big giant circles

It's no shock that this sounds amazing

Yeah, they do look pretty cool, although a bit odd, I think. They sit kind of slanted on your desk, and the 8 will take up a good chunk of space, so that's really the only drawback there. And I guess they're designed so cables can run underneath them, which I guess is practical. There is one other inexpensive option I can think of for a firewire soundcard - The Alesis IO26. http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Alesis-iO26-Portable-26-Input-FireWire-Audio-Interface?sku=246031 It used to be $400+ (still is some places) but in the Musicians Friend catalog there's a huge price drop (as you can see in the link). I believe this guy is discontinued though, so if you decide you want it, I'd grab it in a hurry. I'll admit, I don't know a whole lot about it (haven't taken the time to read) but hey, it's a firewire interface by a reasonably reputable brand, and it's super cheap right now. The only quirk I can tell you that I DO know about it is that if I recall correctly, the knobs are endless rotary, which I do not prefer (don't really see why anyone would, when it comes to controlling levels). But hey, it got good reviews on zzounds http://www.zzounds.com/productreview--ALEIO26 Whoops, also, I totally overlooked that you mentioned MOTU. Another general rule of thumb is that MOTU = good. I've only had good experiences with their hardware. I'm pretty sure JJT has a MOTU interface, he could probably tell you more.

So you're pretty set on a firewire interface then? Well the Profire 2626 has been pretty good to me so far, so I'd say you have my recommendation. OR you gentlemen can check out the Lexicon I-Onix series. They are pretty badass. The preamps are awesome, among other features. Read about 'em here: http://www.lexiconpro.com/product_list.php (right column) As a replacement for the Firebox, perhaps try the U22 or the U42S. For an alternative to the Firestudio, either the FW810S or the U82S should be comparable. One of the most badass things about the FW810S is this: So pretty much it's between that, or the Octane preamps of the Profire (along with some extra routing crap). Both are excellent choices, I think. Money well-spent either way. Same thing goes for the I-Onix USB series.

Brandon, I do not recommend the Firestudio Project. When I was at GC, we went through at least 4 bad ones in about 6 months on our demo computer. Much like the Xbox, you get a red light of doom and then have to send 'em out on RO. Pretty much since then, I've been wary of Presonus Interfaces.

I dunno, I could try sending you the version that I installed and downloaded that works perhaps?

shaun, you have rapture?

That's odd, it's been fine ever since I DL'd the new installer.

If you guys don't mind, do me a favor and head on over to my thread on the I-L forums here - http://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?t=38550 Look it over, (I think it's only beneficial to everyone) and show me some +1 support on that. Thanks.

I mainly do everything by ear as well, but FL's Parametric EQ2 only helps. It's not so much that I *have* to see the frequencies, but it typically saves me a lot of time on the trial-and-error side.

Here's my submission - http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01462/ No but seriously, if anyone were to take that track, I'm glad to see my boy Willrock have at it. He'll give it some sexy synth love.

Yes. ...ok not really.

Well, between the Browser, the Step-Sequencer, the Playlist, the Channel Settings window, and all the various GUIs that happen to be open, a single monitor can get overwhelmed pretty quickly. I really do need a 2nd monitor. Not sure what I'm waiting on exactly.

Depends on how unlimited his budget really is. Besides, my post above is chalk full of recommendations that are not particularly expensive, give great results, and do NOT require years of practice to achieve a good end result. Some people say "Hey, I like to go out on the lake, so I think I'll buy a boat." So they shell out some $10-20k on something that they end up using twice a year. If he wants to shell out a mere couple thousand dollars for a hobby that he can perform and enjoy daily from home, I wouldn't discourage him from buying quality software. Wowie, one request. If you do happen to buy any of the things I mentioned, we would be most grateful if you bought it through our affiliate link - http://www.zzounds.com/a--925434 Zzounds.com will beat any price of its competitors (like Guitar Center and Sweetwater, though they're all pretty much the same), and OCR gets a small portion of the total. So basically, it doesn't cost you any more to shop through them, and you're indirectly donating and supporting OCR as well, so very win/win Best of luck in your shopping, hope all this information is useful to you!

