Ableton Forum

Hi guys, hope you're doing well.
I'm quite new to beat-making, Ableton, and this forum. Half of a year ago I've started making beats with FL Studio (put those rotten tomatoes back), and it was my first experience of beat-making. I fell in love with my new hobby and bought my first studio headphones Sennheiser HD 559 and was just shocked by the quality of sound. It felt like hearing the first time in my life. Then I bought a sound card Focusrite Solo (there was an Ableton Live Lite in addition to the card, that's why I'm here) and MIDI keyboard. I really enjoy making beats, but I feel that I don't have enough piano skills to do my best with the MIDI, so I decided to learn to play the piano. Since I'm not a keys expert, I'll be glad to hear your recommendations on the right piano for self-taught to go with.
Also, I'll highly appreciate any recommendations on keys-teaching services or good YouTube channels.
Thanks in advance!

Everyone has different learning styles--I had to try several before I found one that worked for me. After several attempts, I finally learned to play using the "Learn the Piano" series. These books contain scan-able links that take you to demonstration videos by the instructor so you can see and hear if you're learning to play the song correctly.

https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Piano-Easy ... 0996626700

This series has enabled me to use a MIDI keyboard to (mostly) play-in parts of musical ideas and audition rough chord progressions, but I can also sit down and play about a dozen of the songs I've learned without having the music in front of me. Great for testing different synths and timbres when you're working on your music. and impressing friends at parties.

These books aren't heavy on music theory, it's really all about getting your hands on the keyboard and learning to play. For music theory, I'd recommend this:

Music Theory for Computer Musicians: https://www.amazon.com/Theory-Computer- ... 881&sr=8-2

Get the version with the CD--there are musical samples referenced throughout the text and the disk really helps you hear exactly what is being taught.

If you decide you want to go farther, the music theory book has two excellent companions:

Composition for Computer Musicians
Harmony for Computer Musicians

Great! Thank you for these books, the second one's title sounds like "Exactly what you need", lol. I hope there won't be any trouble with delivery to my region. As for the piano, I've run into this article. I hadn't been aware of weighted keys before, because I'm kind new to music. There is said that weighted keys are very similar to a real piano (am I right?) So maybe I should consider buying keys instead of piano for saving space. Any recommendations are welcome! Also, I'd like to know is it possible to connect keys to my laptop like MIDI?

Really depends on what you're looking to play in the future. Pianos and synthesizer keyboards have a very different feel--the synthesizers I've played don't have weighted keys. It feels very strange when I play a real piano

If you will be playing a real piano in the future, then you might want to consider weighted keys.