Calling Mac Using Music Makers

[tbz_ck]

Hi

I currently have a Yamaha Tyros keyboard that I have had since 2002. Unsurprisingly it's starting to sound a little dated and before I decide whether to chop it in for a Tyros 3 I wanted to explore the option of going down a computer based route (Mac + software + midi controller)

I'm not familiar with any of the music making tools available on Mac (as I've always used the sequencer on the Tyros to do my stuff), but am prepared to learn whatever I need to.

My requirements are:

• first class tone generation with the ability to play at least 5 instrument samples live at the same time (using keyboard split points)
• At least a 16 track sequencer that supports overlay, re-recording at any entry point, quantizing, musical scoring, addition of words etc, and it would be nice if it could produce guitar tabs/song sheets.
• The ability to generate the tones, AND record from the sequencer into .mp3 or wav format.
• I need a decent midi controller with 61 keys (weighted preferable) which has the ability to use buttons/sliders/pedals to change on the fly instrument selections (like registrations on the Tyros)

I'm thinking a 13" Macbook pro with a breakout box (which I don't know) and something like an M-Audio midi keyboard. For software, something like Logic or Ableton.

I'd be interested in hearing from people who compose, perform, and record using their Mac's and are willing to share their experiences.

A Tyros 3 is about £2500, so that is a budget MAXIMUM. Portability would be a plus point too.

Thanks

CK

 

[arty]

Just to clarify, are you wanting something for studio use, live use or both? If live, how portable does it need to be? Additionally, would you need audio recording capabilities as well as MIDI? If so, how many simultaneous channels would you need, and would you require higher-end features such as phantom power on all channels?

Sorry for the slight barrage of questions, but what I would recommend will vary somewhat depending upon your answers to them I currently compose, record and perform with my Macbook Pro so am happy to share a bit of knowledge, advice and / or suggestions.

arty

 

[tbz_ck]

Thanks Arty

I'll mainly be using it for live use (nothing too serious as of yet), but I do compose a lot and want something that can be used in a studio also. I do want audio recording capabilities (to .mp3 or .wav is fine) and envisage no more than about 16 simultaneous channels. I have to be able to lay down tracks though, either one by one or a few at a time or both!

Not sure about Phantom power (is that required for all microphones?) so I'm open to suggestions.

I have a friend who is very proficient at Logic and he is prepared to give me pointers and lessons on it.

Cheers

CK

 

[arty]

I'll mainly be using it for live use (nothing too serious as of yet), but I do compose a lot and want something that can be used in a studio also. I do want audio recording capabilities (to .mp3 or .wav is fine) and envisage no more than about 16 simultaneous channels. I have to be able to lay down tracks though, either one by one or a few at a time or both!

Being able to record 16 audio channels simultaneously is well into pro territory for soundcards, so I'm not sure whether you mean being able to play back 16 tracks at once instead, which is a much more common requirement. I find that 8 channels is usually about right for most common situations. If you can explain the sort of usage requirements you're thinking of I'll recommend a few models

Not sure about Phantom power (is that required for all microphones?) so I'm open to suggestions.

It isn't required for dynamic microphones, but condenser, electret and ribbon mics tend to need phanton powering. If you haven't come across it so far then I'd only worry about getting it on a couple of channels for the moment.

I have a friend who is very proficient at Logic and he is prepared to give me pointers and lessons on it.

I was going to suggest Logic as a good option for the Mac, as it's very good value for what you get and MainStage is a fairly usable live application once you get past the quirks. I use Logic for composing and recording and MainStage live

arty

 

[tbz_ck]

I meant play back 16 simultaneously rather than record 16 simultaneously.

To record vocals I'd be using SM58 beta's. The majority of other instruments that will require recording will be generated by the Mac software anyway. I doubt I'd be recording many other instruments, save a trumpet on the odd occasion.

In terms of costs and equipment then, what am I looking at?

thanks
Ck

 

[arty]

OK, I'd suggest a 4-channel external soundcard with a laptop if your priority is live. That should represent a good balance between studio recording and live playback.

