advice needed pleeeease

  • Thread starter Thread starter kuhn
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kuhn

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hello,

I'm new to this board, I usually frequent www.djsource.co.uk , a very good site for dj's (I'm also moderator there)..

Ok, let's cut to the chase: I'm a house producer, I use fruityloops 3 and just started with the awsome Reason software. Most of my music is loop based, yet the kick you get out of makin' your own, 100 % original music, is a lot better than the one you get from makin' a sampled song (if the sampling's plain loop sampling that is). But for for example creating your own Bassline, it's a lot easier I think to be able to play it on a keyboard, soooo here's my question: I need a cheap midi keyboard that let's me play for example basslines (but more important: chords, which are a lot easier to create on a keyboard than just by creating them on the sequencer in reason/fruity.) so what keyboard would I need ? can keyboards play for example samples from my computer ? so many questions I know. I've been lookin' at a very cheap (25 EURO) yamaha psr 780 , it says it has full midi implementation, is this enough for what I want to do ? I don't need a keyboard stuffed with instruments, I want to be able to play my samples on the keyboard through reason...thanx in advance

kuhn

watch out for my release on lafamillehouse, it's gonna be my first
 
ya might wanna check out the new yamaha motif keyboard for some good baselines and samples for r&b ect... the triton is alright in my opinion but i wasnt to impressed with it. however, the triton has a sampler, i cant recall if the motif does.
as far a midi controllers, you can pick up a nice weighted board with 88 keys for a little over 500 bucks.
 
yo thanx, so all I need is a weighted keyboard with 88 keys then;
 
if you wanna play samples off of your computer you'll need a sampler, whether it be hardware of software. you'll need some midi cable and interface also to trigger the samples off of your computer if you get a soft sampler. i'd recommend gigasampler which is the standard, ive also fooled with halion by steinberg which seems innocent enough. both are good soft sythns. try getting an akai hardware sampler if you wanna go that way. theyve got one out now under a 1000 bucks which is great.
 
if you wanna go 100% your own sound, then what you need is a modular synth... Is that what you want?... to create your own sound entirely from scratch? (that's what i do...) .. or do you wanna use samples and piece them together?
 
exactly Chriss, I wanna make my own sound from scratch, but I don't want to be restricted to the sounds of a keyboard, but also for example play a string sample I downloaded from the internet, and for example make chords on my keyboard with them and record them in Reason....what are some good modular synths then ???
 
nord synths are pretty good from what i hear...however im inclined to the soft synths out there. for instance you can take native instruments pro-52 plugin, trigger it on your keyboard and tweak the knobs to your hearts content for your own sounds. it cost around $150 i believe and alot cheaper than a modular synth.
 
hmmm.. i have a Novation Supernova and i've tried allmost any synth and soft synth one the market... one thing stands out:
No Software synth can compete with a Dedicated synth.
Analogue synths are too expensive for synth based production
Clavia synths (nord stuff) are too edgy and undynamic compared to most other brands out there
Access Virus is higly over rated
Don't buy Red Sound products
Romplers sux.. haven't heard a rompler that could compare with a modular synth yet. (rompler = module with build in sounds)
Waldorf MicroQ gives an extreme value for the money
Nothing I've heard in the V/A world competes with the Supernova II
Syntrilliums Reality should be made a DSP product...

... now strings... you can make them easily on a modular synth... if you ever buy one of the Novation Supernova series or the nova, i'll give you some patches that'll make your heart stop... you wouldn't believe what a modular string sound and one of the exotic dual filters can do... it's amazing.

For some serious value you can consider the Waldorf Micro Q.. It gives and amazing amount of voices and modulation for the money...

NOW:The yamaha Motif stations offer some of the best rompler sounds out there and you have a sampler so you can record your own sounds on it, up to 64mb ram + scsi.. add to that the abillity to expand with AN200 an DX200 cards that will give you the power to create synth sounds from scratch, both Modular and FM... I actually think this is what you should be looking at if you got the money.
It also got (imo) the best hardware sequencer ever made.

