Ok im tired of these threads popping up Hopefully we can make this a sticky. I will add to this and update it for awhile. Please feel free to add to it.. Its really late and my grammer and spelling are prolly suffering....

All this is assuming you have either a PC or mac. And if you dont I would recomend if you have the extra cash and are 100% dedicated to making music to get a Mac the operating system is wonderful and very stable, not to mention Logic is mac only. But on the otherhand you can get a pc with similar perforance much cheaper and be able to play your favorite games etc. Pc's tend to run cubase better than a similar mac aswell..


$0-$500
At this price point you will have 4 main options for a software for music production.

Firsty is Mackie Tracktion2 which can be had for 150.00 . It is capable of running vst's on both mac and pc. It comes Bundled with a assortment of LE(light edition) plugins and full versions from "name-brand" manufactors IK multimedia, LinPlug(including a full version of RM IV, which is a very nice drum machine you can load your samples into.), refx, and big tick.. I have never used traktion and cant verify its ease of use, automation etc.. But from what I have read it would appear to be a fully fledged and powerfull sequencer for under $200.

Secondly would be Fruity Loops which can be purchased direct for $50-$150 depending on the version you purchased. Versions very with including plugins etc. Fruity is a VST capable host for the pc. As I am completely unfamiliar with fruity I can not give you much more information on it.(If anyone wants to write a little bit about fruity please do so.)

Thirdly is Logic Express which is apples entry level of version of logic. It comes with various plugins from its bigger brother Logic Pro but not all of them. It can be purchased for $300.00 from apple directly and i believe you can get a student discount as most of us are students anyway . Logic is mac only and loads AU instruments. The mixer in Logic Express is somewhat limited in that it only allows for 8aux/sends. Other than that is something like 200 stero tracks and 64 virtual instruments, i dont know anyone who has used that much..


$500-$1500

At this pricepoint I would recomend getting either logic or cubase depending on the system your running logic if you have a mac and cubase if your on a PC. Logic has the advantage here as it as a vast number of very nice plugins. Where as cubase's are few and far inbetween.. I would also advise a set of studio monitors as wearing a pair of headphones can get uncomfortable. M-audio Bx5's Bx8's etc. I recomend going to the nearest shop that sells the stuff and puting the speakers against your own ears. You are going to need a output for the monitors so it may be a good time to look into a decent audio interface aswell, maudio again makes a number of affordable units. Also again do not forget a midi controller...

$1500-$3000

At this point you are able to afford more outboard gear.. I would again take everything from the previous pricepoint. But add a hardware synth Virus KC's can be had on ebay for arround $1200 and it would also act as a nice keyboard controller. But if you already have a controller you could get a rack version of the virus for under $800. Or you can go the vintage route and purchase one of the various vintage boards.. But in buying these vintage boards know that they will require maintance and have to be repaired etc, so be ready to invest more than the initial purchase over time... Again though a synth is all preference i suggest going to a local store and trying all the synths you can and find one you like.. Its your music.

$3000+
its all preference from here on.. I could tell you how awesome Waves plugins are, or a UAD card and its plugins etc. But its all your choice, demo everything you can and see what works for you. There is lots of hardware that also lends itself to dance music besides synths. Reverbs(TC, Lexicon, Eventide etc.)Compressors(neve, ssl, EPL, etc) EQ's.... The list is endless again there is no best it is what works for you....



Somelinks of interest...

DAW's(Digital Audio work stations)

Propellerhead Software Reason 3.0
Cubase
FruityLoops
Logic
Pro Tools


Plugins

http://kvraudio.com/
http://www.osxaudio.com/

Synths

http://www.sonicstate.com/
http://www.vintagesynth.com/

___________________
"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes"

Last edited by fr0st on Jun-14-2005 at 21:34