This is the gear that works for me, that I use, and that I can recommend.
COMPUTERS
First off, if you’re not backing up your computers offsite with Backblaze, at $5 / month, you’re crazy.
Next, you should check out Dropbox for maintaining a working backup of your important files wherever you are. An absolute necessity if iOS devices are part of your workflow.
KEYBOARDS
I’m an acoustic piano type guy, so that is the centerpiece of my playing. Assuming the house has a grand, I build around that.
VIRTUAL ANALOGUE
I really like using 3-octave keyboards for colors and flavors. The smaller size means I find I can put two of these side by side on top of the piano, and I find I don’t really miss much in terms of the range I should be playing in anyway. Because I like evolving textures more than static loops, I’m really into virtual analogue machines like the Access Virus.
I personally have a limited edition Access Virus Indigo 2 Redback and a Waldorf Micro Q that are my normal gigging hardware boards. There are more modern machines, but say it with me, “I don’t need the latest gear to make good music”.
VIRTUAL (SOFTWARE) SYNTHS
Ok, so truth be told, I do modernize my sound, and I do that with software synths. Software synths are essentially the digital brains of a keyboard that use a laptop hardware to do the computing and an external keyboard to do the triggering. While soft synths typically do have a “stand alone” mode, ideally you’ll want to host that via VST, or AU. In a home studio that host might be Cubase or Logic or ProTools, but for live gigging, you want something smaller and lighter and designed to be used live – and that solution is called “MainStage“. It’s $30.
MainStage by itself is an incredible deal, but even crazier is this: it comes with a built-in library of highly curated sounds you might actually use in a gig (more like a stage piano than the thousands of crazy sounds you might find in a workstation). MainStage really is all you need to sound modern and get the job done. But again, it is also a host to other virtual instruments.
For acoustic pianos (especially if there isn’t a house grand) I really like Steinbergs’, “The Grand 3“, particularly their Yamaha C7 piano sample. The amazing thing about these pianos is it streams every note of the piano (doesn’t loop the sustain the way a workstation would), has different samples for different velocities and has different samples with the sustain up/down that it can crossfade between. That’s craziness.
The most (virtual analogue) Virus-like of software synth’s that I love is Came Audio’s Alchemy (reviewed here). But Apple recently bought them, so I have no idea what is going to happen to them. They may get folded into Logic? Not sure how I feel about this.
Then for redonkulous synthesis horsepower, I have Native Instruments Komplete. Insanity.
Like I said earlier, the beautiful thing about using virtual synths is that it’s so easy to update your sound without throwing out what you have – such as what would happen if you bought a new workstation. So for instance – the new upstart who is blowing my mind right now is everything from Output. Their “Signal” module is particular makes what I can do to “Oceans” just mind-blowing.
To play my virtual synths in MainStage, I use M-Audio’s Axiom Pro 49, but if I was buying today I would check out the Nektar Panorama.
To get audio out of my Macbook Pro (and to use as a MIDI interface with my other synths or when traveling), I use the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio Interface. Probably the most important aspect of this is that it is USB2, as the original USB spec is too slow to be reliable.
Finally, for home studio processing (verbs/compressors/EQs), I’m a huge fan of Waves (that link will get you 10% off your next purchase). The sonic quality is just jaw dropping. I think their Renaissance line is a great bread and butter suite. For color you can’t beat the classic CLA compressors, particularly the CLA-76, and for that “right amount of wrong” the Kramer Master Tape. I’m been leaning pretty heavily on the V-EQ4 lately, and I’m also pretty blown away by their new H-Reverb. You can build your collection by keeping an eye on their specials, and they handle upgrades to bundles pretty well when you’re ready to round our your collection.
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