Best advice and kit to get for starting out

Hello people!

I started using imaschine on iphone and have found it great fun to use.

I already play the piano and violin, but I was wanting to get into making some abstract music. I would probably be producing more ambient stuff than something heavy on vocals, although I wouldn't mind trying remixes etc.

My question is what kit do I get, as I said before I love imaschine and was thinking of getting maschine.

Also any suggestions for software would be greatly appreciated, I would only be able to use mac software.

Regards,
Chris

Chris I'll be honest I'm baffled that you've managed to end up on an MPC forum asking about this topic. How did you not end up on Native Instruments forum first?

Never the less.

You have a Mac, in theory you can do everything you want in the box (ITB). Google DAWs, which are digital audio workstations. These allow you to record and arrange music in various ways. There's quite a lot out there, all of which will work with Mac. So have a hunt around, find some demos and see which one you like. Also have a look at Garageband, it's probably already on your Mac somewhere and would be a very useful basic place to start so you can get your head around DAWs and the workflow. However the most popular options are usually:

Logic
Ableton
Pro Tools
Fruity Loops
Propellorheads Reason/Record
Cubase

Later on you might want to look at an Audio Interface. These come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and budgets. Only you can decide what functions you will need, but I will say try and future proof yourself if possible when it comes to the amount of inputs/outputs. It's always handy to have some spare. They will usually be USB or Firewire, again it's your choice.

The next big step up is Monitors. These are specially made speakers with a purpose of giving you clarity, as opposed to hifi speakers which tend to emphasise certain frequencies to make the music sound "better". The point of these is that with a more "flat" response you should be able to sculpt your songs so that they sound good on more or less every other speaker/headphone out there. This is a bit of a dark art so don't expect to get it straight away.

Last thing I will say is that if you're serious, don't worry too much about your budget and most importantly don't give up. It might all seem quite daunting at first but your best friends are the Manuals that come with your gear, and Google. You say you've already got some music theory under your belt so you're well on your way. Good luck, and welcome to the boards.

Let me throw a few cents innit:-)

I think the fact you can actually play some instrument is the most important thing here. You can and will learn other instruments, but there is not a lot more to it.

As someone pointed already out, since you have a MAC, you have GarageBand for free already installed. You'll find everything you need to start already there. New versions are getting more and more complete!

If I'd was in your shoes I'll be buying some sort of midi controller/master keyboard.

No need to spend more than 200 bucks! And if I can allow myself to advise, go for SECOND-HAND. Spare the bucks, you will soon discover that there are a MILLION THINGS you would love to buy for your studio later on!!!

As you are a piano player I'd go for something like an axiom 49, which comes with keys/pads/faders and rotary controls.

You will be able to map the different parameters of your software to your controller (search here or post if you got any issues...) and you will like it.

More: within the software bundled with the keyboard controller you'll surely find a copy of Reason Lite and/or Ableton Lite.

DON'T DISREGARD IT. More: take the bundled soft into account when you buy the controller, YOU WANT REASON AND/OR ABLETON LIVE...

Those are stripped down versions of very powerful Soft-Synth/DAWs and will be more than enough to start producing.

I'd dare to say that coupled with GarageBand they will be more than enough to produce all the Music you might want to produce, especially within the hands of a skilled player...

Unless you plan to integrate recorded vocals or other live orchestration to your compositions, I won't buy an audio-interface yet... Macbook's internal devices are very good and can handle quite low-latencies by themselves.

Sure, monitors. Or at least a very good pair of headphones I'd say Sony or Sennheiser, and I'd say around 100 bucks... these you will need to buy, if you don't have already ones.

Chris8920 wrote:My question is what kit do I get, as I said before I love imaschine and was thinking of getting maschine.

iMaschine is a great track starter, and everything transfers well (with a few tweaks) to the full Maschine, so I can definitely recommend that as a way to go.

There's currently no other product that has the iPhone/standalone software/DAW integration that Maschine has, so that should probably be your first port of call.

When it comes to a DAW the cheapest 'pro' option is Reaper, but there is big selection to choose from.

Wow! Thank you all for the response I really appreciate everyones help.

