What WAS your typical setup?

Not what you're using now, but what was your setup and/or workflow years ago?

For me I had many workflows over the years but the one that worked really well but seemed odd was this:

• Load up drum samples in Fruity Loops (you already know what year this is).
• Make a drum loop with the step sequencer.
• Export all tracks as WAV.
• Import files into Cakewalk and loop it.
• Record audio into Cakewalk and do tons of destructive chopping to create my melody.
• Mix.

Sometimes I would also play some synth stuff in Reason and export that into Cakewalk as well. It seems tedious but it worked and it wasn't that bad. I didn't care for Fruity or Reason for bringing it all together so that's why I used Cakewalk.

What about you guys?

I technically started with Magix Music Maker and Audacity. I just recorded from my mother's Triton Le keyboard into Audacity and put together loops I found on Magix. I did try to create a Rap song based off the book Kite Runners in High School. I ended up doing it acapella because they couldn't hear my voice over the beat. I was so disappointed lol. After college, I dabbled a little bit into Cubase and used audio and MIDI with my Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine and Roland JD-Xi synthesizer with a Steinberg Audio Interface. Eventually I would come across FL Studio and I've never looked backed since although I still use Cubase sometimes.

V.J. Retro said:

I technically started with Magix Music Maker and Audacity. I just recorded from my mother's Triton Le keyboard into Audacity and put together loops I found on Magix. I did try to create a Rap song based off the book Kite Runners in High School. I ended up doing it acapella because they couldn't hear my voice over the beat. I was so disappointed lol. After college, I dabbled a little bit into Cubase and used audio and MIDI with my Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine and Roland JD-Xi synthesizer with a Steinberg Audio Interface. Eventually I would come across FL Studio and I've never looked backed since although I still use Cubase sometimes.

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Yo the SR-16 has always been on my wish list for some reason. I really should cop that.

Fade said:

Yo the SR-16 has always been on my wish list for some reason. I really should cop that.

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Aw man. I just sold it a few months ago. If I spent more time on it and didn't buy other gear, I would have kept it for a little while.

V.J. Retro said:

Aw man. I just sold it a few months ago. If I spent more time on it and didn't buy other gear, I would have kept it for a little while.

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It's one of those things where you don't think you need/want it but years later you're wishing you had kept it. I still wish I had my Roland R-70 and Akai S20!

Oh man!!!

My FIRST ever setup (which is a stretch of the term) circa 2001/2002 was:

• Adobe Cool Edit Pro (2.0 I think?)
• Yamaha YES Keyboard
• A clip on Microphone
• French/English dictionary

The YES line stood for (Yamaha Education System) and had a little Tiger Gaming esque screen that showed the sheet music for stock songs (House of the rising sun, greensleeves, and other standards) in an effort to learn piano. It had the standard fare of sounds - as cheesy as the late 90s could be - with an array of "acoustic" instruments, synths and drums.

The clip on microphone came with a "learn french" CD-ROM. In retrospect it was a pretty cool piece of software. The CD-ROM would coach you through french vocabulary and you would use the mic to speak in french words and it would tell you how close your pronunciation was. Pretty advanced for the time!

The "Setup" was the YES keyboard with the Mic clipped to the French/English dictionary, like a mice stand, centred between the built in speakers. I'd record, in real time/no MIDI, drum beats, then chords, melodies, and bass into Cool Edit. Once I figured out how to bounce/merge tracks, my buddies and I would use the same clip on mic to record our lame raps over.

All this was done on a the most generic 2000s, Office Depot style desk that had the built in racks to store CD-ROMS, slide out keyboard tray and my mum's IBM Thinkpad she got from work.

V.J. Retro said:

I technically started with Magix Music Maker and Audacity. I just recorded from my mother's Triton Le keyboard into Audacity and put together loops I found on Magix. I did try to create a Rap song based off the book Kite Runners in High School. I ended up doing it acapella because they couldn't hear my voice over the beat. I was so disappointed lol. After college, I dabbled a little bit into Cubase and used audio and MIDI with my Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine and Roland JD-Xi synthesizer with a Steinberg Audio Interface. Eventually I would come across FL Studio and I've never looked backed since although I still use Cubase sometimes.

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Man, I have no real reason to buy one, but I'd love to have an SR-16

What I've noticed is how creative everyone can be with a minimal or restricted setup. There's guys making beats with an old PC and not even a MIDI keyboard. We're definitely all spoiled today.

I remember on some lite version of cubase, using those earpad type earphones,

I remember producing with one ear pad on, and thinking the pan knob was making the kick more powerful.

When I finally put my other earpiece on, that's how I learnt what panning was.

I started with a Gemini Sampler (8 seconds) (I kinda missed that sampler) and my Akai XR 10 drum machine (I wish I didn't sell it) and I had Magix Music Studio 7 which was trash or I really didn't know what I was doing . I was always plugging and unplugging my gemini sampler to get samples off tape cassettes and vinyl and record it to the magix program thru the headphone jack of the sampler to the back of a 4gb computer in the microphone input that always crash because it was only 4gb. I use to hit that big button to do my own sample loops and to match the drums from my drum machine was a headache because I knew nothing about midi yet

K-waz said:

I started with a Gemini Sampler (8 seconds) (I kinda missed that sampler) and my Akai XR 10 drum machine (I wish I didn't sell it) and I had Magix Music Studio 7 which was trash or I really didn't know what I was doing . I was always plugging and unplugging my gemini sampler to get samples off tape cassettes and vinyl and record it to the magix program thru the headphone jack of the sampler to the back of a 4gb computer in the microphone input that always crash because it was only 4gb. I use to hit that big button to do my own sample loops and to match the drums from my drum machine was a headache because I knew nothing about midi yet View attachment 7199

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A lot of people would shit on Gemini for their products, and even though they weren't great, they were cheap and many of us wouldn't have been able to make beats or DJ. My first mixer was the TECHNO MASTER lol.

Fade said:

Not what you're using now, but what was your setup and/or workflow years ago?

For me I had many workflows over the years but the one that worked really well but seemed odd was this:

• Load up drum samples in Fruity Loops (you already know what year this is).
• Make a drum loop with the step sequencer.
• Export all tracks as WAV.
• Import files into Cakewalk and loop it.
• Record audio into Cakewalk and do tons of destructive chopping to create my melody.
• Mix.

Sometimes I would also play some synth stuff in Reason and export that into Cakewalk as well. It seems tedious but it worked and it wasn't that bad. I didn't care for Fruity or Reason for bringing it all together so that's why I used Cakewalk.

What about you guys?

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I'm pretty sure it's still the same as 7 years ago. I just fuck around with whatever random shit in FL until something funny happens

Armani said:

I'm pretty sure it's still the same as 7 years ago. I just fuck around with whatever random shit in FL until something funny happens

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hell, even my biting habits are the same as then. maybe just more... sophisticated now.

BiggChev said:

Man, I have no real reason to buy one, but I'd love to have an SR-16

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Man. I didn't know the SR-16 was that popular back then.