hello, i am new to everything

[joewherefast]

hi, my name is joe. i am new to electronic music. i am really interested in getting started in this area. i use to be in a punk band 10 years ago. that bores me to tears now. please welcome me to your world!

[elektro80]

Hey Joe!

[zynthetix]

hi joe!
once a long while ago (i'm lacking the specifics), one of the ramones was describing what he perceived to be the punk ideology/mentality and said the only music he could see it in anymore was "weird noisy electronic music" and "rappers whose shit is too hardcore to get any airplay". maybe you're beginning to see what he meant with the electronic music
regardless, welcome

[mosc]

ooooh, Zynth, your own welcome smilie. Very nice touch.

Welcome, Joe. Glad to have you here. We have people who have been making electronic music for forty years and people just getting started. Everyone is welcome here.

I'm one of the old timers, so to me Punk is new. I like Blondie and the Talking Heads, Cars, and that sorta stuff. I don't know if that's Punk on not. Some Punk seems like a lot of jumping up and down and screaming.

Seriously, though, everything is welcome here, as long as you are passionate about it and respect everyone.

[jkn]

Hi, Joe. Welcome to the forum. I'm one of the middle people - not as old as Mosc (ha) - and not really all that young either. I've played a few 90 second or less songs in my day as well.

[joewherefast]

thanks for the warm welcome everyone! now what i need to know is what to do to get a good start in all this. any suggestions on a first piece of gear i should get?

[play]

welcome.

your question:
a computer is the single most adaptable instrument you can get. if you are into recording check out the Layla or Aardvark sound cards. They are affordable and offer lots of I/O. these days I'm a total computer-head but that's probably because i can't afford much gear but you can do a lot with old tape-decks, mixers, turntables, etc., even toys that make sound can be endlessly useful.

It all depends on what you wanna do. Think of electronic music as a world as big as acoustic music ranging from bach to woodie guthrie to mingus. On the elctronic side you have tom jenkins, xenakis and merzbow. It's just a different toolset.

One of the first experiences I had with sound generating electronics was feedback loops. maybe you have some old mixers lying around? analog ones work best. just start patching feedback loops and then mess with the knobs. it's an interesting excerise and you'll be amazed at the variety of sound that can be generated from seemingly nothing.

[Mohoyoho]

Welcome.
I'd start with a computer, a keyboard controller and some software like Cakewalk's Project Five or Propellar Head's Reason. I'm partial to Project Five because of the flexibility of adding other soft synths to it as well as great support. You don't need the fancy soundcard unless you are inputting audio from outside sources or if you are going to play your music directly from the computer. To play your music just burn a CD and play it on a stereo system.

[mosc]

That sounds like the best advice to me - use the computer. You don't need to buy any hardware until your really are sure about what you are doing and what you need. I think Project 5 is an excellent suggestion. It only costs $199, and you should be able to do an amazing amount of different things with it. If you are a keyboard player, you'll sooner or later want to get a midi keyboard.

[Mohoyoho]

Check out that posting Seraph has made in the How To category on this site. I think that comes from Native Instruments which is a maker of fine soft synths. It gives you a pretty nice diagram of a setup.