Upgrading equipment...what to do

[PFN78]

I'm starting to produce electronic music (mixing elements of DNB and downtempo with lots of sampling and vocals, with simple song structures and lots of ambiance) and I've reached a point where I need to upgrade the gear. My netbook (yeah...) has actually worked really well thus far and gotten me to a point where my tracks are actually coming together nicely. While it'll let me get my first "album" recorded, it won't go much farther and I need to upgrade.

I've determined that I need a new PC, Reason Six (for the synths and such), and either monitors or production headphones (the latter because I live in an apartment, but also because of the cost of good monitors, see below).

The issue is that spare money is very hard to come by, so I'll need to be extra selective on what I buy and I won't be able to always get the "ideal" of anything. I found a good computer in an acceptable price range ($400~ US), and Reason Six at $400 is reasonable for me (although a part of me also debates getting a Microkorg instead). As for the monitors, I have no clue.

So I'm at a point where I don't know what to do next. I suspect the correct order of purchasing things should be computer -> software/synth? -> monitors/headphones, or maybe computer -> monitors/headphones -> software/synth?.

Ideas?

[Tarekith]

Computer, monitors, soundcard would be my choice.

[PFN78]

Why the soundcard? I understand it's important, but it would seem to make more sense to get the software so I can create the music first.

[matthews]

Computer > Software > Audio Interface > Headphones > Monitors

[luddy]

If you already have Live and haven't already bought Reason, you might rethink that one. You might be able to get the sounds you need via Live or other sources that are less expensive, maybe even better sounds.

You can get a long way with the built-in sound card (1) if it's decent and (2) if you don't need to record audio (e.g., from microphones etc., for vocals). A real audio interface of some kind is pretty important if you want to send audio sources into the computer, but for simple monitoring of what's going on in Live, you can probably do a lot with a basic soundcard.

I'd suggest Live, u-he Zebra 2 (or something like it), and a decent set of speakers or headphones for monitoring. I produced a lot of material on headphones, and a surprising number of producers work on them. The issue with a soundcard and headphones is that decent headphones have pretty low impedance and they really need a decent headphone amp of some kind (not necessarily a fancy one, but one that's built to drive that impedance). So, either have a look around for relatively high impedance headphones that are still considered pretty good, or else consider getting a simple headphone amp if you go the headphone route. Years and years ago I had a Shure headphone amp that was cheap and simple but sounded great. That was so long ago that it's no longer in production haha. But I'm sure there are others on the market.

Live + good softsynth + headphones + computer, good to go.

I'm assuming you don't have Live Suite, right? It's pretty nice if you have relatively little other software because you get a lot of stuff that's very helpful, like Sampler and Operator. But it's a bit pricey and with a good flexible soft synth you can make really nice sounds.

hth,

-Luddy

[PFN78]

Live + good softsynth + headphones + computer, good to go.

I'm assuming you don't have Live Suite, right? It's pretty nice if you have relatively little other software because you get a lot of stuff that's very helpful, like Sampler and Operator. But it's a bit pricey and with a good flexible soft synth you can make really nice sounds.

hth,

-Luddy

I already have Live Lite, so what additional features would I get if I were to upgrade to Live 8? Suite 8?

I keep getting the impression that Live will give me access to the synths/instruments that I need, but Suite is basically that and then some (but I debate if I really need Suite at this time).

[matthews]

Here's a comparison of Live Lite vs Live 8. Suite builds on it even further.

http://www.ableton.com/pages/live_8/com ... ive_lite_8

[login]

dont get reason, you already have fx with Live and some intruments in the library.

I am seeing live lite doesnt have racks (audio effects, drum or midi fx) and IMHO are one of the biggest features of live. So I would recommend you upgrade to full live.

Now suite is a matter of taste, for 240 USD more you get 5 synths, classic drum synth samples and a good sampler.

For a comprable price you could get one quite good synth: Zebra.

You could also instead of spending those 400 on software keep using live lite get some free plug ins, look at kvraudio, and put those 400 in to the soundcard and monitors.

[PFN78]

dont get reason, you already have fx with Live and some intruments in the library.

I am seeing live lite doesnt have racks (audio effects, drum or midi fx) and IMHO are one of the biggest features of live. So I would recommend you upgrade to full live.