Well, if you have an unlimited budget, I can go nuts with some recommendations But first, what kind of computer will you be using, and what kind of music will you be making? Until then, here's some universal recommendations if you truly want a vast setup of inspiring sounds. DAW ? (need more info first) But I'd go ahead and expect to spend up to $500 ************* INSTRUMENTS: Spectrasonics: Omnisphere ($479) - Simply amazing instrument. Thousands of incredible sounds right out of the box. All are super inspiring. Stylus RMX Xpanded ($379) - Very powerful drum loop player and loop manipulator. Contains several of the RMX expansion kits, too. Trilogy ($279) - Fantastic Bass instrument. Has acoustic, electric, and synth basses. Native Instruments Kore 2 ($399) - They call it the "Super Instrument", and rightfully so. It's very well rounded, with hundreds of sounds with limitless sound variations, a super-sexy controller, and it can load any additional plugin you like. Example: say you want to use the controller to tweak parameters in Omnisphere. You can! It's not just an instrument, it's an FX plugin too. Plus, you can buy expansion soundpacks for it too, if you want more sounds (or FX)later. Komplete 5 ($399 - 999) - If you can find it (there are a few places that have it still) though I doubt you can still get it for $399. This is the full arsenal of NI instruments, but the main thing you'll want out of this bundle is Kontakt 3, probably the best known sampler in the world. It's $399 by itself, so if you can find the bundle, it's a great deal. Also, Guitar Rig 3 is fantastic if you plan on doing any guitar stuff, but it can be used on any instrument or audio clip that you like. These sounds can all be loaded up into Kore, and most are pre-mapped to the Kore controller for maximum tweakability. Acoustic Drums Toontrack EZ Drummer ($149) - True to its name, it's arguably the easiest way to get decent acoustic drums into your track. Has hundreds of preset midi loops that you can simply drag and drop into your song. OR XLN Audio Addictive Drums ($199) - More tweakability than EZ Drummer, and more variety in the drumkit itself. Slightly higher learning curve, but if you really want more options than a simple drumkit, I'd get this one instead. OR you can just get 'em both, like I did I use them both on a regular basis. So, thus far, if you buy everything listed above (assuming you get Komplete 5 and assuming you get it for $999 [even though I'm confident you can get it for less]) that brings your grand total to $2883 before the DAW software, and $3383 afterwards. That may sound like a lot to some people, but honestly, consider that some keyboards alone used to cost much more than that, and didn't have anywhere NEAR the capabilities that you would have. Plus, the nearest equivalent to this stuff as little as 10 years ago would have cost you (literally) probably about 10 times MORE than that. *edit* Also, I have been using FL for years. So don't necessarily base your assessment entirely on one person's opinion (of course, that's not to say you should get FL, too.) I recommend grabbing as many trial versions as you can. FL Studio, Ableton Live, and Sony Acid all have free demos that you can try out for sure. Cubase and Sonar might too, I'm not sure.

That's why jBridge is so practical. I definitely hear the complaint about all the windows though. It probably would be fine if I had at least a 3 monitor setup. But I don't, and it is a cluster-fudge. Although, like in any DAW, it helps to learn the key command shortcuts.

so, is "made of win" actually appropriate for this one?

this made me lawl I know it's trite, but isn't FAIL the appropriate word here?

Of Mice and Cheetahmen is probably going to be the next one.

Did they happen to make the piano roll less crappy? (aka, more like FL's). That's my primary hangup considering how much time I spend in the PR. Otherwise, I'd probably just go ahead and switch to Logic for my primary DAW. I love the way Logic handles automation, not to mention the single-window interface, which is effin brilliant. I just do so hate their PR... (also, I consider FL's mixer slightly more intuitive).

Which is why I said that quality doesn't always come cheap. On some rare occasions, it can

Also, it's not evil for a company/business to make money off a quality product, even (and especially) if it's popular.

This is just an FYI thing I thought was interesting enough to share. http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/showthread.php?t=22696 Too lazy to click? TL:DR? Some newbie to sample libraries thinks Symphonic Orchestra is too expensive and then tries to estimate the cost to produce it. He undershoots, and it's pathetically laughable. Doug Rogers (one of the producers) responds with a bit of an eye-opening explanation. I guess it just goes to show you why some instruments cost as much as they do, and honestly, we're all EXTREMELY lucky that instruments are as affordable as they are these days. But still, quality doesn't always come cheap. Sometimes you just have to accept that something good is going to cost more than you'd like to pay for it.

http://yahtzeeno.ytmnd.com/

What's not to agree with? Anyway, man, very very sharp site. Looks awesome, music sounds great (always has). Looking forward to keeping up with all your updates! You sir, are going to attain the highly sought-after, BGC-endorsed, web-browser bookmark. This is one of the highest achievements anyone can attain online. according to BGC, anyway. Well deserved, and

I wonder if the kid who wrote that letter is a member on any boards anywhere. Because on one hand, it'd be cool to be like "Hey, that was my letter on ZP!" On the other, everyone would then be able to recognize you as the d-bag that just got pwned by Yahtzee. Quite a pickle, I'd say.