Need advice for my home studio [Ableton, Maschine, APC40]

Performance & Techniques Music Production
1

Need advice for my home studio [Ableton, Maschine, APC40]

Hi DJTT,

I have been DJing for 6 years now, but recently I have been playing around in Ableton. I always wanted to make my own tracks and now I’m keen to build small studio and I need you help planning the whole thing.

Gear I already have:
*Traktor Kontrol S4
*Akai APC40 Mk1(should arrive in the next few days)

Gear I’m planning to get:
*Keyboard (49 keys)
*Maschine mk1
*Audio interface
*Monitor speakers

Things I need help with:
*Keyboard
*Audio interface
*Mappings
*Mac or PC

First of all keyboard. I don’t have faith in all-in-one units. All I want is a keyboard that just feels good. I have been checking out the Roland A-49 but I’m not sure what else is out there.

Audio interface wise I have been looking at a pre-loved Komplete Audio 6. My budget is 150-200 $, 300 if it’s really worth it. Any thoughts or other recommendations?

I also need help with mappings to make full use of mentioned equipment. Can I make full use of Maschine in Ableton?

Also I own a MacBook Pro 13.3" (Mid 2009) 2.26GHz, 8GB RAM, 320GB that I use along with my S4 for gigging. Should I use mentioned Macbook for Ableton as well or should I use my Asus N56VZ 15.6 Intel Core i7-3630QM 2.40GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB instead?

So boys and girls please school me! Please note that I’m a big fan of pre-loved stuff so used gear recommendations are more than welcome!

Thanks in advance,
Kaarel

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If I were getting into production today, the ONLY piece of gear I would consider to use with Live would be Push.

Dump the keyboard, the Maschine and the APC, and get a Push.

This is ESPECIALLY true if you are not great at writing your own mappings. Push is pre-mapped, and is a complete control surface (not just a midi controller) for Live.

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It’s incredible for the non-musically inclined as well.

320 GB isn’t much hard drive space if you’re planning on putting loops/samples on that hard drive. If so, you don’t have an external, I’d go with the Asus. And I’d make that decision before deciding on an audio interface because a lot of them have inconsistent drivers on PC-based systems. In your pricerange, I see Focusrite mentioned a lot.

I like my Akai MAX 49, even though it’s an all-in-one unit.

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I would go buy a nice cheap 25 key keyboard of some sort, one with some knobs and such so you can learn to map slowly without overloading yourself right away

Push is a good option if you have the funds

5

I might just resell the LE white APC40 that I bought for 150 bucks :smiley: and get the Push instead. Would Push be the only midi controller I need or is there anything else out there that would make my life easier?

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It is really hard to find anything wrong with this advice.

I have an S2, and use it to DJ. It is not at all helpful for producing.

Since you have an APC40 on the way…at least experiment with that for a while. I have an APC40 Mk1 and really like it. There are a LOT of mappings available (some free, some for $ to $$), and a stable support community. That said, I do drool over the Push.

I use a really simple 25 key board for making chords for keys, bass, horns, etc. I find it easier to “experiment” with chords on a keyboard before actually committing to something. It is helpful for me…but really is optional. If you already play piano, then you will probably REALLY want at least a 49 key keyboard. If not, skip it.

I have Maschine Mk1. Since I moved to Ableton as a DAW, it collects dust. I occasionally use it to build a drumming patterns that I can import into Ableton. The warping in Ableton makes working with samples a LOT easier. If I was starting over, I would skip Maschine.

In terms of audio interfaces, some input is helpful for production. The Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 or 2i4 is handy and good value for money. Paired with a reasonable mic, you can record sounds or vocals or other stuff that you can mix into your set. The 2i4 has 2 stereo outputs, so you can have a Master out and a Monitor out. That is handy at times.

Based on HD space and RAM, I’d go with the PC. Ableton is on both, most VSTs are on both. The overall experience will be about the same.

I would get an EXTERNAL monitor, or TWO. I am ALWAYS wanting more screen space when I am producing.

An external hard drive for backups is ESSENTIAL.

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Thanks for a really informative post. I have a few external HDDs and I also got a Dell U2412M on the way. Looks like I need to find a good deal on Push.

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Honestly all i use is a 49 key keyboard, external soundcard, and my computer with 2nd monitor. Thats all you really need, everything else is vsts. I have an APC 40 as well but thats for djiing, i never really use it for production, its just not necessary.

As far as Mac or PC is concerned, Im a Mac guy and use Ableton however i gotta be honest with you, i dont think Ableton handles multicore processing on Mac’s properly. I should have more than enough processing power with 4 cores in this macbook pro and Ableton still struggles at times. I’ve done some googling and it appears to be a common problem with no real solution, so take that for what its worth. I havent looked into if this is an issue on PCs or not as well tho.

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You can use your S4 as an audio interface. It has 4 in/4 out with Cirrus Logic converters than can encode at up to 24-bit/96 kHz. I would buy a small mixer and plug it into your S4 and use that instead of buying a separate audio interface. That’s what I did. Got a Mackie 1202 VLZ3, because it has decent mic pre-amps for its price.

Also, I must chime in support of the Maschine MK1. I have one and use it in Ableton routinely. If you can get used to workflow (creating patterns/scenes), it’s so easy and fast and fun to create beats and chop samples. Ableton Push looks beautiful and I’d love one but the Maschine MK1 can be had for about half the price (~$300 vs $599).

Please note, however, that Maschine does take some learning. But there are soooo many tutorials out there and even entire sites devoted to Maschine education like MaschineMasters and MaschineTutorials. Plus, the Maschine samples provided by Native Instruments are so nice with many expansion packs available for purchase.

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Patch couldn’t have said it better. :thumbsup:

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Do not forget MaschineSkills.com

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Are you only looking to get digital gear? I would suggest some analog synths. Which are great to learn on.
Also have you considered budgeting for acoustics? As if your room doesn’t sound right you may struggle