Newbie to synthesisers need some pro advice on equipment!

[royalsynth]

Hey guys, im 16 and new to synths. Just got a Microkorg (was that a good choice?) and i will be playing synths in a band along with vocals. I need some setup help however. It has come quite obvious to me that im going to need more equipment if what i want to do with my band can be achieved. were quite influenced by Hadouken! and Does it offend you yeah? so were all quite a lively bunch . This is the part I need help with. Obviously as an energetic vocalist and a synth player I cant be stood over a keyboard for the whole live show. So i need equipment ideas which I would be able to play synth and be able to jump around stage and please the crowd. I was going along the lines on groove boxes particualy the EMX-1 as used by Enter shikari from what i saw they seem to give you a good control on synth loops aswell as drums without having to stand by it all the time and secondly the Kaossilaitor pro which also seemed to be good at looping samples created on my Microkorg. I need advice on what to get! any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[FLNagle]

Welcome to KSS!

 

I love all of those bands and I'm 17 with a few years experience with synths, so I feel like I really know what you're going for. My band uses sample tracks that I put together before hand in Ableton using softsynths and my R3 because I play guitar, but if you're not playing another instrument then I would highly recommend either the EMX or a laptop running Ableton. Either of these routes will give you a lot more flexibility and interactivity with your synths when you play live, you just have to decide how complicated and detailed you want to get. Rou from Shikari uses both the EMX and Ableton when he plays live, so they can't be bad! I would recommend against the Kaossilator Pro for you because its sampling is pretty limited, and partially because I just don't really like the concept. If you try it out and find that you really like generating patterns with the XY pad then go for it, but I wouldn't rely on using it as your main sampler.

 

Most the guys here are a lot older and into different styles and synths. If you have any more questions feel free to PM me, or else I'll just watch out for more of your threads. Good luck with synths! There's definitely a learning curve involved in making everything work together and learning to program them, but its TOTALLY worth the effort.