any folks on here do home recordings? or studio even?

[Toady]

my computer is faster than yours

just kidding... sort of. my new computer arrived yesterday. it's something i've been waiting to invest in for a long time, so i didn't spare many expenses. this computer is designed to be my home pc, a CAD workstation and a home recording studio. it should perform all of those functions with relative ease and outstanding performance for several years.

so, what i'd like to ask for is advice on soundcards and software. i've read several reviews and have a few ideas, but i haven't settled on anything. my plan is to be able to record several artists that i know from my apartment. mostly for fun, and also to help these friends put together ideas, rough drafts, demos, etc.

Alienware offered a few software packages (mostly cakewalk) and some soundcard options (higher end Soundblaster and M-Audio), but in both cases i opted for the minimal side of their offerings so i can build the audio stuff on my own.

so, any advice? good or bad experiences? thanks in advance!

todd

[Dusty Chalk]

And yes, it is (faster than mine). I eschew computers, for some reason (which is funny, because it's not -- like most musicians -- I'm afraid or ignorant of computers -- the words "adequately savvy" come to mind).

Just some simple cheap and effective advice for the newly minted disk drive: I would make separate bootable partitions, and keep your music making one completely separate from all others, so that it doesn't get infected with viruses or anything else that may cause lag issues as you add and remove (never completely) new software.

OTOH, I haven't done anything recently except the occasional wank on the piano, so I'm a little rusty. Need to fix that, and soon...

[chrisnz]

On the soundcard front... I've had a lot of Creative cards, Live, Audigy, Audigy 2 and believe me you don't want to go there. Great for games and whatever, reasonable sound but full of weirdness like recording at 48Khz, or the never to be forgotten Audigy scream of death!!! Finally I bit the bullet and imported an MAudio Audiophile 2496 and... problems solved. You might need more ins and outs but there's plenty of more complex options from MAudio. They do make decent cards (shaky keyboards though).

I use Sonar and that seems good but all the major sequencers are pretty sorted now. A much cheaper option would be FL Studio but you'd have to investigate whether it's audio recording was up to what you need.

There's a really good forum here:-

http://www.kvr-vst.com/index.php

That will help with your explorations.

Chris.

[durry]

Check Out Pro-tools. Depending on how serious you are about recording at your home(due to the price). Many people swear by this product, I being one of them. I have recorded many artists with this software/set-up and have yet to see much in the price range that compares.

[Toady]

chris,

that m-audio audiophile card is one that i'm considering. what did it cost you?

durry,

what is that price range?

[PPG]

Here's some software I'm looking seriously at. I downloaded the demo last night. I found out about this when I posted a question on a recording forum about music software with a short learning curve. It's $80.00 for the full version, demo is free.

Check it out: http://www.mackie.com/products/tracktion/index.html

Or, take a look at n-Tracks (it's only $45) and it's highly-rated by users: http://fasoft.com/what_is.shtm

[chrisnz]

I got the Audiophile 2496 for $149 from MTLC.net you may be able to find it for a bit less. There are versions of it with more ins and outs, like the Delta44. On a side note the card came with some bundled software the best of which was a light version of Ableton Live and also a discount route to get the full deal.

That sequencer that ppg's talking about, Traktion, is also worth cheking out. It's user forum is at KvR.

I'd be interested to know the price range of ProTools as well ;-)

[BarryL]

Check Out Pro-tools. Depending on how serious you are about recording at your home(due to the price). Many people swear by this product, I being one of them. I have recorded many artists with this software/set-up and have yet to see much in the price range that compares.

SOme very knowledgable folks at a local musicians technology store recommended the Digi001 which comes with Pro Tools. They did a demo for me, and it looked pretty easy to use. This is professional studio technology, but the hardware to hook up to the computer isn't cheap. You can get a freebee from ProTools (try their website) but I can't comment on how good it is. Digi001 is now discontinued, and now if I go this route, I'll need Digi002. Apparently the rack version costs about what Digi001 cost.

I don't have the time to spend making music, so I haven't made the investment yet. I'm afraid it'll be obsolete before I get around to using it!

[durry]

It's been a few years since I have seen pricing on pro-tools. Let me give a call to the dealer that I purchased my equipment from and get a better idea of what these system's cost now. Were you looking for a basic set up or something you can record full bands/performers with? My set up was multaple thousands 2 years ago..since, I have of course upgraded software however im not sure what the staging equipment costs as I have not kept up with this. Give me an idea what you want to do with it and I should be able to give a better reccomendation. Also the Free software trial that the previous poster had reccomended might give you a good idea if you want to shell out the money for the system.

[BarryL]

It's been a few years since I have seen pricing on pro-tools. Let me give a call to the dealer that I purchased my equipment from and get a better idea of what these system's cost now. Were you looking for a basic set up or something you can record full bands/performers with? My set up was multaple thousands 2 years ago..since, I have of course upgraded software however im not sure what the staging equipment costs as I have not kept up with this. Give me an idea what you want to do with it and I should be able to give a better reccomendation. Also the Free software trial that the previous poster had reccomended might give you a good idea if you want to shell out the money for the system.

Basically, I've been playing accoustic guitar for twenty years, and when I had more time in my younger days wrote dozens of songs. I've since dabbled on piano. So what I'd like to do is put together a basic set up in my basement to record guitar, piano (midi) and vocals into my computer. Would I then move on into creating all kinds of electronic Eno doodlings with Air melodies? You bet! That's why I think the computer route is a better way to go overall than buying a used four or eight-track porta-studio, although I have considered this.

I haven't made the decision on what or when to buy. As I got really serious about forking out the money, I'd do much more investigation, so if you have any advice, let me know.

I was prepared to dish out about $2,000 CDN or about $1,300 USD. I'm not opposed to paying less. The Digi002 comes with protools and a physical mixing board with knobs and sliders so you don't have to do everything by mouse.

I'm beginning to play with GarageBand by Apple just to get the feel of multitracking.

[Toady]

It's been a few years since I have seen pricing on pro-tools. Let me give a call to the dealer that I purchased my equipment from and get a better idea of what these system's cost now. Were you looking for a basic set up or something you can record full bands/performers with? My set up was multaple thousands 2 years ago..since, I have of course upgraded software however im not sure what the staging equipment costs as I have not kept up with this. Give me an idea what you want to do with it and I should be able to give a better reccomendation. Also the Free software trial that the previous poster had reccomended might give you a good idea if you want to shell out the money for the system.

i'm not sure what my price range is because i'm not sure what you get for your money in this arena. i do not intend to record full bands. most of my recording will probably be solo acoustic guitar with and without vocal. i'd assume maybe 3 or 4 mics would be all you'd ever have going at once for that... no?