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Which hardware is best for making dubstep? should i get a drum machine??

if you are just starting out stick with software dont waste money on hardware

if you just started out, KEBNOA is right, stick with software learn about synthesis, studio technics and music theory first.
if you allready got some experience and are just tired of mouse programing beats, i recommend buying one of the old electribes, er1 or es1 or even a yamha rm1x wich is just a rompler but still nice if you use the hardware-sequencer for controlling software. besides the sequencer has 16 tracks, so you can produce a whole tune on this litte box.
used one myself, still like that box, it's a pretty usefull live tool also.
the electribes shure have better built in tonegeneration but you would need some external synth for doing a whole tune.

just depends on how much money you'd like to spend, but i think getting one of these would be an effordable start, and would offer you alot, especially alot of fun with turning nobs instead of penetrating your mouse

there isn't a ultimate dubstep hardware thingie... everybody likes something else

I'd recommend a good mixing desk to anyone.

Future One wrote:I'd recommend a good mixing desk to anyone.

yeah cubase

hardware no software amagad..

roor makes sick hardware for dubstep

KEBNOA wrote:if you are just starting out stick with software dont waste money on hardware

yeah dont bother committing to shit. just skip happily across the surface of life!


You can get "free" software on teh hinternets, sure, but the act of purchasing a piece of hardware can really solidify your commitment to music, if that is indeed what you want to do. I would reccomend, for a first time purchase, some sort of sampler, or a synth... just because they're a bit more "instant gratification" than a mixing desk.

Granted, the mixing desk is very important, and you wont realize this till you have it, you cant get it to make sound by itself, thus what are you going to learn if you have nothing to hook up to it? as far as hardware goes... yeah, what i said above, or get an MPC, electribe (preferrably the sampler. the new one goes on ebay for like $300) or groovebox. the only reason that i mention these is because you can begin learning about how drum patterns work, as well as some basic synthesis techniques. You may think that you will outgrow a "groovebox" but the truth is, that by limiting yourself, you foster your creativity.

if your going for software, get renoise. dont ask why - when the time comes you'll know... you'll know.

fuck ur hardware

IMO, if you're going to spend a lot of money on something (hardware or software) you want to make an informed decision as to what it does, how good it sounds, whether it fits how you want to work, whether there's something much cheaper that suits you better and so on. And your going to want to make that decision based on your ears and your experience, not based on a load of contradictory opinions from a load of people you've never met.

So yeah, I'd start out with free and cheap stuff and once you've figured out how it all works and what it can do, you'll be in a much better position to decide whether you really want to drop £150 for a shinier softsynth or upwards of a grand for a really nice bit of hardware.

Re the original post, getting a midi controller is often a good idea - for waaaay less money than most hardware units, you can use knobs and / or keys and / or pads to control any softsynth you own. Particularly for stuff like entering rhythms (just bash it out as you hear it in your head, doesn't matter if it's a bit out you can tidy it up later - beats staring at a piano roll thinking "where do I want to put that hit to get tk....tk..tk rather than tk...tk.....tk") and tweaking synth / fx parameters as it feels right rather than messing around with line tools or whatever. If you get any good (and we're talking 'playing around for a few months' rather than 'seven hours of practice a day for twenty years') you can get into stuff like coming up with melodies by noodling on a keyboard and keeping the bits that work or arranging tunes on the fly by using live triggering stuff.

I don't use mine anywhere near enough. Curse my lack of a swivel chair and tendancy to use any semi-flat surface to put things on..

your lap isn't semi-flat?

Yep i second the midi controller... just bought one and it's made things so much more fresh and fun again... helps if you fork out for some nice soft synths like massive or absynth...

tunes don't sound like they were made by a robot anymore, and i dont feel like a robot making tunes anymore. good first hardware(sortof) purchase

distro wrote:

Future One wrote:I'd recommend a good mixing desk to anyone.

yeah cubase

Obviously you have no idea what you're talking about.

i want elektron machine drum with userwave
got a roland juno-6 for some warm phat unison analog basses

t

Either or init! I have both, I'd recommend both!

One good thing about hardware, its all there in front of you. Thats how I learn't how to use a synth properly because you can do more at once, shaping is more fluid and thus productivity is up. Clicking with a mouse just pisses me off, having to write some alt just to heard what it sounds like with both your filter cut n release is long.

Having said that the best bit of kit I've bought of late is the Akai MCP49. Its a good keyboard, has MPC pad's so beats are fun and loads of nobs n sliders you can assign to your vst's. This way you have control of your vst, that is what makes for good programing!

Whatever you can afford mate I'd just learn well cos most synths will give you the same sounds once you know how to use them. So softsynths n a midi controller. If you njoy it n wanna save for hardware then you can!

My Virus Ti is a midi controler too but (if someone knows how I'd love to know) its a bitch to configure..... Sound nice tho!

if there was specific hardware for making dubstep it would all sound too similar

and if it did, it wouldnt be dubstep..

as u r just starting out I'd recommend u DONT buy ANYTHING, least of all hardware. there's plenty free or cheap stuff to be had which u can use in the meantime while u work out what it is YOU NEED (not what everyone who's posted above LIKES... something very different). everyone works different. i been producing from back when hardware was the ONLY option, and wouldnt go back 2 using it for anything, but thats just me....u need 2 work out whats right 4 u, which will only happen with a bit of time and experience producing, and it makes more sense to do that without spending much or commiting to a great big expensive bit of gear. if u havent already, search out threads on free software or whatever on here. and maybe consider buying a DAW like cubase or logic or whatever if u can afford it. but nothing else 4 now, seriously


EDIT: just re-read and realised u never said u just started out, others said that. anyway, cant see why u would need a drum machine under any circumstances. do they still exist even?

Battle Gong wrote:as u r just starting out I'd recommend u DONT buy ANYTHING, least of all hardware. there's plenty free or cheap stuff to be had which u can use in the meantime while u work out what it is YOU NEED (not what everyone who's posted above LIKES... something very different). everyone works different. i been producing from back when hardware was the ONLY option, and wouldnt go back 2 using it for anything, but thats just me....u need 2 work out whats right 4 u, which will only happen with a bit of time and experience producing, and it makes more sense to do that without spending much or commiting to a great big expensive bit of gear. if u havent already, search out threads on free software or whatever on here. and maybe consider buying a DAW like cubase or logic or whatever if u can afford it. but nothing else 4 now, seriously


EDIT: just re-read and realised u never said u just started out, others said that. anyway, cant see why u would need a drum machine under any circumstances. do they still exist even?

course they exist!

not so many "drum machines" as in drum synthesisers though as sampler technology is way beyond that

drum synths are still dead fun!

my friend started producing back in '97 with a roland mc-303.

i still agree with what i said a year ago or whatever - hardware or software makes no difference. the important thing is to commit to something and learn it.

yes drm machines still exist - yes they fucking kick large amounts of ass. If you never use one, you are lame. i can make patterns on my electribe mx WAY faster than anything i can make in renoise or anything else. good shit too.