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If you had about $3000 USD (or ~2300 euro) to spend on a pair of monitors, an audio interface, and a midi keyboard, how would you spend your cash? If you had any leftover, you could maybe pick up a synth too.

For the midi keyboard, I'd like at least 49 keys so I can begin learning to play the piano. At least 8 drum pads and sliders would be nice too. I don't know the differences between audio interfaces and monitors to judge what I need. I've got a macbook pro so I'd need things that work well with macs.

What do you guys think? I could wait a couple years till I really have a lot more money to spend but I'm getting sick of writing everything in the box.

Getting some decent monitors would be my top priority as they can really make the difference

$3k is a lot of money.

Whats your current setup like?

Theres a lot of options for you in your budget. You figure youll probably drop $250 MAX on an interface (assuming your dont need a lot of ins/outs). $300 MAX on a keyboard (and thats with all the bells and whistles which honestly you probably dont need).

Realistically your looking at around $1500 minimum to spend on some monitors. And thats if you cant find a good deal on the other stuff, which shouldn't be a problem at all.Even then, thats a lot to drop on some speakers. Best bet, get something in the $600-700 range and drop the rest on some room treatment. Adam, Krk, Dynaudio, Yamaha, ect. all make good stuff in that price range. You just gotta get out there and test some stuff to see what you like the best.


Or you could just say fuck it and get a Virus.

Honestly do yourself a favor and look into Equator Audio D series for monitors. They have 5 and 8 inch models. That plus room treatment.

You could also invest in a decent hardware compressor or something like that : )

I'd get an MPK61 for a keyboard. Order the pad sensitivity upgrade as well or do the mod with tape. I just did this yesterday on mine, and after opening the case a second time to make some adjustments on a couple pads that were sticking down, it's perfect now. You can't find another keyboard that compares to a modded MPK61. Go for the 88 if you want better hammer action and more keys. Portability may be an issue though.

For monitors I'd probably get some Adams or something.

For an interface maybe a Scarlett 2i2? Assuming you're not looking to record anything, you can spend a bit extra on conversion at the expense of I/O. I'd probably go Apogee or MOTU.

Spend the rest on room treatment. If you have extra get some headphones. Sony MDR 7520, Sennheiser HD600, or some Beyers. You can save a lot buying used and building the room treatment yourself.

webstarr wrote:Getting some decent monitors would be my top priority as they can really make the difference

Yeah, I agree. I would need to treat my room too. Just a typical bedroom sized maybe 12ft x 14ft. Not sure if those measurements affect the size of the monitors I would need.

Crimsonghost wrote:$3k is a lot of money.

Whats your current setup like?

Theres a lot of options for you in your budget. You figure youll probably drop $250 MAX on an interface (assuming your dont need a lot of ins/outs). $300 MAX on a keyboard (and thats with all the bells and whistles which honestly you probably dont need).

Realistically your looking at around $1500 minimum to spend on some monitors. And thats if you cant find a good deal on the other stuff, which shouldn't be a problem at all.Even then, thats a lot to drop on some speakers. Best bet, get something in the $600-700 range and drop the rest on some room treatment. Adam, Krk, Dynaudio, Yamaha, ect. all make good stuff in that price range. You just gotta get out there and test some stuff to see what you like the best.


Or you could just say fuck it and get a Virus.

My current setup is just a macbook pro and some Bose QuietComfort 3s hahaha. They're pretty hard to mix on, so I figure anything I buy will be a dramatic improvement. I was thinking anything from KRK rokit 6s to Adam A7Xs. Would the audio quality really make that much of a difference to warrant the price tag? Or would it make more sense for me to get the rokits and continue saving till I can get some really high quality monitors?

If you have 3K don't buy fucking rokits man...

mtl6 wrote:

webstarr wrote:Getting some decent monitors would be my top priority as they can really make the difference

Yeah, I agree. I would need to treat my room too. Just a typical bedroom sized maybe 12ft x 14ft. Not sure if those measurements affect the size of the monitors I would need.

