2019-07-20 10:42:25

Hello everyone,
I am wondering what everyone thinks I should get when it comes to making music. I will be using Mac OS for my music since I cannot for the life of me figure out how people do it on windows. Anyone know of any good USB keyboards, microphones, or anything related?
Thank you!

2020-02-08 20:15:11

I am bringing this back since I got no responces but I am still interested.

2020-02-08 21:06:49

You might want to look at the uomplete uontrol series of keyboards. They come out of the box with (mostly) accessible virtual instruments. Adding to that fact, Native Instruments, who make them, are industry experts in that field, and their gear is top notch.

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2020-02-08 22:13:04

Komplete Kontrol m32
Get REaper for Mac, since the only other daw that supports the Kontrol keyboards natively is Logic Pro, and that's way too expensive for what yo u get. Mixers?
Zenix q802 with Blue NCore200 active dynamic mic. Perfect midle of the road option with all the benefits of a condenser with the amplification/sensitivity provided by the 48v phantom power requirement, yet it isn't nearly as delicate as most condensers. In fact, this one is pretty road-ready. I would not get a deskstand for it because you do need to be pretty much straight in front of the micc for it to hear you, as it is not a sideaddress mic.

2020-02-08 23:46:48

I would reccomend either reaper or if you plan on using Logic in the future use GarageBand, it comes with the mac, and it's interface and key commands are the exact same as logic, so when you've learned GB you've mostly learned logic as everything works the same and there is just more added on. In idition, GB projects can be opened in logic so when you upgrade, you'll be able to continue where you left off. The one big thing about GB to know is that you can't select multiple tracks to record to at once. This could be a problem if you wanted to use multiple mics. I wonder why they removed this ability when other free daws, mainly audacity has this. I didn't mention reaper as being free because it technically isn't. But yeah, even older versions of GB allowed you to record multiple audio tracks at once. Strangely it only just got the ability to natively open midi files without having to import them with version 10 which came out in 2013. But my main point is if you want to learn logic before you buy it, GB is the exact same interface just with less abilities, and for some that only need to record from 1 input at a time like a vocalist and guitar or for using loopback to record your mic and an app's audio, it's easy and comes with the macAnd even though most will laugh at a simi professional saying that the apple audio effects that come with logic and GarageBand are good, They are far better than any of the audio plugins you would get in ProTools, Ableton or FL studio, well, maybe accept FL's auto tune if you're trying to get a T Pain style sound, but Ableton and FL aren't accessible. Now, their virtual instruments are a mixed bag of really bad, okay, and above average but nothing to write home about.  But seriously, Even though I have several audio plugins from waves and the Native Instruments Komplete audio plugins I find myself still using the new ventage EQ collection in logic more than I thought I would after getting all the new stuff. Speaking of Komplete Kontrol, the mac experience is far better than the windows experience, at least as far as Native Access goes last time I looked at native access on windows. The one thing that confuses me about the keyboards is why can't they keep the buttons on their different models the same? It's just weird that to turn accessibility on on the A series is different from the S series. At least the M32 has the same  button layout as the A series, but unless you want a lighter keyboard, I would reccomend the a25 if you need something portable as the M32 has smaller keys that would be a challenge to play on for people with large fingers or for people trying to play anything where your hands move a lot and fast. Now, as far as setting it up, it's not clear what  you will need to  install first, as for some reason Native access shows the entire list instead of showing the stuff you need to install first before everything else will work, and for those who want to install everything in chunks that can be confusing when stuff doesn't work because one of the core components isn't installed. Andre Louis has a tutorial you can find here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHdDgwp4OTU but the quick version is, you need Kontakt, Komplete Kontrol, FM8, Reaktor, Battery, Absynth, and massive for everything else to work because everything else uses those plugins to operate. Of course if you were sighted that would be more clear as you would be choosing these parts individually and loading presets from them in their own plugin. Example, if you wanted to play with Studio Drummer, you would have to load up kontakt first and choose it, but sense we use Komplete Kontrol, you would select it from the product list. Even then, studio drummer still requires kontakt to work. All Komplete Kontrol is doing is showing an alternative interface where all your products from Native Instruments and anything else you have installed NKS files  for can be controled from within one plugin and with the keyboard. Also, in oorder to use the accessibility, you must  have one of the komplete kontrol keyboards, as the accessibility doesn't come from your screen reader, and the speech comes from either your mac default voice or the default voice in sapi if you're on windows, and as of right now it doesn't look like Native Instruments is planning on allowing us to use their products with a screen reader. As for audio interfaces, be ware, most of them now, especially consumer ones are starting to require that you install apps that they supply for them. As a matter of fact theApollo interfaces are so restrictive that you need their app to record even if you're in a daw. Unfortunately these apps are most of the time either inaccessible or annoyingly clunky to  use. The scarlott interfaces are pretty accessible, and Native Instruments also has an interface called Komplete Audio. I would also reccomend anything from Apogee. Their app is accessible, but some things might take a little getting used to. Example, you can't toggle Phantom Power (48 V) without using either the app or sighted assistance as it's in a menu on the interface.

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2020-02-09 01:35:40 (edited by jack 2020-02-09 01:37:06)

The Focusright stuff is amazing, but you need to realize that Skarlet is an audio interface, not a mixer. If you want an all in one that's actually pretty good, you might go with the Zenix q802, particularly since it's class-compliant. One thing I have a problem with is getting the stereo ins to work to where they aren't freaking mono though, even with a y-splitter.
Re, the m32: The keys on that thing are not that bad compared to other portables. And the m32 is, believe it or not, more portable then the a25, with more keys to boot. Those extra 7 keys really do make a difference in allowing you to play bottom notes more conveniently. Also, Native Access got an accessibility overhaul on Windows.

2020-03-21 03:27:41

Hey,
Thanks for all of this feedback; I actually forgot about this topic! big_smile
I will certainly keep all of this information in mind.