What's your daw set up look like?
- Thread starter L Oquence
- Start date
I didn't know GB allowed so many tracks.
bLUiVORY
= Mojo Worker =
I am curious. And for once - I'm not trying to be a smart ass. This is a serious question:
What the hell do you put on F-I-F-T-Y tracks?
miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
I too find it odd that peopolel use so many tracks....but I think what many do is toss small parts here-n-there all on different tracks...
...so it drives their track count up. Also, it could be multiple takes that are cut up, but without comping to a single track.
IOW....I doubt there are 50 tracks of complete/continuous audio from start to finish.
It's just a way of working.
I've spent so many years tracking to tape, where every availabvle track was like gold...so you didn't ever piss it away on just a couple of notes or a measure or two of something....and I still work that way, but then, I still tracmk to tape.
Thayt said, once n the DAW, I rarely add more tracks. Most of my projects never exceed 24 tracks in the DAW.
...so it drives their track count up. Also, it could be multiple takes that are cut up, but without comping to a single track.
IOW....I doubt there are 50 tracks of complete/continuous audio from start to finish.
It's just a way of working.
I've spent so many years tracking to tape, where every availabvle track was like gold...so you didn't ever piss it away on just a couple of notes or a measure or two of something....and I still work that way, but then, I still tracmk to tape.
Thayt said, once n the DAW, I rarely add more tracks. Most of my projects never exceed 24 tracks in the DAW.
BroKen_H
Re-member
Yes, many tracks. I usually end up with miked cab and di from my bass, sometimes add a sub to those, sometimes parallel a bit of destruction and then bus the three or four tracks (giving me four or five just for the bass). Five to eight drum tracks (and sometimes parallels on some of those) into a second bus. Four to eight guitar tracks (next bus). Piano and pads/strings/organ/accordion into a fourth bus. Then we start in on vocals and backups (fifth bus). Usually about 30+ faders on the ssl. Add to that any effects or pulling different lines onto separate tracks for different processing on different parts of the song and 40 is not uncommon. I'm working on one right now where there are 20 effects tracks for a battle going on at the beginning. I bet this one will top 60. That's not to say I have 30 or 40 VSTi's running at the same time at any point, or even that many tracks ever playing together. Rarely over 15 there...
Isn't digital technology marvelous? We're not limited to 11 tracks (after bouncing) on a 4 track machine anymore. No need for thinking through the process before we start. Just jump in and get 'er done. No brain required...
Isn't digital technology marvelous?
We're not limited to 11 tracks (after bouncing) on a 4 track machine anymore. No need for thinking through the process before we start. Just jump in and get 'er done. No brain required...
Armistice
Son of Yoda
I can get up there pretty quickly... like miro says, there's just snippets on lots of them.
I have a 3.something Xeon & 16 RAMs... and even with my biggest tune with multiple synths, drums and a gazillion guitars it barely breaks into a sweat. It really shouldn't be an issue these days with the more powerful set ups available.
I have a 3.something Xeon & 16 RAMs... and even with my biggest tune with multiple synths, drums and a gazillion guitars it barely breaks into a sweat. It really shouldn't be an issue these days with the more powerful set ups available.
Maxwell999
New member
In these days popular music is done in that way.
Yeah it isn't 50 tracks back and forth of audio lol. 
It's just like... after I'm done composing the beat, that's usually 10-15 tracks of samples or synths MAYBE 20 if im doing something more longwinded for kicks and giggles... then I usually do 3 verses and I like having separate tracks for those, then separate tracks for the double vox of each verse.
then my choruses usually have 3-4 layers of vocals.
and if I have little ad lib elements that increases the track count.
and if I want to add sound effects or other embellishments it can add more.
im usually more in the 25-30 track range,its just on the extreme end I can get higher
It's just like... after I'm done composing the beat, that's usually 10-15 tracks of samples or synths MAYBE 20 if im doing something more longwinded for kicks and giggles... then I usually do 3 verses and I like having separate tracks for those, then separate tracks for the double vox of each verse.then my choruses usually have 3-4 layers of vocals.
and if I have little ad lib elements that increases the track count.
and if I want to add sound effects or other embellishments it can add more.
im usually more in the 25-30 track range,its just on the extreme end I can get higher
Steve Fogal
Member
My DAW set up consists of 3 Win XP machines, each with quad cores & 4 GB ram, for a total of 12 CPU cores & 12 GB ram...one is a dedicated VSTi machine, one is a dedicated audio machine, the 3rd machine is there for any extra resources I may need, which so far I haven't actually needed, and I'm trying out ways to make use of it....one such way is using it as a dedicated guitar soft sim & guitar audio tracks machine on a project. I may end up using that 3rd machine as my 'mix machine' for the other two though.
I too use more audio tracks than needed, for extra takes, bit parts, comps, etc. Also I use midi tracks more than once to assign & double up on VSTi's for flavor....a luxury I didn't have on my Tascam 4-track
It's hard to say how many of each audio & midi tracks I use, it really varies and many audio tracks I do end up being comped into a much less number of tracks...but I'd say typically I 'end up' with somewhere between 8-12 stereo tracks/6-10 mono tracks, and about 8-12 midi tracks with VSTi's assigned to them. As said, I may have more going on initially, and I may exceed my above average number of tracks at times. That's why 2 Win XP machines really are enough for what I do, but one XP machine with my larger projects are too much, that's why I began using a dedicated VSTi machine, and a dedicated audio machine.
