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hey folks...if anyone can answer ANY of the following questions, i'd be grateful!
to begin, I'll explain where i'm at...
i've been composing music in garageband on my ibook and am about to make the plunge to buy some additional equipment...at present i'm planning on getting:
a) m-audio firewire solo: for guitar and microphone inputs
b) i was thinking about getting these Alesis studio monitors: http://www.Alesis.com/product.php?id=23 (i need to get some speakers for my computer anyway and my thinking was that i'd just buy these monitors and connect them to my computer...this is question #1: how does one connect studio monitors to a computer? will i need a pre-amp between the computer and the speakers? am i confusing apples and oranges here? should i just get computer speakers?)
c) i definitely need either a keyboard or a keyboard controller, but i don't know which...this is question #2: i would like to be able to compose and perform (live) on the keyboard, but i don't necessarily need the synth sounds to come out of the keyboard, as i'm going to be running everything through garageband...should i look for a keyboard/controller that has memory and can thus work without being connected to garageband? or am i totally off here? i have been considering the edirol pcr-a30:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/700718/
the Alesis photon x-25:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7.../base_id/118287
the Korg microkontrol:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7.../base_id/110272
and these from m-audio:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/701542/
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/701367/
there's such a bewildering array of keyboards/controllers out there, i don't really know where to begin...
it may help to mention that i'd like to create the kind of lush music that enya has made, with a certain amount of guitar and vocals added in the background...
i suppose these are the main questions in my mind at present...

Comments

anonymous Fri, 06/10/2005 - 05:33

I'm sorry, but I fail to see the "Enya" connection.

Her engineer has an impeccable listening environment, coupled with dozens of different mics and pres. She layers dozens of vocal tracks to get her "sound", and no two tracks in the layering use the same mic or pre. Anyway, that's what I think of when "Enya-like studio" comes to mind: dozens of mics, dozens of pres, and a damn fine listening environment. (Oh, and a lexicon 960 too...)

anonymous Fri, 06/10/2005 - 07:48

I'm confused about your planned working methods. A keyboard controller only sends midi note and controller messages. So it appears to me that if you're not running Garageband there will be no sounds!. To compose without the computer you'll need some type of synth (synths can also act as controllers for Garageband). Your Alesis monitors will be connected to the line outputs of your M-audio interface. As far as suggestions for the myriad of keyboard controllers it really depends on your needs as far as how many keys and what type of other controllers you need. That would really be a personal decision.

anonymous Fri, 06/10/2005 - 09:03

"I'm sorry, but I fail to see the "Enya" connection."

You see...we're both irish... :) I appreciate your confusion, Chris...actually, I'm flailing about here as I know *incredibly* little about the world of digital music...I know what I'd like to be doing, but I don't know how to get there (up till now I've been doing everything with acoustic instruments and mics)...so...your explanation of how Enya composes her music was very helpful...I figured it was essentially all done on keyboards/synthesizers/in the computer...I didn't realize she used so many vocal tracks...

thanks, vividsonics!

"So it appears to me that if you're not running Garageband there will be no sounds!"

Ah ha...I remember someone suggesting Ableton Live as a way of using computer generated compositions through a controller...I'm not sure, though, that Ableton works with garageband...perhaps I'd have to buy Reason?
To clarify, though, in order to play using the synth sounds live through a controller I'd either need to figure out how to play the synth sounds through garageband or I'd need to buy a separate synthesizer?

Thanks again, folks!

anonymous Fri, 06/10/2005 - 09:53

What I'm saying is that you have to have the computer on and running the software if you're going to play software instruments. If you want something that is stand alone and not reliant on a computer you need a synth. But if you just want to trigger synth sounds and loops and such on your computer a midi controller is enough. You can't trigger the software synths without going through the computer regardles of "memory" in a midi controller. The memory patches in keyboard controllers are controller assignments (what the knobs/faders/buttons control). You can use Garageband or Abbleton Live or Reason or whatever with any midi keyboard controller. The thing to do is pick the software that works best for you. If you want to play synth sounds without a computer a hardware synthesizer is what you need. It has the sounds built in.