I would recommend getting a Firewire card if you are happy with a MainStage latency of around 128 samples or so, possibly 256 if you use more demanding patches. I have a Macbook Pro Santa Rosa 2.2ghz which is about 2 years old and get away with 128 samples at 44.1Khz live on a variety of piano, rhodes, clav, organ and a few synth patches, but not many splits or layers. I found the latency noticeable but easy to get used to pretty quickly when I first switched to a Mac-based set up.

I use an Echo Audiofire 2 purely for live use, and it's extremely solid compared to the M-Audio card I had previously, which has always been flaky. For you, then, I'd recommend looking at the Audiofire 4 (£250) which I'd imagine is similarly robust and reliable. You'll probably want balanced outputs for live use to allow you to operate without a D/I box, particularly if you end up doing quite large venues; I find two short balanced jack to XLR breakout cables allow me to plug straight into stage boxes or desks, which is very useful for avoiding signal degradation on stage

I'd very strongly recommend 4GB of RAM in your laptop; all of the current range of Macbook Pros are more powerful than mine, so any will run Logic and MainStage well, but as always more memory and speed are useful. Perhaps the upper range 13" MBP would be a good option (£1150).

As I've already mentioned, Logic is a great value package including MainStage for live use and a large library of software instruments, samples and loops. In effect it's like having a few synthesisers and a sampler with lots of samples at your disposal, but much cheaper (£250). Logic Studio itself is a formidable sequencer with a hell of a lot of power; it has a learning curve, but comes with an excellent set of manuals which are surprisingly readable (or so I found). You will be able to bounce songs down to WAV, MP3 or AAC formats as desired.

For a controller keyboard, it really depends how demanding you are. I have a Roland FP-5 which I'm hoping to shortly upgrade to a Roland RD-700GX, but unless you are a pianist you may find yourself better off with a more portable (and much cheaper) keyboard such as an M-Audio Keystation 61es (£125). You could also look at something a bit more sophisticated such as the M-Audio Axiom Pro 61 (£400) but that might be overkill. If you are a pianist then I recommend the Roland range, particularly if you want fully-weighted keys. Something like a Roland FP-4 (£950) or the RD-300GX (£1050) would be my pick for around the £1000 mark; bear in mind that the former lacks much in the way of assignable MIDI control, which is partly why I'm getting rid of my FP-5 which has the same problem!

For extra MIDI controlling, you could look at the Kork nanoKONTROL (£60), a bizarrely-named but probably quite useful compact device which is purely a load of assignable knobs and sliders. This would be particularly good if coupled with a more simplistic keyboard such as the Keystation 61es mentioned above.

Beyond all that, you might want to consider a gig case for the keyboard (£100? for a good one), some sort of hard case for the laptop (as little as £30-100) and various leads and such (£20-50), but most of those could always be bought later if you find you are doing lots of gigging. I have an InCase case for my MBP to stop it sliding around and getting damaged, and I also have an aluminium briefcase to carry it around in which I got on the cheap at around £30. Additionally, I have a Quik-Lok WS-500 workstation stand with a shelf for the laptop to sit on, and a portable piano stool

Hope that's enough info for you to get researching, anyway. Obviously a lot of it will be down to your personal preferences, so it might be worth popping into a local music technology shop and having a look at some kit before thinking too much about splashing out, particularly if you want the whole set-up.

arty

 

[tbz_ck]

Many thanks Arty.

This is really useful and will aid my research. I don't think I'll be buying quite yet (probably a few months off at least) but I wanted to weight the options of going down the mac route as opposed to splashing out on a Tyros 3

So £2000 is not an unreasonable budget then.....mmmm

Thanks again

CK

 

[Maccy]

Remember, you can buy through the Apple education store which will save you a few bob. Logic is about £118 on the Higher Education store too, I was also going to suggest using Logic - I'm currently using it to record our band's EP and find it much better than Pro Tools.