Advice on setup for electronica / dance
Hi folks, I've been out of the loop a little while, having started a family, moved house etc, my music making took a back seat for a few years. I was making electronic music, mainly in a techno, electronica, house sort of style but all with hardware, just using my old pc for sequencing with cubase. Mixdown and processing were all done externally and then recorded on to mini disc. This was the way I worked for years,and got some results I'm quite proud of.
But now, with lack of space and the capabilites of software, I'm selling off my studio equipment to start from scratch on a purely based pc or mac system. As I don't tend to record vocals or live instruments I don't need a great recording set-up. Also, my sound is more synth based than sample based and fairly minimal.
I enjoyed working on cubase in the past but only for sequencing (my pc was not up to audio), but I've read that logic as a package (obviously on the mac) is good value. I tried ableton live but found it confusing and not at all intuitive (to me anyway).
Based upon what I've said above, I wonder if anyone would be able to offer some advice on which software packages may suit me best (pc or mac but I'm leaning towards an imac). My budget for a working set-up (with plug-ins etc and allowing mastering etc) would be around £2500.
Any feedback most welcome! Cheers guys.
Greetings
Do you have a set of monitor speakers?
Yeah I've got an old pair of JBL control one's but not sure how good they would be nowadays!Originally Posted by tehLORD
Well if you liked them before and could mix with them i'm sure they're still up to the task
If I had that budget, with those criteria making that kind of music I would buy :-
iMac - about £1k? I think.
Logic Pro 9 - about £350. This will give you all the sequencing, audio and mastering tools you'll need for a very long time.
A used Access Virus Ti keyboard - I've just managed to bag one of these off Ebay for £900. It is the mother of all dance synths, has an incredible FX section and literally thousands of presets. I hear you say 'I dont need a hardware synth'. Well, not only is it a synth but it also acts as an ASIO compatible audio interface AND a fully functioning MIDI controller. Oh and I forgot, it acts as a VST synth to via USB so you can open it up in your DAW like you would any other VST. It is....incredible.
Wow I wasn't even aware of this. Looks really good, thanks! I'm going to look into this a bit more, I was going to mention earlier that I do feel at home with hardware but I didn't want to confuse, this would be a great way of integrating the two. I only really have the room for one synth so this would do it.
Imac and logic has been where I've been leaning, with 4Gb ram and 600Gb HDD Imac is £1149. Do you recommend a seperate HDD for samples or is that overkill? Does the Virus mean I wouldn't need to purchase another audio interface?
Thanks for your help so far, much appreciated.
Yep, the virus works as an audio interface and does it very well. I have my KRK RP6s plugged into it and although like you I don't record vocals you can do with the audio inputs on the back if you wanted to. Low latency too. The other thing to consider is if you run the majority of your synth duties from the Virus you're drastically lowering your CPU load when mixing. It's the mastering plugins that really drain the CPU in my experience.
A seperate HDD is a good idea for samples tbh but you can get external USB ones for nothing these days so it's a bit of a no brainer. You could even run a smaller internal HDD for the OS and applications and get a 1TB external for samples and audio if you wanted to.
For the record and to probably narrow down your choice, Cubase apparently works very badly on the newer Macs. This is just what i've read from a few places though and I have no experience of this myself. I think Logic is probably much better value anyway.
Is a USB HDD up to the task of running audio without glitches or is firewire better? I'd prefer to use USB as there is only one firewire port on the imac and it could be put to other uses at a later date.
I think based on what you have said, I could get away with the minimum HDD of 320Gb on the imac and get a 1Tb external. I can get logic pro for £333. In addition to this I was looking at NI Komplete which has Kontact, Absynth and Battery and some other stuff which I've read good things about - this for £400 - do you think this would be a good purchase for me? The imac comes to £1030 with 4Gb.
The virus Ti as a audio interface I would need right away if I'm going to be using midi or can I send midi into the mac some other way (I've got a keyboard I can use in the meantime). Obviously I would not want to spend money on an audio interface just to get midi before saving up some more cash for the virus. I'm wary of using ebay for electricals having had problems in the past - I would probably check the classifieds in SOS.
One other question; is there anything you think I'll be needing within months of buying this stuff or should this be enough to get me producing finished tracks of decent quality?
Thanks for all the help so far, great to get some input, gives me some confidence to shell out the cash!
I have to say i'm not a huge fan of the NI synths although there are plenty of people who are. I can't see you needing Komplete as well as most of what's included you have in Logic already (synths, drums, sampling etc) so you'd be doubling up on a lot of stuff. You'd certainly not need any sounds out of a Virus as well for example. It might be an idea to try and demo the NI synths before you consider spending £400 on something you don't need. It's really a personal thing, you might absolutely love the NI synths!
Is the keyboard you already have a MIDI controller or a synth?
I'm not going to comment on the USB/Firewire external drive issue as I don't know enough about either to give out any definate advice. Out of interest have you considered the PC route? It's a bit cheaper doing it that way and you can get internal drives instead (which I don't think you can do on the iMac?)
I've got a Alesis Micron and a Korg Prophecy, both of which I'm planning to sell but one of them would make an OK midi keyboard in the short term if needed, probably the prophecy as its got more controllers.
I've never had much luck with pcs in the past; in my experience performance has always been an issue one way or the other. I figured a mac would be better built and more tailored for the purpose of music making, also with space being an issue the imac package is fairly attractive. I've already got a Dell Dimension and a Toshiba laptop at home both of which are fairly up to date, but I want my music machine to be totally dedicated to music and not used as the family computer which would be inevitable if it was a pc.
I know companies like scan and Inta audio make audio pcs but I'm not keen on windows and its constant updating, clogging up the operating system with crap etc etc, I'm not a computer expert so don't want to spend music time trying to sort out glitches and latency problems. Maybe I'm being niave, but I'd presumed the mac would be more reliable and less inclined to crash etc.. If you think otherwise I'd be open to suggestions!
I think there are certain things only you can decide, and PC or Mac is one of those choices lol! Wherever you ask you'll get a 50/50 split about what's 'best' and ultimately what's best is the one that you're happiest with. I'd say go with the Mac if you're not comfortable with PCs.
I think the most important factor here is that you create a space you feel comfortable with, and one that you don't feel you need to keep adding to.
Is there a budget now and then a budget when you sell your gear?
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