Good (or best) equipment and the best edu path

[total212]

I have melodies coming to my head and I know that the path is Ableton Live or Fruity Loops.

1) Get Mac? Is this better than Windows PC for this (I've heard that there is no delay on Mac or something like this)

2) I will learn the piano but I will do it by myself. I know that a teacher is better and I may do it later on. "Piano/keyboard for dummies" - is this a good choice? What are the better choices (this the best particular book or books, or this author or publisher - this would be the answer that I would be looking for)?

3) "Music theory for dummies" - ok chocie. Or what is better or the best, just like the question 2.

4) What is the best brand for the keyboard (controller I think that this is called). I think that I would like to have max number of keys possible, this is probably 84 (this makes sense)? M-Audio - is this it? Or what else?

5) External music card - I need this for Mac or for a Windows PC too? What is the best brand or are the best brands (again, I want to start looking in the best places, I am not sure if I will buy any of these; "money well spent" will be the thinking, so I can spend but for something that makes sense)

6) Monitors and headphones - what brands here. What are the parameters of monitors and how could I look at this. What would be needed for me and what could be too much? Also headphones, something with good parameters would be the best. "Do it good" thinking, I can save the $$$$$ for this.

7) Get Komplete 11 Ultimate, or something like this, and go from there? This would make sense? This may be too much, I am not sure, but we are doing it good....

Other brands to look at are Arturia, Akai, I know that. Any other info would be GREAT. Like what websites, authors, publishers, YouTube channels, edu sources, forums, FB groups, anything... Do it good. Maybe even special type of furniture for the PC.

So good pc (if Mac needed), good software, good equipment, good books, find the best sources online (maybe paid cources too) and go from there...

I am already collecting some great info from other sources and I will add it here later on (like musicTheory.net, scottsBassLessons.com)

Thanks!

 

[krushing]

1) Get Mac? Is this better than Windows PC for this (I've heard that there is no delay on Mac or something like this)

This is purely personal preference these days. Apple's ecosystem is more expensive to get into, and you can certainly get more bang for buck from a Windows PC - especially if you build it yourself - but then again, Macs perform nicely out of the box. Basically...iIf you like Windows, get a PC. If you like MacOS, get a Mac. I've been working on Macs for a long time, maybe 20 years both professionally and personally, and find the OS more...pleasant to put it simply. But as said, it's very subjective; technically and hardware-wise there's not much of a difference (waaay back in the day, Macs ran on a completely different architecture, and some of the rumours and hearsay and half-truths still remain from those days, even though it's ancient history by now).

2) I will learn the piano but I will do it by myself. I know that a teacher is better and I may do it later on. "Piano/keyboard for dummies" - is this a good choice? What are the better choices (this the best particular book or books, or this author or publisher - this would be the answer that I would be looking for)?

3) "Music theory for dummies" - ok chocie. Or what is better or the best, just like the question 2.

Haven't perused either, but I guess both are fine for the basics. The actual mechanics of playing the piano are best teached by an actual person - that is, if you actually want to learn to play "properly" (as opposed to just hitting the right notes regardless of finesse) - a book or a youtube video won't adjust the orientation of your wrists or fingers or stuff like that. Music theory can def be learned on your own though.

4) What is the best brand for the keyboard (controller I think that this is called). I think that I would like to have max number of keys possible, this is probably 84 (this makes sense)? M-Audio - is this it? Or what else?

A regular full-sized piano has 88 keys. Unless you're trying to learn to actually play the piano, as opposed to playing synths and other instruments on a keyboard controller, you probably won't need as much (all keyboard controllers have octave +/- keys to reach beyond the offered key range). It doesn't hurt to have the full 88, but there are much more options if you take, for example 61-key controllers into consideration. "Best brand" is a bit vague, as there are different features and options and...things; what kind of knobs, controls, and sliders they have besides the keys? How do the keys feel? How easy it is to map the controls to what you want to control? And so on. But that said, I'd look into Novation, Akai, Nektar, Roland and M-Audio in no particular order. Btw, a "controller" (actually "MIDI controller") usually means a keyboard or other-shaped thingy (look for "control surfaces" for keyboard-less controllers if you like) that doesn't produce any sound on its own, but controls other sound sources, such as software instruments. But pretty much every half-modern synthesizer also works as a controller as well as having a sound source of their own.

