Beginner on a Budget

[Bassline Brine]

Well one thing, if you've got the actual software squared away, is going with:



The M-Audio Oxygen 8. I know Ean has a mapping around on the website for it, and there are a couple videos as well. You can pick it up for around $120, maybe less depending.

Another option, the one that I'm STILL rocking because I'm a poor bastard, is this:



I picked up the X-Session Pro for $60 online. I don't know if you can still get it at that price, but it comes with Torq LE. I also have the korg nano series, and while it's nice, I mostly use the x-session even so. It's a nice piece of kit that really is well worth the money if you're not ready to drop on something bigger.

[tekki]

Th eX Session Pro was once high on my list too....

[Jack Creamation]

I also still rock the x-session (along with 2 lpd 8's)

The oxygen would compliment the x-session very nicely tho, using ean's mapping!!!

[killerfanatics]

I keep looking on eBay for a used x-session and they always go for about $50/$60. Now that I have money, the only ones up start at $90. Fail...

[Bassline Brine]

One thing to take note when shopping for an x-session pro, it's sold as two different things, with different prices for each.

There's the stand alone X-Session Pro which you can buy, and then there is the Torq Mixlab which comes WITH the X-Session Pro, and the second option for whatever reason is generally cheaper. When I was shopping for mine, buy.com was the cheapest price. It seems to have gone up a bit though. I think the only difference between the two options might be the color scheme. Cheaper = better overall. Best of luck with your hunting.

[haze324]

also remember --- if you buy too cheap, when you start to get better your gonna want a little more and then end up spending more in the long run and having to sell cheap equipment for even cheaper. Stongly recommend looking for used gear and trying to land a good controller first. You can always use a splitter from your computer while you save up for a soundcard. Grant it, you don't get the best sound, but it gives you a little time to save up some money. Give yourself a realisitc budget to do this with, and buy things little by little. Even if it's just a hobby you want stuff that will last and enjoy playing on. My steal deal was getting a VCI-300 for 350.00 shipped here. I've seen Hercules RMX being sold for 200.00 before, both of these have sound cards. I've seen Numark Total Control sell on craigslist for 100 bucks and a maya44 go for 60.00 bucks. You can do this on a budget and have decent gear to have fun on, but you gotta hunt down those deals and don't be afraid to pull the trigger when you find a good deal or somoene else will.

[Ed Paris]

Double panda board all the way across the sky! Its cheap! Plus audio 2

[cambios]

I have a hercules Control Steel (200€ new) , an small Asus minpc EEEpc (220€) working on SnowLeopard hackintosh and tracktor ( In a solid microsd of 16gb (80€)) , a pair of gamestar earphones usb (This is the monitor i use, the output is the sound card of the asus), 9 hours of autonomy and a spaeakers JBL for noteboks (45€).

I go in the wekeends to a club where meny friensd have a place to work in different styles and we learn from our experiences ( its a social free center four youngs) and i think this is the best system to work for this money.

Its not professional, but the results are very closer, and for me its a great system , every week i learn some about tracktor, its an awesome program.