A newbie, wanting to make music, getting resources

I would go with the midi class myself. Do you have a keyboard yet? If you downloaded Reaper with some free Synths you could at least make some music in the mean time. Good luck with your venture my friend! bARDO

I think you picked a good place to start. Reaper is an awesome DAW (digital audio workstation) with plenty of users and support. There are a number of MIDI controllers, and I believe many of the beginner keyboard models are equipped with a MIDI in out and through(not taking a shot at you personally, their on low end concerning price and some sales clerk may try to get you to upgrade). I bought a used M-AUDIO Oxygen 8 for $50 from Guitar Center and it works for what I need it to do. Once you have Reaper and a controller you may want to obtain some VST plug ins. They are "virtual instruments" and should allow you to create a number of sounds, and they number in the thousands so their should be literally something for everybody. Audiomastermind, VST Planet, and Hitsquad have quite a few you can download for free. You just copy the .dll file into your computer VST folder and Reaper should automatically scan for them when it opens. There is a manual available as well which will explain how to enable your MIDI input and enable your computers speakers. You may want to look into ASIO4all as well, it operates of windows standard WDM drivers and will suffice until you are able to secure a sound card. From there you just play what you feel like playing, practice makes perfect, hopefully this will save you some time, stress, and money, good luck

Huge post Impulse, but with a little patience you can be making music very quickly. First: Yes, take the MIDI class. Absorb everything with gusto. Second: Yes, you can download Reaper and some free stuff and start making music right away. There is a little bit of a learning curve though. But, before you get overwhelmed, you want a firm grounding in the basics. Go here: Read my post and TimOBrien's post. Download Reaper and Nicholas' User Guide. Skim the user guide--a lot of it won't make any sense, and that's fine. Pop a can of Mountain Dew (or your favorite caffeinated beverage) and skim the first few chapters again. My best advice is to force yourself to have patience. There's a lot to learn, but the journey and sense of discovery is well worth it. Epic, really. After doing some of this stuff, you'll be able to come back here with some great questions, some good background knowledge, and the ability to really dive in. If you wanted to start immediately, then you could take shortcuts, but IMHO it's not worth it. Sorry for the rant there, let me give you an additional Sparknotes response (Sparknotes still is the rage for High School, yeah?) Sparknotes: To make music, you'll probably want an "audio interface" (a sound card with inputs and outputs), a computer, recording software (aka Reaper), and maybe a MIC for your flute. A MIDI keyboard wouldn't hurt either. You'll want to learn about things called "virtual instruments" or VSTi's and the audio driver called ASIO. Look up ASIO4ALL. I'm not too familiar with the genre of music you're describing, but users here are pretty knowledgeable about synthesizers and might be able to point you in the right direction for achieving certain types of sounds. You have the goal to produce music with your uncle by the summer. This is definitely an achievable goal with a little patience and dedication. Edit: Also, looks like your community college offers an introduction to Pro Tools course. That might be a good course to take. Also look into Recording Studio Techniques.

Wow, thanks for the fast and informative responses! I'm 99% sure I'm gonna take the MIDI class, tho I can't take the recording or Pro Tools courses as well (I can take 2 free classes, one is going to be either Philosophy or Humanities). I have a keyboard, but its very old. Like it must have been made in the 80's, heh. Its a Casio, and the wiring is going out. With some Christmas money I'll prolly go out and buy a MIDI keyboard, they're pretty cheap. My uncle has a real nice keyboard, so I may end up using that when I move. I'm gonna download a virtual keyboard til I get a real one in a couple weeks, and do what you guys said. Read over the manual, get used to the interface, get my ASIO4ALL set (I downloaded it sometime ago). I'm actually very excited about this, tho I can't do much at first. I'll be using a family computer and can't play sound for much of the time because of where it is, but I can listen on headphones. Once I get the basics down, yea, I'll prolly come back with more in-depth questions. Thanks again!

FYI - Reaper has a built-in virtual keyboard. If you want to open up Reaper, just go to the "View" toolbar to select the keyboard. And try right-clicking in the track column to "Add new virtual instrument." That will auto set-up MIDI inputs and monitoring options. There are also tons of posts here about good MIDI controllers. Search the forums. You might actually want to buy a keyboard with some on-board sounds that also has a MIDI out port. A MIDI "controller" is something that just transmits MIDI information and does not carry any of its own sounds. If I were you, I'd just look at some dirt cheap Yamaha or Casio keyboards that also have MIDI out. Remember you'll need a MIDI cable and an audio interface with MIDI ports. Some popular music stores include: Sweetwater, Zzounds, and Musiciansfriend. Another popular (general) music forum is at HarmonyCentral. Good luck on your quest.