Multitrack recording

D

Dj17

New member
I was in a rock band from 1999 to 2003, and 2 of the band members owned multitrack recorders (Boss BR1180) which I got to use a lot. I have also been making a lot of techno music with a Reason on my computer.

I have always wanted to be able to record guitar and bass lines during playback of my Reason tracks.

My computer had gotten way too shitty, so I'm getting a new one delivered soon (3.2 GHz :) ), and I'm wondering: what else do I need to make it happen?

Here are some probably important features in my computer:

3.2GHz P4
1.5 RAM
ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
Reason 2.5
Cubase SX

I still need to buy a soundcard, but I want to make sure I'm buying the right stuff considering what I want to do.

A friend of mine bought an M-Audio Audiophile 2496. He said it kicked ass, and that it wasn't too expensive (which is good, since I allowed myself to spend about 300$ max on the soundcard.)

What else would I need? A preamp for the guitars, basses and mics, perhaps?

What would you suggest?
 
If you're just recording guitar/bass, then a 2 input card like the audiophile or E-mu 0404 would suit. The E-mu also has on board effects which is pretty cool.

A small Yamaha mixer like the MG10/2 would give you 4 quite good preamps, or for around $60 more & better quality you could get an M-Audio DMP3.

Throw in an SM57 and you're covered for around $300
 
"If you're just recording guitar/bass, then a 2 input card like the audiophile or E-mu 0404 would suit."

And if I plan to record (or try to record) vocals also?

Would I need a different soundcard, then, or can the audiophile or E-mu handle the job?
 
Dj17 said:
"If you're just recording guitar/bass, then a 2 input card like the audiophile or E-mu 0404 would suit."

And if I plan to record (or try to record) vocals also?

Would I need a different soundcard, then, or can the audiophile or E-mu handle the job?
Click to expand...

If you plan to record the vocals along with the bass and guitar .... and have them all go to their own track, either one of those cards would do fine. Although you would need a separate piece of gear that offers SPDIF out, to utilize the SPDIF I/O on those cards.
Other than that, you would need a card that offers at least as many inputs as the number of simultaneous tracks you want.
 
Yeh, it's how many simultaneous tracks you want to record that's the key.

If we stay in the analog realm, either of the above cards will let you record guitar & vocals onto seperate tracks, or bass & vox etc, but not guitar, bass & vox all together onto 3 tracks.

To do that you need a 4 analog input card like a delta 44, which are going for under $140 now.

However if you're just recording the guitar part, then overdubbing the bass, then going back to add the vox seperately, one of those 2-in cards will be good
 
DJ - 1 gig ram should be sufficient for multitrack recording.
due to the way programmers code up music applications.
i'm a puter engr. make sure the sound card if you can is the only thing occupying a pci slot. no fancy tv tuner cards or other junk
making demands of the pci bus.
 
It's not just about the way programs are coded....If you start getting into using samples/VST instruments that require the memory, more ram is going to be better.
 
Yeah I will probably overdub and mostly do all the recording myself while concentrating on one specific instruemnt. Simultaneous recording will rarely be necessary since we don't record all together very often. I'll go somewhere else if necessary.

I just want to make sure I can at least hear the Reason tracks in playback while recording guitar or bass or voice. If you think I'll have enough juice with the cards, RAM and processor speed, I'll be fine.

I got 1.5 Gb of RAM and 3.2 GHz. Is that enough, or should I get more?
 
Understood. :D

Thanks for the replies!

Btw, I'm getting an AGP card so it won't be making demands off the PCI bus, apparently.
 
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