Quote Originally Posted by jbernthold View Post
Ok,

I have Ableton, but just never really took the time to learn it cause I didnt have a controller for it and it just seems so overwhelming not knowing anything and their being soooo sooo much in there to do. I never knew where to start.

If I was going to go the same route you two seem to think is a very good way, what would be a good piece of Ableton equipment to purchase since you guys may have bought something you wish you hadnt, or saw something else that may have been better to grab.
I was a bit overwhelmed by Ableton as well when I first started, but truth is you dont NEED to have a controller for it if you are using it for just production. I use only ableton and my mouse. Once you understand the basics of how to structure tracks you can then start branching out and learning tools one by one. There are a plethura of great tutorials on youtube (search anything by tom cosm or the tornado twins dubstep tutorial).

Also, I made the same decision and am getting a Maschine mikro for christmas which I plan to use as my drum structure for ideas and then exporting to ableton after that. I think you will be pretty happy with it as long as you dont mind clicking a mouse every now and then.