Newbie Setup

empirix

Hey,

I have a bit of time on my hands after Xmas and so would like to setup a little studio to perhaps churn out some electronica(towards drum n bass end) and at least give the dream a shot.

I need somebody to recommend a good setup thats affordable. Heres what i got already: Swissonic ck490 http://www.yopi.de/Swissonic_CK490_USB_Controller_Keyboard_Keyboards

Reason 3 and Protools. High spec PC with 17" Monitor High spec Laptop 15.4 " monitor - Can i combine the two to work with a program?

What else do i need - good sound card and speakers etc(recommendations?) - anything else?

Lads/Lassies - obviously looking at this long term/hobby, so i will spend a few bob but obviously something affordable would be nice. Was thinking of adding a Kork MicroKontrol too http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=microkontrol might be handy because of portability.

Any help greatly appreciated as well as links to the necessary gear.

Cheers

Beecher

The Korg Microcontrol is nice but for the cash I'd much rather go for something like this. 61 keys, assignable knobs and sliders and it has transport controls for your sequencer of choice.

As regards to the software you have, pro tools requires pro tools hardware to run afaik, the cheapest being the MBOX 2 mini which doesnt have a midi in so it wont support your controller keyboard without a seperate midi interface.

My honest recommendation to you would be to get something along the lines of a Firewire 410. Its portable, sounds great, has all the connectivity you will need (midi in/out, mic/line ins) and most importantly it has a very low latency which is important when you are dealing with any real time input whether its playing a guitar or using your controller keyboard.

Software wise you could solely use Reason if you wanted too, its more than capable of producing some great drum and bass. If you want to use it with a seperate sequencer Cubase functions very well along side it. Cubase also has an advantage of having a large library of various types of free VSTi's available online.

For speakers on a budget I really like either the Alesis M1's, the M-audio BX-5 or, the Tannoy Reveals.

empirix

Cheers Beecher, so i am looking at a grand here, i can do that, i just hope i can set all the stuff up to work with reason!!! No doubt a slow learning process in the lines. I take it you think Thomann are good and reasonably priced

cheers

frobisher

Just so you know, Reason doesn't actually record sounds.

Beecher

empirix wrote:

Cheers Beecher, so i am looking at a grand here, i can do that, i just hope i can set all the stuff up to work with reason!!! No doubt a slow learning process in the lines. I take it you think Thomann are good and reasonably priced
cheers

Thomann are great and all but I would prob hit up ebay for stuff like this. Im after ordering a new soundcard and a few other things off ebay for a lot less than thomann sells them.

There are also many other soundcards that may fulfill your needs for a lower price. For example if you arent gonna be recording with mics and you dont need portability you could do far worse than this or this. Both have low latency drivers and in my experience are very stable good sounding cards. Personally i'm after ordering this off ebay for €200 delivered. It can record 8 simultaneous tracks of audio at <1ms latency and apparently sounds the business.

empirix

frobisher wrote:

Just so you know, Reason doesn't actually record sounds.

pLease elaborate

empirix

Beecher wrote:

Thomann are great and all but I would prob hit up ebay for stuff like this. Im after ordering a new soundcard and a few other things off ebay for a lot less than thomann sells them.

There are also many other soundcards that may fulfill your needs for a lower price. For example if you arent gonna be recording with mics and you dont need portability you could do far worse than this or this. Both have low latency drivers and in my experience are very stable good sounding cards. Personally i'm after ordering this off ebay for €200 delivered. It can record 8 simultaneous tracks of audio at <1ms latency and apparently sounds the business.

Cheers Beecher,will check out ebay

Beecher

empirix wrote:

pLease elaborate

Reason emulates a rack of hardware synthesizers, samplers, signal processors, sequencers and mixers. With these you can create music within the program but it doesnt allow you for example to plug in a mic and record vocals or the like. For that you will need something like cubase running alongside it.

frobisher

empirix wrote:

pLease elaborate

Reason is a program for creating music with the sounds already in the program or sounds/samples that you laod into your PC compatible with Reason. Cubase/Pro tools/Logic etc are programs that record audio through your sound card like singing, guitar, bass etc that also offer control over midi instruments. I'm presuming you'd like to be able to record your own sounds and use sounds from programs on the computer too, right?

empirix

Oh ok - for the time being, all i want reason to do is recognise my midi keyboards and the relevant noise i make from them - all is well yeah?

Kind of. Midi keyboards don't make noise, Reason does, your midi keybaord just tells it what notes and sounds to make. If that's ALL you want then even a very basic sound card for monitoring will do because your midi keyboard will probably be able to commnicate with your PC by USB (although double check this first!) so therefore you won't need a sound card that also has midi (which pushes up the price). What kind of sound card is in your PC at present? I posted a thread with a song that I recorded entriely through a basic soundblaster live card, listen here.

empirix

Just got the firewire 410 for €180 2nd hand - a good start!!

empirix

Anyone recommend a good headset thats doesn't blow the budget

empirix

empirix wrote:

Oh ok - for the time being, all i want reason to do is recognise my midi keyboards and the relevant noise i make from them - all is well yeah?

Kind of. Midi keyboards don't make noise, Reason does, your midi keybaord just tells it what notes and sounds to make. If that's ALL you want then even a very basic sound card for monitoring will do because your midi keyboard will probably be able to commnicate with your PC by USB (although double check this first!) so therefore you won't need a sound card that also has midi (which pushes up the price). What kind of sound card is in your PC at present? I posted a thread with a song that I recorded entriely through a basic soundblaster live card, listen here.

Cheers Frobisher - i got a 2nd hand card now anyway, so i hope this will last me - btw nice tune