hardware only production questions (not live sets)

[groundwater]

i'm going to try hardware only production. but i'm on a budget. so i've thought up an order in which i want to acquire equipment and i really need some help making sure i'm not making any big mistakes haha. thanks a lot in advance for reading this and all.

don't know my rear from my elbow here (yet) but i really want to go entirely hands on knob turning style and be done with computers and their screens mouses and latency once and for all.

i am trying to weigh the odds between buying a korg electribe esx-1 or a roland mc-909 to start with and using it with samples from my computer's library and softsynths. then getting one or two hardware synths and a couple standalone hardware effects and recording and mixing everything with a multitrack recorder. is this a good idea or are there alternatives that would make much more sense? (aside from computers )

i'd like to know opinions about the esx-1 vs the mc-909 for my purposes. i think the 909 would probably be better for arrangement earlier on before moving on to the multitrack, but which would you rather use to record into a multitrack and in other ways?

thanks for bearing with my most likely idiotic questions, and if there's any info or articles i can check out i'd be glad to hear it.

[tone-def]

have you looked at the MPC2500? if you want to go 100% hardware and want something with sampling thats your best bet. you also get 4 MIDI outs, which means you can sequence 4 more instruments from it. i wouldn't really worry about multitrack recorders, you may as well stay with the computer if your doing stuff like that.

this would be my ideal set up

MPC
mixer
4 synths of your choice
effects
recorder with stereo inputs

if you really want multitrack recording your got to go with a computer. it's so much easier editing in a computer program than some obsolete box with lots of menus. if your not doing editing you can get away with not multi tracking. just sequence everything in the MPC, do your mix and record the stereo out.

Allen & Heath do a range of mixers with a USB port so you can record your stereo mix directly to your computer. it's the ZED range. as you have a computer already you may as well use it for recording your stereo out. the ZED mixers have better A/D converters than DAT recorders.

[groundwater]

have you looked at the MPC2500? if you want to go 100% hardware and want something with sampling thats your best bet. you also get 4 MIDI outs, which means you can sequence 4 more instruments from it. i wouldn't really worry about multitrack recorders, you may as well stay with the computer if your doing stuff like that.

this would be my ideal set up

MPC
mixer
4 synths of your choice
effects
recorder with stereo inputs

if you really want multitrack recording your got to go with a computer. it's so much easier editing in a computer program than some obsolete box with lots of menus. if your not doing editing you can get away with not multi tracking. just sequence everything in the MPC, do your mix and record the stereo out.

Allen & Heath do a range of mixers with a USB port so you can record your stereo mix directly to your computer. it's the ZED range. as you have a computer already you may as well use it for recording your stereo out. the ZED mixers have better A/D converters than DAT recorders.

thanks a whole lot man this has been very helpful

i'm going to try out as much of this stuff before buying, but i'm just trying to avoid the pad setup of an mpc and aim more for a sequencer design. is this foolishness? is an mpc really that much better and more versatile?

those allen and heath mixers are very intriguing. surprising how affordable that zed-24 is! the reason i mentioned a multitrack recorder is because I'd like to have more control over the mix in the hardware stage. like a classic dub engineer, adjusting cutoff and mix to effects, etc on each channel on a live mix with knobs and faders. how would you accomplish this if you were me? i can appreciate the arrangement power of software, and i'm down to take advantage for final arrangement stuff. automation i'd rather avoid.

[lcvl]

the MPC IS a sequencer...

[tone-def]

yes the sequencing on the MPC is about as good as you get in the hardware world.

[NewSc2]

Be mindful of your budget. I went the hardware-only route, and several grand later still felt like I needed more effects and cables. Probably spent too much on sound modules, and didn't leave enough room aside for the little things. In the end I went back to software... latency ended up not as big of an annoyance as scrolling through letters with a knob, just to name a sound. And I got frustrated with virtually every sequencer's "song mode."

But FWIW, I went MPC + several drum machines and 3-4 synths, plugged into a Korg Zero 8, with a send to a multi-efx unit. Virtually everything was sequenced live via the MPC. It's a little different than step sequencing, but really natural.

[groundwater]

thanks for the words of wisdom guys. once again, been a huge help.

big ups.

[steevio]

Be mindful of your budget. I went the hardware-only route, and several grand later still felt like I needed more effects and cables. Probably spent too much on sound modules, and didn't leave enough room aside for the little things. In the end I went back to software... latency ended up not as big of an annoyance as scrolling through letters with a knob, just to name a sound. And I got frustrated with virtually every sequencer's "song mode."

But FWIW, I went MPC + several drum machines and 3-4 synths, plugged into a Korg Zero 8, with a send to a multi-efx unit. Virtually everything was sequenced live via the MPC. It's a little different than step sequencing, but really natural.

also be mindfull of which synths/modules you buy.
buying sound modules is pointless if youre trying to get away from software, like you say youre better off with software rather than working with menus on a digital sound module.

ok it might sound simplistic, but you need knobs !
go for synths which have a user friendly interface preferably analogue or a digital / analogue hybrid which has an analogue signal path and interface but digital control and memory.

but avoid the roland mc909 like the plague. those roland groove boxes are absolutely sh!t. (mc303 etc etc....)
stay with software if you're thinking along those lines mate.

if youre on a budget, maybe go for a used virtual analog off ebay. something from Novation, Nord, Access etc. if you really want to get into synthesis.