| A Music Production Software | | | | instruments, external synths and drum machines, audio |
| This is probably the most important piece of equipment | | | | interfaces feature the proper inputs. |
| to make beats. Your choice of software could have | | | | A Midi Controller |
| implications in the style you develop as a music | | | | Most of today midi controllers plug to the computer via |
| producer. But for somebody starting from zero I would | | | | USB and are recognized automatically by most music |
| recommend to not pay too much for this yet. | | | | software, requiring almost no technical knowledge to |
| Most of the peripherals needed to make beats come | | | | get them going. |
| with light versions of popular music software. Even | | | | The most popular midi controllers come in 2 flavors, |
| though the purpose is to temp you to upgrade to the | | | | keyboard or pads. The keyboard is the most popular |
| more expensive versions, these light editions have | | | | and the most practical, but rubber pads can yield more |
| more than enough sounds to keep anyone going for a | | | | rhythmically interesting beats. Even better is the new |
| long time. | | | | breed of controllers that blend both together. |
| If you have absolutely no experience you could check | | | | Monitors |
| something like Sonic Pro, a very popular online program | | | | It might seem like the least important feature for |
| that for only $30.00 USD offers a sequencer, sounds, | | | | someone getting started, but this depends on how |
| instruments and more important, video tutorials on how | | | | much you enjoy making music. The issue lies in the |
| to make your own beats. | | | | reproduction of the entire frequency spectrum. Small |
| An Audio Interface | | | | computer speakers by default mess with the audio |
| One of the most important reasons why to get a | | | | content, hyping up frequencies because of their inability |
| decent audio interface is their handling of a common | | | | to fully reproduce them. |
| problem with computers and music, latency. This is the | | | | Even though the monitors at beginner prices are not |
| amount of time that it takes the computer to process | | | | the full solution, as you go up in price you start to get a |
| an incoming signal. | | | | more realistic image of the sound you're working on. |
| Latency can create very annoying issues when | | | | At lower prices most monitors still hype up the sound |
| making beats, like playing a midi note and hearing the | | | | a little, but in a way that compliments music making and |
| sound a second later. It would be extremely difficult to | | | | not video game playing. |
| record live that way. Also if you want to connect | | | | |