History / Background
I've always been very interested in music, and enjoy listening to music while working, driving etc.. As a child my parents had an Organ on which I "played" a few tunes (using one finger only <G>) but I was not to much into that (I was more interested in computers and programming). In 1988/1989 while I was studding informatics (I was 19/20 at the time) I wanted to learn how to play/create music. To me the only way to go, was to purchase a Synth since it was the way where I could "play all instruments myself", and do it with only "one unit". A school friend of mine and her boyfriend were playing in a band, so it was only natural to consult them as to know what Synth I should go for. The choice was a Roland D-10 which I hooked up (via MIDI) to an Amiga 500 which was running some sequencing software (I don't remember the name of the software, but I do remember that to a poor student like myself - at the time - it was expensive <G>).
I learned one valuable lesson: Owning a Synth and a Sequencer will NOT turn you into the next Mike Oldfield, Jean-Michel Jarre, Erasure or whatever (at least not within a month or two <G>). I didn't have any musical skills (nor any talent) and I was not committed to "spending the time to learn it" (was busy with my study in informatics). Also at the time the Internet was something I wouldn't know about for the next many years, so information/material (learning about music) was hard to come by (I've never been much of a Library-user). On top of everything else I "fell in love" with a motorbike and ended up selling the Synth in order to be able to buy that motorbike
Let's try again
March 2003 I got a mail from the old school friend (I mentioned above) and "in the name of nostalgia" I dug out the old photos from that time (as you can see, a Blues-Brothers inspired look) - Larghing is optional <G>. Mailing with that old school friend and looking at these old photos from then, fueled my old dreams learning to play/create music. I fired up my browser and began to look for information regarding synths, trying to figure out what I should get (and what it would cost).
Beside browsing the internet I also looked in various news-groups and asked people what I should start out with. Some suggested simply getting a MIDI-Keyboard and use this with some kind of software based synth whereas others suggested going for a hardware Synth and use it with some sequencing software (this last approach was at the time, the one most appealing to me). The PC based approach had me consider Roland's VariOS but also "Great sounds" was a must, so therefore I was also considering Roland's V-Synth. Armed with this info I visited the nearest Synth-store (Musikhuset Aage Jensen, Århus) where I had a good talk with one of their sales people. Talking about what I wanted to do be able to. I was in stead suggested the Yamaha MOTIF-6. The following week was spend "reading up" on this amazing Synth and I gradually knew the MOTIF was the Synth for me, hence I placed my order (I haven't regretted this for a second since). Since I got my MOTIF in 2003 there have been many new editions of this synth (each better than the previous), but I still like my MOTIF and it has some great orchestral sounds that I use from time to time.
I still don't have any musical skills (nor talent), and to me life is simply too short to learn how to"really learning to play" and read notes (still whish I had learned to play the Piano as a child <G>). In stead I simply play around, and if I happen to hit a few chords - which sounds OK - I can record them into the sequencer and play them back. The fact that I have no formal training in music, and work as a developer probably mean that I have a very untraditional approach to producing music. Often I see it as a "programming task" when I have to build the soulds I want and setup the rack in Reason+Record.
Inspiration (Music to play)
Luckily for me - beside hard rock/heavy metal - I more or less like all kind of music (everything from Classic/Folk to Dance/Techno) so there is enough of material to get me inspired (and genres to f*ck up <G>). However I lean more towards the Electric (Dance/Techno) genre, since this is probably best suited for "my approach" (in the "Electric-genre" there are "no rules" as to what you are "allowed to do"). Not that I dislike acoustic music nor vocals/choir (the list of artists below backs this up), but my voice is not suited for any musical production and I don't have any singers nor Choir living next door to me, so instrumental seams to be the way for me. So beside the samples I got and the voice collections for my software- and hardware synth there is not many vocals to draw from.
Let me name a few people/bands that - hopefully - will inspire, or at least people/bands I enjoy listening to: Mike Oldfield, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Karl Bartos, Art of Noise, Infernal, Trentemøller, M-Sphere, Yello, Delerium, Moskwa TV, Erotic Dreams, Enigma, Alphaville, Vangelis, John Williams, Leftfield, Moby, Fluke, Hypnosis, Underworld, Robert Miles, Paul Van Dyk, Sash, Masterboy, Atb, ETA, Milk Inc, T.O.Y., Faithless, Air, Kent, Aqua, Safri Duo, Shu-bi-dua, Roben og Knud, Weird Al Yankovic, Black eyed Peas, 50-Cent, Eminem, KLF, Snap, Erasure, Yazoo, Pet Shop Boys, Depech Mode, OMD, ELO, Eurythmics, Roxette, Queen, Sandra, Ace of Base, Army of Lovers, ABBA, Slade, Enya, Clannad, Beautiful Wold, Adiemus, Era, Deep Forest, Angles of Venice, Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Leonard Cohen, CCR, Kitaro, Cusco, Dead can Dance, Klaus Schulze, Gandalf, Etienne Daho, Marillion, Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann ... and ocationally ... Vivaldi, Beethoven,Mozart, Bach, Verdi, Wagner even Rammstein :-)
Hardware or Software
When I started out producing music I was unsure what to get, some suggested hardware whereas others suggested a software approach. I started out with a Yamaha MOTIF-6 hooked up to my PC (running Cubase), and over time I have extended my setup, with both additional hardware and software. I have switched between favouring software and hardware, but now it is defently software that I spend most of my time using. I still got all(most) of my hardware synth (and Grooveboxes), and from time to time I fire them up for some inspiration and lifting various samples from them (or simply control them from Cubase).
