Computer Newbie

[rockwell]

I am an untrained musician, who has produced two albums, in numerouse singles in the rap world. I am not computer literate at all, but I realize that the music world has gone into computers. I presently have a yamaha aw 4416, I was thinking of getting sonar 3 producer edition. I have an ibm thinkpad from the year 2000. I'm wondering if that would do, or do I need to get a new computer? Any cheap suggestions? I'm trying to spend less then 1000 on it all. And ebay has Sonar at around 400. I don't know what a ram is or gigabytes or anything like that. I just want complete creative control. It seems as though you can do it with computers. What's a plug in? I heard you can download em for free but are they actually worth it? Sorry to rant, I just don't know what I'm doing. Any replies would be helpful.

[cuppa]

hi rockwell
go to

http://www.tweakheadz.com

and all will be revealed, different set-ups for different budgets, reviews, etc, etc...everything is there if you're just starting out...

yes, plug-ins are mighty fine and even the free ones sound brilliant, lurk the forums here and ask questions...

one warning, you do need the most powerful computer you can get, as these programs usually require a lot of processing power...

[torhan]

I highly recommend Sonar 3 Producer. I'd be careful buying something like that from Ebay, Sonar's license is not transferrable.

Sonar only runs on WinXP, and there are minimum requirements on Cake's site, as well as recommended sound cards. Plus, Cake's forums are a great wealth of knowledge.

[rockwell]

thanks for the reply's. I've been reading tweakheadz tutorials for the past 3 hours now. They seem to have the best explanations in laymens terms I have come across so far. Though, I feel like a jerk for dropping 1500 for the yamaha a year or two ago now. Thank you again. I just ran across the board today, and I'm blown away by it.

[mr.me]

Give FL studio a try, it can do alot! Whatch me get reemed for this. But it can't hurt to try.