Music Tech Thread (Synths, recording setups, MIDI, audio, gadgets...etc.)

Hello all,

please feel free to point me in the right direction if I've missed an area of the forum for this kind of chat...
I know there must be some other musicians/bedroom producers in here.

I'm quite new to it all, but getting right into the idea of being a producer - got a basic but great wee setup and it's all starting to make sense; Dell XPS17 (just picked up an SSD - two hard drive bays which is crackin', so OS and audio programs can run off that when it arrives!), Ableton Live8, Maschine Mikro (w/ Raw Voltage expansion, Novation Bass Station, Novation K Station, Akai LPK25, IK SampleMoog, Waldorf Edition, Lexicon Omega Audio Interface. Just need to get to know the kit well now if I'm gonna get the best from it.

Quite fancy upgrading the ram on the laptop too and a MIDI controller with more knobs and faders...

What's your setup like? Links to tunes? Any new kit?

:)

Oh and would like an external hdd dedicated to samples - thinking Ministation Extreme or similar that can take a bit of abuse!

Ask Lowe, he's our resident micro music expert.

Your thread title made small children cry, please avoid all caps in future :)

Been working in Music Tech for some time now, mostly within the HE sector but I also do work for various people but mostly in a post production or mixing stage onwards way. I've been lucky enough to work in both live and recorded areas so have a pretty broad range of experience.

I don't have a set up at home as such, I have a PMC 5.1 monitoring array which I reference work through since I do have access to two decent recording studios if I need them. There's a write up on the one studio I built here: http://www.solidstatelogic.com/news/...asp?ID=418&T=M

I also do silly things with Max 6 to make my own synths and noise tools. Quite a learning curve but it's worth it in the end. :)

Told you ;)

Post and run. Bah :(

No running - apologies! I just make noises in my bedroom, whereas you mix/master professionally? I'm always wowed by a nice setup but have very little knowledge of desks, mixing or mastering sadly. Sorry again for the slow response! Not often online but got tapatalk for on the go :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rprntc

No running - apologies! I just make noises in my bedroom

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I dont think your alone there ;)

What sort of noises do you make ? Any songs , samples ?

m

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rprntc

No running - apologies! I just make noises in my bedroom, whereas you mix/master professionally? I'm always wowed by a nice setup but have very little knowledge of desks, mixing or mastering sadly. Sorry again for the slow response! Not often online but got tapatalk for on the go :)

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It's part of what I do yes. I've done the whole bedroom producer thing - that's how I started, and to be honest it's no different now other than the kit I get to use costs a bit more. ;)

If you've not got much knowledge, ask away. Not much I can't point you in the right direction with really. :)

Low tech here. Just put a Xmas prezzie order in with Mrs wasabi for a Behringer USB guitar link so I can get ASIO into my PC without the iffy latency of software ASIO4ALL I've been trying through the PC's onboard soundcard. Hopefully it'll stop the latency issues and not break up so much. Aim is to record with Amplitube to get nice guitar and bass sound - somehow- then mix it in with drums (no idea how?), and vocals off a cheap mike. Probably some mild use 'industrial' samples too.

So question to the people in the know:
Only know Amplitube and Audacity. i'm struggling for a source of drum sounds mainly, and am not sure if amplitube is the best option for quick and dirty home recording/mixing? Given a choice, I'd prefer low bitrate real drum sounds with inherent time 'mistakes' over electronic high quality perfection if you know what I mean.

I've used Easy drums before and its not bad - very workable.

Dont go mental with kit/software. We've all done it and most have realized it stifles creativity.

More is always less as you spread yourself too thin.

Like abaxas said; start small and know yr stuff. A wee pad controller like the Akai LPD8 works great for inputting drums etc - small, cheap and usb powered. Marry that to any of the millions of free drum machine vsts or samples you can find.

OK thanks guys. Did a bit of reading around last night and discovered there is a way to use VSTs with Audacity so will probably try that with a couple of the freebie VSTs out there to begin with.

Hit a snag. Audacity doesn't support ASIO without a complicated recompile due to some weird licensing issues. Anyone care to recommend cheap/free alternatives? Basically need Windows 7 compatible recorder/mixer that can do VSTs and accept ASIO input? So far have found a few like wavosaur? http://www.wavosaur.com/