Building a Beat Making Studio with $500

This is a continuation of last week’s post in the Home Studio Basics series so if you haven’t read that yet I HIGHLY recommend you do that first because this post builds off of that.

You can read the first post by clicking HERE.

To briefly recap, last week we built a beat making with $350 and we ended up getting Studio One Artist with the 3rd Party VST Support Add-on and a pair of Audio Technica's ATH-M50x.

This week as mentioned we will be building off those previous items so let's jump right in.

MIDI Controller/Keyboard

So after we have your DAW and a good pair of headphones the next thing that I would invest in is a MIDI keyboard.

MIDI keyboards are a topic up for debate because there are a lot of producers who prefer to simply draw their notes by hand on the piano roll and if that's you that's totally fine. Personally, though, I've always been a huge fan of playing through a keyboard; This for me feels a little more natural and adds another layer of engagement when making music. On top of that, I'm also a huge advocate of learning to play an instrument so having a MIDI keyboard can help with this process as it gets you used to the anatomy of a piano (the best instrument for producers to learn, in my opinion).

Now when it comes to MIDI keyboards the options seem almost endless and the prices range from as little as $100 to well over $500. I've used multiple MIDI keyboards throughout my time producing and each with its own set of parameters and features but if I'm being completely honest the only two things that I would say really matter when picking one up is making sure that it has at least 49 keys and that they keys are either weighted or semi-weighted.

The reason for these requirements is that a 49 key controller will allow you to play it with 2 hands and one the big reason for even getting a MIDI keyboard, as mentioned before, is to be able to learn the keyboard as an instrument and to provide a more immersive and realistic experience when creating music. You can get a 61 key controller like the one I have if you wish but a 49 key will do just fine.

Regarding the weight of the keys, this also goes back to providing a more realistic experience. Most proper pianos have weighted keys meaning that the key itself requires a certain level of actuation or pressure to be pressed all the way down. Having weighted or semi-weighted keys in your MIDI controller will effectively mimic the keys on a proper piano and provide a more realistic playing experience.

Now as far as which keyboard I would actually get my vote goes to the M-Audio Keystation 49. I owned this keyboard back in 2015 and I bought it because I briefly moved from Florida to New York City and couldn't bring my MPK 61. I thought it would be a cheap keyboard to get me by but I couldn't have been more wrong. The keyboard itself has 49 full sized, semi-weighted keys so playing through it was extremely pleasant, it has a modulation and pitch wheel and even a few transport buttons to control your DAW. The best part about the whole thing for me is that it's only $99.

There are a bunch of MIDI controllers out there and ultimately it's up to you but the M-Audio Keystation 49 is without a doubt my #1 MIDI keyboard recommendation for anyone who produces music and wants something affordable, simple and effective.

So if we take our budget of $500 and deduct the costs from the previous post, which came out to $308.94, and further subtract $99 for our keyboard we are left with $92.06

Scaler

With only $92 left the next thing I would get is a copy of Scaler. I've reviewed Scaler on my YouTube Channel before and you guys know I use it all the time and that's simply because I think it's the #1 tool for any music producer. Whether you're a music theory pro and use it as a supplement or a beginner and use it to as a learning tool, Scaler is one of the best investments you can make.

There are many uses for Scaler but the main one I would say is picking a scale and having it tell you what notes fall in that scale and what chords to play. From here it's really simple to either drag the midi out to your DAW or use it to help you learn theory on your keyboard.

A copy of Scaler will run you $49 so once we subtract that from our budget we are left with a balance of $43.06, which again is right under our budget.

So there you have it, a beat making studio built with $500. In total so far we have Studio One Artist, the 3rd Party VST Support Add-on, a pair of Audio Technica's ATH-M50x, an M-Audio Keystation 49 and a copy of Scaler. Next week we will be adding to this and finishing off the series by expanding our budget to $1000 so definitely tune in for that.

Read the next installment HERE