Which Standalone Music Production System?

Bunker · 2022-08-20T15:56:13.343Z

I found the MPC Live 2 to be really intuitive? I’d been using Elektron sequencers for a few years prior to getting the live but when I first got the live I plugged it in and started messing. Immediately the flow seemed fairly obvious in terms of getting an idea down quickly. I’d never used an MPC before so maybe that helped? I don’t know but I wouldn’t say it’s as big a learning curve as say an OT when it comes to the basics.

Geneoart · 2022-08-20T15:58:09.016Z

True but it’s good to have limitations sometimes. Especially where you don’t have a lot of time or energy less is more.

pidgeo · 2022-08-20T15:58:50.779Z

agreed. not with tracks tho

or lfo’s

circuitghost · 2022-08-20T15:59:33.720Z

He ruled out the laptop option in his opening statement. I assumed the idea was to find a solution that wasn’t a laptop, given the way he describes his relationship to computers.

If one is fine with making music on computers, that is a fantastic stand alone option. I’m in @igtheflig camp tho - I want nothing more than a singular, focused environment for making music. But like the OP, the computer is nothing of the kind, for me.

Geneoart · 2022-08-20T16:00:46.509Z

pidgeo:

agreed. not with tracks tho

or lfo’s

You need an OT

aMunchkinElfGraduate · 2022-08-20T16:04:07.766Z

Many of the last-composed works of Beethoven were string quartets. I don’t think he regarded having only four voices as a limitation. In fact, Beethoven’s “late” string quartets are considered to be quite complex. Beethoven had an advantage, though, that is not found on the Digitone. Song mode.

djadonis206 · 2022-08-20T16:07:33.052Z

Polyend Play. It just goes.

pidgeo · 2022-08-20T16:24:32.080Z

everyone needs an OT

Tchu · 2022-08-20T16:37:50.542Z

Build your actual setup in a suitcase? You’ll just need to plug your devices.

reeloy · 2022-08-20T16:59:20.709Z

…any mpc is an instrument u can really play, treat like a fast sketch multi track recorder, get things really finished and offers total recall…

RustyRoses · 2022-08-20T17:26:25.593Z

Clearly I’m the one at fault here then.

palm · 2022-08-20T19:50:35.711Z

How so? People werk differently. I don’t jive with ableton. What can you do. Either adapt or move on. No right or wrong……right?

I was always apprehensive of the MPC cuz of what people said re: werkflow. When I finally got one, it just clicked with the way I think.

RustyRoses · 2022-08-20T20:04:40.389Z

Well I’m still using it after 18 months. Buy I would still change a whole bunch of stuff.

Daspetal · 2022-08-20T20:22:19.033Z

Different devices appeal differently on a person to person basis. I knew how to work the MPC and Force both without watching tutorials or opening the manual. Very intuitive and straightforward.

Now the Roland MV-1 and MC101 were the two worst gear experiences I’ve ever had. Completely unintuitive to me. Same with their Jupiter XM. That said, the Fantom is incredibly intuitive to me. I’m hoping I can figure out the SP404 mkii.

Suspect_Frequency · 2022-08-20T20:33:09.719Z

igtheflig:

In short I guess something that combines Launchpad ProMk3 grid scale playability

This narrows down the choices for a single device, especially when you add in the rest of the criteria.

RustyRoses · 2022-08-20T21:14:00.715Z

I guess it depends on previous experience

glia · 2022-08-20T21:21:31.889Z

igtheflig:

I want something that can go from idea to wav file (pretty much) on a single device, sitting on my lap, with a zero friction “get started” experience, and that I can play like an instrument. Impossible set of wants?

In my opinion, yes

Hopefully you gravitate to something perfect for these tasks and prove me wrong

earthangel · 2022-08-20T21:25:48.998Z

I really like this idea for you. I went through a similar journey to yours but in reverse. Very limited time, feeling totally drained by the demands of an office job, and eventually found that I couldn’t gather enough steam to start, much less finish tracks with my Push 2 / Ableton setup.

Then I bought a Digitone and poured myself into it. It really is a complete little universe unto itself.

I think you need fewer tools, not more. But a reinvigorated sense of the emergent possibilities. The Digitone is such a deep box that I’m convinced you could spend years honing your own sound using the parameters we’ve been given.

One thing that I found is that it did eventually become burdensome to sound lock my way through a rich drum track. A few months ago I paired it with a Syntakt and have been really happy with them as a combined workstation.

Your core problem is probably emotional, from the sound of it. Simplify your tools and channel that fucked feeling into your music. Try something completely different.

SLiC · 2022-08-20T21:32:57.164Z

The best thing about owning an OT was that everything I have used since seems easy to learn!

I like my MPC 2 but I just got a 404 Mk2 and that (despite being very different) didn’t to long to get the hang of and is great fun…never forget the fun factor, you are more likely to pick it up and start making music if it’s fun!

blipson · 2022-08-20T23:42:30.255Z

circuitghost:

He ruled out the laptop option in his opening statement. I assumed the idea was to find a solution that wasn’t a laptop, given the way he describes his relationship to computers.

If one is fine with making music on computers, that is a fantastic stand alone option. I’m in @igtheflig camp tho - I want nothing more than a singular, focused environment for making music. But like the OP, the computer is nothing of the kind, for me.

Actually, I was side-commenting that I got the new MacBook Air as a splurge to gain portability. Not just due to the laptop’s weight, but the weight and bulk of my battery-challenged MacBook Pro’s charger makes that combo yet more annoying than it should be. For serious ITB stuff, though, sure, I’d go with the MacBook Pro.

It’s just that if OP-1 could load external MIDI files, then I probably wouldn’t have spent that part of the budget on the Air. I splurged for portability so that I can also lug around either the MC-101 or SP-404MKII and use the Air as a power source and MIDI file transfer device. An OP-1 Field would be even more useful than the Rolands because of its standalone advantages—if it just loaded external MIDI files.