Topic: New and confused

Greetings and welcome.

To the point:

There are some tutorials in the official Zynewave YouTube channel here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZynewaveDotCom

A few more for absolute beginners here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SuggestionsHere#p/u/5/5BXtDFjz9Ys

LiquidProject’s videos (extremely helpful ones):
http://www.youtube.com/user/LiquidProj3ct#p/u

As for the question concerning samples:
After opening Podium Free press F6. This will open the Browser on the left. From there you can click the drop-down arrow and choose the folder where your samples are. Additionally you can then click the “+” button right to the left in order to save this path. From there on you can just click-drag-and drop the desired sample to the timeline (the main window that represents the linear timeline on your composition).
I find this the most convenient way to lay down drums and FX.

If you want to use your samples as instruments ( i.e. basses, leads, full acoustic drums kits and so on) the best solution is to use a Sampler VST plugin. This is basically a plugin that loads your samples and gives you the ability to trigger them via MIDI notes and modulate them to your liking. The best freeware sampler out there is Shortcircuit by Vember Audio.
http://vemberaudio.se/shortcircuit.php

This is a good place to mention soundfonts as well.There are amazing freeware soundfonts all over the Internet, just search for them. Shortcircuit supports them, both in sf2 and sfz format.

A short video tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPq4XZhUOio

Installing VST plugins:

It is good to install all your plugins in one folder, generally in CProgramFiles(x86)VstPlugins…….
Those plugins which come in .dll format only must be copied there, and that’s all. In order for Podium to see them and make them available for use you must specify the vst plugins folder.
To do It:
Inside Podium->Setup->Preferences->Plugins Tab->From there click on the browse icon and choose your folder.

Here is a list of freeware plugins that I posted some time ago:
http://www.zynewave.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=575&start=30

Also check KVR. THE place for audio plugins.

http://www.kvraudio.com/

The forums there are tremendous and very active. A good place to start from scratch in audio production.

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In order to create a MIDI sequence, or notes in other words, you must first create a track. A few ways to do it:
1) Click on the “+” button right above the Master Track
2) Right-Click on an empty space under the Master Track and Click “Add New Track”. On the Next window you can modify the track to fit your needs. If it is going to be a Group Track ( a track that will contain other tracks in itself. A reason to do that is to group similar track together like Drums, or Guitars, or Keys, etc.), change the colour and so on.

After this you must assign an instrument to that track, so that Podium can identify it as an instrument track and “unlock” so to speak the MIDI editing options. To assign an instrument (commonly referred to as VSTi(nstrument)
click on the “Source” field and there you must have your plugins to choose from. After doing this just click on the timeline twice and there it is your first MIDI clip. You can stretch it to be as long as you need. Then just click twice on that clip and this will open the Piano Roll, the place where music is born. 🙂

If you are going to use samples and audio files only, you just drag and drop them, that’s all. After dragging the sample to the timeline, click twice on the sample, this will open the Audio Editor. Not many features in there, just the very basic things, but maybe it is the best in your case.

* * *

So, this is just a mere scratching of the surface, maybe even less. But do not despair 🙂 It is enough to get you starting. It is much better to learn thing as a part of your natural workflow, than reading theory and things that may seem obscure and esoteric at first.

I hope this was helpful and good luck.

Peace

ॐC☸Cॐ