noob question for you bedroom producers

butcher

butcher

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Jul 22, 2008
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I used to produce hardcore/rave music back in the day. I'm talking 15+ years ago. My set up was your standard Atari ST/Cubase/mixer/extermal midi gear including rack synths, sampler, fx etc. Im now thinking about getting back into some producing. I have an old P4 kicking about and still have my old synths including a controller. I'd like to get these all set up but things have changed so much I dont know where to start. I'm hoping some of you producers can guide me a little.

My understanding is I need an external soundcard (audio interface) and I can get one with a small built in mixer to allow me to connect some exteral gear to it. This is about all I know really. Ive looked on some forums but still feel lost. What would you guys recomend for someone making breakbeat/electro music on a fairly low spec PC who also wants to use some outboard gear? Nothing crazy expensive or steep learning curve.

Peace
 


I picked up a delta1010LT pci sound card from m-audio a few months ago and in conjuction with ableton has been one of the best investments I've made this year. Latency is at a minimum compared to the other cards i've used so quarter inch plugins and midi inputs are on point.

It could be a good option for what you are trying to do, look into it.
 
butcher said:
What would you guys recomend for someone making breakbeat/electro music on a fairly low spec PC who also wants to use some outboard gear? Nothing crazy expensive or steep learning curve.Peace
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upgrade the PC... you aren't going to be able to run anything now a days without a good tower.

The newer software will straight up crush a tower that's not up to par.

Running Logic 9 on iMac with a few pieces. MPC, mixing board, controllers etc. But you gotta step up the computer game first!
 
JasonRubacky said:
upgrade the PC... you aren't going to be able to run anything now a days without a good tower.

The newer software will straight up crush a tower that's not up to par.

Running Logic 9 on iMac with a few pieces. MPC, mixing board, controllers etc. But you gotta step up the computer game first!
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Really? I appreciate you know far more than me but I was under the impression a good soundcard took a lot of the presure off the machine?
 
butcher said:
Really? I appreciate you know far more than me but I was under the impression a good soundcard took a lot of the presure off the machine?
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will help out some.. but when you said "fairly low spec PC" my 1st thoughts are that you won't be able handle up to date programs.

what are you using software wise? I am assuming something older like, acid, soundforge, cakewalk etc?
 
JasonRubacky said:
will help out some.. but when you said "fairly low spec PC" my 1st thoughts are that you won't be able handle up to date programs.

what are you using software wise? I am assuming something older like, acid, soundforge, cakewalk etc?
Click to expand...

I have an old copy of Logic, can't remember what version, its not with me right now but its probably 3-4 years old or I was going to look at what cubase versions there are these days.
 
Maybe you could pick up an older version of Reason. Being self-contained it isn't so demanding on resources. I don't do any music anymore, but I used to use Ableton but got a bit disillusioned with it and and got Logic Express, which i haven't used very much but think is very good quality and insane good value. Mac only though...
 
I've never gotten much into the mixers and external gear, but I have used "Encore", I think the current version is 5.0.5 or something. You can make some great instrumentals with that which gets emulated. Pull those audio files into a mixer or program like Adobe Premier and you can make some great stuff. I know most rave music doesn't use instrumentals, but you never know when you want to get a certain sound to splice and use.

As far as hardware goes, I have no idea for the stuff others were recommending.
 
I agree with the others, first get your computer up to date then go from there. I only use a 16 channel mixer, midi keyboard, midi drum machine, roland drum machine, and a bunch of VST's.

People over at future producers will help you out a lot. They will set you right with a computer or music equipment.
 
if u have to get a new pc...get some type of updated mac and logic...u should be good with just that (u can produce/mix in one product)...i dont hear anyone mentioning mic pres, compressors, or ad/da converters...i have a nice all in one box by api called "a2d" that i run all my sounds thru to beef up b4 i send it into logic/protools
 
Here's a typical setup nowadays, you can bypass the mixer and get bigger sound cards.

(it's from one of my landers don't mind the header text, the setup is accurate though).

studiosetup1.jpg


It does depend on your sound card to an extent - if you have a controller you just need

a) USB to midi/back
b) Sound card
c) Cubase is still good as ever :)
d) Some VST's.
e) Creativity.

Even half decent machines will handle it - I just grabbed a lil' CI2 from steinberg and the thing runs cubase with no latency on an old laptop so I'm quite impressed (my main machine is a monster though).

Quite a few producer type threads on wf actually, good to see. Do a search you'll find a bunch more info.
 
Nice one for the image and replies. Checked out futureproducers, they seem a helpful bunch. Think I'm going to ditch the outboard gear and build myself a tower, and look at m-audio cards and VSTs. I assumed the audio card would have my midi ports for my controller? What's the midi reader in the illustration?
 
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