Audacity / MusicCreator / Sonar / ??

[expatCanuck]

Greetings.

I occasionally write songs, and record them using an old PC (Athlon 2700/512MB)
running Audacity on WinXP, an M-Audio MobilePre USB and (usually) an AT2020.

Guitar & vocal. Sometimes I'll add background vocals or another guitar or mandolin line.
A simple guy (very), with simple needs.

I suspect that what I've got is good enough, and I should just better
exploit the existing tools.

But I have a modest budget to play with, and I'd welcome suggestions as to what
Music Creator 5, Sonar 7 or any other products offer that might improve upon Audacity.
(Ableton Lite came with the MobilePre, but I found it unintuitive to the point of
impossible to use -- I found Audacity's interface pretty easy.

One thing in particular I'd welcome is a finer tuning of volume -- I sometimes find that
Audacity's 3db increments are too coarse when I'm trying to tweak vocal levels, and
it'd be worthwhile to me to be able to adjust volume in 1db increments.

Also worthwhile would be the ability to tweak the volume for just portions
of a given track (if one can do this through Audacity, I've not figured out how).

Observations / comments welcome (as would be suggestions as to any cost-effective
improvements in the preamp/ADC chain).

Thanks much.

- Richard
oldWithoutMoney.com

 

[mattr]

I'd highly recommend Sonar (8 is the latest version by the way). I rely on it, and know several other people who are considering switching to it from Cubase. On the other hand, Cubase is very good and Studio 5 looks like a killer DAW (I didn't like Studio 4 for some reason, but have done many hours in a studio running SX3 and found it fine to use). As they mostly share common functionality, choosing this kind of program is largely down to personal preference.

It seems your projects are fairly basic however and you may not see all the benefits of some of the larger DAWs. Maybe you should try Reaper (www.reaper.fm), which is a fully-featured DAW with a modest price tag (unlimited free trial, $50 for a personal license).

Lastly, Audacity does have a rudimentary form of volume envelopes which allow you to do what you mention...
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/onlinehelp-1.2/envelope.htm

 

[kcearl]

can you get more ram? if you have the slots id even donate you a few sticks, ive got some DDR1s lying about...sonar may eat up too much imho...perhaps reaper would be less harsh..

try the demos, and seriously let me know if your pc can take more ram, you can have it

 

[lifelyrics]

Previous audacity user...

Hello expatCanuck,
I'm new to this forum, but I HAD to reply! I've been using Audacity for years, for everything from whole-room recordings to managing/mixing several tracks (music, lead vocals, harmonies). Although it's been a great tool, I have been feeling short-changed with the simple projects I've been trying to work with.
Recently, my husband allowed me to purchase SONAR Home Studio 7 LX. I just HAVE to tell you that I am so thrilled! Although there is a learning curve, because it doesn't work like Audacity, it is so much more powerful, and easy to navigate, that I am inspired to do more recording work. Besides that, it comes equipped with sounds and effects that are great additions to simple projects. I only write songs and play piano, but I have felt that some of my songs need additional sounds, like a bass line or light drums. Now I have a simple way to access, and implement those sounds, into my music!!
Good luck with your endeavors. That is so cool that someone offered to help you bring your computer up to speed so that you will be able to accomplish what you're wanting more efficiently, with better tools.