It sucks to be a newbie—but there are a lot of ways to play it smart and get the most music value for your money using computer technology, without wasting your time and money.

Everyone was a newbie at one point and didn’t have much past the first clue for how to make music, what gear you needed, or even who to ask. Unfortunately, the consequence of being a newbie is that most never graduate past this level and usually end up wasting a lot of time and money, and usually give up on music before they ever start.

Well, don’t despair because there are a lot of smart options out there these days due to the proliferation of good, cheap technology and “junk” technology that can be had for a pittance.

Until recently the idea of having a music set up without purchasing synths was akin to travesty, or impossible. However, with today’s software synthesizers reaching a mature, professional stage of quality, it seems foolish to ignore the sheer power made available to the novice players.

I also suggest picking up everything you can, even software, on the used market as much as possible. You will save a lot of money this way, but be careful and make sure that you get all of the documentation, copy protection-such as dongles, and transfer the ownership (if possible), so that you can upgrade the product easily.

I’m not saying that my advice is the only way-but I think it presents a good gameplan for new players.

The first thing that should be on your shopping list is a computer; nowadays, it doesn’t really matter if you choose the Apple Macintosh or the PC (see Indicator’s Article on PC’s versus Mac’s) as a platform-just get a computer first. On either platform just make sure that the computer is optimized for music recording and sequencing and you’ll be fine.

Your computer is the heart of your new music setup.

After you have the computer and other hardware, such as a professional soundcard, you will want to get a decent MIDI controller. I have no real recommendations, but Midiman makes some good models like the Oxygen8 that offer “real time” MIDI controllers that allow you to make adjustments to a synth voice’s parameters (and save them) in real time. Some players, like myself, usually use another synthesizer as a master controller for their setup to save space and money; however, at this point you will want to buy a dedicated controller because it is inexpensive… we’ll get to the synths in a moment.

Now that you have your basic hardware you will want to choose your recording and sequencing software. There are many options available these days although Cubase VST, Emagic Logic, Mark of the Unicorn’s Digital Performer, and Cakewalk are the most popular and supported formats for home recording.

At this point I’d make the recommendation to avoid a few different software products because of their limitations for audio recording or lack of “professional” character. First among these is Rebirth; Rebirth is best viewed as a plugin instrument and NOT a standalone music production suite. Second, although powerful, is Propellerhead’s Reason-once again, Reason is powerful but lacks the ability to record audio into tracks; you WILL need something other than Reason to record vocals, guitars and so on. Thus, other than basic sounds, these programs are useless as a primary platform in a DAW (digital audio workstation) environment.

For software I recommend checking out the Native Instruments line, which features a drum module (Battery), a sampler (Kontact), numerous synthesizer plugins (Prophet-52, Absynth), a Hammond B3 and organ emulator (B4), a FM synthesizer (FM-7), and more. Their line sounds great, is user friendly and produces professional results. Another good manufacturer is Waldorf, whose drum module (Attack) sound great; Waldorf also has the impressive synth plugin based on the PPG Wave that is an awesome source of digital/analog hybrid tones. Both Steinberg and Emagic also make a nice line of plugins, although Emagic’s are only available for Logic Audio. Possibly the king of all software synths is the RGC Audio Pentagon, which rivals hardware synths for quality of sound and performance; unfortunately, the Pentagon only runs in the PC Windows environment.

Native Instruments BATTERY is one of the most powerful drum sound modules I’ve ever encountered… and it is affordable!

Don’t feel bad about using software based synths for your music if that is all you can afford-the most recent VNV Nation album Future Perfect was recorded using the Emagic EXS24, ES-1, Native Instruments Pro-52, Battery, the Waldorf Attack in addition to their normal hardware virtual analog instruments. Overall, the sound of the album is crisp and clear (perhaps too bright actually) and very professional sounding.

For instruments all you really need is the ability to use percussion sounds and synth sounds. You could get away with only using a sampler and a synth plugin, using the sampler for all your percussion sounds. Or, you could pick up dedicated percussion software as well.

The great advantage is that the most expensive programs cost about 300 dollars, which is a fraction of the cost of a good hardware synthesizer.

Although still unknown, the RGC Audio PENTAGON software synth is one of the most powerful synths ever created for the Windows environment.

Now that you have your basic hardware and software setup you can begin to make music. No expensive audio converters, no expensive MIDI thru boxes, no cords, no patchbays, no 2000 dollar TC Electronic effects boxes. Once you reach this point you can begin easily expanding your existing studio with more traditional instruments easily. With this system you can immediately begin to write songs as you wait to acquire more equipment that will enable you to record.

As a novice synthesist or song writer it can be very frustrating to attempt to bear the expense of creating a recording studio in your home. I know this firsthand: it took me three YEARS to collect my current setup which has just now become operational! However, by taking advantage of building a computer and software environment first, a novice can easily expand their basic system and make music in the meantime. A great advantage that you should exploit at every opportunity.

In the next article I will provide tips on how to formulate a long term plan for devising your studio, as well as deciding what you really need versus what you don’t really need.

Until then.
James Meeker (2002, 4-13)

Pro AudioUnit and VST plugins