Replace Live with hardware?

[Tamar UK]

i started making electronic music in the 90s using a cheap second hand yamaha synth, a roland zip drive multitracker and an akai s900 sampler that i bought from a DJ who was using it for radio jingles.
Looking back, i must have had infinite patience, nothing was intuitive and i spent weeks learning midi basics just to get the damn boxes to communicate with each other. The music i made was simple enough but hard slog. I didnt even have a sample library to call upon, i msde my own from whatever sources i could find on hundreds of floppy discs.

Now with Ableton and before that Protools, I have so many possibilities just from a laptop and a big old hard drive but it can be like being a kid in a candy store sometimes, there are so many options, if i need a violin sound, i call it up in seconds, if i need an effect, its there in Ableton somewhere.

In a way i do miss the simplicity of my old system but i would not swap what i have now for what i had then. With the right controllers i have the hands on feel that was missing when i switched to PC music creation. I also recently bought a field recorder and its so much fun taking random sounds and making music from them like i did with my old akai sampler.

We are all very priviledged to be living in an age when we have so much technology easily available but it doesnt mean it has to be complicated. Learn to use the equipment you own inside out and its no harder than any hardware system and far more flexible IMO.
To me, a laptop is just another piece of music hardware, sure it might take a little longer to fire up than a dedicated bit of hardware but then i would need 100 connected bits of hardware to achieve the same results. And a lot of swearing!

[o0o]

sounds like maschine

[Tone Deft]

sounds like maschine

stop giving me GAS!!!

old thread, that was then, this is now. these days Live has been GREAT and I've got a good flow going with the software. oh how things change. I'll probably be back in 'screw software' mode soon enough. 'if only I buy this one piece of hardware I'll be able to write that great album worth of music...'

[3dot...]

I feel sometimes the same way... but unfortunately I can't afford to

if I were to go the hardware route... my studio setup would be something like :

MPC1000 or 2500xl / 303 or clone / 909 or clone /Waldorf_Q (for poly stuff)/ Moog Voyager / Rhoades / AMPS / 4 in 4 out Lexicon Reverb / Electro Harmonix Stereo Memory-man x2/ Mackie vlz mixer
...a nice modular would be nice as well.. had my eyes on Cwejman and Doepfer

....I can go on..but it'll only make me sadder...

I really miss the physicality of musical instruments ...
(hence the endless quest for good midi/osc control)

when live crashes... everything is put to a halt because everything is in the damn box..
and when people are waiting and the stress is on...time moves slower and computer seems to work slower when re-loading the set..
this can make a grown man cry sometimes..

anyways... my next purchases are gonna be the DSI Mopho kbd,,, and a second hand MPC1000
(thought about MASCHINE... function/price wise...very temptinmg
but I feel the ability to get away from the computer sometimes will be liberating..)

[doghouse]

You could always buy a workstation (Motif, Fantom, M3, etc.) as an alternative to an MPC.

I have done entire songs on my Motif ES including recording guitars and vocals.

[33tetragammon]

computers suck.

given about the same money for whichever version of Live (LE to suite) and a computer to run it on, how might you replace what you do with Live with hardware?

I'm starting to miss the days I could just turn on a piece of gear and use it rather than waiting to Live to load, getting automap running, syncing up gear, dealing with latency after recording...

GAS me.

computers.........i hear you!

i absolutely LOVE live, and my VST's etc,but lately i'm so bored AND pissed with sitting or standing in front of a computer screen.i haven't bought anything anymore since i bought Maschine(which is AWESOME,but that's another topic),my software gearlust is over.
software made me lazy,confused with too many parameters in plugins,like "which damn knob to turn now?!?!??!"
the problem is choice imo.

i really miss korg electribes,their simplicity and total awesomeness,where every knob does the same thing,no automapping crap or whatever.
i am really thinking of buying the electribe MX&SX again,plus a kaosspad 3,and a Dave smith mono evolver keyboard.best hardware stuff i ever had,and total fun!!!!!!!
can't wait to have those again!hook 'em up to my soundcard,hit record in Live,tweak the hardware,and BOOM!!!!!!!!!!

i wanna feel ALIVE again.