PatrickKn said:

Are you just producing songs studio like, or are you trying to get one for live play? There are some fancy keyboards out there with really great sound presets, but you'll have a lot more control and flexibility if you use a computer as the synth or sampler, and whatever keyboard as a midi input. Assuming you're using one for live play, you can use a laptop with your sound presets preloaded for easy access too.

Try some used music equipment stores, and test em out to see what's both comfortable and in your price range.

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Shroomin Capote said:

PatrickKn said:

Are you just producing songs studio like, or are you trying to get one for live play? There are some fancy keyboards out there with really great sound presets, but you'll have a lot more control and flexibility if you use a computer as the synth or sampler, and whatever keyboard as a midi input. Assuming you're using one for live play, you can use a laptop with your sound presets preloaded for easy access too.

Try some used music equipment stores, and test em out to see what's both comfortable and in your price range.

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not for live performances.  a midi sounds cool, but I like the feel of a real keyboard.  I guess I could do computer/midi effects for brass and synth sounds, but I would like a keyboard that has a really rich piano, electric piano, organs, and either strings or a flute sound

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In general, a majority (99% ) of the keyboards you're going to get will have midi output. There are some nice keyboards out there that will have weighted keys and stuff too, look around for some that have them if you want a real keyboard feel. What I'm saying is that you might not have to necessarily pay premium price for something merely because of the preset sounds on it, but go for feel instead and use your computer as your synth/sampler instead.

As far as those instruments go, here are a few for starters.

Rich Piano:

Those are all sampled piano libraries. The following one is completely synthesized to my knowledge - and it sounds really good in that sense.

Electric Piano:

Pretty much any modern VST synthesizer will give you this sound - among others. Good VST's to look out for are Massive, Sylenth1, Absynth, Zebra² and hundreds of others. These ones I've listed have active communities that develop a lot of sounds if you don't want to make your own - and are easy enough to understand if you happen to want to get into the synthesis and articulation in them.

Organs:
Same as above.

Strings:

Flute:

You can download all of these programs (and thousands more) (it's a warez site) here:

http://audioz.eu/

Shroomin Capote said:

holy shit! thanks.  damn all of these programs and stuff is kinda overwhelming since I haven't started recording anything yet and don't really know what I need to start.

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Shroomin Capote said:

ive used ableton before, but idk if it would be good for what I want to do-space rock/prog and classical music

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Look beyond the lines, it's only going to be formulaic and electronic if you stick to that 4/4 beat and have every note evenly spaced. You can create some realistic sounding guitar sounds using a clean guitar sound and then layering effects on it. You can record your midi keyboard into the thing with whatever sound you are playing it with in real time to make it sound more natural and less electronic. I admit that I have not mastered this yet, however I've been trying to get a more psych rock sound with some of the songs I've been making in the last week, and looked up some tutorials on how to get that through computerized effects.

Got a solid grasp on how to emulate a guitar sound and attach any effect to it for example. Got solid drum programs that have a lot of midi settings to get a realistic drum sound. Here is a video of a kontakt drum instrument that I like. However there are dozens of others that I've yet to try that are supposedly better and more realistic:

That's just one of hundreds of drum kits you can get for example, here is another:

With drums out of the way, lets go to guitar effects. A lot of people think that guitar is hard to properly emulate because they get these vsts that sound dull and generic, but it's because they don't really use enough effects. There is a program called Guitar Rig Pro for example, that acts as hundreds of different effects pedals to emulate guitar effects. You can use these effects on midi input, or layer it on an actual guitar recording, and it sounds great.

If you get a fancy sounding synth that sounds like a clean guitar input, you can get crazy with the notes and pitch bends and really make it work when you layer these effects on it. Yesterday I had an orchestral string library running through guitar rig, and it sounded pretty awesome just dicking around with it. Like a totally distorted rock violin.

Now this is why I personally think FL Studio is better for my personal workflow. After using it for quite a bit, I can just see where to put everything and can really work my way around it to layer stuff and automate sounds (FL Studio has a really intuitive automation, very easy to use).

Now for orchestral songs, it's pretty much the same, just getting really complex with articulations, instrument layering, tempo changing (you can automate tempo as well, keep that in mind when making songs). Let's say you need orchestral drums:

Use those, automate volume, intensity, etc. through the modulation wheels on your keyboard. Do the same for your strings, horns, other instruments. And then keep in mind that when you are done with whatever you are making, you can take the midi data of each instrument and put it to sheet music.

propensity said:

I have an Akai MPK-49, great midi keyboard, the keys are weighted and feel fantastic, i really enjoy playing on it. It also comes in an 88 key version if you're looking for a full keyboard.

Everythings great about it except the drum pads which are not nearly sensitive enough to be worth anything. But thats a small drawback.

If you were to get a midi keyboard like mine you would not need a mixer as they are USB, damn near plug and play, very easy to use.

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Shroomin Capote said:

so do I need a mixing board or just FL studios and other programs?

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