Cheap hardware additions that helped your work.

So I've pretty much only had a midi keyboard for about 6 or so years now. Never had the cash to get anything fancy.

Not big on splashing all out, but I was thinking of getting something else small with more knobs or trigger pads to try and mix up the creative process. Has anyone had any particular luck with something relatively inexpensive?

I was thinking something along the lines of

just got one of these --->>> http://www.esi-audio.com/products/m4uxt/ andit works great. driverless if you just run 1 app but if you want to control your midi devices with 2 or more apps, theres a downloadable driver. feels/runs solid and if 4 i/o is not enough, you can buy another one.

the reason i bring this up is that older and vintage midi synths and gear with controls on them is fun and relatively inexpensive. makes me use a different part of my brain than when im only looking in my computer screen. so i cut down my staring at the computer screen by like 5% and thats awesome.

also one of these is cheaper than a new audio interface with a zillion inputs if you dont need to tweak each track if youre mixing down your old midi things

The Beatstep was a worthwhile addition to my setup. It helped tie everything together since I didn't have any kind of melodic sequencer for my hardware before getting it (I was using seq24 on a netbook and it was a pain to use live). I originally bought it to use as a pad controller/knob box but ended up getting really drawn in by the sequencer side.

iPad

  On 2/2/2015 at 11:50 PM, weakmassive said:

iPad

Althought it's certainly a piece of hardware and might help you work, I don't think an iPad is that cheap

  On 2/2/2015 at 11:45 PM, modey said:

The Beatstep was a worthwhile addition to my setup. It helped tie everything together since I didn't have any kind of melodic sequencer for my hardware before getting it (I was using seq24 on a netbook and it was a pain to use live). I originally bought it to use as a pad controller/knob box but ended up getting really drawn in by the sequencer side.

That looks pretty wicked for the price.

Yeah, and the Beatstep Pro looks really great as well, with multiple tracks and a drum sequencer. I only got mine about 6 months ago though so I'll stick with it for the time being (plus, it might become a bit redundant once the Monomachine arrives :P)

oi gervin, u making ambient? pas spectrum analyser

  On 2/3/2015 at 12:41 AM, chunky said:

oi gervin, u making ambient? pas spectrum analyser

Now and again lad, I'll definitely give the trial a go.

  On 2/3/2015 at 12:12 AM, modey said:

Yeah, and the Beatstep Pro looks really great as well, with multiple tracks and a drum sequencer. I only got mine about 6 months ago though so I'll stick with it for the time being (plus, it might become a bit redundant once the Monomachine arrives :P)

Just ordered a beatstep, 100 quid, pretty impressed by the reviews and I've wanted a sequencer for a while. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

  On 2/4/2015 at 12:49 AM, chassis said:

 

Just ordered a beatstep, 100 quid, pretty impressed by the reviews and I've wanted a sequencer for a while. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

 

So what's the verdict, chassis?

  On 2/3/2015 at 2:24 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

Good call, but I'd go one further and recommend a MIDI patchbay if you have more than a couple sequencers, controllers, and synths. I used to have a Kawai MAV8 that had mechanical switches and that worked great at the time. Now I have a Digital Music Corp MX8 which can process the MIDI in various ways and has presets for routing. Pretty handy although I haven't used it since the last time I had my gear in full battlestation mode.

  On 2/25/2015 at 1:13 AM, mat said:

 

  On 2/4/2015 at 12:49 AM, chassis said:

 

Just ordered a beatstep, 100 quid, pretty impressed by the reviews and I've wanted a sequencer for a while. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

 

So what's the verdict, chassis?

 

Very cool and really fun. Much more useful to me as a sequencer than an actual controller.

Still need a few more hours to get properly acquainted with it.

Very happy with the purchase though, feels much more expensive than it was.

the big draw with the beatstep for me is the endless rotary encoders, you can never SEE what value a step is set to. kinda important for me when you do melodies, or really anything. if you don't need the pads, I think the korg sq-1 is a lot better than the beatstep.

Patchbays

One of the cheapest and coolest things I bought when my setup was all hardware, were two distortion pedals for ~$20 total, so I could do gabber and the like in stereo. Low gain on distortion gave a nice fuzz/lush quality.

