HARDWARE + SOFTWARE

Required Equipment

Laptop
DAW (Ableton Live or other)
Headphones

Recommended Equipment

MIDI Controller/Keyboard

If you’re new to electronic music or considering adding to your setup, here are a few suggestions. There is no specific gear that’s mandated for the course.

DAW

Ableton Live comes in three versions: Intro, Standard, and Suite. The Standard version is a good starting place (Intro is fine to learn the basic workflow, but too limited for most real applications). All are available with eduction discounts here.

If you already use a different DAW, you are welcome to continue using it for this course.

HARDWARE

A MIDI controller is a physical tool that controls software on your computer such as virtual instruments, samplers, software synthesizers, etc.

The Novation Launchkey Mini 25 ($109) is small enough to travel with, but includes quite a few features that you’ll use as you develop your practice. If you invest in just one piece of hardware, a portable keyboard-based MIDI controller is a good place to start.

A clip launcher such as the Novation LaunchPad Mini ($129) is a helpful tool for launching pre-loaded clips and groups of clips.

A control surface like the Akai Professional MIDImix ($109) consists of an array of knobs and sliders that you can map to any parameter in your DAW, allowing you to adjust parameters in real time during live performance.

SOFTWARE + PLUGINS

Splice Instrument (formerly known as Spitfire LABS) is a great collection of free virtual instruments. Download a few, load them into your DAW of choice, and experiment with composition and sound design.