Wanting to begin Music Production, how/what to get to start?

Performance & Techniques Music Production
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Wanting to begin Music Production, how/what to get to start?

Hi so I want to start trying to make my own songs

I already have Ableton Live, but I don’t really know how to use it. I am thinking to purchase a midi controller
This one in particular, http://www.axemusic.com/product.asp?P_ID=29039&strPageHistory=search&strKeywords=cheap,DJ&numPageStartPosition=501&strSearchCriteria=any&PT_ID=all

and try to figure Ableton out over the summer.
Is the MPK Mini a good keyboard to begin with? What are some tips/tricks to use with Ableton?
I am a total noob/beginner with this, and the only other music-type program I have is Traktor, which I use with my traktor S2.

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The MPK Mini feels like a cheap piece of crap because it is. Unfortunately, you won’t get anything better without spending a lot of money.

I think it wouldn’t be a bad place to start, especially because it fits in a backpack. But I returned mine. That being said, if I got it used (in good condition) or on sale, I probably would have kept it. I think it’d be better if it cost $50 instead of $100. As a corollary, I like my LPD8, but I paid $35 instead of $70……If I’d paid $70 for it, I would have returned it.

I guess that’s where the market has settled for stuff like this. To get better, the cheapest I know of (and have touched) is like $200. I’d think the Novation and M-Audio 25 key offerings would probably be the best, but they’re also $200+.

So, for $100…I think the MPK mini does offer a good bit…and it’s not like it’s going to fall apart. It just feels like crap.

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I would suggest getting m-audio keystations which are simply the keyboard without any fancy drumpads or faders which you will probably won’t use.

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I’d say the opposite. I have a keystation 49e, and I never touch the thing. But I also have a Maschine and don’t play keyboard. It does everything I need so far except for working as a control surface in Pro Tools.

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What is the reason you don’t touch them Mostapha? Is it simply because you don’t play keyboard or the quality of it?

I don’t have a keyboard yet but when I go back to home, I want to get a 61 key to play as my master keyboard as I am tired of drawing notes in the piano roll, I want to use my keyboard instead of drawing.

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I don’t play keyboard well. So, that’s part of it. One of the E-flat keys doesn’t work unless you smash the fuck out of it. And mostly it feels like garbage…completely un-weighted, cheap plastic keys that only count as a keyboard in a very general sense.

Something tells me that having fully-weighted keys would make it worth taking piano lessons…but that’s expensive. And Maschine lets me play things on a grid (either by semitones or with scales because of how I have it set up) that works a bit closer to the way I think anyway (I play guitar).

So, there’s a lot that goes into it. They don’t make the 49 key version anymore, but I don’t think the 61 key is worth the price compared to spending $100 or so more on an Akai or Novation……more functionality and they feel a lot less like crap. Axioms are about where M-Audio starts feeling less like garbage.

Seriously, though, just go to Guitar Center or something if you can and see what level of crap you’re willing to deal with. It’s not so much a “this one is good” level as much as balancing cost vs. crap.

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I like my mpk mini. I had an arturia laboratory keyboard for a bit, but I really like the small size and versatility the mpk mini has. Plus, it’s really easy remappable with the software it comes with it, so I made mine a multi-layered beast in disguise.

As I’m not classically trained with piano’s and such, I don’t miss the extra keys full keyboards give.

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@Michielygil

Are the keys bad if they’re not weighted? Does everything feel good? The guys above said the keys and stuff feel cheap.
How good are the drum pads? thanks

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I like the keys not weighted to be honest, since i usually just use it more for getting a melody and adjust the velocity later on.
If you’re classically schooled or used to playing the melody right the first time, it might turn you off.

The drum pads are not that great for drumming purposes (google akai mpk fix how to make them better), but I’m using them as macro buttons (on/off, shift functions) so that doesn’t matter for me.

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Seriously, if you can…go feel them. As with many things, I’d rather not have something than have something that pisses me off if I can possibly do without it. You might think they feel fine.

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Yeah im going to go to axe music to test them when i get money :smiley:

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Craigslist is usually full of decent working MIDI controllers for 1/3 the price. Get one of those.

I must say, the more you know how to play a keyboard or any instrument, the most interesting music you could make. So avoid the MIDI editing/loop trap.

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The Roland A-500 ; A-800 are the best feeling midi keyboards imo. My suggestion.. get one of these or instead go the real cheap route.. You can find 49 key midi controllers on ebay for around $60-80 shipped from ebay..

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This is really honest and true. I love that you pointed out that feelings about weighted keys might depend on one’s workflow - playing things in (“right the first time”) versus extensively adjusting the performance later.

I loathe using anything but weighted keys, but I have (lots and lots and lots of) classical training.

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Likewise. Well, except that I’m a terrible keyboardist. The crappy-feeling keyboard I have doesn’t make me want to practice, and as a result I just don’t use it and use the pads on my Maschine instead.

