setup dream vs what reality is...

hey all, im stupid new to this area of creative outlet. and this will probably be a loaded question that might require more teaching that some would want to post up, but the short of it is i have been buying odd instruments i have no business playing with for awhile now.
just recently i decided to compile things together into maybe one big co communicating piece for simplicity sake to my pc..
i have a traktor s3 coming soon here. i have a Maschine Mikro MK3. xlr microphone and a Komplete Kontrol M32.
im looking for a way to maybe have them all wired up to be used or not together.

example i guess would be i can use the microphone for chatting when im not into playing music just gaming or hanging out.

or i can flip on one or two devices and fire up Ableton or any other software and dive in

or perhaps i can have the machine play through microphone audio so others would hear through what im doing through discord and such for little entertainment. i guess people have used launchpad as a sound board for similar comparison.

my simple understanding is i need to run those instruments into a audio interface. would 1 with enough channels for each device work?
are is there other things im missing. or is this just a nutso plan and id bee looking at studio quantities of gear in my office. and i really have a thing for NI i dunno what it is but guess im brand loyal haha.

 

This is the all too common case of newbies purchasing gear before they have a purpose. Like buying a shed full of tools before even getting your fingers dirty in building something basic.

Traktor, Maschine and a midi keyboard are all kind of different things for different purposes and while Maschine software can do some DAW related stuff and the keyboard will integrate nicely, what is your actual goal? To DJ/Mix/remix music tracks, to record and produce beats or midi tracks of your own, track vocals, record live instruments, mix, master etc. These are all different areas of knowledge and skill and kind of difficult for someone new to wrap their head around especially when the first question is "how do I go about connecting everything". There is literally decades of work ahead to progress through all these areas.

There is no need for massive amounts of gear or software at all, in fact starting with less or nothing can actually help you to focus on the basics of production way more. Hell when I started I had a handful of samples on floppy disk and a tracker program on another and spent years mastering how to cut/chop samples and construct patterns with no gear whatsoever, just headphones and the family computer using the computer keyboard to program notes. As time progressed I was able to figure out exactly what the first piece of gear I needed was after I worked and saved for my first computer and that was a MIDI keyboard, followed by an audio interface and as years went by I slowly decided on things like an MPD32, Mackie MCU and upgrading my keyboard.

The lure of flashy toys these days is what causes people to spend their money often on things they just don't understand and it's so common to see newbies struggle because they aren't often even interested to sit and read manuals to get an idea on how to use what they have. I've said it so many times I should print a bumper sticker but if you need to ask what gear is best to use or hown you should use the gear you have, you are in the wrong position and need to take a step back and start learning the basics of software, DJing and production first because boarding a train then asking someone what is the best place to get off isn't normally the right way to get where you want to go, only somewhere you have never been and not all places are easy to find your way around.

Hope that doesn't burst your bubble but if you are driven and keen enough, you will press on and find the answers yourself, just give yourself a good 10 years to learn the first part

 

It's all well and good to pursue your goals, but it doesn't make sense to rush into anything where there are no prospects. If you have an idea about what you want to do and know there's a demand for it, and you've been through the steps to ensure it's feasible, go for it! But if "following your dreams" means climbing mountains 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and your blog will never gain popularity because you're such a bad blogger, maybe you shouldn't be climbing mountains 24 hours a day. Perhaps you should first look for ways to make money and save money so that you can retire early and then spend your days climbing mountains.

 

This seems pretty complicated to me I should say

 

I am not 100% on this, buttttttt, if you have an audio interface, then use software like Voicemod, use the interface as the input through the software, then whatever sounds being made from the interface will feed into Discord for the pleasure/displeasure of your friends.

This is such an old fashioned way of looking at learning and not realistic to today at all.

Today we have resources (tutorials/forums where some people have actual solutions). Learning things doesn't have to be a mystery where you have to discover everything for yourself where it takes 10 years. When it comes to understanding concepts of what gear does, I definitely notice a number of folk who have a romanticised view of how they had to do things, have a bias that it's the way it should be and are downright elitist about it.

When it came to my profession (film editor), I could have worked for 10 years on my own figuring everything out for myself and lost all my hair from stress, but instead I was mentored by amazing professionals who knew the answers to all my problems and they saved me a lot of time, stress and money loss. I wouldn't have it any other way. If you aspire to be able to know everything inside out, then yes, you're likely going to be the one venturing into places few have gone and are on the cutting edge of what you're doing. Unlikely to be many to support you at that level. But if not then absolutely look for every shortcut that will speed up your workflow and take advantage of every bit of support available until it runs out.

If I know the solution to someone's problem, I'm not going to say to them "figure it out for yourself, it's what I had to do so you should too".

 

Not everyone will have that convenience and it is no replacement for the basics of reading manuals, spending time making mistakes and figuring out how the nuts and bolts go together. Sure, advice on specifics like a piece of hardware for a purpose or details on the theory of something, but rarely does anyone decide to buy a guitar, bass, mic and drums then google the question "how to start a band"

One thing you are overlooking in regards to having "All this access to tutorials etc..." is that this can become just as much of a problem than actually sitting and learning for 10 years and will still require a user to spend time on fundamentals. Most people are not good at "self learning" and these days there are far more things to distract people away from focusing.

Don't get me wrong, some can pick things up quickly and can learn just fine but usually those are the ones that do not ask this kind of question on a public forum as they are busy doing the thing which takes extra time but they typically gain a better understanding. There is simply no substitute for time. As someone who has spent 20+ years learning both on my own and from professionals and the same in support and teaching I can tell you it use to be much harder yes and it could take much longer to learn some things without access to information but today there is a lot of noise to pick through which requires a separate skill set in itself, so many plugins, different software, flashy hardware, it is not uncommon for new users to be completely overwhelmed and have no clue even after years of trying.

20 years ago, almost no hardware/software was really affordable so you were forced to start at the bottom, understanding the very basics of things like how audio/midi devices connect, what does RCA/TRS/XLR/MIDI all mean, what is the purpose of a pro audio interface, how midi channels and CCs all work, how audio buffers and sample rates all work.... Much of the stuff most new users completely skip over wanting to find the quickest shortcuts to understanding in an effort to have instant results.

My underlying point is that no one should expect to watch a few tutorials and spend a few weeks and expect to understand everything and be "pro sounding". There are still many things I learn daily even after 20 years because I want to know how things actually work, I want to understand, not just follow an example or do something a certain way because somene says to... there is always more to learn for those interested, it takes a lifetime but yes anyone can shortcut all of this if they want and just learn the basics to get by.... Fake it till you make it or something...

Completely off the mark on what the OP was even asking, kind of makes my point that most people these days dont want to spend the time to do things properly... like fully read the questions

They are not asking how they can mod their voice to annoy their friends at all but if they could use all their newly purchased gear such as Maschine to send sounds through to discord, for example, using the mic they have just purchased but not seeming to have an audio interface to plug it into.... They are even asking the question on what would be enough for inputs there too. What they have is some gear and little idea yet on what they want to do, which is fine, but the suggestion is to first spend time with what you have, learn it a bit then ask some questions on specifics.