I'm a newbie!

  • Thread starter Thread starter East Villian
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East Villian

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I'm fresh to production, but Ive been around a few forums & Ive been able to pickup on a few different things here & there. Now, I beleive Im ready to make some sacrifices & decisions. Ive came to it that production is for me, I'm now willing to spend money on a few items to get me going.

Well, Christmas is coming up & I was thinking about asking the ol' parents to get me something for production. I'm thinking about a software package, Reason & a nice MIDI controller. Something I learned while deciding on music, a family member of mine is an excellent piano player but he lives out of town so I wont be able to learn & receive lessons from him. But I talked to this person for a bit about buying pianos/keyboards, I know I want a keyboard or controller with weighted keys so I can train. Ive looked around & found no controllers with weighted keys, I'm asking some of ya to help me out on this part.

I'm into hip-hop, r&b. But, in the future after I learn & improve I'd like to move into more genres (rock, punk, alternative ETC). I just got sent out a few resumes, hopefully I'll get a call about a job so I can start putting away money for equipment for when I'm ready to buy it. I'd also eventually like to get an acoustic & electric, also some Technics & later on fix up the quality of my room. (acoustics, bass traps, slots & resonators ETC). All of these things I would like to do, Ive yet not learned about so hopefully over the next few months BBS can help me out with that.

Ive also read up on a few reviews of Reason 2.0, I like it. Ive also yet to talk to salesman about it, but I think I'm going to ask for a Reason package for a present. Now, if someone could help me on the MIDI controller tip. I'd greatly appreciate it, none of that supa doopa engineering talk because I'm not a 40 year production vet, I'm 15. Just suggest something, tell me if it'll do the job & Ill check the piece out. I want weighted keys, so please keep that in mind. I hope thats enough information, Peace.

I'm East Villian, introduce yourself if desired I'm up to meeting new community. Thanks big, EV.
 
How much money are your ol' parents going to spend on you this Christmas?????????
 
Good question,

I'm thinking, $200-$450. Not much, but I know I'd be able to get a backbone start with that amount. Hope that helps, Peace.

East Villian
 
EV..you sound like a wise young man (musicwise anyway:D :D )...did you think of getting a decent keyboard which has the keys you want, and you could use it as a midi controler and as a proper instrument as well ;) ;) ....you know if you play live or whatever...??
 
Thanks

Thanks for the compliment Roker!

I was thinking about that, but if I'm gonna go down that road I'm just gonna elaborate & get a workstation. But, I'm not quite sure about what I really would like to do, I'm having trouble deciding.

Yes, I'd love to play live. Unfortunately, I'm not an excellent piano player & I dont play any other instruments. Matter fact, I dont even have a keyboard or piano, never the less not even a music instrument in my house! (Hopefully I can change that)

East Villian
 
Yes, I'd love to play live. Unfortunately, I'm not an excellent piano player & I dont play any other instruments. Matter fact, I dont even have a keyboard or piano, never the less not even a music instrument in my house! (Hopefully I can change that
Click to expand...

Surely you can change that...you're only 15. All it takes is dedication and love towards the music and an instrument (or instruments), and judging by what you're saying, you've got all that....hey Jimi Hendrix started playing actively when he was 17-18, Jimmy Page when he was 14-15...and look at what they've done...just keep your head up, buy that keyboard and start practising....
good luck my friend;)
let us know what you decide to buy
 
Wow, Thanks Roker. I absolutely love it when someone tells me or encourages me to do what I want. Because, that doesnt come alot where I'm from. Nobody supports me, but lets not go there. I'll be sure to inform ya'll, thanks for the love duke.

East Villian
 
cool, a kid with a plan! if i was you, i would start off and go play a bunch of keyboards and find one you love. then buy it. most newer keyboards i believe have all the inputs and outputs you will need later for recording. i don't play keys so any attempt to recommend an insturment would be useless. most musicians that i know have regular jobs because music won't pay the bills for most people. you are heading in the right direction and wish you the best of luck in your quest for music. Charva


www.geocities.com/charvster
 
Hmm..

Thanks Charva, I love it when I receive encouragement. None the less, I will take consideration of all of your words. Thanks, Peace.

East Villian
 
Wow, so there's more than ONE young-un out there that's articulate, respectful, and needing (everything, including recognition for NOT being part of the problem) Cool...

Hey East, your price range (if you don't get luckier) is a little low for the dedicated controller approach, especially if you want weighted action. Studiologic (formerly Fatar) offers a couple 88 key weighted controllers, but new they run at least $500 and, as was pointed out, they have no sounds of their own.

