after being blessed with a surprise medical setback (thanks god), im finally back to learning vst instruments & setting up my daw workstation.
im pretty happy with this setup, even though i went over my budget.
i did alot of research & decided on:
Omen16slim for my portable machine, plenty of ram & on win11 for future proofing.
minilab3 25key & smk37 37key for the controllers, instead of a longer piano i chose to use the 25 for a lower register bass synth & the 37 for higher lead or pad synth, which can be active at the same time on different tracks. it still also has the flexibility to shift the 25 down 1 octave, raise the 37 up 1 octave, & combine them into 1 long piano. the only setback i found is that the smk doesnt have a Hold button like the minilab does, but the minilab doesnt have the super nice oled display that shows you every note AND chord you play like the smk has.
i ended up choosing Studio One Pro 7 sort of by default. i preferred Cakewalk, but ill never support the subscription only model, & they werent interested in that feedback at any capacity. Cubase i thought was just wildly overpriced for a one time purchase that doesnt update & also for a piece of software that can be infinitely replicated & theyve made their investment back on about 20 years ago. i think theyre just greedy & the activation/licensing software/procedures are a big fucking headache to manage for me. i tried reaper, & while i loved that it still has full compatability with older vsts, it just lacks the gui polish that i didnt have the energy to even attempt to modify myself. Studio One went on sale for $140 & that was a good enough deal for me, it has some very obvious things i wouldve changed, namely Macro custom placement like moving the Undo button somewhere else or making Routing more visual & intuitive like FLstudio or Ableton. Overall, after some sweat & cussing, ive boiled down & figured out most of the things i needed to have work for me.
i really liked some of cubases & cakewalks instruments, & its a bummer i cant add those to my arsenal, but arturia (minilab) makes some really cool stuff & i ended up getting the V Collection & Pigments. really excited to delve into those. even studio one still has the built in presonus instrument suite that is no slouch collection too.
i also got Serum2 from Xfer, equally excited to delve into that too.
even with the knobs on the controllers, i wasnt able to map to all the parameters i wanted to control on any given instrument, & if i could, i wouldnt be able to label them or remember which is what. i found an expensive solution but after setup & some jamming, i feel vindicated with the result. i bought a double touchscreen monitor that can hold 1 instrument each & i can literally move any parameter with a finger like theyre on a rack in front of me. the 2 main things i wish i wouldve been able to get a google answer for quickly were: keeping 2 instruments open simultaneously is possible by activating the pushpin icon on the top right of the instrument windows. & reactivating the laptop touchpad in windows bluetooth/device settings because the touchscreen monitors are recognized as external mouse devices & tells windows to shut off the touchpad. i have to make a custom tilt mount (likely out of wood) because i cant get the angles i want with the imbedded kickstand, but thats going to be a cool project to make custom too, & save like $150 vs buying some aluminum tilt stand.
im still using my old gen 2 2i2 focusrite interface for monitoring the daw, but also for connecting guitar & bass. i cant believe how worn the frets are on both & i got a japanese fret tool to even/round them out again when i get a chance, & i have to somehow repair/replace the damaged jack on my guitar, but im stoked to finally have a better daw than audacity with way better effects/plugins than my old Pedalboard program was using, & i still have all my old flagship pedals i cant wait to break out again.
i havnt gotten around to setting up the td27 drumset in studioone yet, but im super happy with the state of the kit right now, & i already have the driver installed & it goes in via usb so it wont crowd anything out.
