An Unstoppable force meets an immovable object. . .

[Blaster]

Just joined the forum, Ive been lurking here for a while. Its been around one year since I embarked on my producing journey. I'm sixteen now and a year ago I never would have imagined it would be this hard. After reading this forum I decided to do shit the legitimatley and I got a job and saved up and bought reason 4 (and then the upgrade to reason 5 later), and recently I bought an ableton live liscense off a friend. At this point in time I am really really really strapped for cash because im starting to save up for college but need studio monitors (thinking rp5s) and a midi controller (mpk25?). I'll also probably need an external sound card because ive just been using the one on my shitty laptop (which I also had to help pay for). My question for you DSF users is not the stereotypical 16 year old producers question "can sumbody tell me how 2 mak skrillex bassez", but how the hell can I get some of the above mentioned hardware on an EXTREMELY tight budget.

[Lectric]

Listen up, bucko. You sixteen yr oldz and ur brostep shit is cloggin up me earholez ya hear meh?

LOLJK im sixteen too.

Lemmee tell you one thing: you dont need any fancy hardware to produce good tunes. my set up is a korg nano key, and my laptop, and my headphones. dats it. i can still do whatever i need and want, no problems. dont be one of those who think i need all this fancy equipment to make good music. a 500 dollar hockey stick wont make you the next Alex Ovechkin. just put your mind on making tunes, not buying tune making hardware.
cheers

[Sine69]

Don't spend the money on a midi controller if you're tight for cash.

It's convenient to have one, but it isn't essential for making tunes.

[paridiso]

Just make do with what you have. You don't need to have a bunch of equipment to make good tunes. It'll also force you to work on making things sound good by getting things to have good melodies which is something that most dubstep lacks imo. It's not all about sound design.

[deadly_habit]

if you're gonna do it
check the local pawn/thrift shops
cracky has a habit of selling good music gear

[Blaster]

Alright sounds good, but if I were going to get some studio monitors what would you guys recommend for cost effective solution, and what about audio cards?

[deadly_habit]

focusrite saffire 6 usb and krk rockit 6

[Blaster]

Ouuuuuchhhhhh $200 D:

[deadly_habit]

thats cheap in the realm of audio gear for something good

[nowaysj]

If you're broke, just plug some headphones into your laptop. Your shit is going to suck for the next 3 or 4 years so it doesn't really matter, so just get on with it. Spend you money on something that potentially can make you money, ie, a flippin education.

[nicenice]

if you're gonna do it
check the local pawn/thrift shops
cracky has a habit of selling good music gear

I've noticed this,
when I visit the nearest pawn shop to me, which is in a relatively bad area
it has a shit load of nice equipment, mixer desks, turntable mixers, moniters, speakers, amps etc
although last time I bought something from there it broke in about a month

[A-List]

Been producing since i was 16, and im now 20, and from the start up until about half a year or so ago, i was using just my laptop (which is shiiiiiiiiiiiit, 1gb ram, 120gb hd or some shit, and these babies http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDR-XD200- ... B0007TBJYA . i can play piano, but decided not to go down the midi controller route simply because i didnt want to spend money on something i wasnt sure i wanted to do... i got saving up for a while when i decided that this was definately what i wanted to do... now ive got a pair of krk rokit 8's and a focusrite saffire 6 (still using the sony headphones).

Basically, you dont NEED all this hardware to produce music, if you can't afford all of the equipment, you can survive easily on just your laptop and some headphones!

[Filthzilla]

In my eyes you just don't need that stuff.

Once you got a DAW you can work with you can get by with crappy speakers and headphones.

Maybe that's just me. I've never owned a sub or a decent pair of monitors. It probably shows. :L

[RandoRando]

focusrite saffire 6 usb and krk rockit 6

this

[paravrais]

Don't spend the money on a midi controller if you're tight for cash.

It's convenient to have one, but it isn't essential for making tunes.

Bad advice IMO. Your midi keyboard is your most essential piece of kit.

[phrex]

Ouuuuuchhhhhh $200 D:

[JBE]

Don't spend the money on a midi controller if you're tight for cash.

It's convenient to have one, but it isn't essential for making tunes.

Bad advice IMO. Your midi keyboard is your most essential piece of kit.

I disagree there. It only really becomes essential once you get one and start using it. It's hard to go back once you have one, but you don't need a midi controller to make music.

If you feel you really need these things, but can't really afford market value, then I would say start checking around for used ones. Pawn shops and ebay would probably be a good place to start looking. I would say use your search engines, I'm sure there are plenty of sites out there that cater to buying and selling used gear, it's just a matter of finding one that you feel you can trust.

[jaydot]

Never used a MIDI keyboard in my production life. Can't play the piano anyway lol.

[-[2]DAY_-]

Ouuuuuchhhhhh $200 D:

for real.... that's probably OP's best bet, and a great buy for the money. A great investment in something inexpensive that can bring you a lot of joy in the long term. Treat the shit right, don't break it or blow your speaker cones or let spilled drinks, smoke and dust destroy it... get yourself a year's worth of use out of the kit, and think of it as less than a dollar/day for all the enjoyment of having your own monitors and interface.

[paravrais]

Never used a MIDI keyboard in my production life. Can't play the piano anyway lol.

Word. You need to get on that mate.

The thing is, it's not *essential* to have a midi keyboard but the amount your productions will benefit is incredible. If you want to do anything melodic it's a must. Plus it keeps you in a musician frame of mind so you're not just arranging stuff on a grid all day. You actually have to play your synths as an instrument and I feel that's a really valuable thing.