daJungKI

so, as i mentioned in another thread, i've got all this shiny new stuff. silly newbie that i was, i completely forgot to purchase an actual usb cable as well as a keyboard stand, so i went back to good ol' guitar center and grabbed those. on the way out, i was chatting up one of the store employees who seemed to know a good deal about recording and such. he pointed out that my demo software was extremely limited and that i should upgrade to a full version asap. hey, that makes sense! so i casually glanced over at the shelf for the price tag on cubase 5. $499.99. urgh. i know music is expensive, but i've already dropped $1500 for the keyboard and komplete 5. then again, without a decent daw, i won't even be able to utilize everything to its fullest potential anyway. so since i've resigned myself to a life of poverty, where would be the best place to pick it up?

i have no idea what a daw is. (google is your friend!) so i looked it up. uh, still don't really know what it is, but the keyboard came with cubase ai4, which i'm installing as we speak. i'm excited to start makin some tunes.

thanks to everyone who took the time to read the thread and offer some advice. i've decided to keep the keyboard and bang it for awhile. she's a sexy thang after all. now, i'm faced with the monumental task of figuring out this "komplete 5" business...holy shit. it's enormous. i may asking for you guys' help again real soon.

mr. bgc, thank you so much for your feedback. you are spot on about me snagging komplete 5--i probably wouldn't have purchased it if the GC guys didn't tell me it was a rockin deal, and that the cubase that was included with the keyboard was kind of a lite version anyway. (as you may have noticed i'm a pretty gullible guy) it's tempting to return the synthesizer and get a midi controller, but i do think that i would still like to use the keyboard outside the studio. my primary instrument is actually drums, but i can play guitar and keys a bit as well, and i love jamming with random people. having only a midi controller would render such experiences impossible! even though i could do so much with $600........like buy a ps3 or go on some fancy dates or buy a decent suit......... and about the whole aftertouch thing, hey, if i can make mixes as awesome as bgc's without it, i think i'll be all right.

if i'm allowed to mention my boring personal life here, i am your average piss-poor college student who barely gets by on a day-to-day basis. money is something i simply don't have, especially any amount beyond 1k. however, i spent the majority of the summer teaching english in korea and saved up a good amount, and the absolute first thing i wanted to buy was a keyboard. why? because i've wanted to use one for composing for years but never had the money. in junior high i used to use freeware programs like anvil studio to sequence midis for vgmusic, and maybe i'm just lazy, but it's damn hard inputting every single note manually with your mouse. after awhile i just couldn't handle it. so anyways, i was planning on buying a keyboard but the GC sale was completely unplanned, a friend of mine just happened to invite me saying that there were surely good deals on keyboards to be found. i ended buying the mm8 after talking with a bunch of different folks at the store that seemed knowledgeable on the subject (i also purchased komplete 5). but then i thought to come here, cuz this is the kinda stuff i wanna do, i've been coming to ocr for nearly a decade on a regular basis and you guys know your shit. i haven't opened the box so i wouldn't even be charged a restocking fee at this point. so thank you all for your input. since i probably won't have "money to burn" for a long while, ideally i would like to buy a keyboard that has enough fancy bells and whistles to last me, well, a long while. aftertouch sounds quite useful to have, but i'm also loathe to pay more than $1500 for anything, unfortunately. bgc--hear you on the MSRP. thanks for the reminder.

and i know nothing about keyboards, nothing at all, all i know is that i want a decent keyboard for around $1000 and it was on sale for $880 (normal retail price $1200). i mainly want to use it for midi sequencing, recording, and composing. probably not so much live performance but i would like to leave that option open. i like the weighted keys although i hear it's missing that "aftertouch" thing. i'm not looking to be the most professional high-tech guy out there, my question to you experts and gearheads is, is there a significantly better deal i can get for a keyboard of that particular price point?

i do care a bit about live performance, and it's always good to have that option available. i did get a decent deal at the sale so as long as there aren't any options that are leaps and bounds better, i'll probably just keep the darn thing.

thanks for the feedback. live performance isn't the priority here, but it's nice to have; i'ma use it mainly for midi stuff. what options might be better?

so, i just dropped $880 for a yamaha mm8. doesn't have that fancy "aftertouch" thingy but has 88 weighted keys. right, so i've never used a keyboard before and i'm a remixing noob. i was lookin for a keyboard around the 1k price point and this happened to be on sale at guitar center, so i nabbed it. good buy, ya think?