Now suite is a matter of taste, for 240 USD more you get 5 synths, classic drum synth samples and a good sampler.

For a comprable price you could get one quite good synth: Zebra.

You could also instead of spending those 400 on software keep using live lite get some free plug ins, look at kvraudio, and put those 400 in to the soundcard and monitors.

See, that's what's confusing for me. What I really need now are synths to finish composing (ideally I would have purchased a hardware synth, but that's not financially feasible right now). So when I hear of racks and what not, I (as a newbie) don't have much clue as to what we're discussing. When we speak of racks do we mean digital software synths? That's what I need. The FX that are already there I only use occasionally, and always the same ones over and over (delay and reverb effects).

[matthews]

If you just need a synth to play around with, download sylenth. It's free, decently powerful, and you can find a lot of banks/patches floating around. It's a vst so you can just load it up in live and get to work.

I'm assuming live lite supports the use of vsts.......I'm not that familiar with what it does and doesnt limit.

[login]

dont get reason, you already have fx with Live and some intruments in the library.

I am seeing live lite doesnt have racks (audio effects, drum or midi fx) and IMHO are one of the biggest features of live. So I would recommend you upgrade to full live.

Now suite is a matter of taste, for 240 USD more you get 5 synths, classic drum synth samples and a good sampler.

For a comprable price you could get one quite good synth: Zebra.

You could also instead of spending those 400 on software keep using live lite get some free plug ins, look at kvraudio, and put those 400 in to the soundcard and monitors.

See, that's what's confusing for me. What I really need now are synths to finish composing (ideally I would have purchased a hardware synth, but that's not financially feasible right now). So when I hear of racks and what not, I (as a newbie) don't have much clue as to what we're discussing. When we speak of racks do we mean digital software synths? That's what I need. The FX that are already there I only use occasionally, and always the same ones over and over (delay and reverb effects).

racks are a feature of live that allows to group fx, instruments or midi effects and kind of make combinations, control many parameters with one single instance, sequence throught them, etc.

For example drum racks allow a kind of MPC functionality, you have a grid of drum pads each with one sound but it can be a synth or a sample. They are very usefull to sequence drum patterns.

Using midi effects in a rack allow for power manipulation of sequences for synths and it can be a lot of fun.

You should try the full version of live (suite) give it a good month trying everything, go thourgh the lessons and watch some videos on youtube, only that way you will know if it works for you.

Also many other synths (vst) have demos, but as I said early there are free ones also.

By the way sylenth isn't free, synth1 is.

go here http://www.kvraudio.com/q.php and search for synth wich are free, there are tons for example this one http://www.kvraudio.com/product/tyrell-nexus-6-by-u-he

[luddy]

Well, I think you (PFN78) are thinking about this stuff the right way, basically. You need some good quality sound sources above all. From my experience, an Access Virus and Zebra are the two most versatile synths out there, and Zebra is to my mind the easiest synth to program, especially for the flexibility you get. And it's very stable and light on the cpu etc. So if you decide to buy one, I'd recommend it. I'd say Live full (but not Suite) and Zebra. But if you find a free soft synth that's to your liking, then you might consider Suite. The thing with Suite is that things like Operator and Sampler are also very good sources of sounds, although they might require more work on your part because the presets don't stack up against, say, Zebra's presets.
good luck,
-Luddy

[Rabalder]

Go analog

[JuanSOLO]

Go analog

my first thought, but after reading through the OP, I decided not go there yet.

I would say get the Full version of Live, NOT Suite. This will give you all the access to DrumRacks and other Racks, unlimited Tracks and scenes and amount of plugs etc. Live 9 will eventually be released and if you wanna upgrade to Suite then that would be the time to do it.

Zebra is pretty awesome for a soft/synth, it kinda does everything. I think it's 200 bucks, however they have the "dinosaur" upgrade thing, where you can send a picture in of an old hardware synth and get 50 dollars off.

If I were you I'd start there, which would be a step up, AND it would keep you really busy and creative, giving you time for another re-evaluation of what you need next, as well as stow away more cash.

[PFN78]

I noticed that buying the boxed Live 8 upgrade nets me the "Essential Instrument Collection". It seems this is just as the name implies: lots of digital instruments. Am I correct?