I need counseling!

[TRohr]

Hey guys, I need a few opinions/ general input.... First i'll explain my situation....

 

So I used to have a KP3, and MicroKorg. Though I only had them for about a week, and I had very little idea of how to use them to their fullest (/ at all) I absolutely loved sitting and making all sorts of crazy noises etc, etc. I ended up returning both of them to Guitar Center because I am currently studying abroad in Japan and I figured I should save my money for cultural experiences here.... Heres my little dilemma.

 

Though I have no musical experience (aside from DJ'ing), though I can't even play a piano, and though I have never even created a full track in Fruity Loops or similar programs I really, really want an Electribe and possibly another MicroKorg to go with it. If you guys were studying abroad in Japan, had only a few thousand in the bank to last the rest of the year, and have no real music experience would you go out and buy an Electribe? There are no Guitar Center's here in Japan either, so once it's mine, it's mine.

 

I have my music mixer with me, and theres some absolutely f-ing amazing Psytrance clubs here in Japan.... So i'm not deprived of music or anything, but I would really like to start producing music even if it's kind of shitty.... Should I just stick with Fruity Loops? It's not as fun as messing around with equipment though. Should I just wait until I get home to buy one? If you could, give me a good reason to justify buying an Electribe so I don't have buyers remorse or regret~.... I don't even know much about the Electribe's possibilities either.... Would it make a worthy addition to a Psytrance producers hardware collection? Opinions/input please!

[acidkills]

As much as I know Electribe is good for remixing and what do u want to do with it? I think u should wait to get home to buy it.. You should stick to FL for start than when u get familiar upgrade to Reason and when you master it use Cubase..

Maybe you should consider buying MIDI controler rather than electribe for start cause it CAN be as much as fun twiggling knobs on the computer via midi as twigling knobs on a harware synth.. Knob is knob, there is no difference, the only difference is quality of a midi u buy.. You also have synths with lousy knobs and thats no fun at all.. My Alesis Micron has best knobs I ever worked on, you can check that out to.. We had a debate onece what is better MicroKorg or Micron, you can search it to find out more.. If you are planning to do psy Micron is great for that and also electro.. But you should equip yourself with some good VSTs no matter which synth u buy..

 

You said u have mixer and on what do you spin on cds or turntable? Is trance scene in japan really that commercial as it looks like? Are the Japanese girls wearing umbrellas like on every picture I see from a trance party in japan? :-D

[Otto Matta]

Clearly your intuition is trying to convince you that spending money is a bad idea. Listen to acidkills. Stick with FL, because it's a powerful program in the right hands, and get a cheap controller if you must buy something (because it's not necessary). Download free VSTs, since there are some very good ones out there. In other words, force yourself to be creative, since that's how the interesting stuff happens, not by amassing gear. And you'll be happy that you have money for food and books, and maybe a date or two.

[devious]

Clearly your intuition is trying to convince you that spending money is a bad idea. Listen to acidkills. Stick with FL, because it's a powerful program in the right hands, and get a cheap controller if you must buy something (because it's not necessary). Download free VSTs, since there are some very good ones out there. In other words, force yourself to be creative, since that's how the interesting stuff happens, not by amassing gear. And you'll be happy that you have money for food and books, and maybe a date or two.

 

I have to agree with everything the other two said. If you wanted it that much, you wouldn't have to ask somebody else and therefore you should not do it and you should stick with FL. And Otto clearly states....and for a date or two. Come on, you'll need money for girls.

 

Hehe!

 

-d

[acidkills]

Clearly your intuition is trying to convince you that spending money is a bad idea. Listen to acidkills. Stick with FL, because it's a powerful program in the right hands, and get a cheap controller if you must buy something (because it's not necessary). Download free VSTs, since there are some very good ones out there. In other words, force yourself to be creative, since that's how the interesting stuff happens, not by amassing gear. And you'll be happy that you have money for food and books, and maybe a date or two.

Just to mention, most of free vsts are crap.. I have about 300+ of them and they are nothing compared to my 20 top most arsenal than I now own.. Get some pro stuff and theres no need for some expensive gear although you can buy something in the future just to fit nice on the table..

Warez man.. Warez.. Then if u become famous some day and earn huge amounst of money than u buy original vsts u used..

 

Otto , shh.. man do I sound like intuition?

[Aeros]

Just to mention, most of free vsts are crap.. I have about 300+ of them

But many are quite good if you know how to use them

http://www.kvraudio.com/ Sort by rating and download your top pics, theres a number of flexible soft synths you can work with like triangle, texture, to name just two good ones.

 

If you want to make music you don't need to spend any money, theres no such thing as prerequisites like owning a hard synth or having to use cubase - simply just do it and you will be making music. For newcommers expensive hard OR soft synths can overwhelm them, there is so much flexibility offered you won't know where to begin. You can twidle knobs all you want but if you don't really know what they do or how to mix them up as if they were a palette of paint, it won't get you much farther than random expiramentation which'll resort to you using bulk presets and then making generic psy that sounds like everything else.

 

Should I just stick with Fruity Loops? It's not as fun as messing around with equipment though.

Equipment will make the beeps for you but if you can't sequence and sample you won't get anything down. Stick with whatever you choose, but do just that; stick with it. I don't recommend all these prods and poke into different software, just master one thing and make it your instrument. Constantly changing programs will never let you work efficiently unless you really plan a 10 year course in music production.

[TRohr]

Ah, sorry for the late reply, was off on a little vacation. Thanks for the input guys. I'm a very flighty/ fickle sort of person so your opinions were great. I was pretty surprised at how well you read me. Don't take me too seriously though. I am only into mixing/ creating Psy as a hobby. I'll probably go over to music capital of Tokyo this weekend to play with an Electribe to clear up my thoughts on it. I am sure once I play with it for a few hours I will be disappointed and move on. As far as midi controllers go, I have an Axiom49 and AkaiMPD24 but they're sitting back in the states gathering dust....

 

The Japanese are probably the worst in the world when it comes to commercialism. Everyone here is brainwashed into thinking that they must own the most expensive name brand clothes, sports gear, music equipment, etc, etc. They're also the kind of people that walk through souvenir shops after spending a day in Disneyland (or something similar) and buy out the store only to throw everything away the next day. So, Psytrance is very commercial over here too, and often the parties turn out to be nothing but acidfests. If you look hard (very hard) and you know the locals you can find all sorts of amazing parties off in the mountains near temples or in the basement of old parking garages that stay true to the musics roots though. Parking garages aren't exactly prime locations to contemplate the meaning of life, but in Japan that's just what you have to deal with every now and then. I think what I truly love most about Japan, regardless of whether or not the party is commercial or old school prog., is that on the outside it seems like a very rigid society but at it's roots these people are crazy. You can't imagine how many 40 year old (ish) business men that I have seen show up at some of these parties. It doesn't matter what age you are here, Psy never gets old.