Getting my feet wet, confusion sets in, need advice.

[Graiskye]

MY goal is fairly simple. I have a crappy keyboard, that has midi,that I have been able to hook up and make work, In that I can record other sounds brought in through the VST in FL9. I have managed to be able to also hook my guitar up through my DT RP-155, and finally figured out how to add channels on the mixer and get a song going using the rhythm blocks. Problem I guess is it seems a little bit cobbled together. I think maybe the addition of a small mixer might help ?
I also have the problem that I have to change driver setup to record guitar to RP-155 on both the in and out to record, and then either listen through the amp, or I can switch it back to listen through PC ? This seems kinda odd, maybe something to do with the ASIO drivers?
I also need a proper referencing system, some better speakers etc... right now Im using my crap lap top/phones.
Bit of a convoluted post I admit/apologize, but I guess what I am asking is what do you all suggest I improve first, maybe I should I get new PC first(2.2GHZ/3GB), with proper music production soundboard ? Or go for the monitors first ? Ive read the addition of as small decemt quality mixer can really increase the headroom and overall sound production ?
Please be honest IM a thick skinned/headed can take the abuse...lol.
Thanks as per.
Mike.

 

[ecc83]

Hi Mike and welcome.
You might be pleased to learn that the answer to your problems is, in many ways "Simples"!

You need a decent Audio Interface. Yes, I know that DT-DP thingy IS one (of sorts) but I doubt it is optimal for what you need to do?

At about £100 you will not beat, IMHO the Steinberg UR22. Two very good mic/line/guitar inputs, MIDI in and out and comes with Cubase LE6(7 now?) and Cubase is the dog's whatsits for MIDI.

If you can run up to nearly £200 the Native Instruments KA6 is the bizz. All that the UR22 has plus 2 more line ins and digital in and out plus the lowest latency you will get for under £400.

Keep up with the questions Mike, we can help you, all you need is money!

Dave.

 

[mjbphotos]

Yes, get a decent audio interface first.
Depending on how many tracks you want to record, and how many VSTi's or CPU-intensive VST's like reverb, you'll need to upgrade your computer/RAM to at last 6G. I did some fairly large track counts with 4G of RAM, but usually had to render/freeze VSTi's as more than one at a time would bog down the system.
Monitors - yes. Even using a regular 'stereo hi-fi' system will be better for monitoring than the usual computer speakers.

 

[ecc83]

Yes, get a decent audio interface first.
Depending on how many tracks you want to record, and how many VSTi's or CPU-intensive VST's like reverb, you'll need to upgrade your computer/RAM to at last 6G. I did some fairly large track counts with 4G of RAM, but usually had to render/freeze VSTi's as more than one at a time would bog down the system.
Monitors - yes. Even using a regular 'stereo hi-fi' system will be better for monitoring than the usual computer speakers.

Don't want to start a cow mj, but leave us not scare the guy off!

6 gig of ram is overkill IMHO for a starter PC. My son did sterling work on a 2core 2,7G AMD with just 2G and W7/64. This i3 laptop runs 20 tracks of Cubase no sweat with 4G. A couple of years ago I had an HP laptop that would run 2 tracks at 24bits/44.1kHz for as long as the puny 20G hard drive let me and that was 850megahetz and 1/2G of ram!

Totally agree about the monitors/hi fi rig tho!

So Mike. Get the AI first. That PC should run it fine and if you have problems there are shedloads of easy fixes, computers are not naturally setup for good audio work. When the time comes for a new PC you will have a better idea of what you need, choosing a music PC is NOT as easy as choosing an AI!

Of course, if it is easy/cheap to fit more memory it can't hurt but remember, a 32 bit OS can only use about 3G anyway.

Dave.

 

[Graiskye]

Thanks gang for the replies.
No need to fear me running off, Ive been around the block on the net, so I know personal opinion are a big part of advice given, so I try to always bear that in mind.
That being said, interestingly enough, I had been doing some scribbling myself, making a lil 'things to get' list, you know gear, or better gear for recording purposes, and first on said list new PC more geared toward producing some music, and the 4-6 gb range is what I put down for mem specs so, so small world I guess.
I will take all advice to heart and more questions will follow you can be sure.
There really is just so much to learn... I feel like Ive had my head stuck in manuals(been trying to figure out Reaper, and Fruity Loops at the same time so I can decide which I want to purchase) for far too long.
While Reaper is cheaper for me, and the demo is full featured for 60 days, FL9 seems easier to use, IM really at the point of where I am just figuring out how to work the midi, and use VST's. I was creating 'beats' as they say in less than an hour on FL ?
Ive been told Pro Tools is good but expensive and hard to learn, I want recording to be as simple a process as possible.
Any thoughts on DAWS ?
...and Thanks again, I really appreciate the help.
-M.

 

[ecc83]

Well memory IS relatively cheap. I upped my W7 desktop from 2 G to 8G for £66.00 and have just had another 4 gig put in this HP laptop for £30.00 giving it too a total of 8G. I doubt that any home recording buff would need more than 8G unless they intended to do a lot of video work? (the only time the 2G maxed out on Son was when he was dabbling with the Camtasia demo!).

DAWs tend to be personal things. They all actually work as well as each other but HOW they do things suits some and not others. I have for instance...

Cubases, LE6, LE5, ESS4. Sonar Cakewalk X1 Ess. Reaper. Samplitudes SE8 and Silver cloud and Adobe Audition 1.5.

Of these I am really only "fluent" with Samplitude. I have tried the "chop and slot" softwares like FL but I am an old "timeline" sort of bloke!

Dave.

 

[DM60]

In regard to DAWs, I've used Cakewalk, then moved to Ableton because my daughter wanted to use it live, so in order to support her started using it. And I use Reaper mainly for my version of mastering and just know a fine inexpensive DAW.

Cakewalk didn't have anything special, its good, but nothing that I could see Reaper doesn't have.

Ableton, it is expensive, but if you work with loops, samples, and like creating your own sounds, not many other DAWs come close. If you are going to do any kind of EDM and perform it live, that software in its own league. I use it to experiment with and for traditional recording.

Reaper is just a fine DAW. Low overhead, not the pretties, but you have different looks you can use with it, plenty of user support and it will run on just about any computer that can boot up. It is complex only in that serious recording is complex, but no more than any other DAW. Very stable and it is one of the best at how it uses computer resources. Plus, you can program with it.

Hope that helps a bit. Other can give you their experience with other DAWs.

 

[mjbphotos]

Note: Reaper is $60 to register, there is no 'demo' version - its full-featured from the get-go. After 30/60 days you get a reminder everytime you kick it on that you should pay for it, but that disappears after 5 seconds and you still have the full version to use.

As to using 2G RAM, of course you can use it, assuming you are not going crazy with VSTi's or reverb VSTs that use a lot of CPU.