- Download the program, run it, and press "F1" to get the manual.
- Here's a basic setup: create a generator that will make sound, connect it to effects, and, finally, connect the last effect to the "Master." HINT: Follow the tutorials, because this program takes a little fine tuning.
- Tweak the sound, input your notes, and place them on a timeline.
- Open a demo song in the demo folder to hear Buzz songs and see how they were made.
Make Noise
- Samplers/Trackers: These allow you to play sound files (in any note) on a timeline.
- Synthesizers: These babies make noise. Fiddle with them.
- Effects: Just like guitar effect pedals, except free! Get reverb, delay, chorus, vibrato, and hundreds more.
Bloat Your Buzz
- Download new Buzz plug-ins every month at the same site.
- Use real instruments in your songs by downloading or purchasing soundfonts. There are soundfonts for violins, flutes, guitars, and on and on... So much for shelling out clams for real instruments.
Chill Projects
- Synthesize: Start from scratch, writing every part of a song using synthesizers.
- Sample: Record sound files from other songs to use as instruments in your own song.
- Remix: Take a song and add new beats, speed it up, incorporate new instruments, etc.
- Mash: Find two songs and merge them into one. You may have heard a recent popular mash of Green Day and Oasis, "Boulevard of Broken Songs." Try one yourself!
And the next time I hear you complain that there's nothing to do in Davis, I'm going sit you down in front of your computer and say,"Get buzzy!"