lodger

Ah...didn't notice that. my bad. I guess my compulsion to give unsolicited advice got the better of me agreed re: the super cheap keyboards btw. A good compromise between budget and quality may be an Axiom 49 pro, which is what I use...not perfect, but suitable

Regarding budget and integration, I may get rocks thrown at me here, but i'd suggest that you need is a DAW (digital audio workstation) software with VST (virtual instrument) support...Reason essentials or Cubase essentials would have all that you need and would lend itself well to soundtrack making...and still give you the basis for integrating proper synths down the line. here's the breakdown: audio/midi interface (budget about $80 second hand) Midi cables (budget $10) a midi controller should be about $100 second hand or even cheaper Since you already have a computer, it would be a matter of choosing software that seems to be the best fit. In some situations, software may come bendled with midi keyboard (for example m-audio one) if not reason Essentials or Cubase may be picked up for about $120... or for the more daring, Reaper, a full fledged DAW with vst support is Free to try indefinitely...and costs only about $40 or so to register. If you'd go the synth route, you'd still need to get an audio interface for it, etc etc...it adds up quick

Cool. Welcome to the forums

It's a good start, but it may be worth it to find ways of making it a bit more dynamic. Keep it up and you'll have some good stuff. With electronic music it always pays to have layers that you can put in or drop out to keep the listeners attention.

I was wondering if anyone here ever used one. I have experience w the akai s series and wondered about the traits of these/their strengths

The vz1 has a rack mount ha. Other than that A good sampler can give ridiculous control over ur sounds. Akai s series all the way

The vz1 has a rack mount ha. Other than that A good sampler can give ridiculous control over ur sounds. Akai s series all the way

well when it comes to older gear, my recomendation is buy CHEAP. casio is a really easy brand to collect as lots of people in the mass market treat them as nearly disposable. Earlier last year I got my CZ-1 in extremely good shape for a mindblowing $50 from a craigslist ad. a strategy that is useful for buying older gear is to let the person selling know that you will need to get it serviced/cleaned and that should knock off a bit of the price. Since I use a lot a midi and sampling, the performance ability of the synths isnt nececarily my biggest concern, but i could see if that was a barrier to others.

It was a part of the bundle three synths for about $400. I'd be very tempted however I already have A scad of full-size keyboards not to mention the smaller ones. So easy to get gear lust

Has anyone ever used one? I saw one on craigslist recently and am sorely tempted… Is this also a phase distortion synthesizer?

For what it's worth the korg kaoss pads are great for blending And textural work

very nicely done- the beginning reminds me of some almost Brian Eno sort of sound scapes

thanks so much for the feedback guys- its cool to be able to share my stuff with a receptive audience. viva cheap casio!

@ chas- that's a really cool compilation. thanks for the heads up on that! i'll check the other links as soon as i get a chance!

here's a deep house track made in Reason using only my casio mt-100. mt-600, and Yamaha PSS-460 as sound sources. It builds to a nice deep groove and shows off what can be done with some cheap instruments and some basic sound design techniques feedback is always appreciated!

my first was my casio mt-100- received second hand from a friend who didn't have a use for it anymore

The Other part of this that may be significant is that cheap gear restricts your aesthetic decisions. In a way it's sort of like language, where you start off being able to make any sound but it's not until you limit the number of sound you can make that you can communicate effectively. I'm glad other people appreciated this; a side thought is that it would be neat to make a compilation album using crude instruments as a source. Anyone game?

I wanted to share an idea and see if anyone else had the same experience as a musician, i've worked on a lot of different projects using a wide variety of tools. However, something that always strikes me is that working with the most rudimentry tools produces some of the most interesting, engaging, and satisfying results, Over the last few weeks, i've locked myself into using only cheap old casios and one old common-as-dirt yamaha synth and am floored at how well my music has turned out, likewise the extent that i've been able to focus on my work. A part of me attributes this to the fact that you are limited to the extent that you can get distracted in tweaking your sounds...it really makes you rely more on composition to make things sound good. In this day and age where multi gigabyte sound libraries can give you false positives that you sound better than you do, the rugged, grainy, and imperfect sounds of cheap gear are often the most truthful and accurate tools you can hope to have. my opinion, anyway

cool stuff- my only critique is that at different parts in the song there is a lot in that c3 octive range (or so it sounds to my ear) it may be worth thinning that out a bit to help your leads stand out a little more. your sound selection would stand out a little more if you strip the arrangement down or focus more on counterpoint between the lead sounds in that range keep up the good work!

thanks- re the 303- that was from the psr-460 (edit- not the mt-600 as i said originally). I did use the sampler in reason though to tweak the cutoff res and envelope.

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Lately I've been getting tons of life out of the pieces I mentioned before by sampling them into reason...and very much helps keep continuity across tracks (helpful when you are doing something like a game soundtrack where the pieces you write need to gel together.) Here's the bookend track i made to that one- pushes the experimentation a bit further

Arcade Chiptune- Style Track made with <$5.00 Soundsources (casio mt-100, mt-600, yamaha psr-460). Mixed/edited in reason Feedback greatly appreciated!

here's one that shouldnt be too hard and would play off of all casio's strengths- release a vst instrument/reason rack extension with multisamples of classic Casio sounds. the technology is already readily available, its a technology that's not making them any money at the moment (the classic stuff) and has been a part of garage bands since the early 80's or before.

Hey man- you're off to a good start- i like your sound selection and your ideas for buildups and drops would definitely work on a dance floor. One recommendation I'd have is to remember when structuring your tracks that that when composing dance music, it needs to be structured a bit with the dj in mind- there are certain timing conventions that you should try to stay mindful of to get your tracks played out (for a dance audience, the dj is sort of your gatekeeper audience.) If a track isnt easy to mix and will not mix well with other tracks, its not going to get played. Here's a video that explains the structure of dance music which is a brilliant place for anyone to start off. Let me know if you have any questions

nice one!