JazzyJazz

Thanks folks. This is all incredibly helpful. It's incredibly humbling to be facing all these new tools. Despite my education and craft, I feel like an absolute neophyte! I'll get started with your suggestions and go from there. Again, many thanks for your help.

Thanks folks! My main question is really about what gear I'll need. I have a MIDI setup already. I also have Finale. So here are two questions (thanks so much for your patience and help): (1) Do most of you use a notation program like Finale in conjunction with a DAW? Or do you just do manual input with quantizing? (2) Will I need more than a sample library, MIDI setup, and DAW? Is there any other hardware needed? Any specific soundcard needed? As for my background/goals, I'd like to create and produce the sort of tracks featured on ocremix. I simply can't do this with traditional means. So many of the sounds, not to mention the percussion, are really more at home in a sampled world (at least to my ear). I don't care about not having the stuff notated, in other words. Again, many thanks. PS. I should note that I'm aiming to do the sort of thing you did, Rozovian, with "Braincooler." I have similar ideas laid out in terms of sections, harmonies (in reduction), but I'm totally clueless as to how to actually make such drum tracks and put the thing together in a DAW context.

Sorry - I have both a Mac and a PC. My Mac is just a standard 2008 Macbook. I have an external sound card, but nothing fancy (it's an Exigy, circa 2005).

Thanks for the rapid reply. I can spend up to $1000 for now. I'd like to use this ideally to compose, AWAY from Finale (which is becoming a pain for me).

Hi all, I love your site. Really great work. Anyway, I'm hoping you can give me some guidance. I'm a pianist/composer/music theorist with graduate-level training in composition and theory. I've been doing a lot of arrangement on my own on paper (i.e., Finale, etc.), but I'd like to start working with DAWs and samples (so I can actually hear the stuff). I have a grand piano at home, but for this I'd be using a relatively new Clavinova for midi throughput. DP? Logic? What do I need to make this work? Many thanks! -Jazzy