Hey, guys . . .
Know this topic may have been covered before (either fully or partially), but some advice and suggestions would be appreciated. I'll get to the crux of my question at the top, and fill in the details further down for those who have the patience for a longer message.
Right now I'm using Reaper (paid for), and although it works and is fairly powerful, many of the functions I need to make music have me pulling my hair out. TTYTT, I've just lost interest in putting in the hours to master the learning curve. For example, simply lowering the volume on a segment of a track isn't a simple "select and perform action" process . . . you have to set points, make it an "object" for lack of a better word, and on-and-on.
What I'm thinking is just moving to Pro Tools, and devote the time, motivation, mental energy and resources to learning that. Everytime I drop by a studio with Pro Tools, the workflow just seems so much easier and streamlined (once you get past the initial learning curve, of course).
As far as Pro Tools versions, can I save a bit of money and retain sufficient functionality by buying something less than 11? What would you guys suggest in that regard? Right now, here in Canada, Pro Tools 11 is about $700 + 12% tax Are there earlier versions that would work for basic demos at a better price-point?
Anyway . . . here's more detail . . .
============
I'm an ol' classic rock player, and want to get the best results with the easiest workload path. Mainly what I want is to good get live takes, lay down dubs/vocal/leads/etc, and be able to tweak the needed tweaking in the DAW. I'd like to end up with decent demos that might possibly be used for release or distribution (not necessary to take it that far at this point, though). Good demos would be my primary objective. I'm not at all reluctant to go through an extended learning curve, but a combination of a DAW which has all the basic functions I need that's intuitive to learn and will take advantage of the gear I have is what would be ideal. I have money to spend, but being a guitar player by trade I tend to load up on the tools of my trade. I've been a bit gun-shy about spending the $$'s for one of the major DAWs so far, but in order to get half-decent demos I can open up the wallet. I don't need to produce a turnkey CD product, but I realize most higher-end DAWs will give that capability. As I said, I don't mind spending money on a better DAW for my purposes, but if there's options to save a bit then that would be an huge plus.
I know these questions literally opens up dozens of possibilities, but I'm strongly leaning toward going with Pro Tools. Any suggestions are heartily welcome.
Right now I'm using a pretty good PC, and I realize I may have to go Mac to "join the club" as it were, but seeing as Pro Tools works on PC, there's nothing to be lost by trying it on my current system first, and if I decide to go Mac then so be it. Also, if I do decide to go Mac, some suggestions on the best price-point and model that will do the trick would also be appreciated.
Here's my setup so far. And thanks in advance for any help!
Hardware:
MOTU 896HD 8 Channel Firewire Preamp Interface
Behringer Powerplay Pro HA4600 Headphone Amplifier
Enough phones to suffice
A fairly good assortment of about a dozen or so mikes . . . some very good, some average, but enough to do the trick, IMHO
Yorkville YSM2P Powered Active Monitors (I know . . . not the best, but one thing at a time)
Computer:
Sony VAIO VPCF132FX/B Intel Core i7-740QM Quad-Core 16.4” Laptop with a 7200 RPM HD
Windows 7 64 bit with 6GB of RAM (latency is very good)
SIIG NN-E20012-S2 2-Port PCI ExpressCard/34 Firewire Adapter
Belkin F5U506 ExpressCard/34 3 Port Firewire Adapter
DAW:
Reaper (paid for)
That's all I can think of for now to add.
Thanks!
Scott . . .
Know this topic may have been covered before (either fully or partially), but some advice and suggestions would be appreciated. I'll get to the crux of my question at the top, and fill in the details further down for those who have the patience for a longer message.
Right now I'm using Reaper (paid for), and although it works and is fairly powerful, many of the functions I need to make music have me pulling my hair out. TTYTT, I've just lost interest in putting in the hours to master the learning curve. For example, simply lowering the volume on a segment of a track isn't a simple "select and perform action" process . . . you have to set points, make it an "object" for lack of a better word, and on-and-on.
What I'm thinking is just moving to Pro Tools, and devote the time, motivation, mental energy and resources to learning that. Everytime I drop by a studio with Pro Tools, the workflow just seems so much easier and streamlined (once you get past the initial learning curve, of course).
As far as Pro Tools versions, can I save a bit of money and retain sufficient functionality by buying something less than 11? What would you guys suggest in that regard? Right now, here in Canada, Pro Tools 11 is about $700 + 12% tax Are there earlier versions that would work for basic demos at a better price-point?
Anyway . . . here's more detail . . .
============
I'm an ol' classic rock player, and want to get the best results with the easiest workload path. Mainly what I want is to good get live takes, lay down dubs/vocal/leads/etc, and be able to tweak the needed tweaking in the DAW. I'd like to end up with decent demos that might possibly be used for release or distribution (not necessary to take it that far at this point, though). Good demos would be my primary objective. I'm not at all reluctant to go through an extended learning curve, but a combination of a DAW which has all the basic functions I need that's intuitive to learn and will take advantage of the gear I have is what would be ideal. I have money to spend, but being a guitar player by trade I tend to load up on the tools of my trade. I've been a bit gun-shy about spending the $$'s for one of the major DAWs so far, but in order to get half-decent demos I can open up the wallet. I don't need to produce a turnkey CD product, but I realize most higher-end DAWs will give that capability. As I said, I don't mind spending money on a better DAW for my purposes, but if there's options to save a bit then that would be an huge plus.
I know these questions literally opens up dozens of possibilities, but I'm strongly leaning toward going with Pro Tools. Any suggestions are heartily welcome.
Right now I'm using a pretty good PC, and I realize I may have to go Mac to "join the club" as it were, but seeing as Pro Tools works on PC, there's nothing to be lost by trying it on my current system first, and if I decide to go Mac then so be it. Also, if I do decide to go Mac, some suggestions on the best price-point and model that will do the trick would also be appreciated.
Here's my setup so far. And thanks in advance for any help!
Hardware:
MOTU 896HD 8 Channel Firewire Preamp Interface
Behringer Powerplay Pro HA4600 Headphone Amplifier
Enough phones to suffice
A fairly good assortment of about a dozen or so mikes . . . some very good, some average, but enough to do the trick, IMHO
Yorkville YSM2P Powered Active Monitors (I know . . . not the best, but one thing at a time)
Computer:
Sony VAIO VPCF132FX/B Intel Core i7-740QM Quad-Core 16.4” Laptop with a 7200 RPM HD
Windows 7 64 bit with 6GB of RAM (latency is very good)
SIIG NN-E20012-S2 2-Port PCI ExpressCard/34 Firewire Adapter
Belkin F5U506 ExpressCard/34 3 Port Firewire Adapter
DAW:
Reaper (paid for)
That's all I can think of for now to add.
Thanks!
Scott . . .
. . . well I don't wanna dance with Mephistopheles, so thinking outside that vein is a good plan.