Yet Another Neeewbie....., Where to begin? Options

[joelly-mo]

Hi everyone! Just stumbled across this forum. Looks like there's about a zillion tons of good info here. Been poking around, and I'm finding that even the posts from newbies regarding how to get started are quite over my head, so I guess I'm kind of an uber-newbie.

Anyway, can anyone give me suggestions on books or other resources to learn the most basic of basics about MIDI and composing music digitally? I need to learn the terminology, what the various components are, software & hardware, all that kind of stuff. My interest is in composing music for film (and just for fun), with emphasis on symphonic stuff. I'm finding lots of mentions of things like ProTools, Digital Performer, Reason, Logic, etc etc etc, but I have no understanding of how all of these things relate, what's hardware vs. software, or any of the terminology. I'll continue poking around in here to try and learn, but so far it's all Greek to me. I'm looking to put together a little digital studio to play around with, but am afraid that all of this will be waaay outta my price range. Is it reasonable to be able to start playing around, from scratch, for less than $5,000? Is this even a valid question?

I'm an ex-engineer and network architect with reasonable knowledge, so I'm not put off by technical obstacles, but making music on computers is new for me.

If anyone can point me in the right direction of a basic primer of the nuts and bolts of all of this, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks!

Joel

[smokinshaman]

Check out berklee press for materials on digital home recording. Here's a link to their website Berklee Press

You should easily be able to create a small digital home stuido for under $5000. Popular software for recording on mac includes: ProTools, Digital Performer and Logic. Each of these programs are designed to record a large number of instruments/vocals and allow you to fine tune the music with effects (such as delay, reverb, etc.).

To get full use of the above software you will need an audio/MIDI interface that allows you to connect microphones and various instruments to your mac. Many people are now using usb and firewire audio/MIDI interfaces from companies such as: Edirol, M-Audio, MOTU and Digidesign.

I personally recommend MOTU's 828mkII for an audio/MIDI interface. Your mac must have a firewire port, however, to use the 828mkII. Good news is that the 828mkII is packaged with Audio Desk2, which is recording software. Check out this link if interested Motu.com and click on the 828mkII link. You may also be interested in checking out Digital Performer 4 (DP4) on the same website.

Good Luck,

KC

[gdoubleyou]

Every new Mac comes with iLife that has the Garage band app. It's a consumer level audio/midi sequencer, with built in soft-synths.

All you need to get started is a USB keyboard controller.

You can do a lot with $5k.

My current setup is a 12inch Powerbook, MOTU audio interface, and Logic Express.

Check out http://www.osxaudio.com

They have listings and reviews of all Mac related software/hardware.