Advice on Purchase...

[JGEllis]

Hi Guys,

Any advice here would be appreciated, I am looking at purchasing the DigiDesign Mbox, for recording vocals and guitar, and currently have a radium 49 that would go along with the setup. Just looking to record and start playing around with creating drum tracks, synth sounds, and ambient sounds etc. to go along with recorded guitar and vocal tracks.

Just curious if it's wise to go with the Mbox, as opposed to going with something like an alesis, or behringer usb mixer and using a program like fruity loops fl studio producer edition. Would both setups even be able to accomplish the same thing, or is fl studio more just for creating sounds and loops and not so much for using it along with recording?

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks,

JGEllis

 

[ssscientist]

Sounds like you need to look at several packages in addition to Fruity Loops before deciding which one is right for you. Here's a link to a demo version of Arturia's Storm, Mackie's Tracktion and Cakewalk's SONAR home studio. SONAR doesn't offer a demo version...

These packages all will have varying takes on what you're looking for and all require a midi/audio interface. This one and this one are good values for your PCI card dollar.

 

[JGEllis]

I wasn't too clear...

It seems I might not have been too clear on my question.

I was either looking at the Mbox with all the software that is including with it for 350. Or at possibly purchasing fruity loops and something like this --> http://www.alesis.com/product.php?id=37

I guess my biggest concern is, does fruity loops allowing recording and mixing of live vocals and guitar work. From everything I have read on the FL Studio website it seems that it does, but some people have mentioned it does not allow for that, and you can't just use it as a stand alone program for that purpose. As I said, from what I can see that is false, and it does stand alone as a program for music creation as well as recording / mixing.

Any recommendations? Was that any clearer?

 

[ssscientist]

does fruity loops allowing recording and mixing of live vocals and guitar work.

Yes. But it's diffucult to set up. I've tried several times to follow the convoluted instructions and have come up empty.

Was that any clearer?

Yeah. You don't need to be a jerk about it...

Any recommendations?

See my original reply. You'll be disappointed by 'the MBox and all the software that comes with it' and that Alesis mixer you linked is just another alternative for getting audio into a computer which are thick on the ground these days.

 

[JGEllis]

Thanks

Ah thanks ssscientist, I wasn't being a jerk at all, my apologies if it came across like that, guess that shows one disadvantage of this type of communication. I appreciate the help, I just tried to clear things up, I should have made it clearer in the first post, my biggest concern was about fruity loops being able to record, so I thought I would just clear things up with another post.

 

[giraffe]

i love protools
and i still kinda think the m-box blows

go for something with fire wire transfer.
m-audio comes to mind.

 

[JGEllis]

Ah, so you are suggesting, one of the M-Audio M-Powered products?

I must say, after seeing a few demonstrations of what the mbox can do, and the software that comes with it, it seems like it would be a good start. I am new to the whole world of recordings, so with that in mind it seems like it would be the perfect start to fit my current budget. I know it's not for everyone obviously, but for a start it seems right. Obviously I'm going to be looking at upgrading eventually when the budget allows, and would eventually want to get better software, full versions of reason etc. might be good start to getting my feet wet though.

 

[giraffe]

you will never regret owning protools, but the m-box hardware is less than optimal in my opinion