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Hello lainons I want to start making music on my own, recording what I play, but the thing is that I am dumb regarding electronics and required hardware. I have an electronic drum kit (pic related). Now my question: by analyzing the ports available on the drum kit could someone tell me what cable I need to connect it to my laptop and record with arbitrary sounds using some software such as lmms. Also I play the bass and I wanted to know about the hardware as well. I wanted a midi controller what do you think about the MPk mini mk2 from Akai ? Finally, what is your setup lainon ?

>>3036 Hello there Lainon, as far as I can tell that looks like it needs a "USB B" style cable, also sometimes known as a printer cable. I personally don't have my own setup but I think someone is getting me a Nektar Impact for Christmas so I can start. I'm pretty excited about it if I'm honest, I can play the guitar a little but I've always wanted to do more electronic stuff. Anyway, I hope that helps and if anyone has any tips to get started I'd love to hear them.

>>3036 Not familiar with the kit in your pic, but I'd assume that the USB-B cable works as a MIDI output, same as the port next to it. LMMS should treat it like a MIDI controller. It's possible that you can load samples onto the kit and control what the pads trigger using some software. Have a look around for a manual in that regard. I have an MPK Mini mk2, and it's a really good controller, especially if you're starting out. The keys are well made and velocity sensetive, pads are proper MPC pads and not cheap knock offs, pot controllers feel nice and you get eight of them. Can't go wrong really, especially for the price. Worth noting you can have the pads in a CC mode, where they can be set to toggle on/off. I use that for controlling FX on/off when recording.

Thank you for your replies. I got my hand on said cable and got it to work with Hydrogen (with latency)

>>3036 I'm also pretty dumb but I believe it's better to use midi cable if possible than USB. When I used USB midi on my old PC I remember there being an annoying amoutn of delay

>>3040 Do you mean "a MIDI to USB cable instead of the USB-B" ?

a good home studio consists of... 1) a decent interface such as scarlett 2i4 or similar (includes midi i/o), 2) a pair of studio monitors such as krk rokit 5 or similar, 3) a mic such as shure sm57 or sm58 (if you're going to record live sound), and/or a midi keyboard for midi input, and/or an electric guitar, 4) a good daw package such as cubase or something, and 5) (the hardest part) a quiet plave with good acoustics, if you're going to use a mic. oh, and a nice set of studio headphones with very flat response is handy. note that the interface and monitors act as computer sound card and speakers, and are far superior.

>>3036 the drum kit seems to have the 5 pin din connectors usually used for midi on older hardware. You could look up "midi to usb" on ebay or whatever and hook that up to midi out port if using the usb type b cable doesn't work. Good look, lain. Everyone wants to be an artist and anyone can be, with the right amount of persistence and self-awareness