KVR Audio

karp0ff/kaspar0ff · Post by **karp0ff/kaspar0ff** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:55 am

I need an advice. I've decided to try making dance electronic music "on the fly". It is not interesting for me to stand behind my laptop - I want to use hardware units. What should I buy to have an ability of live electronic performing?? I'm not going to buy tons of synths/samplers/sequncers, but need 1, 2 or 3 units for the good start, because of my financional limitations. Electribe, MPC, MC505, rs7000, other units - what is good in LIVE perfoming?? For a start I have no more than 1500$.... Waiting for your opinions, thanks.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:25 pm

You'll need something with:
* a midi keyboard to play some parts live
* loads of knobs and buttons for tweaking

All else depends too much on the workflow, and that you'll have to find out yourself on the way. It helps if you have a mental concept how you're going to work, how certain parts act together and what needs to be controlled.

Midinovela · Post by **Midinovela** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:03 pm

Electribe ESX and EMX + Alesis Photon

musikmachine · Post by **musikmachine** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:15 pm

+1 for the EMX.Give me a few days and i'll give you a report on the RS7000

karp0ff/kaspar0ff · Post by **karp0ff/kaspar0ff** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:10 pm

oh, I will be pleased to hear something about rs7000. is it bad that electribe has only one stereo output?? for example mc505 has six. or such gear as roland mc series is too old for making modern music?

Midinovela · Post by **Midinovela** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:15 pm

if you want to mix live with a harware mixer and if you have hardware fx it's an advantage to have several outputs, also it's nice if you do multitrack recording (if you have a soundcard with multiple inputs).
Talking about the MC505 compared to the 307:
cons:
it's more expensive than the MC307 and has 160 sounds less, it has a shitty display
pros:
the individual outs, the internal mixer (i use a doepfer pocket control to replace it on my 307), the software patch editor.

Comparing the electribe series with the MC's it's worth to mention that you can't record on the fly with the MC's, you have to stop the machine and go into rec mode, on the tribes you can record while performing

musikmachine · Post by **musikmachine** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:23 pm

karp0ff/kaspar0ff wrote:oh, I will be pleased to hear something about rs7000. is it bad that electribe has only one stereo output?? for example mc505 has six. or such gear as roland mc series is too old for making modern music?

The MX and the SX have 2 stereo outs.The second pair bypass the tubes.I think there are a lot of issues with the rolands from what i've read regarding build quality,on board sounds,ease of use,closed formats etc..enough to put me off considering buying one!I think the more recent MC808 is worth checking out.If like me it's had to get your hands on second hand gear to try there's a lot of videos on youtube

For the RS check out RS7000.org for other users opinions and comparisons to other hardware like the rolands and akais'.Future Producers has a lot of hardware users too

There's also an active yahoo user group,several for the electribes too..

Also,what Midinovela said

dirty oscillators · Post by **dirty oscillators** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:32 pm

karp0ff/kaspar0ff wrote:oh, I will be pleased to hear something about rs7000. is it bad that electribe has only one stereo output?? for example mc505 has six. or such gear as roland mc series is too old for making modern music?

i've had my RS7K for about three years now and at first it was really difficult to get around it's operating system, but now it's all like the back of my hand. so once you get used to it, it's quite intuitive. i love the grid edit mode, especially for programming drums. it has decent timing and you can shift tracks in increments of 5 out of 480 ppqn forward or back a bit to line things up. each track can have it's own individual swing amounts or you can program in your own groove settings. you've got like 16 knobs that can be set to send CC data. 16 tracks with track mute/unmute buttons, 10 sections, and 5 scenes make this great for live use. the internal sounds are decent - i use them as extra sounds (they're just rompler sounds but the drum sets are pretty nice), the sampling is great and the filters sound pretty damn good too. you've got three effects that are okay (reverbs aren't the best, but nice chorus, flanger, delay, etc), and a master effect which i don't use ever. if you can find one with the extra output and digital option jump on it. otherwise they're probably worth around $500....

i use mine almost every time i work on music. it would really suck without it. i'd love an older MPC (60 or 3000) but the RS has a lot more features that make creating tracks and tweaking things so easy and friendly.

oh and the arpeggiator is great too.

karp0ff/kaspar0ff · Post by **karp0ff/kaspar0ff** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:07 pm

what about other grooveboxes, for example Rave-O-Lution 309?? are the pretty good in live using? or MPC's??

Midinovela · Post by **Midinovela** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:36 pm

MPC's are nice, but no knobs for tweaking...

Muzik 4 Machines · Post by **Muzik 4 Machines** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:03 pm

i use
electribe esx mkii (drums and sequencer for the racks) and sometimes er1 mkii kick and hats (usually double time hats to make rolls)
2 kaoss pads
1 mks 50 (hoovers)
1 tx81z (bass)
1 jx3p (pads)
all sync'ed to the esx except the 3p that is manually played and gated by the kaoss
i will go with live s 2 instrument tracks is too lomiting, so same hardware and live as a sequencer only

Muzik 4 Machines · Post by **Muzik 4 Machines** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:07 pm

i miss my old mc505 (8 tracks of sequencer would be appreciated today(but not the internal sounds lol)

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:49 pm

This is not directly in response to the original poster, but I've been collaborating with a friend for a while now, composing something along the lines of old school synthpop / electrofunk. We're still working on material for an eventual album, but when it comes time to play live, we want to do something more than just trigger loops in Ableton Live. So we've settled on an arrangement where I do vocals (unfortunately), each of us plays two keyboards live, and we bring along a couple of friends as a third keyboardist and drummer playing an electronic kit. Each keyboardist will also have drum pads, for dramatic effect. We'll have a master clock source so we can still use arpeggiators in sync with each other, and provide a click track to the drummer, but everything will be played live, without a sequencer.

wrench45us · Post by **wrench45us** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:59 pm

you might want to check out grandpa mojo's you tube video on how he uses MV 8000 mixer and CDJ 800

musikmachine · Post by **musikmachine** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:52 pm

karp0ff/kaspar0ff wrote:what about other grooveboxes, for example Rave-O-Lution 309?? are the pretty good in live using? or MPC's??

Don't know about the rave-o-ltion.I got the RS today and a few minute spent with it were enough to convince me that it will be great live.Very hands on and one you start tweaking the master fx..

I'm surprised how quick and easy it is,within minutes of starting the tutorial i had good sounds worth keeping.Someone said it takes years to get a good sound out of it!

Give me a few days and ill let you know what i make of it

live electronic performance