M
mbiafb
Guest
Sup people. I figured I would intrduce myself instead of just posting all over the place. I'm in Seattle now, but I grew up in New Jersey and New York. I used to make beats a while back in the day, but got away from it so I am rusty and playing catchup. My equipment setup is not really designed for hi-hop, but i'm going to work with it. In fact, most of it is old stuff i picked up dirt cheap. Right now i think my stuff is kinda wack, but I'm going to keep working with it until I have mastered what i have at my disposal. This is my current setup:
Alesis QS6.1 - A piss poor choice for a hip hop synth, but a damn good overall synth for the money. At the time i needed the best overall synth in that price range and that was arguably it. The onboard sounds are basically useles for hip-hop. Howver, there is a hip-hop expansion card available. I got it for free. it's ok, but still not the best sounds for hip-hop. ( although, supposedly Swizz beats i think it was used the presets for a song). best feature is you can add up to 16 meg of your own samples. That and the fact that the onboard efcts processor is not bad makes it somewhat usable for hip hop.
Alesis HR16 Drum machine- yes, it's ancient and i keep it around for 1 reason and one reason only. Despite all my compuetr stuff, there is nothing like bangin on a drum machine and i can't afford an MPC right now. I rarely use the onboard sounds, but i use it to trigger samples. it is one of the easiest drum machines to program and it forces me to depend on my programming skills instead of the machine. besides, it was $50
Alesis MMT8 Sequencer- Another ancient item I rarely use. At the same time, it is the easiest sequencer in the world to use. i mostly keep it around because i can transport sequences easily with it. It also is a good just in case when my computer is acting up. Also $50. I actually know of a few hip-hop producers who used these as recently as 5 years ago.
Casio cz3000- $25. this is not one of those casiotones. This was designed to be a low cost competitor to the yamaha DX7 line. hard as hell to program, but it can make sounds no other synth can make because it is the only synth that uses its type of synthesis method. You will never get a realistic sound out of it, but it makes nasty sub-bass and is good for unusual sounds.
Roland JS30 sampler- absolute piece of shit. useless item that is only usefull for triggering loops or one shot crap. no editing ability other than basic envelopes. Only redeming quality about it is that it's small and portable. since there is not much you can do with it, that doesn't amount to much.
various software both legal and illegal. name it, and i probably have it.
Trumpet- i grew up playing trumpet, but hardly touch it now, but i guess since i still have it, i will list it.
Doumbek/ Arabic Tabla- I got into middle eastern drumming long before that beat DJ Quick jacked (which isn't even middle eastern BTW) and fell in love with making beats with Arabic tablas. I'm tweaking the sound a little so it can be usefull in hip hop.
native American Flute- Don't ask lol. I got it as a gift and use it mostly to meditate and chill to. Doubt i will ever use it in a hip-hop track, but you never know.
That's my current setup. not the most impressive collection of equipment, but better than nothing.
Alesis QS6.1 - A piss poor choice for a hip hop synth, but a damn good overall synth for the money. At the time i needed the best overall synth in that price range and that was arguably it. The onboard sounds are basically useles for hip-hop. Howver, there is a hip-hop expansion card available. I got it for free. it's ok, but still not the best sounds for hip-hop. ( although, supposedly Swizz beats i think it was used the presets for a song). best feature is you can add up to 16 meg of your own samples. That and the fact that the onboard efcts processor is not bad makes it somewhat usable for hip hop.
Alesis HR16 Drum machine- yes, it's ancient and i keep it around for 1 reason and one reason only. Despite all my compuetr stuff, there is nothing like bangin on a drum machine and i can't afford an MPC right now. I rarely use the onboard sounds, but i use it to trigger samples. it is one of the easiest drum machines to program and it forces me to depend on my programming skills instead of the machine. besides, it was $50
Alesis MMT8 Sequencer- Another ancient item I rarely use. At the same time, it is the easiest sequencer in the world to use. i mostly keep it around because i can transport sequences easily with it. It also is a good just in case when my computer is acting up. Also $50. I actually know of a few hip-hop producers who used these as recently as 5 years ago.
Casio cz3000- $25. this is not one of those casiotones. This was designed to be a low cost competitor to the yamaha DX7 line. hard as hell to program, but it can make sounds no other synth can make because it is the only synth that uses its type of synthesis method. You will never get a realistic sound out of it, but it makes nasty sub-bass and is good for unusual sounds.
Roland JS30 sampler- absolute piece of shit. useless item that is only usefull for triggering loops or one shot crap. no editing ability other than basic envelopes. Only redeming quality about it is that it's small and portable. since there is not much you can do with it, that doesn't amount to much.
various software both legal and illegal. name it, and i probably have it.
Trumpet- i grew up playing trumpet, but hardly touch it now, but i guess since i still have it, i will list it.
Doumbek/ Arabic Tabla- I got into middle eastern drumming long before that beat DJ Quick jacked (which isn't even middle eastern BTW) and fell in love with making beats with Arabic tablas. I'm tweaking the sound a little so it can be usefull in hip hop.
native American Flute- Don't ask lol. I got it as a gift and use it mostly to meditate and chill to. Doubt i will ever use it in a hip-hop track, but you never know.
That's my current setup. not the most impressive collection of equipment, but better than nothing.
