H
heyjoe67
New member
Hello,
Let me start saying I am a little bit lost in this field, so I share the scenario to you all to see if someone can help me decide the best way to start:
First of all, I started with 2 years of piano and solfeggio. After that I started to play the guitar, and then the electric guitar. Then (eight years ago) I started playing with friends and have been in some bands since then (lots of fun but nothing serious
some neighbourhood parties and free gigs, once we recorded a demo in a studio, but thats all).
During this time I have been messing with Cakewalk (early versions) and lately Fruity Loops. I used to build drum loops, bass and piano melodies (handmade with piano roll) to have accompainment to my guitar when playing home alone, that drove me to where I am now.
I now waste most of my spare time making melodies and song projects with Fruity Loops (I add guitar recorded tracks sometimes), but I know the way I use to build the melodies and things is not the best one (manually selecting notes in pianoroll, or using the computer keyboard as a midi one
).
My main limitations are:
- Using the computer keyboard i cannot press more than 4 keys same time and it has some kind of delay (processor time, i think) so it does not sound in tempo (i use to press the keys before the tempo to make them sound on tempo, or modify them in piano roll after recording).
- The sounds of most of fruity loops samples and generated instruments does not feel realistic to my ears, I need more realism to be happy (basses, synths, pads, etc...)
- I would like to have more and more sounds and samples (instruments, effects, generators, etc...) than the ones I have in fruity loops (by default).
I've thougth I can buy some stuff to start some kind of amateur homebased composition/recording studio.
I would like to spend about USD$600-800 in things, so do not expect it to be a pro studio.
I have a common Intel PIV 2,4 processor computer, 512 DDR Ram, etc... this has a motherboard integrated 5.1 soundcard (SoundMAX i think, nothing professional). Windows server 2003 and XP. Polk audio stereo speakers and a sennheiser headphones.
Do you think buying a USB midi keyboard like this one (http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--EDIPCR30) will help ? Will I have the same delay problem with a midi keyboard ? How can I solve the delay problem ?
What is the best way to have lots of realistic sounds and samples of instruments, effects, etc... ?
Does the semi-amateur people use fruity loops or do they use more powerful softwares like Logic or Protools ? What is best ? Do this soft have samples and instruments integrated ?
To all who have experience, what would you do if you were me ?
The music I would like to do varies from indie rock, electropop, commercial, dance, even a bit of trance.
Sorry for a so large message, thanks in advance
Let me start saying I am a little bit lost in this field, so I share the scenario to you all to see if someone can help me decide the best way to start:
First of all, I started with 2 years of piano and solfeggio. After that I started to play the guitar, and then the electric guitar. Then (eight years ago) I started playing with friends and have been in some bands since then (lots of fun but nothing serious

During this time I have been messing with Cakewalk (early versions) and lately Fruity Loops. I used to build drum loops, bass and piano melodies (handmade with piano roll) to have accompainment to my guitar when playing home alone, that drove me to where I am now.
I now waste most of my spare time making melodies and song projects with Fruity Loops (I add guitar recorded tracks sometimes), but I know the way I use to build the melodies and things is not the best one (manually selecting notes in pianoroll, or using the computer keyboard as a midi one

My main limitations are:
- Using the computer keyboard i cannot press more than 4 keys same time and it has some kind of delay (processor time, i think) so it does not sound in tempo (i use to press the keys before the tempo to make them sound on tempo, or modify them in piano roll after recording).
- The sounds of most of fruity loops samples and generated instruments does not feel realistic to my ears, I need more realism to be happy (basses, synths, pads, etc...)
- I would like to have more and more sounds and samples (instruments, effects, generators, etc...) than the ones I have in fruity loops (by default).
I've thougth I can buy some stuff to start some kind of amateur homebased composition/recording studio.
I would like to spend about USD$600-800 in things, so do not expect it to be a pro studio.
I have a common Intel PIV 2,4 processor computer, 512 DDR Ram, etc... this has a motherboard integrated 5.1 soundcard (SoundMAX i think, nothing professional). Windows server 2003 and XP. Polk audio stereo speakers and a sennheiser headphones.
Do you think buying a USB midi keyboard like this one (http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--EDIPCR30) will help ? Will I have the same delay problem with a midi keyboard ? How can I solve the delay problem ?
What is the best way to have lots of realistic sounds and samples of instruments, effects, etc... ?
Does the semi-amateur people use fruity loops or do they use more powerful softwares like Logic or Protools ? What is best ? Do this soft have samples and instruments integrated ?
To all who have experience, what would you do if you were me ?
The music I would like to do varies from indie rock, electropop, commercial, dance, even a bit of trance.
Sorry for a so large message, thanks in advance