5) External music card - I need this for Mac or for a Windows PC too? What is the best brand or are the best brands (again, I want to start looking in the best places, I am not sure if I will buy any of these; "money well spent" will be the thinking, so I can spend but for something that makes sense)

Pretty much needed, regardless of the platform. They offer the physical connectivity for all your external gear, low-latency audio performance and some other stuff (someone will inevitably drop in and say "better converters", but let's not go in there yet). Focusrite, Roland, Tascam and Steinberg (for example) offer good-but-more-or-less-affordable audio interfaces for all kinds of setups. If you want "best", you can look up RME, Apogess, Prism Audio, Antelope and other high-end brands, but they tend to be prohibitely expensive for us normal folk. You can always upgrade when you have a good idea what you actually need.

6) Monitors and headphones - what brands here. What are the parameters of monitors and how could I look at this. What would be needed for me and what could be too much? Also headphones, something with good parameters would be the best. "Do it good" thinking, I can save the $$$$$ for this.

Well, this is tricky. There are countless discussions on these and obviously no conclusive answer, but let's just say that monitors are something that shouldn't be skimped on, at least if you want to be able to mix properly - then again, one can get away with cheaper stuff if you just want to make music. But basically you can't really tell if a pair of monitors or headphones is good by looking at its specs, so I'd rather rely on 1) your ears and 2) some reputable review sources, like Sound On Sound or Mix Online. Professional monitoring is really, really expensive and also include the acoustic treatment of the space your mixing in - but luckily, more budget conscious options exist and nowadays even monitors designed for less acoustically optimal spaces (like, say, the corner of a bedroom). What kind of budget are you thinking here? I'd rather not drop any brand names before having a sort of ballpark figure.

7) Get Komplete 11 Ultimate, or something like this, and go from there? This would make sense? This may be too much, I am not sure, but we are doing it good....

Well, I think even the non-Ultimate Komplete is a very good start - but even before going there, I'd probably sift through the stock library of the DAW of your choice and then decide what you actually need. A lot of the stuff in Ultimate (vs the regularare acoustic drum libraries, cinematic stuff and guitars/basses et al.

And yes, there are lots of other brands as well to consider (even though Komplete does remain surprisingly unique as an "all-in" offering, in a way)...but I'm a bit hesitant to offer advice on buying this or that without really knowing what you're going to be doing. No point trying to cover all bases when the ball's out of the playing field, so to say.

Hope this helps

 

[webi7]

I have melodies coming to my head and I know that the path is Ableton Live or Fruity Loops.

1) Get Mac? Is this better than Windows PC for this (I've heard that there is no delay on Mac or something like this)

2) I will learn the piano but I will do it by myself. I know that a teacher is better and I may do it later on. "Piano/keyboard for dummies" - is this a good choice? What are the better choices (this the best particular book or books, or this author or publisher - this would be the answer that I would be looking for)?

3) "Music theory for dummies" - ok chocie. Or what is better or the best, just like the question 2.

4) What is the best brand for the keyboard (controller I think that this is called). I think that I would like to have max number of keys possible, this is probably 84 (this makes sense)? M-Audio - is this it? Or what else?

5) External music card - I need this for Mac or for a Windows PC too? What is the best brand or are the best brands (again, I want to start looking in the best places, I am not sure if I will buy any of these; "money well spent" will be the thinking, so I can spend but for something that makes sense)

6) Monitors and headphones - what brands here. What are the parameters of monitors and how could I look at this. What would be needed for me and what could be too much? Also headphones, something with good parameters would be the best. "Do it good" thinking, I can save the $$$$$ for this.

7) Get Komplete 11 Ultimate, or something like this, and go from there? This would make sense? This may be too much, I am not sure, but we are doing it good....

Other brands to look at are Arturia, Akai, I know that. Any other info would be GREAT. Like what websites, authors, publishers, YouTube channels, edu sources, forums, FB groups, anything... Do it good. Maybe even special type of furniture for the PC.

So good pc (if Mac needed), good software, good equipment, good books, find the best sources online (maybe paid cources too) and go from there...

I am already collecting some great info from other sources and I will add it here later on (like musicTheory.net, scottsBassLessons.com)

Thanks!

Nice

 

[Chief Edit]

mac