Chris I'll be honest I'm baffled that you've managed to end up on an MPC forum asking about this topic. How did you not end up on Native Instruments forum first?

Basically I was googling about different synths etc. and ended up here. I thought I would be better asking here rather than native instruments as it would be less bias toward machine. I'm not quite sure how I ended up here to be honest, but I'm glad I did because it seems like a nice forum

Regarding the synths, I already have a yamaha keyboard. I can plug it in using a usb to midi cable I bought. I actually have the rock band 3 keyboard as well which I could also use, it's a bit smaller and probably better if I was using at my desk. The only problem is I don't have the function of then changing anything with extra buttons or controls, but I suppose I could get a used synth if I really start using them.

I think taking everyones feedback, I'm probably not as far off as I thought. I already have garageband, a keyboard and imaschine. I suppose I could use this for drum loops and buy reason or something eventually.

My last couple of questions are just the following:

1. Does anyone else have maschine and used it, if so what are your thoughts? I just love the way it looks for remixing and composing, looks so intuitive and so much fun!

2. Am I better using reason or pro logic? If either are fine, what do people generally prefer or what is the industry standard?

3. I was wondering about creating remixes, is it better to use logic pro to take songs apart and get the vocals on their own etc. or another piece of software?

Chris8920 wrote:
1. Does anyone else have maschine and used it, if so what are your thoughts? I just love the way it looks for remixing and composing, looks so intuitive and so much fun!

2. Am I better using reason or pro logic? If either are fine, what do people generally prefer or what is the industry standard?

3. I was wondering about creating remixes, is it better to use logic pro to take songs apart and get the vocals on their own etc. or another piece of software?

1. There's quite a lot of people who use Maschine on the forum, and they're all incredibly happy for the most part. There's a few very experienced users who feel it is missing a couple of more specific features but as far as I know everyone who uses it loves it.

2. Reason is more akin to a gigantic sound module and a lot of people tend to use it as a sound source in another DAW such as Logic using "ReWire" technology. It's incredibly capable on it's own, however with Reason alone you can't record audio from sources. You can import them into it's sampler but not record them directly in a more traditional manner. However Propellorheads as a company do offer a program called "Record" which can be used alongside it.

Logic is a great program and I personally would prefer to use that over Record, especially on a Mac. I wouldn't concern yourself with "industry standards" because they really don't matter mate. It's what YOU feel happy using.

3. For remixes I'd check out Ableton Live. There's not really any technology out there that can really dissect tunes that accurately. You can certainly work with samples and apply certain techniques to try and focus on selective frequencies, but otherwise it's quite hard to isolate sounds in a complete mix.

If you want to remix tracks with any real clarity then look for "stems". These are packs that contain each individual elements mixed down, and they're usually available during remix competitions, but also from sources on the internet if you know where to look, as are acapellas.

scoobylol wrote:1. There's quite a lot of people who use Maschine on the forum, and they're all incredibly happy for the most part. There's a few very experienced users who feel it is missing a couple of more specific features but as far as I know everyone who uses it loves it.

2. Reason is more akin to a gigantic sound module and a lot of people tend to use it as a sound source in another DAW such as Logic using "ReWire" technology. It's incredibly capable on it's own, however with Reason alone you can't record audio from sources. You can import them into it's sampler but not record them directly in a more traditional manner. However Propellorheads as a company do offer a program called "Record" which can be used alongside it.

Logic is a great program and I personally would prefer to use that over Record, especially on a Mac. I wouldn't concern yourself with "industry standards" because they really don't matter mate. It's what YOU feel happy using.

3. For remixes I'd check out Ableton Live. There's not really any technology out there that can really dissect tunes that accurately. You can certainly work with samples and apply certain techniques to try and focus on selective frequencies, but otherwise it's quite hard to isolate sounds in a complete mix.

If you want to remix tracks with any real clarity then look for "stems". These are packs that contain each individual elements mixed down, and they're usually available during remix competitions, but also from sources on the internet if you know where to look, as are acapellas.

That's brilliant thanks a lot for your help and all the info, there's definitely a lot for me to be getting on with now! Like the tune in your sig too