Production Question!! (Synth Related)
behemoth
2,189 Posts
i am looking to grab a piece of gear i can play synths, bass, keys with....i dont want to spend too much money...maybe 2-300 if possible!something that doesnt sound crappy but can be used to great effect...on top of that it needs to be compatible to my set up. at the moment i am just running a simple turntable and MPC combo into a Pro Tools MBox 2....do i just buy a keyboard/synth? play live?do i buy a midi controller? and if i do what programs do i need on my hard drive? and how do i use them to dump into Pro Tools?i just want to add shit to music im working on that cant be found on record!!help?
Comments
A keyboard that has a bunch of sounds on it for that price range is going to sound pretty bad. You could maybe find a used synth like a Juno 106 or a korg DW8000 for cheap but that will only give you synthesized sounds. Although good synths in there own rights.
Really if you want a wide range of sounds for cheap a midi controller keyboard and sampling software like Kontakt will give you a ton of sounds. Native instruments, Arturia and Gforce all make good virtual instruments. It's pretty easy to find cracked versions of there stuff. If you've got the money though pay for it.
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Keyboard+And+MIDI/product/Roland/Juno-D/10/1
i am just an idiot when it comes to recording the stuff. and my Mac is on its last leg. i dunno if installing more software is gonna make it poop the bed!!
and to this day i still dont understand how it will be recordable to Pro Tools!
If your mac is having problems and it's a complicated issue/ has just slowed down over time. Best bet is to back up all your files format the system and reinstall everything. If you're not too tech savvy befriend a nerd that can help you out.
The bass sounds on the Juno 106 are so huge. And it can definately be found used for cheap. But, yeah, it's not going to be as versatile as as a more expensive synth or midi controller.
All those apps mentioned will run as RTAS plug-ins inside pro tools. So you'll open an aux or instrument track with the plugin, feed midi information from a midi controller (or mpc or drawn by hand), and then record from the track in Pro tools through a bus.
So, for example, if you have Kontakt on an aux track, you set its out to bus 3-4, then have an audio track set to record bus 3-4, set levels and your good to go. I record my midi performances in either pro tools or on the mpc, depending on what I'm doing, then once I have a good midi performance I commit it to audio.
Also, if your computer is getting old, your talking about running modules and recording in pro tools all off the same CPU, so it will be pretty intensive if your already on the edge just working with audio....