What software should i use?

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Achromatophus

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Heya, I'm new to this forum as new as I am with recording music. Now my question is what kind of software is recommended for my musical purpose.

This is the idea:
I have an electronic drum kit (Roland TD9), an electric guitar, a keyboard and soon a mic. What i want to do is record my drum so i can edit them and play with different sounds, maybe move around with the timing a little.
As for the vocals, i want to record some weird sounds like beatboxing and stuff. I would like to be able to ad things like disortion and delay to the vocal sounds.
With the keyboard I want to run a digital synthesyzer to add up some electronic sounds in the mix and experiment along with the other instruments.

So i'm looking for advise for what kind of software is possible of doing the things said above: record/edit midi drums and assign different sounds to it. record vocals and add disortion, delay etc. create sounds with for example digital synthesyzers or whatsoever is possible these days.

To clear things up, I'm a total noob with all this, so maybe i'm asking a little too much. Anyway, all advise welcome!

Thnx in advance.
 
To record the mic and guitar, you're going to need an interface. Most interfaces will come with some Lite form of a popular DAW program like Sonar, Cubase or Ableton. Any one of these will do what you want so be sure to shop around with that in mind. No need to spend money if you can legitimally get it for free.
 
Right here is a nice interface that comes with a software.


GuitarCenter

If you want to record a decent song, you will need some decent headphones or recording monitors. and after that, all you need is a computer
 
Thnx for the responses, I'll give it a go with Reaper then. But what about triggering virtual synthesizers and midi drum sounds, is that possible with Reaper as well?

Cheers
 
If you're really serious about recording, get Pro Tools and learn how to use what the pros use now, instead of learning how to use a non-pro DAW and having to learn Pro Tools later.

No DAW (except maybe a "toy" like GarageBand) is easy to use. You're going to face a steep learning curve whatever DAW you choose.

So, if you're serious about recording, go ahead and learn to use what the pros use...
 
bdenton said:
If you're really serious about recording, get Pro Tools and learn how to use what the pros use now, instead of learning how to use a non-pro DAW and having to learn Pro Tools later.

No DAW (except maybe a "toy" like GarageBand) is easy to use. You're going to face a steep learning curve whatever DAW you choose.

So, if you're serious about recording, go ahead and learn to use what the pros use...
Click to expand...

pros?


lol


nearly every pro that im interested in uses Abelton Live

maybe they didnt get your memo :)
 
Others have recommended Reaper, and I recommend it also. It is extremely powerful, extremely stable and extremely versatile. There is an impressive programming philosophy behind this application.

Triggering of virtual synths and midi drum sounds is possible within Reaper.

There is a significant learning curve, but that is the case with all DAWs (even Garage Band). Each person's intuitiveness is another person's nightmare, but I have found Reaper to be very intuitive.

Chili mentions other stuff you will need, and you should heed that advice. You need an interface to record satisfactorily, and reasonable speakers on which to monitor, and indeed you may find that the DAWs that most interfaces come with will be suitable for you.

As for Protools? I can't get excited about it. I echo kcearl's sentiments on that one.
 
I can't get excited about PT either, cuz a damn mbox2 costs $350. A rack003 costs over a grand. Why does it have to cost a grand when a firestudio project 10x10 costs $500? Yeah go PT if you like paying double for your hardware. Reaper, Cubase, PT, and pretty much all the rest all do 98% the same thing.
 
Thanks a lot for all the info!
So basically I let the software DAW depend on the interface I might buy later.

I've been struggling with Reaper for a few days now but can't seem to get my Roland TD9-kx trigger any MIDI on my laptop within reaper. I also have Addictive Drummer as a plug-in, but i can't get my drumkit to send any signal at all to Reaper. Any advice on that would be much apreciated. I can record my guitar with a amp-->USB cable wich is ok for now.
As for the interface, I'll wait spending money on that untill I figure out the recording in Reaper. Quality is not my priority right now.
Speaking of wich, one more question: are there any decent low budget mics for recording vocals/beatboxing and if so, should I always get 1 in combination with an interface? I was at a local music store last week, and they said it would be best to get a USB (think it was the Samson Q1U, about 75 bucks) becouse I diddn't want to spend so much money on an external soundcard yet.

cheers
 
It's hard to offer advice, because it's not clear how the TD9 connects to your lap top. I went to the Roland site for the TD9 and found little to help me. For you to be able to trigger MIDI on your laptop, you need the device to be capable of sending MIDI data through either a MIDI or USB cable to the laptop. I can't see how the TD0 does this.

