a few more questions, need help seeing my way around Options

[edea]

ive been looking into sound apps lately and trying to use demos dl'ing manuals and what not and had a couple of questions as i am now ready to spend a little bit of money.

first off, reason seems a little easier then the rest to use but it also looks as though it may be an inferior product to some of the others. basically what would be a good package of software for me to get to get going. i am looking into making idm/breakbeats/mostly electronic, maybe some voiceovers everyonce in awhile but strictly electronic music. im thinking more into logic or digital performer as ive heard good things (protools looks a little tough to me) but im not exactly sure what they are in the broad scheme of things (as you see i need help) logic seems like it is a favorite among people that arent into protools, but i could be wrong.

second, i want to buy a keyboard. i am not so concerned with with the sounds that may come on it but i also have NO knowledge of keyboards at all. i was looking at usb keyboards from midiman but those seem like they could be huge pieces of crap. what is the best under 500 dollar way to go to get a keyboard into my computer with good sound quality.

those are basically my only questions right now, but there is one more thing. it is important to me that i get something decent even if it costs a little more than i expect. granted i am just learning but how do i expect to be happy with progress if i hear a bunch of hissing and static. plus im not really into going into things buying a bunch of shit. so please give me a hand. im not looking into becoming a professional but i would like to have something that sounds good.

thank you.

[Synthetic]

That small Midiman controller is neat but you must think about the playability since you do have some piano training. It only has two octaves and would be ok for simple one handed melodies but if you are used to playing with 2 hands... then that is not the keyboard to have,

Depending on what keyboard you buy will determin whether you can edit sounds on a computer or if it will let you edit or add sounds to it. You will just have to read the info for the keyboard you are interested in. My Yamaha lets me edit the presets on it and I can use a graphical voice editor for it on my computer and it lets me store the sounds on it and back them up on the computer. So it all depends on what keyboard you buy as far as what you can do with it. Some allow you to have more control than others. You can make loops by recording your midi notes through the computer and assign them to a sound module on the computer or if you get an audio interface for recording on the computer you can record the audio output from the keyboard itself.

[Silverlode]

One nice thing about the Roland is that it has a USB interface, as well as MIDI out. The MIDI out would come in hand if you ever wanted to use it to control anything besides a computer. Let's say you buy a really nice piano sound module, or something. The Roland could then be used to control that as well.

Check this out, too:

http://www.cdbm.com/shop/detail.cgi?id=122383

It has lots of knobs that you can assign different perameters to.

[edea]

okay so ive decided to get a midi controller for now (thats basically a keyboard with no sounds, right?)

ive heard a few problems about the roland pc-300 and reason so im kinda shying away from that.

i like the keyboard that silverlode posted because it looks like something that would be really helpful in conjunction with reason because it has so many knobs. can anyone offer me a couple more suggestions similar to that. ive been looking at the yamaha cbxk2 here is a link.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=02...l/base_id/37633

it doesn't seem to have as many knobs but it says it has remote control functions. can someone enlighten me and tell me what these are? are these like having knobs that i can alter? thanks for the information, i dont know how i would make a decision without you guys.

[Synthetic]

I think remote control functions refers to the ability to control other midi devices such as a synth module, Reason, a sequencer or any other device with midi in. I am not absolutely positive on that. You can go to the Yamaha web site for more info on that controller I think.

But remember you will need a midi interface for that to communicate with your computer. Midiman sells a couple with cheaper one around $60.

Knobs are nice for control but even if you get one with no knobs... it just means you will use your touch pad more to control the settings for filters & resonance etc. Also, even if it has tons of knobs... you may not be able to use all of them unless you sit down for a couple hours and assign them to control things on the midi device you are linked to.

Well, I wish you good luck on your music adventures and purchases.