roland mc-909 ???

[acidsaturation]

I don't feel that at all.

There are a few people who will swear blind that hardware is the only way to go, for sure. I'm not sure I've heard any software evangelists, certainly not in the sense that they would suggest you can't do anything decent with hardware.

OK maybe I'm being a little harsh, but I do hear a certain amount of insistence that laptops and software are the only way, and there is a bit of "I don't like it therefore it's shite" at times from both sides of the debate...

That's what makes me sad...

[eyeswithoutaface]

your all insane

my studio consists of an old adidas shoe box, 4 different strength elastic bands and a fairy liquid bottle full of pearl barley, and, well, you've heard my records.

total techno

[dirty_bass]

Ableton is that popular for a reason.
It is a truly amazing piece of kit.
And it`s not conformist to use it in any way.
That`s like saying Pollock was comformist because he used paint???

Ableton is a huge almost infinitely sized blank canvass awaiting you to throw paint at it.
Hardware in comparison these days is like an 8x4 canvass.
If you want more room, you need another 8x4 canvass, and pretty soon you`ve run out of wall space, and you can`t reach the higher canvasses to get any paint on them anyway.


I struggled with groovboxes for ages, always compromising.
Admittedly, having limits when you are beginning to make music is helpful, because you don`t get lost.
I moved to ableton because I realised I could do just anything, and it would sound as good as I wanted it to sound
AND
I can take it to gigs.
My equipment fits into the overhead locker on a plane.
Unless you are jeff mills, no promoter is going to pay the massive extra cost of a huge flight case full of tons of midi gear sitting in the hold.


As for the debate of staring at the screen all the time?
Well surely that`s the problem of whoever is using the laptop?
Set up your controllers so you don`t have to look at the screen
Then you can look at the controllers.
Turn off your screen maybe?

I`m not saying that hardware is crap.
I am saying that most grooveboxes are crap. They tend to be toyish as they are pretty much designed for low end use (mostly).

But the best plan is to just try stuff out and work out what you want for yourself.

For me priority of what I want is simple.

Sound Quality
Ease of use
Rapid work rate
Wide scope for exporation
Good price.

Waying up all the odds when I decided to get back fully into live performance the only option that scored highly on all the above options was ableton.

I`ve done countless gigs since, my PA`s get better and better, and I`m still learning new tricks with it and have yet to hit any boundaries apart from what I can physically manage to do myself, live.

I can`t recommend it more.