Tools of the trade
I follow a lot of visual artists and musicians, and most of the time they leave a little note of what software they use for their art. For a long time before creating music, I've seen the phrase "tool of the trade" thrown around and I never knew what it meant. So, in this blog post I'll be showing off my tools of the trade.
Music
To create music, I use Mixcraft. Despite missing a few features I used to use before the switch (although, it might be there and I'm just not looking properly), there's a brand of uniqueness for Mixcraft. I actually quite enjoy working with the program and there are lots of options for it.
One thing I absolutely adore about the program is the customisability. Once you have figured out how to use it, and what each part of the program does, it's pretty much easy to make the workstation yours. The only two complaints I have are Melodyne integration and the Journeys virtual instrument set. I understand the purpose of Melodyne and its uses, however when I have installed it on two separate machines, I have been unable to uninstall it again. I don't know why but it refuses to let me uninstall it. The Journeys virtual instrument set has some pleasing instruments, but I dislike that I can't edit each instrument. Some of them have a ping pong echo in them and I can't remove it if I wanted to remove it, so I either have to apply effects to reduce the unwanted echo, create my own sample of it or give up on it entirely.
I only use Audacity as an assistive tool once I have created music. This tends to be things like trimming unwanted silence or adjusting dynamics and compression for the final render. In the Purple Ambient Collection, I used Audacity to "ruin" the songs and completely distort them to create the ambience effect I wanted.
To create album artwork, I use GIMP. I will either start with a blank canvas and use gradients, filters and layers to produce a unique cover, or I will have an inspiration photo that I apply filters and effects to. For the first three albums in the Sandbohx series, I took a screenshot of a location in a Minecraft world and used various of these techniques to make something unique.
I'm quite comfortable with GIMP because I have mastered a lot of the program. If I want to achieve a certain effect, I usually know where to find it. The only time I struggle is with free-hand drawing, because I don't have a tablet, and if I am using a brand new filter or effect.
Game development
I use Unreal Engine. The university I studied at used Unreal Engine and C++ programming as the base for its teaching. In Unreal, I tend to use the visual blueprinting system as I understand it a lot better and I can visualise what I am doing and the process behind the code. It's more getting the code together.
When I am planning projects I used to use Notepad++, but I recently switched to Visual Studio Code. I find it easier to write down a list of tasks to follow, and making notes in this is so much cleaner. I dislike the AI implementations inside the program, but I disable that in the preferences. I find it useful for opening a folder and being able to freely create files and structure a project easily.
I occasionally use Aseprite for art and animation, however because I struggle to draw, I don't use this often. I quite like the program but I believe I need to use it a lot more to gauge whether it fits within my toolset.
I also use RPG Maker occasionally for some small projects, but I will often use Unreal Engine instead.