I'm sure a lot of people on here have already realized this but its something that only really hit me in the last day or so after getting some new gear and I wanted to offer some advice...
As producers, a lot of us are always focused on the next BIG piece of gear...that triton, motif, whatever. That stuff is great and if you got the money for it and need it, get it. But I realized recently that while spending money on all that gear is good, make sure you have the other stuff you need to get its full potential. I was recently planning to buy 2 boards and get a pretty cheap audio interface to stay on budget, but I decided to get an Apogee Ensemble instead and only buy one board along with some top of the line headphones. I couldn't be happier with that decision. I had a friend come over with his mbox and the difference in sound quality between that thing and the ensemble is rediculous...the board sounds, literally, like its a different model or something. And with my new reference headphones, I can finally mix well even though my living situation doesn't let me use monitors.
I guess all I'm saying is next time you're thinking about getting that huge board or rack module and only having a tiny bit leftover to spend on stuff to support it and make the most out of it, maybe consider downsizing a bit. Stuff like premium audio interfaces, cables, RAM, and monitoring equipment can be just as important as the board itself..
As producers, a lot of us are always focused on the next BIG piece of gear...that triton, motif, whatever. That stuff is great and if you got the money for it and need it, get it. But I realized recently that while spending money on all that gear is good, make sure you have the other stuff you need to get its full potential. I was recently planning to buy 2 boards and get a pretty cheap audio interface to stay on budget, but I decided to get an Apogee Ensemble instead and only buy one board along with some top of the line headphones. I couldn't be happier with that decision. I had a friend come over with his mbox and the difference in sound quality between that thing and the ensemble is rediculous...the board sounds, literally, like its a different model or something. And with my new reference headphones, I can finally mix well even though my living situation doesn't let me use monitors.
I guess all I'm saying is next time you're thinking about getting that huge board or rack module and only having a tiny bit leftover to spend on stuff to support it and make the most out of it, maybe consider downsizing a bit. Stuff like premium audio interfaces, cables, RAM, and monitoring equipment can be just as important as the board itself..