If you wanna go software - I'd never advise it unless you're a real newbie and wanna learn the game - i'd take a look at Syntrilliums "Reality"... it does both sample and modular synth - ish, to the max... very underestimated software really
 
I'll agree with you on the supernova... not to mention Novation's support can't be beat, I had a slight problem with my super bass station, I had it sent off, repaired and sent back (from the UK to Texas, mind you) in less than a weeks time. I will disagree with the Virus being overrated, though, especially after hearing the B version.

Try also looking into Studio Electronics. I have their ATC 1... pure analog that will blow you away. It works on a cartridge system, and quite succesfully emulates some popular analogs like the 2600 and minimoog. The only drawback being SE products can be a bit pricey.

Whatever you do... stay the hell away from Elektron products. They have amazing ideas, but carry them out in a very poor cheapass way.
 
oh well... i like the filters on the virus, that's for sure, but it's so undynamic when you're used to the supernova... the waldorf is way cooler imo...
 
Chriss said:
No Software synth can compete with a Dedicated synth.
Yep, usually that's the truth, except for the Creamware Pulsar II, which is a PCI card for PC and MAC and uses 6 DSP's for 24bit/96kHz calculation in realtime. It also includes really good converters (also 24bit/96kHz) and a polyphone Modular Synth. I' quite happy with this card.
Analogue synths are too expensive for synth based production.
But you can look for some of the 'newer' half analogs like the Roland Juno106 - i've got my beast for ~500EUR - or the Akai A80.
For some serious value you can consider the Waldorf Micro Q.. It gives and amazing amount of voices and modulation for the money...
Thats also true, i heard it at my local dealer and the sound is the same as the big Q => goooood.
 
sure a dedicated synth will be better, there's no question about it. but you cant compare the two hardware vs software because they are out the opposite ends of the spectrum. its like comparing a c1 to a u47, however, soft synths will eventually replace all analog boards in the coming future in most applications just as synth samplers are starting to do now.
 
hi scriabin!
you cant compare the two hardware vs software because
That's exactly why i recommend the Creamware Pulsar Card. You can easily plug it into your PC and access it thru MIDI and ASIO2 without having the need of an external analog mixer, cables, effect units, ... The sound is pretty good, because the card itself uses the same signal processors like many HW-synths/samplers do.
Take a look at it:cool:
, Mark
 
ya ill take a look at it mark, oh by the way i wasnt refering to your post but the one above it;)
 
I'll allways prefer dedicated synth, because of all the nice knobs and sliders and the fact that they never, ever go down.
I'm not ever going to get me a soft synth to replace a real module ever, perhaps a software sampler if I can get the latency down at 2 ms
 
Chriss, i completly aggree with you. Sliders and knobs can't be supersed by mouseclicks (and therefor i love my old juno106), but if you are just at the beginning of making music and want to spend say 1500 dolls then it's a good buy. Latency is down to 3ms and you get very good sounding software and hardware. The only thing you need additionally is a sequencer program that can be connected thru virtual MIDI (as many as you like), ASIO, ASIO2 and EASI.
I am using Logic Audio Platinium and it perfectly fits my needs.

greets,
Mark
 
all true

though, i got me a Supernova I and Cubase with Halion (VST sampler - 12 ms latency) for the same amount of money.. something like that would also be worth considering... you get yo nice knobs and buttons on the supernova, which can also be used to control both sampler and other stuff in cubase.. and you get yourself a sampler with huuuuge memory...

I'd rather want a real sampler though... some E-MU perhaps or simply the RS7000 or Motif one of these daze...
 
Chriss said:

Syntrilliums Reality should be made a DSP product...
I make alot of these fuckups these daze... GRR
I mean Seer Systems Reality (Software Modular Synth system and sampler.. nice, nice, nice.. though a slightly corny oscillators)
 
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