If you've only been working 100% on a DAW, there's something magical about getting your sound out and processing it with any hardware; a cassette tape recorder, shitty hardware compressor (like those on a multi effects unit (which can actually have amazing reverbs that somehow sound better than plugins)), guitar amp, whatever. Almost any hardware adds mojo.

Ah yeah, cheap pedals were a major part of my setup a few years back. I bought a phaser and delay for $10 each on dealsdirect; they both still work well after 8 or so years. The phaser is one of the best I've heard!

... a 2nd-hand Faderfox DJ-3 for 60€ or so. Just the right amount of knobs, faders, rotaries, buttons..clever-ish double/triple assignments ..sturdy, smallish..all in all "lovely"..will hunt for more..

  On 2/25/2015 at 7:17 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 2/3/2015 at 2:24 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

Good call, but I'd go one further and recommend a MIDI patchbay if you have more than a couple sequencers, controllers, and synths. I used to have a Kawai MAV8 that had mechanical switches and that worked great at the time. Now I have a Digital Music Corp MX8 which can process the MIDI in various ways and has presets for routing. Pretty handy although I haven't used it since the last time I had my gear in full battlestation mode.

my cheap hardware:

1) I have a lovely little DBX 163x Over-Easy compressor...costs like $70-80 on ebay

me and my g/f modded it according to Jim Williams' specs

sounds beautiful

2) I use a GAP Pre-73 mk2 for a preamp...run everything through it

I love it, sounds great

can be had for relatively cheap second-hand

3) I use a simple Alesis io2 for an audio interface...super cheap and get's the job done

gets high praise on the internet for its

quality/price ratio

4) recently-acquired Boss SP-303...my favorite sampler of all time

5) Casio SK-5...essentially just an SK-1 that remembers your samples

super fun, super lo-fi...i love it to death

6) FMR RNC (Really Nice Compressor)...great stereo compressor for insanely cheap (~$100usd)

great for minor squishing or extreme slamming

has sidechain input

as with most of the stuff on this list, i wish i used this more...

Yamaha FB01: snagged one for $15 on a whim and have used it constantly since. There is a software editor for it which is nice but even if you just use the presets you can get a lot of mileage with just velocity and pitching them up and down (like a xylophone preset can be used a kickdrum at a low enough octave) sounds bassy/beefy as fuck. Only bad thing is mine tends to hum (like the electrical causes an acoustic hum audible through the metal chassis). A lot of 'classicl' FM patches are on here, and in a way I like the way these sound better than their DX7 counterparts. For example the classic 90s house bassline sound found in Technotronic is on here

  On 7/23/2015 at 1:52 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 2/25/2015 at 7:17 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 2/3/2015 at 2:24 AM, John Ehrlichman said:

Good call, but I'd go one further and recommend a MIDI patchbay if you have more than a couple sequencers, controllers, and synths. I used to have a Kawai MAV8 that had mechanical switches and that worked great at the time. Now I have a Digital Music Corp MX8 which can process the MIDI in various ways and has presets for routing. Pretty handy although I haven't used it since the last time I had my gear in full battlestation mode.

Now I feel like once there's a patchbay involved, there is too much gear in play. It's too much for my dinosaur brain.

 

yeah i usually just use software for doing midi patchaby stuff, I have an 8x8 motu midi interface where I have a lot of stuff constantly plugged in to the same slots. the mergers are for doing stuff like using a software editor on an old Windows laptop but using my modern mac laptop computer to sequence the same device

  On 7/23/2015 at 2:13 AM, LimpyLoo said:

my cheap hardware:

 

4) recently-acquired Boss SP-303...my favorite sampler of all time

 

I'll throw in a recommendation for the Kaoss Pad mini. Most of the effects algorithms are garish and cartoonish, and it's probably inferior to most of the Kaoss line, but there are a few really nice delays and useable filters/EQs. I haven't owned any other Kaoss Pads but I love jamming with that little pad, it's such an intuitive and fun way to control parameters and has influenced my patches with its simplicity. It's also tiny and cute.

