antiquoob

Oooo- that i/o box doesn't have midi! That'd be a deal breaker right there. Sure you could use a separate USB port for a midi device but having midi I/O integrated in the audio box can prevent many headaches (plus consider on location recording and performance). Look into presonus stuff- they have products at the same price point. They have some $$$$ gear just like focus-r but presonus has been making 300USD> boxes for many, many years. Lots of the high end "only" companies started making interfaces for the serious amateur-on a budget crowd, jumping on the bandwagon often times relying on their name to sell the product. Presonus has been at it for much longer then most and IMO makes a better product for that segment. In 2006, I bought their firebox- it was a big deal at the time- all metal, 4 in 6 out, midi...was a tank and could fit in your hand. I made 2 CDs with that and a 2.4 single core desktop. One cd got album of the year...in Denmark(?!?). Seriously though- no midi I/O is not good!

Erg, new at this- what are settings everyone's using e.g. Rez/aliasing/settings...?

Get a metal pop filter with a long arm. The panty hose kind=bad.

I'd totally do an interview. I started kinda early (computing) in '79 and have lots to say regarding the history of the subject

Yep, yep. Same deal/opinion here. 2x 16:10s are where it's at regarding p/perf.

Nascent tech! Hobox10 is right...think how long it took for 1080p to become standard. I remember 15 years ago reading about it. If a Note3 can take video @ 4k and 4k 65" televisions are going for 3000$ now, retina display being "outdated"...this means That the supply lines, resources, assembly line infrastructure (12,000$ OLED 15" TV a year or 2 ago anyone?) has reached the point where as far as rez is concerned, it's going to be a few years until 8K becomes the new 4K- by that time 4K will be 1080p price...the problem for "regular" high-end PC-Folks the unequal advancement of technologies- specifically GPUs being able to keep up with the speedy evolution of UHD and (what's 8K?) UUUHD(?). I'd much rather play the craziest, graphically intense game using the latest engine at 1080p with every single setting over-maxed at a constant 60fps over the same game at 60fps 4K set on medium-high. It's rather archaic and clunky- having to string 3x GPUs in XFire/SLI, scaling loss etc...just to play current gen games on 1 4K monitor. 290x/Titan Black...or 1500-2000$ worth of GPU! It's ridiculous. It won't be analogue CRT "CGA/EGA/VGA etc" like progress. Just wait a few years. GPU tech hasn't gone thru a real TOCK (none of this 30% improvement p/year stuff) in a looooong time. Yeah. Better temps. We're still using damn h2o fer cripes sake! Something tells me (based of no empirical anything) that with all these tech giants making a gazillion acquisitions, a real TOCK is upcoming. 1440 on full blast with witcher 3 running fast/smooth will probably hurt current $$$ systems. In 2 years? It'll all look kinda goofy. In 3-4 years? Observing how 4K displays went from "untouchable" a year ago to what's going on now- no reason the same won't apply to 8K. If one can go 1440 all fancy/ultra with the most demanding engines of present- stay-put. Trying to "4K" gamer style in present time when we're clearly in a 1440 max'd world is $$$ down the drain. Wait fer the TOCK. Btw- anyone seen an 8K IRL? (serious question)

Nice! Amiga=envy of all

when that tornado ripped thru Joplin killing 800+ ppl. Don't live there, but a few 100 miles east. A tornado 1.5 mi away from me wrecked "a-lot".

Blackphone.

Atari 800 6502 8/48k ram! 300 baud modem:

Mr Moose=totally nailed it. A setup "setup" for the enjoyment of listening to music IS an entirely different beast. A system used for making music will 99% of the time sound like ass to someone used to their listening setups. Adding to the confusion- the music making setup will cost more for a perceived wimpy sound. Why? A good example would be complains of headphones/speakers that "lack in the low frequency dept". The recording person/mixer has the onerous task of making a final recording which will sound good thru: 10$ earbuds 300$ headphones Car stereo 1000$ speakers iPhone speakers Television speakers MP3, AAC, WAV/PCM formats etc... it's REALLY hard! This is the reason why people who record and track their own material will pay hundreds, thousands of $$$ to have their stuff sent of to a professional mastering engineer. That said, I DO think it's 100% possible (with a lot of hard work) for someone to become proficient at both recording, mixing AND mastering. A very good resource which can answer all these questions much better then myself is "Computer Music" and "Future Music" (Hint- the magazine versions are really expensive, if u have an iPad/kindle type thingy, you can get each months edition for 6$ compared to the 25$ at the bookstore).

jumping in on 500€ headphones without a DAC to match is kinda like putting a 780 ti into a single core 2.3 Ghz system. It's putting all the beans into the basket.

Dynamic mic with a (true) hyper-cardioid pattern

For carter style finger picking the neck on electric guitars is too thin. It's not a hard set rule (listen to fleetwood mac) but it's really difficult playing alternating bass /w the thumb while doing melody with a thin neck.

Recommendations and some comments- Everyones notion of an ideal home studio setup varies to a ridiculous degree, it's one of those things where unfortunately it takes a while to figure out what best suits the individual. You have the advantage of being flexible due to having little bias getting in the way of making a crappy purchase based upon herd-opinion. I've been recording for 19 years, hopefully I can give advice based upon the many bad choices made thru the years- cutting thru the spin n hype. I've also recorded @ Abbey Road, the BBC studios and other known studios in the states. Lots learned from those experiences, hanging out/chatting with engineers/producers/musicians who've been doing the stuff for 50+ years. It's easy to go gear nuts and end up with too much stuff, even on a very modest budget. There are so many cheap (as in cost) 100% capable recording devices/tools (a new development) these days, it's confusing. That said with recording gear the difference between something that costs 150$ and some similar in function thing costing 200$ can be immense. At these price points the quality of audio produced will be more than adequate- the difference will be in build quality. As a general rule Beware of things that have a zillion features- better to have a solid 2 channel I/O (AD/DA) then a same priced 10 channel I/O with built in "Amazing!" Effects+dishwasher. Another plus re: your situation, is that you're planning on doing electronic music. The style doesn't require fancy preamps, compressors, mikes etc. You're not going to be recording any orchestras (at least now). Headphones are the enemy of mixing. Never, ever, ever mix down tracks using only headphones. They are used as a minor tool at best, usually to check vocals and phasing issues. Conversely when tracking, headphones are invaluable. There is zero reason for you to procure a discreet DAC for recording. Monitor placement and room positioning is more important than the gear- something manufactures are loathe to admit as no profit comes from that. The ADC/DAC on a decent mobo with regards to electronic music will totally work great. Thing is, discreet I/Os are so cheap these days and offer much more flexibility, I can't see any reason not to get one unless you're on a tiny budget- if you can afford a decent mouse or a few video games, you can afford a discreet USB-I/O. In order of Importance: a midi controller/monitors Then an I/O What are your computer specs? Look into Akai's Controllers- like this one: Here's a (I can't believe how affordable this stuff has become) decent package which includes a mike, headphones and I/O for 250$: KRK spends a gazillion $$$ on advertising. You can do much better with something like this: Finally here's a 250$ I/O by the same (well respected) company which is (a big step up from the one in the package (do you need a mike?) any questions, ask away! Even without the stuff you'll be able to make quality stuff. Spend ALOT of time learning everything FL has to offer. That's the priority!