First I would like to say this is my first post and I am new to the forum and hello to everyone! So a little bit about my background I started with DJ’n about 12 years go and started with a vestax vci 100 dj controller. I dabbled a bit with Ableton Live but very very basic. I expanded from djn to hardware synths and groove boxes maybe within the last 5 years as I wanted to do more of a live set. My current hardware Pioneer DDJ RX/Minilogue XD/MC-101/Korg Volca FM/TR-8/Elektron M:C (most recent). I also have a zoom h4n pro recorder. I usually feed everything to my pioneer mixer/controller. I am looking at purging some gear and going with a very heavily focused production setup with minimal gear involved. I first was looking at the Digitakt but now am considering a OT MK2. (Open to suggestions)
I have very basic knowledge of music production knowledge and usually dabble with gear instead of reading the fundamentals (I know bad habit). I am more hands on person, and I am looking at focusing on production only. I do not want to create music with any software I want to use strictly hardware. I would like to hear some suggestions. I am heavily focused on house music specifically deep house creations.
Learn about analog synthesis, start with the basics and build on that, it will give you a deeper understanding of how sounds work and why they sound how they do. Then move on to more advanced stuff like FM, wavetable etc where many of the concepts learned in analog will be useful and still pertinent, eg LFO’s, envelopes etc.
And, to add onto @darenager’s advice, you can do all that with your Minilogue. Start with an Init patch and build up sounds from scratch, referring to tutorials along the way. There must be loads of tutorials on creating kicks, hats, various bass sounds etc on YouTube. When it comes time to start putting your sounds together, Digitakt is probably the better of the two options you mentioned because of its simplicity but also its ability to grow with your setup once you get into it. Octatrack is undoubtedly a great tool with a stupid amount of flexibility but its complexity may be overwhelming if you’re just starting out. The other route is to double down on sampling as your main focus and to forget about trying to synthesise everything from scratch. But it depends on what you find the most fun/productive. And of course you can combine both approaches, creating your own sounds with various synths, then twisting them into whatever you want with samplers.
I feel like this is the route for me. I just like twisting knobs and pressing buttons and making it sound nice with my TR-8 drums :p. I never tried sampling before but after I watched some vids on what you can do with the takt I was blown away and my mind wandered a lot into the possibilities. My minilogue XD is the only gear that sometimes get’s left out
Digitakts keep their second hand value quite well, so pick one up from Reverb or whatever marketplace you use and see if it’s for you, and if not sell it again for near enough the same price. I love sampling and love my DT (my second one) and I’ve owned two OTs in the past for comparison. I think DT has just the right amount of tools to make things sound really good and punchy, all without having too many options that can sometimes lead to choice paralysis.
1, download the manuals and work out how search functions work with them and any forums you use. aAnd theres probably a youtube vid to help you with most questions you have.
probably quicker to look/search and you’ll learn more on the subject and relevant info, than just posting a simple question on a forum and expecting everyone else to answer.
find a track you like and listen / load it up in a daw, figure out how they might’ve mixed the drums, bass , melodies … and how theyve structured it (intro, build up, etc etc)
Your setup can already generate lots of nice noises, … i’d probably go for something that can sequence it all in a straight forward way … i’d probably go digitakt
sequence notes from the digitakt , triggering xd,101,volca,tr8 possibly. .
use built in sequencer on m:c
possibly use the side chain input on tr-8 , or replace it with digitakt drum samples .
