Simple cheap sequencer for beginners- No hardware jargon

S

SonicDon

New member
I see alot of people on these threads who want to get into producing and want to know where to start and whats the best hardware/software to purchase. Then get responses full of audio engineering jargon like 'well this one has 62-voice polyphonic, multi-band compressor or this one has AWM2, 64 MB of PCM , MIDI and SMPTE' blah blah...When i started and wanted to dip my toes in i just used a simple 16 track sequencer i brought for £21.25 to be exact. It had professional mixing capability, all the drums/percussion, instruments and effects i needed. It came with production lessons aswell. None of this £900 and £3200 ish. You don't want to be bombarded with hardware specifics at the start, i know i didn't its just confusing.
 
I guess the problem is that to be able to understand the differences and fundamental concepts associated with these devices, you'll inevitably have to get a bit technical at some point. I understand the whole "I just want to make music" angle, but it's gonna be a hell of an obstacle course if you are gonna just stumble your way through. There's a great deal of information online to learn the basics; the problem is more about deciding which of it is relevant and which is not than finding the stuff in the first place. The Tweakheadz' Guide is a great place to start learning.

I'm not sure if you actually wanted suggestions or not...
 
Yh i get you i know what your saying. Of course, when you've progressed and are more serious about it the technical details will aid your decision when you want that upgrade. Yh your right it would be an obstacle but thats why im saying start off with something basic and get familiar with that then move on. Because being faced with aload of different knobs, fancy displays and numerous buttons can be frustrating for some- the ones that can't be bothered to figure it out and just want to make music. True..I think creativity and experimentation is pivotal also.
I skimmed through that site..very nice! Couple years late but im still learning nice one.
 
Getting hardware/software involves money. That's why you definitely should look at the specs and find out what they mean. If you don't, you might end up wasting your money on something that you really didn't need or on something that doesn't do what you want to get done with it.
 
@The Tone Ranger- Just some basic sequencer called sonic producer i got over the internet my pops friend referred..Then i got fruityloops 7 then 8 and 9..went to sonar 8 then got various hardware and finally ableton suite with which im most comfortable with.
@jyri- Of course. But you wouldn't waste money if u got a trial version of software. Like i was saying in a previous post deal with the specs when you progress and are ready for the next step.
Thanks for the replies.
 
my first set up was a aiwa boombox.....i used the right speaker of a pair of earbuds as my microphone and i recorded onto tape cassette......we used two tapes recording simotaniously too lay down our background vox and adlibs.

that was back in like '96........now i run a sonar 8 set up.......the "jargon" came with the territory.
 
@statixx- aiwa boombox- i like. Im in love with the oldskool..Me and a friend used to do an improvised radio show recorded via earbuds on a tape cassette hah-memories.
True, i guess it does but some people willingly ignore it and just want to make music learning through experimentation instead.
 
SonicDon said:
@statixx- aiwa boombox- i like. Im in love with the oldskool..Me and a friend used to do an improvised radio show recorded via earbuds on a tape cassette hah-memories.
True, i guess it does but some people willingly ignore it and just want to make music learning through experimentation instead.
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I totally hear where your comming from. Before we concerned ourselves with all the technicalities, we were just being creative.
 
Exactly. I think thats to do with people doing it for the money instead of doing it because they love it. They see someone whos got into the mainstream, they want the exact same equipment they got, they throw their creativity out the window and replace it with the same method that particular artist used in the hope of getting the cash. Carbon copies producing the same repetitive clice music dominate nowdays.
 
ENERGY XT!!!!

I LOVE IT!

I was going to buy Ableton and came across this program for $80!

It has such an easy to underestimate workflow! It makes every easy without the rocket science!

Unlimited VST support and open source! even linux!!

what you guys think of this program?
 
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