95
Are pocket synthesizers a good introductions to digital music production? (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
24 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Ive been wanting to dabble with digital music production. All software ive tried has so many menus and buttons and switches I get overwhelmed.

While looking up instruments on amazon I came across these pocket synthesizers called stylophones and similar like theremin that entry for about 40-50$.

These seem like cool little gadgets to toy around with and maybe get a foot in the door to learn how to do digital music production. Does anyone have experience with these things? Are they worth messing with?

I have an old mixer for my condenser microphone that plugs into laptop I think I can plug aux line in from these mini synths to the mixer.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Came here to say this, get a MIDI keyboard OP. It's basically your gamepad for digital music production. You mostly have at least 2 octaves of piano keys and a drum pad, also some knobs and sliders you can map. They are very well supported by modern audio production software.

A very cheap one would be the Akai MPK Mini MK3 for example.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Not OP but I've been wondering how do do this myself, so thank you for that recommendation.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    My recommendation is the Novation LaunchKey Mini. Very similar to the Akai they recommended but I personally bought one 5 years ago when I started, so I prefer it for that reason.

    Although this could be true with the Akai, I do know the LaunchKey comes with a 90 day trial of Ableton as well, which is the DAW I use to this day. Just my $.02

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I do music production (mostly lo fi rock, no midi) and got curious about those a while back and picked one up. Installed Vital. I've never put anything out with it but it's a ton of fun to play with. You could totally use one to create some great music if you wanted.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I guess it also depends on what type of musician you are. If you come from traditional instruments and want to record some nice drum patterns or so it's a really nice tool. Otherwise you have to artificially add some random off timing (like ms) to recreate that natural feeling. I could imagine many people can also be more creative playing on an instrument (which a midi keyboard basically is), getting that haptic feedback instead if just clicking things together.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •