Making electronic Music Computer recommendations

tampadragon

Hi

So I haven't made any music in a few years and I'm looking to get back into it as I miss making electronic music.

I have a 27" iMac(5+ years old) which is what I did use for recording and I used Cubase Elements for my DAW. I had a couple of soft synths from Novation and some free ones too, as well as hardware synths.

I'm looking at pricing up a mobile solution, so a Laptop/Tablet of some sort with a small, but good, midi controller keyboard. This is all about making it fit into one of the Ikea boxes we have in the lounge storage unit, that way it's at hand in the evening after the nipper has gone to bed, should I fancy some music time.

So is a Macbook better than a Windows Laptop, are tablets viable for this yet and any other help and advice would be good.
Budget wise I'm not sure of as this will likely be a medium term build up of bits and pieces to make it happen over this year.

spark240

Im generally a Windows person, but I have to say I prefer my Mac Mini for music, I saw Warren Huart using this the other day....https://www.producelikeapro.com/2017/02/01/stagelight-daw-demo/

Strangefan

You will find no difference in Mac or pc for music use these days,  and both are over powered for most of it,  the important item to consider is the soundcard/interface, buy the best you can, regarding pc ssd will certainly help as will at least 8 gb of ram, I would heartily recommend a midi controller and midi keyboard they will open the doors to some phenomenal soundscapes. 

Also yoy really don't need to buy synths /vsts they're so many quality free ones available if you want some recommendations,  pm me and I'll send you some links  

What daw will you be using? 

DulcetJones

I agree with with Strangefan, I have an M-Audio MIDI synth that's easy to use with either my desktop or laptop(all Windows) and more software options than I have time to explore.  I record synth tracks  right on to the computer, but I find using a pocket studio digital recorder more reliable for guitar tracks.  It's really easy to mix all of them together with any one of the DAW's out there today, even Audacity.

digitalscream

How many inputs/outputs do you need? I've got a Presonus Audiobox USB going spare (two ins, two outs) - can probably save a few quid there.

tampadragon

digitalscream said:

How many inputs/outputs do you need? I've got a Presonus Audiobox USB going spare (two ins, two outs) - can probably save a few quid there.

Thanks for the offer, I have a Line 6 UX2 interface that I can use for this. I've also been looking at the Novation Circuit for sketching ideas away from a Computer, anyone have any experience of these?

If I use a midi keyboard/controller and a laptop I don't really need any audio inputs, other than if I want to record some guitar over the top?

tampadragon

Also, could a macbook air be used for music making on a smaller scale, not masses of VSTs running etc. As I have an air lying around not doing anything

digitalscream

tampadragon said:

Also, could a macbook air be used for music making on a smaller scale, not masses of VSTs running etc. As I have an air lying around not doing anything

Of course. People were making music long before the Air came out. Which generation is it?

The only issue you might run into is a shortage of USB ports.

tampadragon

The air is about 4 years old, can't remember the spec, I'll check it tonight. And if I was only using one interface at a time, i.e. the controller keyboard or audio interface, it shouldn't be a problem. 
I may have a solution here then with only having to buy a control surface and controller keyboard!

digitalscream

If it's a 2012 Macbook Air, it should have two USB 3.0 ports. My advice would be to use your main audio interface on one of them, and use a USB hub for the control surface and keyboard controller (since latency is less of an issue for those two, although it shouldn't make much difference if any at all).

It's also a 1.8GHz Core i5 (dual core) CPU, so you should have easily enough horsepower there to do most things. You might want to upgrade the RAM to 8GB, if possible.

tampadragon

That's cool then, I'll double check the specs tonight and get all the software updates done. Being an IT Infrastructure guy for a living means I spend most of my time applying updates/firmware and so it's the last thing I want to do at home!

How is Ableton as a DAW as the Novation LaunchKey 25 paired with a Circuit looks like a nice combo for mobile music making, these come with Ableton Live Lite. And I don't really want to spend loads of time learning to use the DAW as I never really learnt to use Cubase properly, it is just what I used to use on my Dad setup when I was in school as he had an Atari ST with it on.

digitalscream

tampadragon said:

How is Ableton as a DAW as the Novation LaunchKey 25 paired with a Circuit looks like a nice combo for mobile music making, these come with Ableton Live Lite. And I don't really want to spend loads of time learning to use the DAW as I never really learnt to use Cubase properly, it is just what I used to use on my Dad setup when I was in school as he had an Atari ST with it on.

I can't help you there; I'm a Reaper guy (although I'm getting into Harrison Mixbus, which is quite cool and different) and I run everything on Linux.

tampadragon

Which distro of linux do you use, out of interest?

digitalscream

tampadragon said:

Which distro of linux do you use, out of interest?

Ubuntu. Currently 15.04 (for work reasons), but next month I'll be moving to 16.10 (for performance and better compatibility).

Worth noting that I have the realtime kernel installed, and I use JACK as my main audio subsystem with PulseAudio bridged to it; sounds complicated, but it's pretty trivial really.

tampadragon

Just checked it's an 11" mid 2012 air with 4GB of Ram and a 1.7GHz i5. So hopefully that should be fine as a base. 
Now just to get a controller keyboard and some VSTs! Do you have any good references on things like Midi routing as I haven't a clue about that! 

digitalscream

I wouldn't worry about that to start with - just get the machine set up and working with your DAW and your interface. After that, work on getting everything functioning one bit of gear at a time (and learning how to use it with your DAW at the same time).

tampadragon

digitalscream said:

I wouldn't worry about that to start with - just get the machine set up and working with your DAW and your interface. After that, work on getting everything functioning one bit of gear at a time (and learning how to use it with your DAW at the same time).

That is a good point, I do tend to try to run before I can walk!