Time for a Badly Needed Upgrade

Hello one and all!!!
 
It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted but rest assured that I have been lurking on a regular basis.
 
I have come to the point of my recording career where all my gear has aged to where I really want to upgrade. First off, here’s what I have now.
 

• Roland JV-1010 MIDI sound module. (Approximately 15 years old.)
  
• Ketron SD2 MIDI sound module. (Approximately 8 years old.)
  
• M-Audio 2x2 MIDI interface. (Approximately 2 years old.)
  
• Zoom Studio 1202 effects unit. (Over 20 years old)
  
• Roland PC-200 mk ll MIDI controller. (Over 20 years old.)
  
• Mackie Pro FX 8v2 USB Mixer. (Approximately 2 years old.)
  
• Band in a Box 2017
  
• Sonar Platinum
  

 
The gear listed above clearly shows that I haven’t spent very much money over the last few years on music hardware, and because of this I can justify putting out a few bucks to modernize. At least that’s the way I explained it to my better half.
 
I’m looking at starting with the NI Komplete, version 11 bundle. I know that version 12 will be coming out any day now but because of that I’m thinking that the older version will be cheaper than the newer version. All my research has shown that version 11 can still be had and it would be more sufficient for my
needs.
 
Questions:
 

• How difficult will it be to integrate NI Komplete into Sonar Platinum? I’ve never worked with virtual instruments and figure there’s a bit of a learning curve to get it set up.
  
• I still want to keep using my Mackie mixer for an audio interface. Will this be possible?
  
• My Roland MIDI controller keyboard is strictly a MIDI out. Will it still work with Komplete inside of Sonar? Or will I have to get a new controller keyboard? (must it be USB???) If not, where would I plug my old one it in?
  

 
I’m sure that there will be a few more questions that I can’t think of right now, but this is a start.
 
Thanks so much!!!
 

If you are planning on using a lot of virtual instruments, make sure you have a powerhouse computer with a drive for OS and one at least for samples. Your performance limits will be directly affected by how fast your processor is and how much RAM you can load up. Good luck!!!

You should consider a SSD drive for your Samples, I'd set it up like this:
C: OS and Programs
A: Audio; your cwp files and the wav files for each
V: VSTi; Samples (SSD)
Be VERY careful when installing, every installer wants to put everything on the C drive by default.
You have to set your download path for Splat and CbB to keep the installers off the C drive.
You have to set your NI sample install to the Sample drive, AND the download path for the NI updates
needs to be set as well (this is where the DATA drive mentioned below is important).
I'd get a 250GB SSD for the OS (C)
Use one of the 1TB for Audio, one for DATA (store your install files, downloads, backups, etc.)
Then the external will hold a second copy of all "critical" data.
backup, Backup, BACKUP! (I grew up in the glory days of NASA, redundancy, redundancy, redundancy!)
Do it, and you can thank me later...
 
T

Thanks for this...
I have really not being doing much music-wise in quite some time.  In fact, the last time I was playing around with it, Gibson had just announced that they were dropping Cakewalk.  It was only recently that I saw that Cakewalk was picked up by BandLab and perhaps I wasn't paying much attention to the free download offer.  I was more interested in looking into something new to replace the ancient gear that I have.
 
At this point in time it seems that I'm on a see-saw that changes my plan to put out $800 from one day to the next.  I have come so close to clicking the "buy now" button but have managed to hold off so far. I have been known to be an impulse buyer.  I'm trying to hold back until I'm REALLY sure I'll still have a good feeling about getting it once I've pulled the trigger.
 
Is it worth spending all that money?  I think that I've answered my own question when I said,  "I haven't being doing much music-wise in quite some time."  It is for certain that I'm not running a professional recording studio here.  I'm basically recording my own stuff for nobody else but myself and close family.  In fact, it can truthfully be said that I'm a "playing around with it" kind of musician who's thinking is that spending that kind of money would be silly for what I intend to do with it.  At least this is how I'm feeling TODAY... tomorrow's thoughts could be the complete opposite and I could convince myself that I really NEED to get this stuff.