I have no clue.....

[Galahad2000]

I am just now getting into the whole Trance and Techno music scenes!! Unfortunately, I know nothing about it!! I have mixed a few songs using "New Beat Trancemission," but there's only so much you can do with it!! I need to know how to record my own samples, what to use to mix them, how to... well, everything really!! If anyone can help me out, please e-mail me at the addy given!! ThX!!

[dan]

Hey Galahad,

How much money are you willing to spend? Akai and Roland both make a sampling workstation that will do everything you need.
The Akai MPC2000($1500new) and the Roland SP808($1200new) will allow you to sample (via a mic, sample CD, dowloads, software, etc), Record on 4 tracks, mix, assign samples to pads (like on a drum machine), use real-time controllers (for pitch, tempo, etc), sequence all your MIDI instruments and lots of other cool things I cant think of.

If you want to go the synth route there are lots of synths that will do the same things. Most good ones will allow you to sequence, record, and mix sounds (before it leaves the keyboard), and many will even allow you to sample and control the samples like the workstns. You could also get a sampler like the Boss DR sample (about $300 I believe) to go with a nice synth.

For your type of music, though, I think the Roland groove line is perfect. Specifically the SP808 and the MC505. The MC505 is a drum machine thats almost for techno. Its got TR808 sounds (thats alot of hard hitting synth bass sounds) and lots of drum sounds as well as tons of weird techno synth sounds. I think it goes for around $1000.
All of this equipment has lower end models, that are more affordable but dont do as much, that you might want to look into. Overall Id say it depends on what your needs are and what you want to do with it.