The Producer's Den » Beat Making Hardware http://theproducersden.com Beat making news, videos from the pros, tips and tricks and more. Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:18:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 M-Audio to Release $99 ProTools Bundles http://theproducersden.com/site/2009/09/12/m-audio-to-release-99-protools-bundles/ http://theproducersden.com/site/2009/09/12/m-audio-to-release-99-protools-bundles/#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:56:43 +0000 admin http://theproducersden.com/?p=242 Want Pro Tools and some equipment but don’t want to break the bank?  M-Audio and Digidesign are coming to the rescue.  Set to release later this month are three packages for the budget-minded recording artist:

Pro Tools USB Condensor Mic – $99

Pro Tools Keystudio 49-key MIDI keyboard + USB soundcard – $99

PRo Tools Recording Studio – 2/2 USB usb recording interface – $129

I bought my Keystudio last year for more than that without a soundcard, so that’s not a bad deal at all I’d say.

Check out the Engadget post for more information.

]]> http://theproducersden.com/site/2009/09/12/m-audio-to-release-99-protools-bundles/feed/ 2 Why You Should Have a USB Pad Controller http://theproducersden.com/site/2009/09/11/why-you-should-have-a-usb-pad-controller/ http://theproducersden.com/site/2009/09/11/why-you-should-have-a-usb-pad-controller/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:13:10 +0000 admin http://theproducersden.com/?p=238 It surprises me how many people I talk to that make beats on a computer without using any external hardware at all, especially with how inexpensive it is. There’s not much reason to click in your drums when you can get a usb controller.

Here are some reasons why you should step your drum pad game up.

Pressure Sensitive

This is the number one reason to control your drums with pads. Give your drums some feeling. Clicked in drums sound like they’ve been clicked in, unless you’ve been intricately messing with the velocity on each drum you hit. Which brings me the second reason

Workflow

No need to use your mouse to change the velocity on everything you want to trigger. Just hit it with the amount you want. With some practice you can record all your drums at once with the velocity you want them to have, and you can also control your samples.

Faders

Put some spice into your tracks by using the faders. Fade volume in and out and use effects. More places to add variation to the beats.

Live Playing

You don’t need to buy an MPC to play out your beats live, just a laptop and a controller. Makes for some better shows.

In conclusion, if you can’t afford real hardware controllers like an SP1200 or an MPC then get yourself a usb controller.

Do you have a controller?  Leave opinions in the comments.

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