Cheers...this is the right forum for this indeed!
Electronica eh? You my friend would benefit from Reason, Rebirth and ReCycle...all products from Propellerheads.
http://www.propellerheads.se
Reason is an amazing stand alone drum machine, sample player, beat matcher, MIDI sequencer..etc etc etc..program.
Rebirth is it's older sister but can be run at the same time as Reason to get the old school beats and sounds combined with modern sounds and gear..
Recycle can take wav or aiff files and chop em up to be played within Reason...
This is all non audio recording based software tho...meaning you can't record audio directly into the program itself.
I use Nuendo, Reason, SampleTank, Recycle and Wavelab all at once to make some of the coolest ambient electronic music.
Not sure if you plan on recording audio as well so you might want to specify that in your reply back!
M'kay! :D

Hey cool thanks, I've downloaded the demos and docs from the Propellerheads site. This will no doubt keep me busy for a good while, unfortunately not creating stuff at the moment but learning about it in the meantime while I save up enough money. That's cool cause I wasn't expecting to buy something straight away.

As far as recording audio on a computer, I am definitely interested in this as well for two reasons:

-to record my own samples to remix and play around with in a package like Reason
-also want to get in to recording instruments and vocals to mix together into recordings of me and my mates songs that we write/play on the guitar etc.

The recording side of things isnt so important right now cause we have access to a few alternatives including using some free software to do basic mixing and exporting.

I think that I'm probably most interested in the recording samples for remixing in electronica side of things and I would probably team up with some other people with decent gear in order to do some high quality recordings of me and my mates songs.

Thanks again for the great leg up. Only sorry I can't repay the favour.

:)

A few more questions after having a bit of a look at Reason, if you don't mind of course,

a)What sound cards that have ASIO drivers do you recommend to use with Reason?

b)What midi interface cards to use with Reason?

c)What midi devices do you recommend to use in Reason, are we mainly talking keyboards here or are there other kinds of midi devices that are good to use in Reason?

d)Are there any other packages out there that are serious competitors to Reason/Rebirth/Recycle?

Sorry about the questions just trying to know my stuff.

Cheers
:roll:

Questions are needed to make a forum a forum if ya know what I mean bub! lol
If ya don't ask em you don't get the answers :p
So...
Question number one....
a)What sound cards that have ASIO drivers do you recommend to use with Reason?
Well, you can use a soundblaster if you so desire since all Reason is doing is playing back and not recording audio! Any card will do...Echo Audio makes a 2 ch in and out card called Mia...good stuff there...RME makes one as well...both are very good.

Question number two...
b)What midi interface cards to use with Reason?
Again, this does not matter..Midiman makes a USB 2x2..2 in and 2 out device....there are also multiple MIDI devices with more than two..Midiman.com is the best place to look for those.

Question number three...
)What midi devices do you recommend to use in Reason, are we mainly talking keyboards here or are there other kinds of midi devices that are good to use in Reason?
All devices in Reason are MIDI devices so to speak. The NN 19 is a sampler triggered by MIDI or by the Matrix Pattern sequencer...there's the Subtractor Synth..there's the ReDrum...the synth is great as well as the NN19 sampler...you can get refills to get more sounds so that you can expand your sound horizon!

Last Question...
Orion Pro..I think that is the name of it...only program that is the same sort of features plus Orion does audio as well if I'm not mistaken...Orion hasn't really hit the scene yet AFAIK...I think they are still debugging it...could be wrong there tho!
Personally..Reason is your choice man!
Opus

Simon,

I've been reading post after post on this board, and from what I gather Opus is the man. He's very serious and thourough with his decision making. He doesn't talk to hear his head rattle(although, I bet if you listened real hard you can hear it anyway...LOL). :D
I'm also new to all this. My friend and I just built my rig back in march. We put an SB Audigy in it. If you can still get the deal I got this might kill a couple of your birds in one blow. It supports ASIO plus it came bundled with Steinberg's CubaseVST, ReCycle lite, WaveLab lite and a video game(Deus EX, I think). However, (Opus you'll love the irony of this) I now use Sonar 2.0XL, Fruityloops, Soundforge 6.0 and I play chess. What a hoot huh?
My point is that a limited budget ain't kool. If your looking for a soundcard also, check to see what kind of software bundles they offer. You might end up getting a "one stop shop" senario. I'm sure that Opus might know of some killer deals. And, if you ask real nice he might just throw ya a bone, Dawg. :D

Blutone
Nuendo is really cool on how it handles Surround and how it sounds as well. The panning is amazing as you have several options to deal with...you have angle panning, scenematic panning, mono zone panning and mucho more! Plus the master setup lets you emulate just about any type of surround setup there is...and let's you customize it to your exact setup and all!
Nuendo overall sounds really good, nice and transparent.
Yes, you can definately hear lots of things rattling around in my brain...it's called lots of dead brain cells! lmao! :p
Simon...I think you have the information needed...any more specific questions?
Opus

Cool as,

for question c) (third question)
c)What midi devices do you recommend to use in Reason, are we mainly talking keyboards here or are there other kinds of midi devices that are good to use in Reason?

I was actually referring to what kind of hardware midi devices are good to connect to your midi interface card to use as an input control device in Reason?

thanks for the advice, I think that I will be more than set now.

:D

You can use anything with midi out as your controller. A keyboard/synth of any sort will do fine. The oxygen 8 looks pretty cool to me. I would get one myself if I did'nt already have keyboards stacked on top of each other.
Opus does know his shit, that's for sure! But it looks like the conversation has so far concentrated on reason etc. and there's no doubt it is a kick ass prog.. But your not going to be able to rmix anything on it. It is a production studio program, like he said you can't record into it.
You said you have a guitar and want to add your own stuff right? You need a sampler. You can use your computer for any purpose in music. There is a program for most any function you may want to do and programs for things you haven't even thought of yet, but sometimes hardware is just more fun, I think anywayz. I don't know what kind of money you have to spend, but I can tell you what one of my favorite pieces of gear is. OK don't laugh... It's kind of toyish as compared to some pro gear, but not really. And from what you have written it will fulfill every need you have. Plus it likes working with your computer!
A roland sp-808ex will do everything you've asked for plus record and remix all that stuff you do in reason etc., plus anything else. you can sample, effect, mix, record, anything to or from anything...It was one of my first pieces of gear and I still use it everytime I do anything in one way or another.
Check this out! I paid $1249 for mine 2yrs ago! Quite a bit cheaper going this way!

[="http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&ebaytag1code=0&query=roland+sp-808"]http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetRes ult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&ebaytag1code=0&query=roland+sp-808[/]="http://search.ebay…"]http://search.ebay… ult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&ebaytag1code=0&query=roland+sp-808[/]

Here's the specs from roland

[[url=http://="http://www.rolandus…"]roland sp-808ex[/]="http://www.rolandus…"]roland sp-808ex[/]

I really think you'd like it, and if you can get one on ebay for a few benji's you can't go wrong!
OOps! I just noticed those are 808's not the 808ex... Although I think the only difference is the operating system and a 100 mb zip instead of 250 mb. I would look for an ex if I were you, but if you can get a regular 808 for 2 or 3 hundered, that's really cheap! While your at roland check out the sh-32 also. I just got one a few months ago for $479 and it is absolutely awesome. It's another best buy for the money piece I like to reccommend to anyone that will listen. And is built ready to pump out electronica right out of the box. ;)