Within Reaper, you would create a track, insert Addictive Drummer as a plugin (as you appear to have done), and load up some samples to it. You then arm the track for recording, set the recording input source to midi, and click on the track monitor button. This should do it, so long as you can get a midi signal into it.
 
You have to get the computer to be able to send and receive midi first. That goes for any DAW software. So exactly how are you connecting the TD9 and keyboard to your laptop? If it's through a USB port, you will need a driver so that the computer will recognize and treat that USB device as a MIDI device. Once that's done, in Reaper, it's as GeckoZ said: Insert track, Arm to record, select input source (your midi device), hit red button!

Be aware also that after you record a midi track, you then have to map it to an output device. That may be what the Addictive Drummer plugin does for you, I don't know. I record an Alesis DM5 electronic drumkit and then have the sequencer play right back to it (after fixing all my mistakes, of course). Same with keyboard, I record it to a midi track, fix it, then have the computer play it "for real". In each case, once I have it right, I record the audio coming from the device as an audio track, (exactly as if I were playing it with no midi), then mute the MIDI tracks and use the recorded audio for mixing. In that process after recording the midi, you have to tell Reaper what output device to send the Recorded Midi to. I wish it would default to the device you recorded on, but it doesn't. That might not make sense anyway for folks who use VSTi's as their "output" device.

Let me know about how you are connecting and maybe I can help further with making it work (maybe not, but ya just never know....) As I've already said, getting the computer to recognize and talk to your outboard devices happens outside the DAW (at least with Reaper, it does). I think that's true of other DAW software as well. If I'm right about that, you're going to have to get across that bridge no matter which direction you plan to go on the other side.

J
 
Thnx a lot for the usefull information again!
I connected my TD9 drum module to my laptop with a Alesis USB to MIDI cable. (can't post the link of the product as i diddn't make 5 posts yet -_-)
I'm not at home right now so can't try it yet but I think its a driver problem with the MIDI-USB cable. I dit pretty much everything you guys said within reaper, it just doesn't record any MIDI signal. Although reaper does recognize the 'MIDI2USB' cable as it is show under that name under preferences. However when i select that midi cable as a channel to record the midi on the track, it doesn't give any signal at all. So to me that seems like a driver problem.
Gonna try it out this afternoon, I'll let know if it works.

cheers

edit: on the Alesis site it says:
"The USB-MIDI Cable is class compliant for plug-and-play USB connectivity on Mac and PC, requiring no software-driver installation or external powering. Musicians can use the USB-MIDI Cable with virtually all music production, sequencing and recording software."
So this leaves me pretty much clueless... I guess I'm doing something wrong sofware-whise then.
 
Last edited:
Achromatophus said:
Thnx a lot for the usefull information again!
I connected my TD9 drum module to my laptop with a Alesis USB to MIDI cable. (can't post the link of the product as i diddn't make 5 posts yet -_-)
I'm not at home right now so can't try it yet but I think its a driver problem with the MIDI-USB cable. I dit pretty much everything you guys said within reaper, it just doesn't record any MIDI signal. Although reaper does recognize the 'MIDI2USB' cable as it is show under that name under preferences. However when i select that midi cable as a channel to record the midi on the track, it doesn't give any signal at all. So to me that seems like a driver problem.
Gonna try it out this afternoon, I'll let know if it works.

cheers

edit: on the Alesis site it says:
"The USB-MIDI Cable is class compliant for plug-and-play USB connectivity on Mac and PC, requiring no software-driver installation or external powering. Musicians can use the USB-MIDI Cable with virtually all music production, sequencing and recording software."
So this leaves me pretty much clueless... I guess I'm doing something wrong sofware-whise then.
Click to expand...

Quite a few Reaper users here, you should post some screenshots up in the Reaper section.
 
OK, silly thing to check, but if you've ever watched Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation, you'll understand where this ones coming from. Have you got your Midi In and Out straight at the TD9? I've had this wrong before and been ready to throw sh*t before I figured it out (and then felt really silly). Probably not, but doesn't hurt to check. Beyond that, I'm not sure what to check. If you're seeing the cable as an available source in Reaper, the driver is probably ok...

J
 
Oh yes... Silly me indeed!
I was going nuts like 'why does this !@#$ not work!' then i came out of the blue with the idea to switch the MIDI IN/OUT plugs on the drum module.
I'd NEVER expect that the IN plug goes into the out slot, and the OUT midi plug into the IN slot of the module.

Is it some kind of audio thing that IN/OUT are switched with MIDI or is it just my module/cable being weird?

Anyway, it works now, recorded some MIDI tracks and played them back with Addictive Drums so I'm happy:)


cheers
 
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