help with starting out

[ugdave13]

I have listened to hip hop for many years, but never had any production tools, not even a turntable. What do I need so that I can start making my own beats? I want to sample off old records to make my beats. I am on a major budget but want to get my feet wet so i was looking at the SP-303. Will that get me anywhere?
what all do i need to start out? thank you for you help.

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Ok man with minimal investment if you want to start off and you are going from scratch there some cost involved I mean if you have absolutley nothing...here is what I think would be your short list.

IF you go the software route and use your hard earned money to get up and running here is the list.
convervatively 500 for a decent pc
90-300 for decent software, ie fruityloops or reason
30 40 for some nice drum samples
midi controller 75-300

conservatively around a 1000 dollar investment
(if you buy all of your equipment like I do)

Now there is a blackmarket for software...most people get free software either off Ebay etc that cuts off about 300-600 dollars there....most people use the argument that software is better if they never had to spend hard earned dollars on software and samples...reason easily cost 400+ dollars when it first came out...most people i know do not buy that software or else they could not even afford that either and wouldn't be making any beats....LOL


Now on the other hand you could invest from 1200-1800 in a keyboard workstation it has a sequener and everything on it you can make beats with that too.....and even burn cd's on some of them

I think that most people would not have a big argument about what you need if cheap or free software that is pirated wasn't available and they had to dish out 300 or 500$....they easily make the argument for software becuz generally they got all of their tools 4 free so it's hard for them to understand why anyone would use hardware because its not as freely available probably..LOL



I have both tools available and there is not a Huge difference.....so when people chime in to tell you software is the only way look at my list up top and think of if you bought all of your equipment legally including the software....the cost is not that much different between getting a workstation and software..... if Reason or Fruity loops couldn't be jacked.

 

[ugdave13]

How about if i don't want to work with software yet ? What would i need so I could make beats without putting them on a computer?

 

[Loose Cannon]

How about if i don't want to work with software yet ? What would i need so I could make beats without putting them on a computer?

on the other hand you could invest from 1200-1800 in a keyboard workstation it has a sequener and everything on it you can make beats with that too.....and even burn cd's on some of them

If you wanna know what kind, id say get a motif. Ask around, theres some people on here that believe in the motif by itself. It can sample and it has built in sounds, so you cant really go wrong with it.

Heres a link:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMMOTIF6

 

[esentric]

I'd say an MPC

You can build with loops and samples all day.

 

[x-squizet]

well he said he wanted to make beats using records well he can go with the motif6 like helix said it has sounds and can sample, with a sequence, or you could get some thing used i.e. an asr-10 or eps-16 plus, or even a motif used off of ebay, and if you buy somthing like the asr or eps off of ebay it usely comes fully expanded with some disk, then he could buy him a sound module and some drum sample or sample them from records and that should help him out

so a estimate cost would be

Asr-10
600 at the most seen higher
sound module, 100-1500 dollars
monitors, he could get a package for about 170 to 500 dollars
drum samples ???????
zip drive to save you beats and samples

eps-16+
highest i would buy for is 250-300 dollars
and the rest same as above

motif-6
1500 dollars get it lower probley on ebay
monitor package 170-500
and some records, got sounds and stuff in their so you straight

but you have more options than this, these are just some examples, also if you lookin to sample either get a phone pre amp or get a dj mixer and turntable to.

hope this helps.

 

[brooklynstyle]

what u gonna get depends on the budget u have. If I was starting off and had several Gs I'd go and get mpc 4000 or mv 8000, this is all u need to make a beat from start to finish without needing anything else. Of course u gotta find samples too. Oh get decent nearfield monitors. This is all u will need to make beats on a professional level. The whole thing will come to about $4,000. Have in mind, this budget does not include professional mixing and mastering. If u start up now u wont know how to do those professionally anyway and may end up going to the studio anyway.

If u on lower budget though just get some editing software, mpc 1000 and samples and u set. I recommend sound forge cuz i work with it but cool edit pro is cool too.
1

 

[MarkN]

TBH wot i would do is start on software you may already have a PC if you do then bonus u got a good start get some software like BIG D said a lot of people have cracked software etc if u wana do that up 2 woteva i cant recommend it lol ! If not then buy something cheap like fruity loops, or get a few demo programs for now, then you can start making your stuff play around see if you like theres no point in buying an MPCand then thinking two months later that woz a waste of money, ive been producing for about 8 months using my PC i already had and other bits an pieces of software i acquired and then i bought a midi controller which woz like £100 so not too much of a loss if i didnt like it but i do and i got my MPC through this week and im fuckin loving it but i think learning all the basics on software is good as it lessens the blow of having to learn all this new hardware stuff when you get it !

 

[JPeg]

dont get the 303 thats a horrible interface to start with, get frutiy loops.