I'm new to music production and I'm getting pretty overwhelmed. I read about people having some gear or some kind of plugin that I don't have. Massive, Sylenth, Reaktor, etc. Now I know I don't need all of the newest plugins or all the newest gear. I'm someone that has a passion for music. That's why I'm learning Piano and trying to get into Music production. I tried to get into Music Production 5-6 years ago and gave up because I got frustrated. I feel like I have a better mindset and I want to push into it and get my hands dirty. Though, the more I look around the more overwhelmed I get and I'm going to be smarter than last time by just asking around more. Thankfully I found this forum because it seems like it could turn out to be a great community.

Right now I have Reason and Studio One Artist. I also got Reaktor because from what I could tell it's very versatile with what it can do. What I want to know is just how to get started. I hear that I should try to imitate artists and songs that I really like. I don't have the knowledge to do that at the moment. I don't want to keep overwhelming myself because I know it's better to just 'Do' at the point I am right now. So how do I go about learning what I have? Iknow I don't need to go ahead and buy more because I have plenty to work with. I'm just overwhelmed, but I have a passion for music. So that overwhelmed feeling has to go on. :p I'm not asking for the best direction, just a reasonable one. Don't have any musical buddies either and this seems like a great place to start.

The best place to start is the instruction manuals. Read the Reason manual from start to finish before going anywhere else. Glance through the other manuals, but don't really worry about it - you're looking for questions you might want to ask. From there, spend a few weeks just clicking around your DAW, seeing what everything does. Find the native plugins that are interesting or cool, and go back to the instruction manual to read up on them. Then look for any quick start guides or "getting started" (I think reaktor has one) guides and follow along with it. Then just putz around while reading the normal manuals. By the time you've finished all of that, you can drag a song that really inspires you, chop it up to get the arrangement, and see how well you can match them. Don't try to beat them, and be okay with something that sounds like crap, but try to hammer it out.

And there you go! You're on your way to making music.

Reason has everything you'll ever need, honestly. Get as familiar as possible with Thor, Malstrom, Subtractor, etc. as you can. Thor, especially combined with any of the incredible effects Reason provides, has just as much versatility as any of the bigger plugins people talk about a lot (like Massive or Spire). In addition, the Kong drum machine is an unbelievably powerful tool when it comes to editing, programming and modifying drum samples. Experiment with all these instruments and just have fun before you start really looking into tutorials or manuals or trying to understand what's happening on a technical level.

My favorite thing about Reason is that it forces you to work with the tools provided--trying to decide which plugin to get is never a problem, since you CAN'T get any other plugins. lol. Plus, limitations tend to inspire creativity

I think the most important thing to keep in mind as a beginner is that there's no correct way of doing anything; experiment and fuck around as much or as little as you want to, and don't feel pressured into working in a specific way just because that's how someone else does it.

Oh and don't worry if the first 10, 50, 100, 150, 200 things you make aren't to your liking--just keep at it and you'll be happy with the results eventually

Limitations breed creativity.  This is vital in today's saturated marketplace.  So much is available that everyone has everything.  Limit yourself and find new avenues.

I'm new to music production and I'm getting pretty overwhelmed. I read about people having some gear or some kind of plugin that I don't have. Massive, Sylenth, Reaktor, etc. Now I know I don't need all of the newest plugins or all the newest gear. I'm someone that has a passion for music.

You said it yourself right here.

Lemme tell you a story: I started when warez was a "cool thing to do". As time went by, I bought all my plugins. One by one. After that, I got a proper job (= kinda stable income), so I didn't stop there and bought (with some expansive exceptions) every damn new plugin i liked. Right now I have: 31 synths alone, then some samplers, effects ... kinda hell lot of stuff. Did it help me? Naah. I'm still usually not satisfied with what I create, even with so much gear. Except one bright moment I had no "real world" success even with so much gear. ...and guys much younger do much cooler music with Sylenth and FL studio then I'm able to make even with so much gear.

So at the end, if you're geeky enough and you're willing to buy it all, go ahead. But if you can't or don't want to, definitely don't feel obliged to by any mean. It's nice nerdy stuff to have, but it doesn't make you a better producer.

Make a list of what you want and another with what you need, different genres have different workflows so the equipment you will be using will change but the basics normally are a midi keyboard, a synth plugin and a computer.

If you can master all of the effects and synths in reason, you will have a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE (donald trump voice) understanding of any effect you come across.

And you will learn the importance of signal chaining.

Especially when you bust out the combinator, that puppy is what gets me going when it comes to music production.