So some thing like this could work on the cheap?
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Yep! Itās a nice little digital synth. However it does not have a real keyboard so you would probably want a controller for it.
I recently bought (and later sold) an Arturia MicroBrute, similar to (the little brother of) one of these:
I now own MiniBrute V and like it much more than the hardware version.
Like I said I would really recommend softsynths until you know what youāre doing. (And forever after that too but at least you can make an informed choice later 
)
I also used to own MiniFreak V, but sold it as it is too similar to a few other synths I own.
Iām highly unlikely to ever own another hardware synth. I am just in love with having everything in the box with a nice MIDI controller. I now have dozens of synthesizers and a really good keyboard to control them with, all for less than the cost of one or two midrange hardware synths.
Other folks really like hardware synths. Now that becomes an expensive hobby fast, and IMO the workflow is much less convenient than software with a good MIDI controller.
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Indeed!
Get the kind with both black and white keys.
They always seem to be the best 
Sorry, couldnāt resist.
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Hereās my experience:
I had a keyboard and i got a small midi controller for writing music and i rarely use them. I find it difficult to be creative when i just sit down at/with an instrument, my most creative moments are when iām out walking or riding my bike so I record my musical ideas by whistling into the voice recorder on my phone.
When i sit down to write a bassline, i prefer to use a bass as I just see it as an extension of improvisation which Iād do with my bass.
If Iām going to write a whole song, i prefer to use a DAW and i find a few plugins like Scaler2 or Playbox to be very helpful with keys, progressions and other musical ideas. I do sometimes like the keyboard for experimenting with chord sounds as i might not know the name of what i want but iāll know the sound of it when i hear it.
Since youāre already a competent vocalist you might consider singing your parts into a recorder first. Many, many famous musician who canāt/couldnāt read music or play an instrument vocalized their songs into a recorder.
You just have to experiment with different things and find out what works for you
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If you can sing a melody (or bass line), you can turn that audio into MIDI in any decent DAW.
That could be a startā¦
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Totally true. And even better, grab Melodyne Essential while on sale and be able to edit the pitch. Iāve even used it to correct bass tuning, so damn useful.
Anyone still hating on autotune is ignorant of its potential uses for good
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Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???
Argh!
Rein in your T-pain, bro. That was 30 years ago.
I would wager it is used on nearly every record produced today, whether the artists know it or not
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I ask myself: what would Ian Curtis do/say?
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He would defer to Martin Hannett who would do whatever made the most artistic sense.
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Hahaha!
I will be looking for an AI that will have Ian Curtis sing āBelieveā with the Cher effect
In fact, I just looked up the lyrics ā¦ it could very well be a Joy Division song. WTF?
Imagine it a sung little darkerā¦
EDIT
Hmmmmmmmā¦
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Yes, I just recorded a bit on fretless, and my teacher asked whether I had Autotune or Melodyne to āadjustā the intonation of some of my notes? So, yes, totally standard to use these tools.
EDIT: I think Logic Pro has its own version for correcting pitchā¦ I just have never used it before.
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Yes, it does.
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, just part of normal production now.
The key is to not abuse.
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Thanks for this input. This is probably the direction I should be thinking.
I like doing creative work collaboratively. Iāve got a band with people who know their instruments better than me. The drummer will write better drum parts, and the guitarists will write better guitar parts. I just need to be able to get them broad movement ideas (restrained here; big fill here; solo; everyone going HAM for the climax; etcā¦) and some basic tonal ideas. I can probably communicate those better with voice and bass than keyboard.
Where a keyboard will be most helpful is if our main Vocalist/Keys member has trouble coming up with parts. Iāll just see how she does and decide what tools I need to compensate for that.
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Cool realization and I agree that your best plan is to follow your interests. That said I would also consider for the future:
Donāt sleep on the fact that the primary instrument of western music composing historically has been the piano. much of music notation and theory has been developed on or around its layout, and for really āseeingā music theory it is going to be the place it will make the most sense. It is definitely worth exploring.
Yeah. But Iām thinking that I will be better taking more time to budget more or hunt for a killer deal on nicer equipment, rather than jumping now. Itās something that will be valuable, but not urgent.
As I hunt for equipment:
What are the āmustsā for a decent keyboard?
What should I be looking for as far as outputs? (1/4" instrument out, XLR, ā¦USB?) Whatās the standard output to connect to a computer?
Particular brands to look for, or to avoid? (Iām assuming āYamahaā is never wrong.)
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For a keyboard, weighted or semi-weighted keys, velocity sensitivity, and MIDI capability are key. USB-MIDI is standard for computers, but 1/4outs are solid for amps/interfaces
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Note that this is kind of a religious debate
This is the right answer if you want a more piano feel. However, a lot of people (myself included) prefer the feel of a classic synth keybed.
Ironically, I am not a fan of Yamaha synthesizers at all.
This depends a lot on what you want. Broadly your options are to get a MIDI controller and use it to control other instruments (like software or hardware synthesizers) that take MIDi input, or to get a standalone instrument. The standalone instrument can be a synthesizer, a digital piano, or a few other types of keyboards. Iām going to focus on MIDI controllers and synthesizers here; I donāt know much about digital pianos or arranger keyboards.
At minimum you will want USB MIDI out and itās also nice to have DIN MIDI in/out/thru, for controllers. Actual instruments you will want MIDI plus it will have some forms of audio out, usually 1/4" mono or stereo Line outs.
I really like Arturia as a brand for controllers and their synths are cool too. Novation and Native Instruments make excellent gear too.
For hardware synthesizers, Korg is a good bet, as is Roland. I also like Arturia. A lot of jazz folks seem to like Nords. ASMās are a newer brand that is popular. Thereās many other excellent brands.
For less expensive but still high quality synths, the recent Behringer synths make excellent entry level synthesizers - believe it or not, they are well made and replicate a lot of classic gear.
For software synthesizers - literally hundreds of outstanding options. Happy to discuss a lot, but we have a topic already:
Iām not sure what DAW you use but you are going to want a real DAW, i.e. not Audacity or Amplitube, to get good MIDI support. Reaper and Logic are fine, Ableton and Bitwig even better for synth workflows.
If I were to make a recommendation, it would be to get a good MIDI controller and use software virtual instruments. They sound just as good and are much cheaper and more convenient, at the cost of needing an external controller. This will be the least expensive and painful way to learn what you want and then later you can make a more informed choice on whether you want a hardware synth or not, and what you want in it.
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If only. Those people also save hundreds of dollars. Jerks
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