New too hardware producin :D

Desann

New member
before anything i would like too introduce myself....

my name is frank and i go under the handle "Desann" when producin trance.
My style is melodic and maybe a little prog :D

as for the first question for me on this board:

ive been producin with reason now but ive been thinking of buying some hardware synthesizers....Novation Nova and maybe a JP-8080.
Ive just got a midi controller "evolution mk249" but here comes the probb....i dont know **** about hardware producin....

i just wanna program my own synth sounds with the synthesizers but i dont know which hardware i should have too hook my synths up.

maybe a mixer and a midi-interface? i dont really know about this so it would be awesome to have some clearance in this.

ive checked around some on the forum but it seems that everyone knows more about producing with hardware than i do :D


cheers Desann
 
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hi mate
just got my first peice of serious hardware myself(access virus c) so have just started like yourself.

I would advise u to get a mixer and a midi interface to start with for sure.

SM
 
You will definitely need a mixer and MIDI interface and that's just it to be honest.

The next question is what mixer and which MIDI interface. This depends on how far you want to go along the hardware route. If you just want to keep to a simple 2/3 synth setup then you don't need much.

You will have a soundcard in your PC and it will more than likely have a games port which you can connect a MIDI interface to (which you would be better getting from your local music store). If it is a high end sound card then it may even have some MIDI in/out connections already so you'll just need a couple of cables. Another option is to go for a USB MIDI interface such as the Midisport 2x2 which has two in and two out ports and will be ample for a start.

One major consideration is wether you are going to need a midi controller or not. Do you play keyboards for instance? If so then you may be better getting a Roland JP8000 instead of the JP8080 and use that as your controller. You may even decide to get a dedicated controller keyboard that has no sound capabilities at all, just keys and knobs. If you just sequence via software then you'l be OK with rack synths like the nova and JP8080.

How you then connect them up depends which MIDI interface you go for and wether you are using a MIDI controller. MIDI can be a bit of a handfull for the newbie but once you're into it it's quite straight forward. I'll go into this in more details later if you want.


As for the mixer, that is a lot simpler. As I pointed out above, you will need to decide wether you intend to stick to just a couple of synths or wether you intend to expand your hardware setup over a few years. I started of with a simple 12 channel analogue mixer which allowed me to connect up to 6 stereo channels from my various bits of kit. I've since progressed to a 16 channel MIDI mixer which besides the extra capacity has the ability to be controlled via my sequencer.



have a think about this and I'll go into more details if you require. I'll look up some links for various mixers for instance and even sort out some drawings showing how you can connect up the bit's of kit you go for.


andy
 
Hi, I'm new to this forum, a user of Reason, and not very familiar w/ hardware. What exactly is a midi-interface?
 
You also need a good soundcard to actually record the sound of your hardware synths. If you get a soundcard with enough inputs, you really don't need a mixer. you can plug all your synths into the soundcard and control the levels from your computer. That's what I do, and i love it. It's much safer too, because one less item between your synth and soundcard reduces the amount of noise and signal degradation that can be caused by substandard components.

So instead of buying a decent soundcard and a decnet mixer, you can spend that money and buy a great soundcard only. A good soundcard is the most important thing in obtaining the pro quality sound. Do not skimp in this area. Look at MOTU or Event soundcards.
 
for low budget,

what about the EURORACK UB1202 for mix, www.behringer.de

DELTA 66 or DELTA 2496 as the sound card, wich one is better? www.m-audio.com

if you allready have a sound card, dont use the joystick port, it has high latency (that is the time between you press the key and the instrument in your computer actually sounds, like half a second on a soundblaster live). Get a midiman (m-audio) 1x1 USB interface,

about the synth i heard the JP-8000 or 8080 is really good for dance / trance music

i have a korgMS2000 and i love it, but maybe you want more part multitimbrality so dont get it because its only 2 part :(

access virus C or KC (keyboard) its supposed to be the best synth all around.

peace

p.d. a USB-midi interface is a thing that connects a MIDI equipment to the USB port on your computer, you transmit MIDI to the computer via the USB port.
 
i personally use the jp8000 and keep in mind the number of notes you are interested in playing at once. i've listened to factory presents on the E-mu XL-7 (extreme lead rom) and i must say it's pretty good. the disadvantage to those is that you can't create the arpegiators (there are a bunch of presets to select from though) . if you got the 8080 i'd recommend picking up the midiman oxygen 8 as a controll surface for playing since it could also double as a controller for reason.

as stated, the quality of the audio interface you use should be a deffinite focus as well. personally i was looking at the 828 but have decided that i'd rather save for the 2408mk3. if you get a quality sound card then you should have no problem just running your first hardware synth in. however if you start looking at more and more hardware, getting a mixer would be advisable. if you are starting with one, put your money into a sound card.

hope that helps.
 
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