starting up equipment.

[hyperd4eva]

Hi,

I currently am looking into purchasing some production equipment, I currently have an acer all in one pc.. so i would buy an external harddrive.

I have a decent amp and speakers which can be used. what else would you reccomend buying? obviously i dont need to spend too much at first as ill just be learning! is there any software/hardware you would reccomend i buy to get me started?

Cheers

[logikz]

software cooledit, fruityloops and a bunch of vsts. hardware, a soundcard with a bunch of ins and outs and maybe a soundcraft compact desk. everything after that is just speculation. i got a few compressors, pre-amps, exciter, and different guitar pedals, but these are just for fun, its more fun to run something through a pedal than just sticking a plug on it, but it doesnt necessarily sound better. i think it does but it doesnt have to.

[hyperd4eva]

software cooledit, fruityloops and a bunch of vsts. hardware, a soundcard with a bunch of ins and outs and maybe a soundcraft compact desk. everything after that is just speculation. i got a few compressors, pre-amps, exciter, and different guitar pedals, but these are just for fun, its more fun to run something through a pedal than just sticking a plug on it, but it doesnt necessarily sound better. i think it does but it doesnt have to.

cheers karl.. ishal look into a soundcard. i do have one but it seems its not that good!

[ApeCat]

Any kind of midi interface with stepless (I think that's the word for it) twisty knobs and motorized slider faders. I wish I'd gotten one ages ago and it's at the top of my wishlist for when I get home from work. I've got an awesome little midi mixer thing with 32 channels, but since the faders aren't motorized I hardly ever use it. Once you get into automating filters and volume levels and shit things start clashing when you want to manipulate the levels manually. I think these are kind of expencive though..

A midi keyboard that feels good, make sure none of the components feel too "plastic", rattle the knobs a little and see if they're sturdy and not shaking all over the place. Doesn't need to have a million keys or anything, it's more important that it's solid than that it's huge.

An Akai or Korg or similar drum pad thingy, can't remember what they're called, with four X four square rubber pads and all that. This is the second item on my personal wishlist! Especially if you're thinking of playing your shit live at some point being able to mix shit up and making a version on the spot, hitting up effects and samples and playing drum beats live enhancing the live performance... Can also be used while simply DJ'ing.

My two p.

[spyre]

Deffo try out any daw or plugin before you buy them. Cliché, but you just gotta work out what suits you best

[groelle]

id just download demos of FL studio, ableton and cubase and see what fancys you the most and buy that. VSTs and every other outboard gear should come after you spend some time with your DAW and be sure what you need next..

[DJWhizzkidd]

A cheap sequencer that supports plugins, like Reaper or Studio One. Probably Reaper.

Native Instruments Massive synth

Midi keyboard

Half decent sound card, nothing too expensive, about £70 or so

Don't worry about monitors until you are good enough to make decent tracks. No point having expensive monitors when you don't really know what your'e doing.

[logikz]

ah thats right, youll need a midi keyboard. once you get one its hard to even consider doing without one.

[hyperd4eva]

thankyou everyone very helpful!

[Southern]

I'm also kind of new to adding hardware (all of mine has been in software) as I would love to get something like a Minitaurus or Minibrute and do lots of synth fiddling on the fly. I would definitely recommend Akai controllers as they are cheap and deliver the functionality you need.

As I am only running audio out from my onboard motherboard sound at the moment, I would be interested to hear recommendations for a starter soundcard as I see this is something that comes up as being somewhat essential.

[Dubsta]

Hi,

I currently am looking into purchasing some production equipment, I currently have an acer all in one pc.. so i would buy an external harddrive.

I have a decent amp and speakers which can be used. what else would you reccomend buying? obviously i dont need to spend too much at first as ill just be learning! is there any software/hardware you would reccomend i buy to get me started?

Cheers

#

If your just starting out i think for now just concerntrate on the software before buying any hardware.....sounds like you could run reason, cubase, fruity ect on the pc you got now.....you've got amp and speakers and if you use these for mixing then you'd have a rough idea of what your tracks should sound like in comparison with the tunes you mix thru them.

Id say once you find sortware you're confortable with then get a midi keyboard, maybe upgrade to decent active monitor speakers.

All i use is an old dell PC....(loads of ram, memory and a decent soundcard in it)....Reason 4.0, Soundforge (for sampling, mastering), wharfdale active monitors, M-audio keyrig 25 keyboard midi controller (cost me 50quid from some german company)......Thats all you need really, until your ready to move into the next level.....

...its not so much what hardware you got ,its what you do with what you have got.

Software wise...reason is in my opinion the easyiest to learn....and its self contained, by that i mean its got all the effects, synth machines, drum machines, sencencer's all built in....and reason 6 can now be wired to VST's....(not sure how this works..im on reason 4.0)

.....So if sooner of later your going to be using vst's you'd need logic, cubase or similar....Ive used fruity but found it really simple and basic....thats just me tho, its really whatever you real comfortable with.

[mistasfx]

dance ejay