Want to do piano and strings/synths but not a player

[airdvl]

Hello everyone. I`m just getting into Multi-track recording in the home after being a musician on the side my whole life. I have recorded one original tune (hear below) on the Zoom MRS 1044CD and have been smitten hard with the desire to do a lot more! I`ll be retiring in a few years from the fire/ems service. I am in the research stage as far as what soundcard, software, (I know Manning1- PowerTracks...hehe) interface etc. to use. I have a pretty good computer and will probably add a seperate HD dedicated to recording. I do have a Mackie 1202 with the fancy preamps. Not sure if thats what I`m going to use but I might start with it and a 24/96?

I guess my question for this thread is what do non-keyboard players use to create drums and synths parts. I want to do original stuff so generic performances in a can doesnt interest me much (i.e. band in a box). Ive thought about using one of those pickups for guitar, midi things, but havent researched that much yet. Can you do that with those. I know enuff about keys to tinkle on one just a little so would one of those 25 key things be a better idea?

A friend of mine who plays keys will be bringing an ensonic and Korg B3 over but he wont be available as much as I`d like.

Any suggestions? I know this is a real unpointed question/post but forgive me as I am just learnin` here.

Any help appreciated, Tx!

~airdvl~

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?songs=303123&T=4700

 

[lykwydchykyn]

Depends on a lot of things. First off, for drum programming, keyboard skills are irrelevent. You can read a tutorial I wrote here which may answer some questions about that.
Secondly, what kind of keyboard stuff do you want? Techno type stuff? Pads? Rockin Piano parts? Screaming B3? There are some things you can do clicking a mouse, and some you just can't do without some keyboard skills.
If you're going to get a keyboard and you're only planning to record on computer with it, I'd recommend getting a little controller and just using plugins at first. If you don't like working with plugins, you can always upgrade to a module later.