  On 7/23/2015 at 3:36 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 7/23/2015 at 2:13 AM, LimpyLoo said:

my cheap hardware:

 

4) recently-acquired Boss SP-303...my favorite sampler of all time

I've heard a lot of nice things about this little guy. Mad Lib talked it up and I didn't realize Dilla even made Donuts on it. If I didn't already have an MPC and other samplers coming out my ears, I'd pick one up. Seems like a great time.

 

I'll throw in a recommendation for the Kaoss Pad mini. Most of the effects algorithms are garish and cartoonish, and it's probably inferior to most of the Kaoss line, but there are a few really nice delays and useable filters/EQs. I haven't owned any other Kaoss Pads but I love jamming with that little pad, it's such an intuitive and fun way to control parameters and has influenced my patches with its simplicity. It's also tiny and cute.

The SP-303 is my most important piece of music gear I have. However I don't recommend it as an MPC alternative at all if you are thinking about using it as a drum machine. It's really ass over backwards trying to program drums if you do anything other than live editing as there is no step sequencer. Truncating samples can take a very, very long time, MIDI options are also limited to sample trigger and velocity so ironically I use it more as a workstation than an instrument.

It's better for working on individual samples for export, doing loops, making pad textures and the awesome effects (both live and post-processing). The thing is not only a sampler but it's a really good effect unit, a cheap post-processing alternative (compressor is very meaty), and a recording unit if you get one of the old smartmedia cards to go with it.

  On 7/23/2015 at 5:07 AM, Entorwellian said:

 

  On 7/23/2015 at 3:36 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 7/23/2015 at 2:13 AM, LimpyLoo said:

my cheap hardware:

 

4) recently-acquired Boss SP-303...my favorite sampler of all time

 

I've heard a lot of nice things about this little guy. Mad Lib talked it up and I didn't realize Dilla even made Donuts on it. If I didn't already have an MPC and other samplers coming out my ears, I'd pick one up. Seems like a great time (...)

The SP-303 is my most important piece of music gear I have. However I don't recommend it as an MPC alternative at all if you are thinking about using it as a drum machine. It's really ass over backwards trying to program drums if you do anything other than live editing as there is no step sequencer. Truncating samples can take a very, very long time, MIDI options are also limited to sample trigger and velocity so ironically I use it more as a workstation than an instrument.

It's better for working on individual samples for export, doing loops, making pad textures and the awesome effects (both live and post-processing). The thing is not only a sampler but it's a really good effect unit, a cheap post-processing alternative (compressor is very meaty), and a recording unit if you get one of the old smartmedia cards to go with it.

 

TL;DR have used an SP202, loved it; the MPC is fun for chopping samples & playing pads and the approach seems similar but the MPC does more; I don't want to any buy more stuff until I get rid of some; Q.E.D. I don't need one right now although it seems awesome.

  On 7/23/2015 at 3:36 AM, sweepstakes said:

 

  On 7/23/2015 at 2:13 AM, LimpyLoo said:

my cheap hardware:

 

4) recently-acquired Boss SP-303...my favorite sampler of all time

 

I've heard a lot of nice things about this little guy. Mad Lib talked it up and I didn't realize Dilla even made Donuts on it. If I didn't already have an MPC and other samplers coming out my ears, I'd pick one up. Seems like a great time.

 

I'll throw in a recommendation for the Kaoss Pad mini. Most of the effects algorithms are garish and cartoonish, and it's probably inferior to most of the Kaoss line, but there are a few really nice delays and useable filters/EQs. I haven't owned any other Kaoss Pads but I love jamming with that little pad, it's such an intuitive and fun way to control parameters and has influenced my patches with its simplicity. It's also tiny and cute.

 

Unfortunately, the "Dilla made Donuts on an SP-303" story is mythology and it's not certain whether it's true or not. There's alot of doubt over at the SP-Forums (e.g. there are things on Donuts that aren't possible to do on an SP-303). What is known is that he had a little sampler with him in the hospital, but nobody really knows which one. There's just so much conflicting information: J-Rocc and Ma Dukes give contradictory stories.

But it's been repeated so often that it's even made it into the Donuts wiki page.