Building Music Production Studio - £500 Budget - Help & Advice Greatly Appreciated!
What I want with my £500 budget is a pair of flat as possible studio headphones (Needed because of living situation), mac computer (Fast enough to run logic and decent virtual instruments), midi keyboard (49 keys) and an audio/midi interface to get ultra low latency.

So up to now I have found:

Used iMac on eBay £350
Shure SRH240 Headphones £50

And I have no idea what audio/midi interface or keyboard to get.

I would like low latency so would I need an audio interface even though I won't be recording anything just producing instrumentals? Will an audio interface give me low latency?

Also I would like a 49 key semi weighted or full weighted keyboard but can't seem to find one I like.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

A Focusright or Presonus interface, but is 49 keys do to space?
Do you use a Mac and own Logic now? Or have a close friend/partner
that does? That is quite relevant to potential
advice. If some windows erruption occurred, that can be remedied,
cheaper than moving to 0SeX

Assuming you got here on a computer you own,
I would adjust the plan, and buy something every-other month, start
with a keyboard you won't outgrow, using free synths, then add an
excellent interface with bundled DAW, then based on actual experiences,
determine a computer upgrade path.

The months will pass quickly anyway, low-end purchases now,
will haunt you in the future, while great tunes can still be made
in the interim, as things fall into place month by month.

More input on your current setup?
Cheers

I have looked into these and like the PreSonus Audio USB Interface as it has midi in and out aswell.



I don't understand, do you mean I should have a bigger keyboard? Because I want a keyboard big enough to play most music pieces to my songs without shifting octaves too much.



Yes I have used Macs in my college studio using logic and one of my friends uses the same and I prefer it to windows and any software I've used (fl studio, cubase, reason, pro tools, ableton). Also I only have an iPhone, I sold my pc many years ago but wish to get back into my music as I had to stop due to having no time to do it because I became a dad. Now I'm starting from scratch I would really want to go the OSX route from the start even if it is slightly more expensive



As I mentioned I have no of at the minute, my upgrade plan would be that macs hold there value and I could sell the one I buy now in a few years time and add a hundred or two and buy one with higher specs.



No current setup, thanks for your reply.

Its a plus having a friend, and experience, and knowing the foundation
you want to build on. A lot of older synthesizers were well made, with
good keybeds, quite a few used as midi controllers by people here, so
an old Kawai, Alesis, Yamaha, E-mu, with 61 or more keys should be easy to find
in the $200-$400 range.
They will have 5pin midi, so an interface you purchase should have that too.
Alesis, Lexicon, Yamaha, Presonus, Native Instruments, Focusrite have models
in the $150-$250 range.

A lot of the legwork is getting to know what the going rate prices are, so you
don't get stung, and perhaps get some real bargains. Find someone to let
you spend a day with their world-class monitor, browsing for prices,
and making sure a Mac model you like has good reviews from musician sources.

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/postlist.php?Board=Mac
A Mac musicians forum, should be worth getting their input.

a good snoop around this site, might guide your purchases in good ways

http://www.everymac.com/systems/

Cheers