What new equipment cant I get to enhance my music from stock plugins?

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crimsonhawk47

New member
I've been doing music for about 3 years now, and I'm learning a lot about music theory and composition. However, sometimes I feel limited by the stock plugins of pro tools and logic (especially since most stock vst's are kind of pathetic). So what can I get to my records sound more real and appealing?

I was thinking of getting an mpc 3000, half for the convenience and half for the fact that it comes with a bunch of samples.

I don't want to get some custom compressor that costs 300 dollars because I think that's a waste of money for the tiniest change in your music.
 
What kind of music are you doing? "More real and appealing" is kind of, well, super vague without a point of reference.

Also what exactly are you finding that the stock plugins lack? Plenty of pro stuff have been mixed with that stuff - even #1 hits.
 
Hip hop. A lot of different styles except for trap. The stock plugins are hit and miss for me (especially the strings). I'd rather have more under my belt
 
Any you recommend for hip hop? I'm just trying to stand out because I'm noticing a lot of the people that sample vinyls produce similar sounding music. Usually major piano keys that are sampled for like one second and played several times every 4 bars
 
crimsonhawk47 said:
Any you recommend for hip hop? I'm just trying to stand out because I'm noticing a lot of the people that sample vinyls produce similar sounding music. Usually major piano keys that are sampled for like one second and played several times every 4 bars
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In that case, why not learn to play the piano?
 
If you are going to buy VST's this is the best time of year to do so. A bunch of stuff is on sale during the period starting Thanksgiving and usually ending around the New Year. You missed the NI Thanksgiving sale (50% off pretty much everything) but there are still some good deals out there... Strike now while the iron is cheap!
 
crimsonhawk47 said:
I've been doing music for about 3 years now, and I'm learning a lot about music theory and composition. However, sometimes I feel limited by the stock plugins of pro tools and logic (especially since most stock vst's are kind of pathetic). So what can I get to my records sound more real and appealing?

I was thinking of getting an mpc 3000, half for the convenience and half for the fact that it comes with a bunch of samples.

I don't want to get some custom compressor that costs 300 dollars because I think that's a waste of money for the tiniest change in your music.
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For the longest time I was thinking of getting a MPC. I have always been into hip hop and the sounds that came from hip hop. The cost of the MPC made me always think twice. Even though they always had some sort of cheaper substitute ( MPD, MPC 1000).

Luckily I waited and waited ( mostly because I didn't have the money to spend ) Then the NI MASCHINE came out......I also waited until the MASCHINE MKII. :)

Best decision I made in a long while. It has made everything soooooo much fun. It does wonders for exploring VST's and being able to tweak them. It makes my work flow so much quicker. The sounds that it comes with are great! and you can always invest in more Themed sound packs ( hiphop, house, ambient etc etc.. ) and they are not too expensive ($49) a pop.

I think it's worth the cost
MASCHINE MKII - $650 (taxes included)

You obviously need to have a working computer to use this interface, but in this day an age.....who doesn't.

I don't usually toot my own horn but all the Etude songs on my soundcloud were all made with the MASCHINE.
 
Alright I'm gonna throw ya a gem I was in the same position as u about a year ago I'll tell you my main plugins I use logic hate just about every instrument in there except the organs bells and sculpture I hate ultrabeat so my first purchase was machine and it stept my drum game up a bit I actually needed something better to audition my drum sounds and now that I know how everything works I love it my 2nd buy was nexus but not for synth sounds I purchased the orchestra expansions so if I need a string or brass I'll use that then I wanted a reg subtractive synth I got synth1 and rob papen predator then I purchased tone 2 gladiator, anything from tone 2 is worth the money to me after that I wanted a bass module I got spectrasonic trillion I purchased all that in a year I spend way to much money on plugins but I'm glad I have them
 
Gotta start getting into that sound design.

One of the beautiful things about it you can listen to any song and say "hey I like that sound, let me make it"

It's good to know about sound design anyways cause you don't want to just be throwing sh*t against the wall and seeing what sticks.

You want to know that this knob does this, and when I combine it with that knob it does that, and so on.
 
For example that rising synth noise that every rap song has nowadays...

I was bent on figuring out exactly how to make that, from scratch in Reason with Thor.

With a lot of help around here, I finally figured it out over probably 8+ hours over the span of 2 weeks.

Other guys were telling me "Oh that's in such and such drum kit" but I wanted to actually learn how to make it.

IMO the hard way leads to the easy way, now I know how to make that sound (as well as variations of it) and have a better understanding of synthesizers.
 
Thee3ternal said:
Gotta start getting into that sound design.

One of the beautiful things about it you can listen to any song and say "hey I like that sound, let me make it"

It's good to know about sound design anyways cause you don't want to just be throwing sh*t against the wall and seeing what sticks.

You want to know that this knob does this, and when I combine it with that knob it does that, and so on.
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I Agree 100% and some Good Plugins to start Practicing Tweaking with is Sylenth1 and Genesis ... You can reproduce almost any synth sound bass arps or effect with these with a couple turn of some knobs. also Bro its not about What You have its How you use it ... i went Through a whole Phase of wanting almost every hardware keyboard and drum machine because i thought it would make a big difference and better quality... but Ive been On FLstudio for 11 years now and i must say unless your looking for something specific FL Studio Can Cover All aspects of Production in Quality and Functionality and Has Loads More of Creative Freedom.. I Never bought a piece of Hardware Again after the Korg Triton Wave
 
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I ended up getting Maschine NI, We are installing it right now.

Good tip on the sound design. Maschine actually came with massive, so it's a perfect time to get into that.

To the whole mixing thing, I have been, that's why I'm redoing my inaccurate ass studio. Hopefully everything will come together.

I'll tell you what I think of NI in a couple days.
 
like halfblack said tone2 stuff is DOPE as hell, they even got a good free one called firebird.

DON'T try and pirate they shit, they got that on lock, trust me, moreso than most. worth the cash though.
 
also NI komplete is the best value on the market. i'm not a huge fan of their synths, but the kontakt sampler is dope, and the price makes up for my dislike of the synths (but a majority of people like the synths.) i also love DUNE and SYLENTH but sylenth is 32 bit which may or may not be a problem for you.
 
I hear what you are all saying about sound design (and I do have massive)
but I am also looking into vst's specifically cause they can't be 100% emulated with a synth.
 
Kontakt would be a plugin to look at as you can download lots of packages which vary in sounds, for example, ranging from drums only packages to strings/orchestral etc. It's very versatile.
 
If you're lolling at getting an MPC the. Look at NI Maschine and Maschine Studio. It has a great collection of samples and you can use it with your DAW very easily. It's great for drums and sampling/chopping. NI's Komplete Ultimate package is something else to look at for anything from synths, samplers, effects, sampled instruments, and all that good stuff. I have both of these and I feel like I can never be limited.
 
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