your calling, you're gonna run into this problem until the day you die. It's not a bad thing, it just means your creative bug itches whenever it gets too comfortable. So this is the perfect time to listen to different genres of music. Try making a biiig beat with all original sounds. Dig for sounds that you usually wouldn't and just make it your own. It's all about jumping out there and finding a good zone, then evolving. Then repeat and repeat.
 
I agree with what has been said, definitely learn to become a musician and work with the programs you have at the moment. However, always aim for the best, Never become too content with what you have, at the end of the day there are reasons why certain pieces of hardware/plugins are thousands and others are free. Always aim for the highest professional standards but learn to detach yourself from the obsession and need and make great music with the stuff you have, Hopefully this helps, GOOD LUCK!
 
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