You're basically just looking for an OP-1 by that description.
However I also recommend the elektron digitakt, but I don't really use it with audio input. I just programmed the samples.
OP-1
mmm, I should have said "cheap" ๐
Software is definitely the cheapest option, Ableton or Bitwig have cheap versions that are fine for getting started with. Then keep an eye out for sales on software synths and plugins, you get big sales at least once a year for most of the major ones.
I tried bitwig, but it looked too complex for what I'm looking for, too many options, too many stuffs i nthe interface, too much time to create my setup, too many
It's not as complex as it looks, to just use the basic sequencing and synths. There's a million beginner tutorials online, you can be up and running making music with it in a couple of hours working through a guide.
The thing with grooveboxes is also that they provide integrated controllers. With bitwig, can I use the keyboard as a full controller? Can I use touchpad? Everything is more complex and requires more energy
MIDI controller keyboards are very cheap and cover all of that.
Like, I understand that there's a bit more involved with setting up and using software than just having a standalone unit. But if cost is your limiting factor, you don't really have much of an alternative. Software is vastly cheaper than any hardware options, and gives you essentially an entire studio worth of gear rather than a single specific piece of kit that only does its thing.
For example, will you want to use percussion? That's a whole separate, expensive, piece of hardware. Or, you get a solid option for free with any DAW and can purchase plugins with a huge range of sound and functionality for a fraction of the cost of the hardware.
I'm in a similar boat and have been eyeing an Akai MPC Key 37. But I'm still trying to understand all the functionally before I decide on it. I'd be curious to know what other people think of this?
I've been looking at some grooveboxes. As a linux user, the MPC one and MPC key 37 stand out positively because you can add your own samples and export tracks with just an SD-card, as opposed to e.g. the Elektron Digitakt that requires a software for any file transfers. There's a community-made linux alternative for the Digitakt's software, but that's still vastly more brittle than an SD-card. Who even knows if the official Windows or Mac version of that software will still work in 10 years?
I've been thinking recently that something out-of-the-box might do the trick for me, too. I was much more productive back when I was making chiptune with a tracker program (LSDj) on a Game Boy, but evidently that's very sonically limited (which is part of why it's so productive).
Yeah, this is kind of an effect of liberist market
What do you mean?
I mean, in the liberist economy, people are lost among infinite alternatives, in the illusion that the ability to choose is the happiness.
TBH that sounds like it would be more about having many different products available, rather than the products themselves being complex. The complexity of the products seems more easily explained by that it's now possible to have complex yet still (relatively) easily usable products.
Yeah, I agree. I feel both the two problems, complexity and molteplicity.
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