studio setup recommendations

hey everyone. this is a pretty noob question.. and i know alot of ppl are gona tell me to read the manual or go to tweakheadz. well ive been through tweakheadz but still have a couple questions. would be greatly appreciated if anyone can shed some light.

i have an mpc500 and am planning on getting a microkorg to go with it.

i am also gonna need to buy a computer so was wondering which set up is best?

-laptop with audio interface or
-desktop with soundcard and mixer

what are the vital specs considered when purchasing the computer? like what are the essential specs that would go down well with beatmaking.

and with regards to the audio interface/mixer what are the recommended ones?

thanks everyone... if your gonna come in here calling me a dumb **** then yes i probably am. but id appreciate it if you could help a brother out! pz

depends on what your budget is, but laptops are limited as in what you can upgrade unless you get a mac. that will last a long time. a tower is always nice witha decent pci card, like an m-audio 1010lt. then just plug your outs into the inputs and use whatver daw you're gonna use

yo i don't think you're coming off as dumb at all. but what i do think would be most beneficial to you and your situation is if you're planning on getting a microkorg, get it. but stay with that 500/microk setup for a while. i think looking into computer daw/interface would almost be two steps back if you're trying to advance with your beat making. like daw is nice and all, but by no means will it make your beats fresher if you're starting out. if anything it'd make them more wack. trying to implement too many techniques and shtt into your beat, it'll take away from it's originally formula - to simply bang heads. i say if you work with the 500 and microk and learn those well and keep perfecting your craft with them, you'll be untouchable. then you can take that next step you see fit, maybe it would be the daw shtt. just know that it's no excuse to say to yourself "oh my beats would be better if i had a sick daw/interface to work with" hell i just got an interface and its not even sweet. you'd be way cooler if you just tracked your beats out onto a cassette tape anyway

I wouldn't get a laptop as your main DAW. You need something pretty powerful to keep up with all the plugins and stuff you'll use. I'd get a tower with at least a quad core processor and as much RAM as the motherboard will take.A dedicated harddrive just to run the computers OS and at least one dedicated harddrive to record onto from the DAW. Just figure out which DAW software you want to use, go to their website and view their Mac/PC requirements and order a computer that will be compatible with that software!

i'd get a 1000, and forget about the computer.

EducatedHands wrote:yo i don't think you're coming off as dumb at all. but what i do think would be most beneficial to you and your situation is if you're planning on getting a microkorg, get it. but stay with that 500/microk setup for a while. i think looking into computer daw/interface would almost be two steps back if you're trying to advance with your beat making. like daw is nice and all, but by no means will it make your beats fresher if you're starting out. if anything it'd make them more wack. trying to implement too many techniques and shtt into your beat, it'll take away from it's originally formula - to simply bang heads. i say if you work with the 500 and microk and learn those well and keep perfecting your craft with them, you'll be untouchable. then you can take that next step you see fit, maybe it would be the daw shtt. just know that it's no excuse to say to yourself "oh my beats would be better if i had a sick daw/interface to work with" hell i just got an interface and its not even sweet. you'd be way cooler if you just tracked your beats out onto a cassette tape anyway

Pure wisdom

EducatedHands wrote:yo i don't think you're coming off as dumb at all. but what i do think would be most beneficial to you and your situation is if you're planning on getting a microkorg, get it. but stay with that 500/microk setup for a while. i think looking into computer daw/interface would almost be two steps back if you're trying to advance with your beat making. like daw is nice and all, but by no means will it make your beats fresher if you're starting out. if anything it'd make them more wack. trying to implement too many techniques and shtt into your beat, it'll take away from it's originally formula - to simply bang heads. i say if you work with the 500 and microk and learn those well and keep perfecting your craft with them, you'll be untouchable. then you can take that next step you see fit, maybe it would be the daw shtt. just know that it's no excuse to say to yourself "oh my beats would be better if i had a sick daw/interface to work with" hell i just got an interface and its not even sweet. you'd be way cooler if you just tracked your beats out onto a cassette tape anyway

sweet good advice. with the 500 and microkorg can i use them 2 pieces of equipment without anything further? do i need a mixer aswell?

no man. look up what a mixer does. you don't need one necessarily. less is more. less is more.

oh yep sweet thanks heaps for the replies. ive done a bit of research and made a list of what i want to get for my studio...

mpc500 (already have)
korg microkorg
Alesis MultiMix 8 Firewire 6Ch mixer
Alesis M1 active Mk2 monitors

is this all i need (ie do those monitors eliminate the need for an amp, and does that mixer eliminate the need for an audio interface?)

and is this how everything will be connected....

microkorg--->mpc
mpc--->mixer
mixer--->monitors
mixer--->computer

zayusiam wrote:oh yep sweet thanks heaps for the replies. ive done a bit of research and made a list of what i want to get for my studio...

mpc500 (already have)
korg microkorg
Alesis MultiMix 8 Firewire 6Ch mixer
Alesis M1 active Mk2 monitors

is this all i need (ie do those monitors eliminate the need for an amp, and does that mixer eliminate the need for an audio interface?)

and is this how everything will be connected....

microkorg--->mpc
mpc--->mixer
mixer--->monitors
mixer--->computer

yep. that would do it. and yeah the monitors are amped.

And last but not least, get more educated in this stuff, it'll go a long way.

yea hard tweakheadz and these forums are a really good resource id be lost without em

i would definitely get the microkorg first! but that's just me. you can make good beats with just those 2!!

yessir ive made the order and will be gettin it in the mail soon
does the microkorg come with the midi cable or will i need to buy that separately.

also i dont have proper studio monitors i either use headphones or ive got a set of logitec speakers with the 1/8 lead... if i plug my headphones into the mpc will i be able to hear both korg and mp simultaneously?

zayusiam wrote:yessir ive made the order and will be gettin it in the mail soon
does the microkorg come with the midi cable or will i need to buy that separately.

also i dont have proper studio monitors i either use headphones or ive got a set of logitec speakers with the 1/8 lead... if i plug my headphones into the mpc will i be able to hear both korg and mp simultaneously?

1.im pretty sure that it does not come with the midi...just go copp sum at GC for 7$

2.copp urself sum decent studio monitors...saw some krks on craigslist for 2$ bills...that way cheap!!!
and just use ur headphones for now i guess....that would work also!!