Good piano sounds are usually not cheap when they're part of a workstation or "controller plus" thing, such as the Kurzweils with sound boards, Roland RD series, etc -

If you have a computer that is fast enough to run sound, like a P-3 500 mHz or up, you might consider the Studiologic SL880 or 990 (The 880 has Aftertouch, useless for piano but helpful for expression with any sound that naturally has expression capabilities AFTER the attack) The 880 is about $100 more, but think about performance nuances on non-piano sounds before you rule it out.

You would need some kind of soft-synth program, so Reason or Sonar by Cakewalk, which has some soft synths built in - This approach would be better if you know enough about computers to set up a separate User Profile so others can't mess up your stuff, and so all the non-essential whistles and bells could be temporarily disabled while you're making music. This makes a big difference as to how many tracks you can run on a given machine, and whether or not it'll frezze up when you least want it to...

In the used market, NEVER buy anything you can't "kick the tires" on first - too many pieces of gear get introduced to "drinking" - cup of coffee, glass of beer, tips over into the keys, no big deal, we'll sell it on Ebay and get another... When "tire kicking", play EVERY SINGLE KEY and mess with ALL the buttons, it only takes one malfunction to make it NOT worth the $$$

Almost no professional-level keyboards come with speakers or amps built in, so you need to budget for amp and speakers, or at least headphones (OK for practice, don't try to ascertain sound quality with phones) - Under $$-challenged conditions, you might be able to use a stereo system for monitoring, sometimes even boom-boxes have CD inputs (Sony made at least one, the CFS-1030 - no CD built in, but a pair of RCA connectors on the front) - these inputs can take the line out from any keyboard and let you hear/record it onto cassette.

Recording what you play is the absolute best way to find out what you need to practice the most. Don't be depressed when you first start doing this, EVERYBODY sucks more than they thought they did, since you forget how many mistakes you made til it comes back to you off tape.

Your desire for weighted keys will strain your budget, but if you intend to stay serious enough to be called a Pianist, stick to it. Otherwise, synth-action keys will ease the budget somewhat.

The main thing is your attitude - sounds like you're 'way ahead of the game there, you wouldn't believe how many first-timers come here with a pile of shit where their head should be and an attitude to match -

Always keep in mind that NO-ONE but you has ANY clue what you're capable of, or what is REALLY important to you. Don't take this comment as a "licence to bitch", better is an attitude of quiet determination. Whether you think you CAN or you CAN'T, you're RIGHT... OK, 'nuff cliche's for now -

Here is a link to the SL880, look around - the 990 has NO aftertouch, but is weighted, for about $100 less. The cool thing about going this route is that you can always add other sounds thru the computer without having to buy another set of keys in the deal.

Hope that helped some, gotta go for now... Steve
 
Incredible, I'm getting there quick!

Off the hook, I love that reply Knightfly! Thanks!

I dont know what to say, but the upmost respect for all of those compliments. But, enough of the mushy-mushy stuff for now.

I've seen the Studiologics before while surfing. There ARE, a little expensive but I might be able to convince my parents to put it on a payment plan or something along that line. The only keyboards that I've actually fooled around with, is the Triton & Kurzweil but I'm not sure which models (I know the Korg was a Triton, but I'm not able to remember what the Kurzweil was). But, I loved all the sounds on the Kurzweil, but it was like $3000! I'd love to save up for one of those, I'd get one in a second. Unfortunately, I havent heard of the Roland RDs.

The computer I'm on now, has about 700/800 Mghz. 20 GBs, I'm not sure about the soundcard or other specs. But, I also thought about applying for a grant from my trust fund to purchase some basic equipment.

By the way, I run XP. Its neat, theres already a user profile catch & I can use the Task Manager to shut down any processes I dont wanna run or that'll get in the way. I was also thinking possibly about getting my own CPU so I could just sit in my room all day & mess with things. But, that costs money & takes time too. But I'm willing to do that & sacrifice more money to benefit me.

I'm not a "second hand shopper", LOL. I always have to buy the item I'm buying new, I don't think I've ever bought anything in my short time that was used. I like ripping opening the packaging & loving whats inside. :)

I've got an old Kenwood intergrated amp, the model number is KA-5700. Its an old amp, late '80s I'm guessing. But awhile ago I asked my Dad about it, and he said it'll be able to push a good 100 to 120 watts. Which I'm thinking, is good enough to invest in a small pair of flat sounding monitors. If thats possible, if not then I'd most likely stick with the stereo system/speakers that you've suggested. Phew, alot of typing here.

Props Knightfly, now I know who to lookout for here. Or at least I have a small bit of clue of who is a helping hand, I'm well aware that theres alot of experience here on this board, thats why I'm here. Thanks man, Peace.

EV
 
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