need basic basic but good recording softare for guitar/vocals

R

rainday

New member
Hi, we need help with selecting some recording software. We bought cakewalk studio 2002 and it's just over our heads.

I'm the nerd and my BF is the musician. He's been using a tascam 4-track cassette recorder for years. We are moving into digital recording. We have a delta 44 soundcard now, complete with preamp and breakout box, and we are VERY happy with its performance.

Our problem is, we bought Cakewalk Studio 2002 and unfortunately it was a wash. Everyone said it's great, it's powerful, it's EASY, and it's cheap. BUT - sorry - it is just WAYYYYYYYY too complicated for our lil ole primitive selves. He just needs to be able to lay down some tracks.

IN A NUTSHELL: we want to be able to reproduce the 4 track mixer/recorder functions on his old Tascam, in a digital environment, with the least amount of hassle, and professional quality sound. We are considering Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro but we are worried it's going to be another source of headaches. Anyone have any comment or suggestion?

We looked at Guitar Tracks 2, but it won't run on our XP system. Also, it only records 16bit stereo sound which might a just a little TOO basic. Basically so far as i can tell, we need 24bit/96mhz quality multi-track audio recording, mixdown, and monitoring. Period.

We don't need MIDI at all. we'd like to be able to convert to MIDI and generate sheet music, but that's just icing on the cake. not if the software interface is so confusing and that we never get anything done.

we'd also like some nice drum tracks. a good library suitable for a blues/rock/swing/band would be great, he plays vintage blues, old-style rock and roll, hendrix-type electric guitar and sinatra-era ballads. we've dealt with fruity loops etc. - ack - we dont' want to have to BUILD our own drum tracks, and we don't like the MIDI drum sound, it's too synthetic. we don't want a hip-hop dance track library either. WAV format files are probably what we are looking for, straight audio recordings of some basic drumming backgrounds to set a beat and a mood.

any advice on basic guitar recording software and drum track libraries would be VERY VERY VERY heartfully appreciated, thanks!!!! Is Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro what we want? What are our alternatives? anyone who has been in our boots and can speak to these issues, please help!
 
Rainday,
Unfortunetly all software has a learning curve. If you are already familiar with the 4-track then the software recorder is basically the same. You just need to learn to navigate thru the numerous pages and layouts. You will need to invest some time and learn the basics. it might be a good idea to download some demo versions for free and give em a test run to see what you like best and what is easiest for you.
 
rainday said:
Our problem is, we bought Cakewalk Studio 2002 and unfortunately it was a wash. Everyone said it's great, it's powerful, it's EASY, and it's cheap. BUT - sorry - it is just WAYYYYYYYY too complicated for our lil ole primitive selves. He just needs to be able to lay down some tracks.
Click to expand...

...Well, I don't see any software handle this task better and easier than Home Studio... You may go Guitar Tracks, N-Tracks, Cubase, etc etc... but if you think Home Studio is WAAAYYY too Complicated, then they will be moooooorrrrrreeeeeeee WAYYYYYY tooo complicated :D Actualy, they're easy. Stealthtech was right, you'll need to pass the learning curve. I would suggest stick with what you got (CW Home Studio) and try again. If you have any difficulties, post in Cakewalk forum, we'll be there to help you out...

:)
Jaymz
 
I currently use Pro Tools... but before that, I used a very cheap, yet powerful, software called n-Track. It's about 65 bucks for the 24-bit version, and it's as easy as they come. You can open the program up and just hit record and be on your way. Editing is easy, envelopes are easy, plug-ins are easy... there's really not much to it.

If you don't need midi or anything "fancy", then I would suggest going with n-Track. (although, it does do midi, if you did need it).


WATYF
 
WELL i didn't say we weren't capable of surviving a learning curve, just that Cakewalk Studio has more bells and whistles than we would ever put to use, and which make the learning curve unnecessarily steep; we'll do what's necessary, but if there's an alternative i'd sure like to know. finding simple answer to simple questions takes us hours. we'd like to be able to focus more on creative effort than constantly learning and then relearning the technology, as our efforts are intermittent. i'd hoped there might be a some other software that more closely mirrored the simple logistics of an analog multitrack recorder without a lot of complications, and that some of you expert users would be willing to help and guide us. from the advertising, i thought guitar tracks pro was a scaled-down simplified version of studio. how scaled down, and how much simpler - well, it would be nice to get a realistic if brief evaluation.

thanks very much for the suggestion of n-track. i've downloaded the trial version and at first blush it already seems much more intuitive than home studio. i guess if you've been doing this a while it all seems the same to some of you folks, but really, it's not. little things like being able to go straight to the metronome instead of having to search through the documentation and then dig through three layers of windows, makes a big difference to us novices. also, the graphic controls are more visually similar to the analog recorder/mixer we are used to using. the effects seem to be much easier to find as well. so, hopefully this tool will solve our problem. it's also nice that we have 40 days to play with it before we have to lay out the cash.

for the person who suggested it, thanks for taking this question seriously instead of making fun of us. i've been in software development for ten years, and i know the difference between software with user-centered design, and software designed by subject matter experts. studio is clearly intermediate level software. we need something designed for beginners. if it's not out there, we're screwed, but if anyone knows any other applications we might try in addition to n-Track, we'd love to hear about it.
 
Do a search...perhaps on google for VMR {Virtual Multi-track Recorder} or perhaps ebay. Its an older version from emagic-Logic Audio that resembles an 8 track stand alone unit. Very simple to use. Its from version 3.0 Logic Discovery.
This one may have it included, you would need to email the person and ask about it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3401937885&category=182

It would come bundled in an Audiowerk8 Homestudio kit, or Audiowerk2, but you may not need the card, I dunno.
 
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Magix Samplitude is worth checking out. Although all the recording software packages can be intimidating, particularly if you get into the advanced features, basic use is fairly straightforward.

Kevin
 
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