Electronic Music Rookie, £500 to spend... help me out please!

[ColorVolume]

Hey guys,

I've spent the past day or so researching this subject but I need some opinions on which route to go down. I'm heading over to my local music store in a week or so, but I wanna call up and make sure they have what I want to try first, so an idea of what that might be would be great.

I'm currently getting started in making some electronic music. I'm a guitarist of 15 years, and have done a bit of live recording here and there but never anything with MIDI, synths, etc. However, over the past 6 months or so I find myself making beats and stabbing away at the on-screen keyboard and it's about time I got myself some hardware. I intend to work with electro/ambient stuff, possible some orchestral vibes mixed in, I'm loving Ed Harrison's stuff from that NeoTokyo thing right now, possibly along the lines of where I'm aiming for.

I'm using Logic, and Kontakt, and Reason too although I haven't done much in Reason as of yet. The gear I've got is a MOTU 8PRE, and some old Yamaha monitors which aren't too bad, and will certainly do for now.

So, as I said, my budget is around £500 and I wanted to know what you think I should get. Also, 61 keys or 49? I know nothing about playing keys right now other than what I can transfer over from guitar, but I do intend to learn some basic piano since it's something I wanted to do anyway (by no means intending to become a classical pianist though... just enough to make some nice melodies/chord shapes and actually know what I'm doing)

Here's what I'm thinking;

Option 1: Keyboard/Controller: Akai MPK61 £399 or Novation Impulse 61 £299.

Both seem like decent, entry level 'do it all' boards... not sure if they're any good or whether I really need 61 keys... 49 would save a lot of money (£249 Nov, £299 MPK) but not sure if 49 is adequate.


Option 2: Synth to use as synth and midi device: Roland GAIA SH01 or Korg MicroKorg (both ~£450)

These look like a lot of fun, but fewer keys, no weighting and would need a MIDI interface for the GAIA. Also not sure how they are as controllers.


Option 3: Decent 61/88 key keyboard + separate MIDI controller

No idea on this one, just thought I might get a nicer keybed if I go the separate route... again, may need a MIDI interface if the keyboard only has MIDI out.


Finally, is there any other hardware I should pick up at this stage? Say I went for the Novation 61, I'd have £200 left to grab something else for example.

I'd really love to hear some thoughts on this because I'm currently pretty stumped!

Thanks

 

[ADL]

Logic or reason can do anything the gaia or microkorg can... get a decent midicontroller... I personally prefer the novations over the akai, go test them out in your local music store... but get the 61key models, 49 is really limited imo...

 

[ColorVolume]

Thanks for the reply ADL, I had forgotten about this thread!

Yeah I'm still researching, headed to the music store this week to finally actually buy some stuff!

I've managed to get a little more cash together, but I need to get software. I just upgraded to Lion which broke Logic (I was on Express 8), so will pick up Studio 9 (the upgrade from Express, which is like £225).

As for the controller, I'm glad you suggested Novation, I really like the look of the new Impulse 61, which is £100 cheaper than the Akai, so unless the Akai blows me away over the feel of the Novation, then I'll definitely get the Novation. Also gonna grab a pair of Audio Technica ATH M50 I think, I don't have any monitoring headphones and I think I'll want to compose with headphones on most of the time.

Thanks again

 

[streetstruck]

Get yourself a M-Audio 49 midi controller, ask your music store if they have any past models if your trying to keep the cost down. Don't get a microkorg. If your leaning towards hardware, I'd suggest a Yamaha Rm1x if you can find one.