What is the best Starter Software for recording/mixing?

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Aled_King

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I'm new to the home recording world, and was wondering if anyone had any advise on what would be the best software of a newbie to start working. (on PC)

I will mainly be doing basic recording of acoustic and electric guitar. I am looking for a basic user friendly interface with a few extras e.g. basic drum samples. My USB Preamp comes with Cubase LE, Cakewalk, and or I could download Reaper or Audicy.

Any advise would be appreciated :)

Aled
 
You mentioned Cubase, Cakewalk, Reaper and Audacity.

All of these are fine if you are starting off. They all do pretty much the same things, though in slightly different ways. You need to pick the one that seems most intuitive for you, which means giving them all a try.

None come with drum samples.

However all will allow you to create midi drum patterns which can drive Gwneral Midi on your PC (which are good for keepig you in time, but not much else without a lot of work).

But you can download a drum virtual instrument (e.g. Battery) which allows you to load in drum samples. I know that Reaper is fine with virtual instruments, but I don't know how the others fare. I expect they would be ok as well.
 
Thanks for the advise. I have heard alot of people say that Cubase can be very complex, (as I have no experience in this field I think I will probably find that with all of them for a while). Reaper seems to be a good piece of kit, I think I will download that and give it a try.
I'll check out that drum sampe software as well.

Anyone else?
 
Cubase can be complex, but like with anything once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. On the MIDI side, Cubase has awesome functionality. The recording/mixing etc side goes without saying. It's an incredibly powerful tool. I can't speak for anything else because Cubase is all I use.

Cubase does come with a MIDI drum app sampler thingy called the LM-7, but it's not anywhere near as good as the likes of Battery or DFHS.

All in all however, the differences are quite often down to what suits your workflow best.
 
I would mention that cubase is neater than Reaper, although it costs more. I would really love to use Reaper as its cheap and seems to have good features, but im so used to cubase, using Reaper seems a bit amater.
 
Well Cubase LE will be coming with the equipment I've bought, so no worry about cost. And as far as Reaper being quite amateur, well I am an amateur,lol.

Do you have to pay for Reaper or is it free? I seem to be finding mixed responses.

Cheers
 
Aled_King said:
Do you have to pay for Reaper or is it free? I seem to be finding mixed responses.
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Reaper is "honorware". You can d/l it for free with no cripples or time limits, and they ask you to send them a measly $40 for their efforts. You don't *have to* pay it, but if someone uses their software and they don't pay it, they're pretty much a slug.

They are all going to be just as complicated to someone just starting out. As legionserial says, they do have slightly different workflows to them with Cubase probably sticking out as being the most different in workflow, but for someone like you with no predispositions, it probably will not be that important as a difference.

Frankly, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The Cubase LE that comes with your interface will work just fine for you and in general should be no harder or easier to use than any of the others. I would say the same thing about the rest of them as well.

It's like someone who plans on building something for the first time wondering whether they'd be better off buying their power tools from Craftsman or from Skill. It doesn't really much matter; they'll all pretty good tools, all work pretty much the same way and get the job done equally as well, especially for a newb.

G.
 
I'd stick with Cubase LE for now just to get a feel for things. That way you can get an idea of what you want and don't want from audio production software. Then, when it comes to forking out for an upgrade some way down the line, you'll have a better idea of what you're looking for.
 
I have protools7.3 with the mbox2

I use reason 3.4 with reason drumkit refills

I'm a beginner and this works well for me

you'll want to get several books on how to work protools

I have 5 protools books (all read) and I still don't know jack
 
For someone just starting out, I'd suggest Audacity. It is about as simple as recording software gets so it is a good program to learn the basics on. Audacity also works on almost any computer and with most soundcards so you can start learning with a minimal amount of gear. As others have said, all recording programs do pretty much the same thing, some are a lot more complicated to use than others. Use whatever you feel most comfortable with. After you get the basic idea of how recording works then you can move on to more complex software. Most recording software has a trial or limited version which you can download, try several and see which you feel will suit your needs best.
 
Thanks

That's great. Thanks for all your advise and help. I think I will try Cubase as it comes with the interface, but also try Audicy and Reaper to see which one suits my needs best.

have you lot bought guides to using these pieces of software? Or can I get by with lots of trial and error?
 
stupidfatnugly said:
I have protools7.3 with the mbox2

I use reason 3.4 with reason drumkit refills

I'm a beginner and this works well for me

you'll want to get several books on how to work protools

I have 5 protools books (all read) and I still don't know jack
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I personally wouldn't reccommend books for a specific piece of software. Books on the broader subject of recording and mixing migt be better.

I only say this because I have a couple of Cubase books, and they didn't tell me anything that wasn't already in the manual, which I had already read from cover to cover. Also, both books told me to 'get my input signal as close to clipping as possible without actually clipping' and other such bad advice, which made me feel that they were written by someone who knows more about the software than they do about mixing.
 
legionserial said:
I personally wouldn't reccommend books for a specific piece of software. Books on the broader subject of recording and mixing migt be better.

I only say this because I have a couple of Cubase books, and they didn't tell me anything that wasn't already in the manual, which I had already read from cover to cover. Also, both books told me to 'get my input signal as close to clipping as possible without actually clipping' and other such bad advice, which made me feel that they were written by someone who knows more about the software than they do about mixing.
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I agree with legion on this; most books on specific pieces of software (and this isn't limited to just audio software) tend to be more features reference guides than they are how-to books. While no one says this publicly, I think their biggest market is for those who want to RTFM but don't have a FM to R because they pirated the software ;).

Here's a nice combination of books one might want to start with:


"Recording in the Digital World"Is a very nice starter book covering hardware and software usage and practices for the begining home recorder.

"PC Audio Editing" concentrates on Cool Edit Pro, but it's a good basic tome on how to use audio editors in general.

"Mixing Audio" is a nice book as a next step from the above, in that it actually goes through some techniques of mixing engineers in general, complete with a CD of audio examples. "PC Audio Editing" is on how DAW software works, this one is what to do with it once you know how it works.

HTH,

G.
 
I would recormmend N-Tracks

It can do everything the big (expensive) boys can do at a fraction of the price. It DOES come with drum samples.

It's very easy to use. You can be very simple or very complex, based on your level of knowledge and/or experience.
 
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Another vote for reaper.

It's been fun watching the boards.

Someone who used X will say, "I wish Reaper would let me do blahblah like X did." A reply comes, "Oh, yeah, you just ctrl+h and click there." And the OP says, "Wow, that's even better than the way X did."
 
I'll have to have a look for N-Tracks, as I dont have any Midi equipment at the mo, so drum samples would definitely come in handy.
Has anyone else used N- Tracks, and has any opinions on it?
 
I used N-Tracks for a couple of years, it's a good program and pretty easy to use. Just pay attention to the tutorials and learn the steps. I'm not very computer literate so if I can learn it, anybody can.
 
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