Don't get me wrong software is great, and in many areas it has an edge over hardware, since it offers instant access to all soundfiles/samples on your harddrive and as much memory you can afford to put into your PC. Likewise saving and loading your parches/setups is just a few mouse-clicks away, but it will put additional stress on your already "sweating" CPU and memory. Hardware on the other hand is often a lot more stable and doesn't put additional stress on your CPU. Also hardware saves you a lot of "mousing around" since the buttons and knobs gives you easy access when tweaking the sounds. Then again the often small displays on hardware means you have to go through menu-hell (several levels deep) to gain access to the features you need, whereas software generally has fewer levels (due to the fact that you got a big interface - your computer monitor). Last but not least I really hate - as a legit user - all the troubles you often has to go through in order to registrate/authorize your software products. Working as a software-developer myself I do understand why companies tries to protect their software, but often they make upgrading (installing on a new PC) a living hell (you have to wait several days for an authorization-code, the software you purchased last was an upgrade version that only installs if the previous version is installed beforehand - even though you no longer use it - so that has to be installed first). In this aspect hardware "winds hands down", just plug it in and switch it on and you are ready to go.
We are seeing more and more hardware products that (beside being able to run as dedicated hardware also) connects to the PC via USB or Firewire and thereby gives you access the transfer soundfiles/samples easily without the need of floppies, CDs and/or Flash-memory. Many of these products also comes with editor/librarian software that lets you use these tools as they had been software. My guess/hope is that we are going to see a lot more of hardware products in the future that is better integrated into the PC/Sequencer-software.
Which is best then? well that's a tough question, but my answer must be: "The best tool" is the one that lets you reach your goal with the least amount of fuss". In some cases its software and in other cases its hardware (Clint Eastwood from "Heartbreak Ridge": "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome")
My Recommendation
If you want to produce music on your own (whether you will try to make it a living, or like me do it for fun) its a jungle to find out where to start unless you already got some knowledge. The very first thing you need to do is to figure out what kind of music you want to make and how you want to make it. People cannot help you, suggest what you should go for, unless you are able to tell them what you want: Do you plan to sing/record vocals? Do you plan to play/record physical music instruments (Synth, Guitar, Bass, Drums, and so on),? Is it a requirement that you are able to control (Virtual) VST Instruments/Effects? Is it important to you that you are very mobile (have everything running from a notebook), or do you plan to setup "your studio" fixed at home? Are you into hardware Grovemachines, samplers and effect machines that you plan to use for live DJing?
When you know what you want, you can start looking at the Internet (you are here now), and ask around among your friends (if any of them are making music). I didn't have any friends making music so I started on the internet. When I had found a few interresting things I contacted the local music store and got a good talk with one of the people working there. He listenend to what I wanted to do, and from that he gave me some great advices. But it is a good idea to ask a few different places, as there is a chance the sales person just tries to push what he want to sell :-)
If you are into singing/recording vocals or play/record physical instruments I can't recommend anything regarding microphones as this is not my area of expertice at all. However if you want to be able to feed multiple autio signals to your PC at the same time (e.g. for recording) I can highly recommend getting a RME FireFace 800 (it has 10 audio ins, and 8 outs). If you need additional inputs/outputs you can attach 2 Behringer ADA 8000 (then you will have a total of 26 inputs and 24 outputs). To use your PC for audio you have to use a soundcard/driver with a low latency (ASIO drivers for the PC or Core for Apple should be fine). If the build in card in your PC is not "fast enoguht (has too high latency) there are plenty of USB/Firewire audio interfaces to choose from.
If you (like me) are into producing (electric) music on your computer (in stead of recording Vocals and Physical instruments) then I can highly recommend Propellerhead Reason+Record as a good starting point. All that is required is a computer with a decent soundcard (as mentioned previously) and a MIDI-keyboard if you don't want to play using your computers keyboard (start with only the PC and buy a MIDI-keyboard if you want one). This setup is also great if mobillity is important to you. Thanks to the fileformat of both Reason and Record its very easy to Archive and move your projects (as your projects can be contained in a single file). Many software Samplers are only able to load Samples from Disk, but the software samplers in Reason are able to sample directly from an audio input so it can be used as software edition of a AKAI MPC. The Audio you load into Record can be timestretched, so its not a problem if you need to use audio that was recorded (in another program) at a lower/higher tempo (BPM - Beats per Minute). If you are primarily into working with loop based audio (e.g. made/recorded in another program, or from a hardware sampler/groovebox) you should considder also looking at Propellerheads ReCycle program that lets you chop up (audio)-loops into the REX2 fileformat (used by Reason and many other software samplers for loops). Propellerhead allows you to download a Demo of Reason what you can play with: it is limited to run 20 minutes (then you have to restart it), it comes with a smaller soundbank (and can't load additional soundbanks), and you are not able to save/export what you make. Likewise a Demo of Record can also be downloaded.
The Reason+Record combo (it is 2 "separate" products) is cable to record audio from external equiptment, however it is not able for its sequencer so send MIDI data to external MIDI instruments (e.g. like external hardware synthesizers). Also it is not able to load/use (virtual) VST instrumetns/effects. So if it is important that you can send MIDI to external equiptment and/or use VST instruments effects (e.g. from Native Instruments), they I suggest getting a product like Steinberg Cubase (Cubase and Reson/Record are able to run alongside at the same time using ReWire). If you are into live performance/DJing you should perhaps considder products like Native Instruments TRAKTOR, MACHINE or Appleton Live.
