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[mookers]

i want to make music that sounds something like Mixel Pixel and Grandaddy. i thought i should invest in a synthesizer and a sampler, but i know nothing about these and googling gives me only big words and mathematical explanations. could someone please tell me in laymen's terms what i should be looking for? or educate me a bit on what in hell all of this means?

[La Creme]

Buy a MIDI synth and decent recording software for your computer. Once you've gotten the hang of mixing, blending tracks, all that, buy a full on mixer (I'm no expert brand-wise, so don't ask me what to get).

For a keyboard, I would highly recomend a MicroKorg. My brother got one a while back and they are pretty great. $400 analog and MIDI, great customizabilty of sounds on it, and a built-on Vocoder (which is kind of crappy, so you have to replace it with a good mic...)

[mookers]

that microKorg looks excellent. it seems to have a more Daft Punk sound than a Mixel Pixel one, though. is its sound flexible enough to suit my needs or should i look for something different? i dunno what i'm doing. i'm so bumbly.

[KharBevNor]

Just buy some cheap software like fruityloops that'll let you record and play around with midi on different instruments. That's what I use, and it's pretty versatile sounds-wise. It also allows you to tweak your midi's and layer up tracks nicely.

[rive gauche]

MOOG!

[Decima]

A good software thats really cheap compared to other things, about 450$ perhaps, is Reason. It simulates old samplers, synthesizers, effectboxes n drummachines. Combined with ReCycle you can do ALOT of stuff with samples. In ReCycle, you chop up the sample in smaller bits, and saves it as an rex2 file. Then you put it into the Rex-sampler in reason, and cause of the chopped up-ness, you can now transpose it without changing its tempo, changing its a tempo quite alot without affecting its sound, change its rythmics and its order. Grrrrreat!
Reason features lots of samples, rex2files, premaed patches for the synths, and is really easy to use. Combine it with a midi keyboard and you got all youll ever need. You can get many different "sounds" in Reason, the examplesongs ranging from mean jungle to spaced out chillout.

And no, Im not hired by Reasons makers to advertise for them .

[KharBevNor]

or just steal it off the interweb. Much more expedient!

[lofin]

i think i read somewhere that mixel pixel (i love them) made the samples on a commodore64 which it why it sounds so videogame like.  so i'd suggest getting an emulator and roms and looking at how the music tracks on games are constructed and then use those as guidelines for creating your own samples.  there has to be tuts on the web about programming c64s and making music tracks somewhere.

after a quick search these looks like good sites
http://www.createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=538&Itemid=44
http://commodore-forums.wabbit-wion.nl/viewtopic.php?t=60&highlight=music

and especially
http://www.remix64.com/index.php?load=about_getting_started_as_a_remixer

this is a really cool scene to get into and it has a very hardcore but helpful following.  some programming knowledge is very helpful but not really required.  i'm going to dig around on this more and if i find anything else that's helpful i'll post it in here again (plz do the same if you find anything).  

hope this stuff helps
-lofin

i love mixel pixel