Crimsonghost wrote:$3k is a lot of money.

Whats your current setup like?

Theres a lot of options for you in your budget. You figure youll probably drop $250 MAX on an interface (assuming your dont need a lot of ins/outs). $300 MAX on a keyboard (and thats with all the bells and whistles which honestly you probably dont need).

Realistically your looking at around $1500 minimum to spend on some monitors. And thats if you cant find a good deal on the other stuff, which shouldn't be a problem at all.Even then, thats a lot to drop on some speakers. Best bet, get something in the $600-700 range and drop the rest on some room treatment. Adam, Krk, Dynaudio, Yamaha, ect. all make good stuff in that price range. You just gotta get out there and test some stuff to see what you like the best.


Or you could just say fuck it and get a Virus.

My current setup is just a macbook pro and some Bose QuietComfort 3s hahaha. They're pretty hard to mix on, so I figure anything I buy will be a dramatic improvement. I was thinking anything from KRK rokit 6s to Adam A7Xs. Would the audio quality really make that much of a difference to warrant the price tag? Or would it make more sense for me to get the rokits and continue saving till I can get some really high quality monitors?

Get the Adams. I have the rokit 6 and my ears get tired fast. Pus there not the flatest response out there. There not terrible, but youre not hurting for money so you shouldnt even really be looking at those. If you like the Krk stuff, at least look into the VXT series which is there mid tier stuff.

^I recently upgrade from Rokit 6s, couldn't agree more about ear fatigue! I've heard good things about the VXT series.

I wish i spent more time demoing monitors, but theres really only so many options at guitar center. I think my next pair are going to be the Adams or Equators. Unless i win the lotto, then its Genelecs

+1 Equators. They absolutely do not flatter your mix! I ended up with Rokits b/c of GC as well lol

What are Equators? After watching this video, I think I like the a7xs the best.....


What do you guys think?

Also, would a pair of used A7Xs for $1000 in 'excellent' condition be a good deal?

Equator Audio. It's a studio monitor company by the guy who designed the Event 20/20s.

So let me get this straight...you are going to demo monitors, recorded through a microphone, compressed for YouTube, through a pair of headphones or other speakers...

...


...

With that cash I would put that in a kick ass Sandy-Bridge PC and some KRKs. The PC and monitors are the most important things in a setup IMO.

I would put £1000 into a custom PC from somewhere like http://www.overclockers.co.uk, don't even bother with somewhere like Dell. (Go for a top end i7)
Then I would put £1000 into some KRKs.
£500 for a Keyboard and we are still talking top end. (I think the most expensive midi keyboard dolphin-music sells is £400)
That leaves £500 for a interface and that quite a bit for interface so I would go for a mixing-deask with a audio interface. You will still get a nice one, I spent just shy of £300 on this. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/6 ... annel.html

Just want to add.. unless you already have like a 3rd gen i7 PC I would put that money into a PC first. There is nothing worse than running out of CPU when working on a track. You could get some beast of an overclocked cooling setup for a G.

fragments wrote:If you have 3K don't buy fucking rokits man...

Or Behringer.

For the record, my pc has a stock clocked i7 920 at 2.6, 6 gigs of 1600mhz ram, and an SSD. I've never hit a resource wall while producing and usually I run a lot of plugins and tracks. So you don't need to go completely over the top on a pc.

Edit: wait he said he has a Macbook pro, why are we talking about computers now? This isn't the how to blow 3 grand on redundant purchases thread is it?

my pcs a two year old stock hp with 4gb of ram and i havnt ever had a problem with even getting close to running out of cpu

I'm happy with my vxt6.
rokit are not so good monitors, I bought those at first and returned them 2 days later.
I'm pretty sure you won't regret buying those or some adams.
Don't buy the vxt8 since they are really big and for a home studio you get a hell of bass resonances.
my 2 cent.