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Just start off with the DAW by itself. Ableton is a good place to start. FL Studio is easier to learn, but Ableton is more… COMPLETE!
Most EDM Artists these days don’t use a MIDI Controllers in their productions anyway as it is simple enough just to draw in automation and MIDI Notes by hand.

I would recommend getting a beat machine though as it is a good thing to play around with and experiment with new beats. Something such as an MPD32 or Maschine would be a good place to start.

EDIT: I would prefer a Maschine over an MPD because the MPD has a cheaper feel to it being plastic, whereas the Maschine has an aluminium finish and looks way more professional and as Mostapha was saying I would rather have a more expensive good looking controller than a controller that is cheaper and does the same thing but looks like shit and feels like shit.

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FL Studio is neither easier to learn nor less complete than Live. FL Studio is more than capable of complete, pro-sounding productions…it just has a very different workflow from Live. I don’t like it at all, but it’s not crap. And Live is no more complete than anything else except maybe Reason……and that’s just because until recently it couldn’t use 3rd party plugins.

Bullshit. People use the tools that make the job easy for them and that they can afford. What you meant to say was that you prefer drawing in notes to playing a keyboard.

Even if you’re a terrible keyboardist, it’s much easier to improvise and maybe wind up with a half-decent melody with a keyboard than by drawing in notes. And that too ignores step sequencers, grid sequencers, and keyboard modes that make a computer keyboard echo MIDI notes.

You’ve never touched an MPD or a Maschine, have you?

Maschine is cool because of the Maschine software. Without that, yeah…the pads are decent…but it’s not enough better than an MPK or Axiom to be worth the cost.

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Lol. I dont understand why people spend so much time trying to bullshit people on a forum. If you haven’t used anything dont bother trying to explain it hhaa.

Im looking at getting a cheap controller here. Should be decent.

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A good example of why people might vehemently defend their choices and suggest them to others with or without enough knowledge: Hate Mail and the New Religious Wars in Tech - The New York Times

As for things you haven’t used…I blame people staying in a Holiday Inn Express.

I’ve used a lot of stuff, and I have an idea of what I enjoy using…though what “works” for me depends on goals. If it’s getting signed or getting a big release, nothing works for me yet. If it’s having fun making music, well…I think my views are spread out across this board pretty well. And they’re pretty different from what a lot of people consider the norm.

One of the bigger jumps towards actually enjoying things was trying everything I could get my hands on and realizing that the “tropes” for EDM (Live, NI Komplete, Sylenth, Reason, etc.) weren’t what I enjoyed. Unfortunately, the stuff I enjoy ends up being a lot more expensive to the point that I haven’t actually invested in the hardware that I think would make things even easier……mostly because I’m waiting to not feel guilty about it and to start taking piano lessons.

Believe me, I wish that Live + a couple free soft synths and a mouse was all I wanted, but that’s not the case. My musical life would take a lot more success to break even than someone who’s happy working entirely in the box. Hell…I’m legitimately weighing Pro Tools HD Native vs. the Complete Production Toolkit just for a few small features that I’ve used on other systems before…and the cheaper one is $2000……for what amounts to a ram disk, more record channels, and VCA Masters. It’s stupid. But it’s part of the way I like to work, and getting down towards 0 latency will matter when I start buying synthesizers and microphones.

And if people come here (or elsewhere) and get a “this is how you do it” rundown and they happen to think like I do…or differently from me and cough some other people…they’ll wind up discouraged and possibly give it up before they find something that works for them.

I love music. I’ll keep doing it, and as long as I can keep my girlfriend happy and my cat fed, I won’t consider a few grand in synthesizers wasted even if I never get a track on the beatport charts. And if someone loves music like that but hates Live……I’d hate for them to give up just because they’re not as pathetic as me and haven’t spent days at a time googling and surfing to find out what else is out there.

And I still think that the “crap I don’t like” has its place. I kind of think the Maschine Mikro is a joke compared to the full one and that the MPK Mini is a cheap toy. But, if I wind up not going whole-hog towards hardware, there’s a good chance I’ll own both just to keep in my bag and work anywhere I want to. Or a small groove box that–outside of that context–wouldn’t be all that impressive and is just plain less powerful than what I already have.

There are so many ways to do this, just about all you can do (without an unlimited budget) is get a lot of information, hope you can tell the BS sources from the ones that are good but still not you, and figure out something that makes sense for the way you think.

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Good article.

To comment on rest of your post, I wound up going through several different controllers and software before stopping on the ones I have now. Also, I like hardware, so knew I couldn’t stay all software long, so I got a Virus TI and recently got a Maschine.

@Ugadeee - I would look at the M-Audio Axiom, pretty inexpensive and good to start with. But if the small Akai controller is all you can afford, go with it or keep saving.