Hi everyone, my name is Jean, I'm 19 and I live for electronic music! 8-) I'm DJing since I'm 17 and I have a monthly 1 hour set podcast that has been running for 8 months now. I love what I'm doing but, for the last few months, I've been looking for a more creative way to make music. I want to produce my own music, but only for fun, for the beginning at least... I already have some gear but I'm also looking for some new gear to create my home studio.

What I already have:

- Good PC-based workstation (Quad-core @ 3Ghz., 4 Gig. RAM, 1Tb. HDD, 24" Viewsonic widescreen monitor, ...)
- Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 64bits.
- Ableton Live 8
- FL Studio 8
- M-Audio Profire 610
- Pioneer CDJ-800MK2 (2)
- Pioneer DJM-700
- KRK RP6G2 (2)
- Alesis 3630 Compressor
- DOD SR830QXLR Graphic Equalizer
- Crown XLS 402D Amp
- JBL MP215 (2)

I know that a PC workstation is not the favorite system of the pro audio industry (Mainly because of Logic, I think, which looks like one of the best and most versatile DAW...) but I don't want to change my computer for the moment so I'll have to find the best studio setup compromise with my PC. My favorite music genre is Progressive House and I know that a lot of electronic music producers are using a lot of softwares, VSTs and plugins to create their music but I really want to have a minimum of hardware gear (analog synths, midi controllers, etc...). I also want to be able to record good quality vocals for not too much money... I try to understand and learn the music/dance music industry by myself by reading websites and magazine like Futuremusic and DJmag but it's hard to know what I really need and what gear will be really useful for me, and that's why I'm asking you what do you think about my studio project and the gear I eventually want to buy.

What would be, I think, a good, high quality, home studio basic gear:

- Novation 49 SL MK2 or M-Audio Axiom Pro 49 (As a main Midi DAW controller)
- Another, more versatile DAW (Cubase?)
- 1 or 2 good desktop analog synth (Less voices, cheaper: Dave Smith Mopho or Tetra) or (more voices, more expensive: Prophet 08, Nord Wave, etc...)
- Blue Bluebird mic (As a good quality, versatile, and not so expensive condenser mic)
- An eventual high-end analog synth 37-keys action keyboard (Access Virus TI2 Polar! :P)
- A new audio interface with more I/O if necessary, or even separated Preamps, converter and I/O racks (Is it absolutely necessary? Is the audio quality that much improved?)

So, that's my home studio project fo the next months. I really want to know what you think about it so don't hesitate to comment! I want to know if my gear choice is good and also if you have any recommandations for me... (Microphone choice, DAW choice, etc...)

PS: I forgot to mention that I already have basic keyboard and DAW skills, altough I never create my own music, so all that gear wouldn't be totally new for me...

Thank you all,

Jean.