I too use more audio tracks than needed, for extra takes, bit parts, comps, etc. Also I use midi tracks more than once to assign & double up on VSTi's for flavor....a luxury I didn't have on my Tascam 4-track
It's hard to say how many of each audio & midi tracks I use, it really varies and many audio tracks I do end up being comped into a much less number of tracks...but I'd say typically I 'end up' with somewhere between 8-12 stereo tracks/6-10 mono tracks, and about 8-12 midi tracks with VSTi's assigned to them. As said, I may have more going on initially, and I may exceed my above average number of tracks at times. That's why 2 Win XP machines really are enough for what I do, but one XP machine with my larger projects are too much, that's why I began using a dedicated VSTi machine, and a dedicated audio machine.
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Here's my current setup...
CPU - AMD Phenom II 6 core @ 2.7 Ghz, 3.2 Ghz turbo
RAM - 8GB DDR3 PC-3 10600(1333 MHz)
Graphics - XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB
Monitor - Acer 24" 1080p LED
Storage - 1 TB internal SATA HDD @ 7200 rpm
500 GB internal SATA HDD @ 7200 rpm
This is currently the only PC I own, and has been upgraded by me, over time...therefore, I use it for pretty much everything, but find its plenty fast to do audio work. So far, I've only really worked on mixing, although at some point I will invest in an interface and some studio monitors and such to start tracking as well.
I currently mix mainly in ProTools 10, although I have used Reaper quite a bit as well. At this point, the only things I really use the PC for anymore is gaming, mixing, or watching TV shows online.
CPU - AMD Phenom II 6 core @ 2.7 Ghz, 3.2 Ghz turbo
RAM - 8GB DDR3 PC-3 10600(1333 MHz)
Graphics - XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB
Monitor - Acer 24" 1080p LED
Storage - 1 TB internal SATA HDD @ 7200 rpm
500 GB internal SATA HDD @ 7200 rpm
This is currently the only PC I own, and has been upgraded by me, over time...therefore, I use it for pretty much everything, but find its plenty fast to do audio work. So far, I've only really worked on mixing, although at some point I will invest in an interface and some studio monitors and such to start tracking as well.
I currently mix mainly in ProTools 10, although I have used Reaper quite a bit as well. At this point, the only things I really use the PC for anymore is gaming, mixing, or watching TV shows online.
Tadpui
Well-known member
My DAW set up consists of 3 Win XP machines, each with quad cores & 4 GB ram, for a total of 12 CPU cores & 12 GB ram...one is a dedicated VSTi machine, one is a dedicated audio machine, the 3rd machine is there for any extra resources I may need, which so far I haven't actually needed, and I'm trying out ways to make use of it....one such way is using it as a dedicated guitar soft sim & guitar audio tracks machine on a project. I may end up using that 3rd machine as my 'mix machine' for the other two though.
I too use more audio tracks than needed, for extra takes, bit parts, comps, etc. Also I use midi tracks more than once to assign & double up on VSTi's for flavor....a luxury I didn't have on my Tascam 4-track
It's hard to say how many of each audio & midi tracks I use, it really varies and many audio tracks I do end up being comped into a much less number of tracks...but I'd say typically I 'end up' with somewhere between 8-12 stereo tracks/6-10 mono tracks, and about 8-12 midi tracks with VSTi's assigned to them. As said, I may have more going on initially, and I may exceed my above average number of tracks at times. That's why 2 Win XP machines really are enough for what I do, but one XP machine with my larger projects are too much, that's why I began using a dedicated VSTi machine, and a dedicated audio machine.
You could save a bunch of space and complexity by using a single i7 machine with about 16 GB of RAM. It could handle all of that load and more. Win7 is mature enough to be pretty well rock-solid by now. Win8 isn't quite there yet...
rudolp&gigo
New member
i mainly record for personal use only so i never use as many tracks as the pros
Lenovo G400 laptop!
i3-3110m
4Gig Ram
500GB Hard Disk
Reaper DAW
Lenovo G400 laptop!
i3-3110m
4Gig Ram
500GB Hard Disk
Reaper DAW
Steve Fogal
Member
Yes that may be true, but this is really a labor of love for me. For others, it's just too much to deal with and using one very powerful up to date modern machine is the answer.
This all came out of my quest which began a few years ago to 'keep using' everything I already had...which most everything will only work with Win XP, like my collection of 7 Aardvark interfaces (Q10 & Aark 24), and all software is for 32 bit. This means that to go 64 bit, I'd have to discard just about everything I have for almost an entire reinvestment. For just being a hobby for me, that would be a waste.
Sure it's complex, but I actually enjoy fooling around with making multiple machines work together. As far as taking up space, all my audio interfaces are in one rack stacked vertically, and all three desktop machines are under my desk. None of this get's in my way any more than one machine would. The upkeep is a task for sure. The upside is redundancy.
The worry of using up more power with multiple machines isn't an issue as I mostly work with one machine at a time, syncing them briefly only at times when I need to send a temporary stereo sub mix from dedicated VSTi machine, over my dedicated audio machine, where I then work on all audio tracks with only that machine turned on. They're synced again later only for a more appropriate combined mix.
At this point I have everything I need and it works very well. The software does everything I need it to do, the VSTi's sound great. Instead of going 64 bit for more power, I had decided to stop 'upgrading' but 'outgrade' instead.
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