Hi,
I’m an advanced bass guitarist and novice keyboardist with aspirations to record, produce, and just have fun sessions in my apartment. I know what I want to do with music, but I’m clueless on what components I need for making that vision possible. I would love any suggestions on types of equipment I would need to be able to do the following things:
• Connect multiple inputs to a single sound system (bass guitar, synthesizer, drum machine, cello, didgeridoo, etc.)
• Loop live sounds so I can play over them
• Record live vocal samples/play my own found sound recordings with the press of a button
• Manipulate my vocals (the Waves OVox product caught my eye)
Questions I’m asking myself:
“What kind of mics do I need?”
“Is a sampler the same thing as drum machine?”
“What kind of audio system do I need to play all of these things through the same speakers?” (chords? Plug adapters? type of speaker?)
I am clueless about most music tech, but like all of us here, music is a massive part of my life and so I’m willing to invest in the gear that will get me to that next step.
Thank you all so much for reading and for any suggestions you can offer!
Newbie looking for equipment advice
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- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 1 posts since 1 Jul, 2020
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- KVRist
- 102 posts since 4 Feb, 2012 from residant in ksa/jeddah
i suggest with respect to audio interface is to split the interface and the coverters .. i suggest rme babyface as the interface, as i read many say, it has very good drivers stability .. and as you need you connect to it converters and preamps like focusrite clarett octopre
this was my suggustion for the audio system
with respect to your question “Is a sampler the same thing as drum machine?”, my answer is no, buy most often drum machines that are stand-alone have sampling functionality but it depends on the sound engine, not all samplers are the same, a sampler inside a keyboard synth/workstation can be different in how it process and route a sample file or waveform than how a trigger-drum machine can do
this was my suggustion for the audio system
with respect to your question “Is a sampler the same thing as drum machine?”, my answer is no, buy most often drum machines that are stand-alone have sampling functionality but it depends on the sound engine, not all samplers are the same, a sampler inside a keyboard synth/workstation can be different in how it process and route a sample file or waveform than how a trigger-drum machine can do
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- KVRian
- 513 posts since 22 Sep, 2015
“What kind of mics do I need?”
That's up to you. I use 2 mics, a cheap measuring mic for room recording type stuff and a cheap condenser mic for direct recording of things like voice. Both cost me about £50 each. I don't sing, these are used for sampling.
“Is a sampler the same thing as drum machine?”
You can get drum machines that sample, Elektron RYTM mk2 for eg. A real sampler, say an Akai S6000 allows you to do much more like play chords, map different samples to velocity. Do you want a sampler for triggering drums or sounds only or do you want to recreate complex patches like a piano across a keyboard?
“What kind of audio system do I need to play all of these things through the same speakers?” (chords? Plug adapters? type of speaker?)
I would get a mixer with a built in computer interface. That way you can connect your monitors directly and control their volume, have access to all the mixer facilities first - along with mic preamps, eq, sends etc. Low end budget I would go for something like a Midas MR18 if you don't mind tablet control, or go further up the chain depending on funds like an X32 rack. I use an SI Impact + compact stage box which gives me 80 inputs and allows me to use 32 usb channels for recording.
Cables are mostly XLR female or male to TRS depending on inputs or outputs.
That's up to you. I use 2 mics, a cheap measuring mic for room recording type stuff and a cheap condenser mic for direct recording of things like voice. Both cost me about £50 each. I don't sing, these are used for sampling.
“Is a sampler the same thing as drum machine?”
You can get drum machines that sample, Elektron RYTM mk2 for eg. A real sampler, say an Akai S6000 allows you to do much more like play chords, map different samples to velocity. Do you want a sampler for triggering drums or sounds only or do you want to recreate complex patches like a piano across a keyboard?
“What kind of audio system do I need to play all of these things through the same speakers?” (chords? Plug adapters? type of speaker?)
I would get a mixer with a built in computer interface. That way you can connect your monitors directly and control their volume, have access to all the mixer facilities first - along with mic preamps, eq, sends etc. Low end budget I would go for something like a Midas MR18 if you don't mind tablet control, or go further up the chain depending on funds like an X32 rack. I use an SI Impact + compact stage box which gives me 80 inputs and allows me to use 32 usb channels for recording.
Cables are mostly XLR female or male to TRS depending on inputs or outputs.
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- KVRist
- 395 posts since 6 May, 2020
The comment above is a great idea of what you should look into, but I wanted to comment on the topic of microphones.
Based on what you want/what your budget is, it can get quite complicated. For starters, I would usually suggest getting a decent "all-around" microphone. Something not too expensive, but something that can record most things you'll need - vocals, instruments, even foley. My personal recommendation would be something like AKG P120, which is a decently cheap microphone that can get great results, at least IMO. If you want to invest more and look into specialised microphones, for example, if you record live instruments, or you really want to get into vocal recording, the recommendations will/might differ.
But why I wanted to recommend an "all-round" microphone, is that when starting out, it's good to have the freedom to do everything decently and when you find exactly what you want to do, invest in a good microphone for the specific task.
Based on what you want/what your budget is, it can get quite complicated. For starters, I would usually suggest getting a decent "all-around" microphone. Something not too expensive, but something that can record most things you'll need - vocals, instruments, even foley. My personal recommendation would be something like AKG P120, which is a decently cheap microphone that can get great results, at least IMO. If you want to invest more and look into specialised microphones, for example, if you record live instruments, or you really want to get into vocal recording, the recommendations will/might differ.
But why I wanted to recommend an "all-round" microphone, is that when starting out, it's good to have the freedom to do everything decently and when you find exactly what you want to do, invest in a good microphone for the specific task.
Take care 
