Clueless Seeks clues (The Tales of Detective Home Recorder)

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Space_Boy

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Hi everyone!
I have been in a band for two years now and we would realy like to get into recording some cheap demos. I'm pretty clueless of what steps we should take next. This computer recording stuff though is looking better and better. We have a mixer/pre-amp that we use for the PA and it has 4 imputs, the band's sound includes, guitare, vocals, bass, sax, drums, possibly back up vocals. If you were counting that's 5 and possibly 6 diffrent things that we need those valuable input jacks for to record simaltameously and the mixer/pre-amp has only got 4. To see what it would be like saving a track on my CPU I took the mixer/pre-amp hooked my bass up into it and bought an adapter at radioshack for the mixer/pre-amp's output into the CPU's imput. I used my CD riper program and had it record from my CPU's imput jack as the source for recording. The sound it played back was incredible and I am very pleased with it, so I definitly know now that recording on computer is what I think the band should do. Now what I realy, realy want to know is what software can I get that meets the following criteria for our recording needs?
1. I can line up manualy (possibly using something similiar to cut and paste) individual audio "wave thingies" on two diffrent tracks to match with each other.
2. I can also edit the individual audio "wave thingies" in diffrent tracks with things like volume or doubling the length that they sustain, for something like guitare solos.
3. It's about a hundred dollers
4. At least 6 tracks
5. Tools to mix down with included in the program.

So what do you all think? Can anyone help me or know of the existence of such software? Any feedback at all is very welcome thanks.
 
Oh yeah.

Go to http://www.fasoft.com and download n-Track Studio. The unregistered version will make you drool but is limited in a few ways...most importantly you CAN'T mixdown. Play with it. The registered version does EVERYTHING you asked about which is what you could also expect from the big boys like Cakewalk and Soundforge (it even looks cool).

What's the difference? PRICE! Registering n-Track is only $35 online! It's like stealing man! Plus you get GREAT support from the author and the message board on FASoft's website. There's a message board here for n-Track as well!!

To record six tracks with n-Track you'll need at least 32MB of RAM and a relatively quick processor. I had up to 8 running no problem on my AMD K6-2 400Mhz w/32MB. And I could add more by muting tracks that didn't need to be played while recording.

With a 400Mhz Celeron and 64MB RAM I've had 12 tracks playing and 1 track recording and haven't had to go much higher than that, but I know I can. Typically I only use 4 or 5 tracks...one stereo drums, one guitar, one bass and maybe some extras if I'm feeling fancy :)

Disk space disk space disk space. This really depends but the more the merrier!

As far as recording every instrument at the same time...that's probably not the greatest idea. You lose your ability to mix properly. Read everything you can on this website! You're going to end up using the PA mixer to get your levels right since all 4 channels on your PA will be running into one channel on the soundcard. ick. Record a steady drum/bass line first and use it as a guide for getting everything else in there seperately!

Good luck man!

Slackmaster 2000
 
Hey Slackmaster2K,
What brand of Celeron computer do you have? I have a Celeron 400MHz with 64 MB and am also using ntracks, its an emachine. I was just wondering if that is what you have, and the soundcard you are using? I am ordering a darla 24 (I hope zzounds lets me know when and if I might receive it) and gave both event and echo my computer info and they said they couldn't say if it would work for sure or not.
Just kind of wondering if you have an emachine as well. A long shot I know, but thought I'd ask. I've also recorded up to 12 tracks with ntracks too with my computer, but just using the cheap soundcard with the emachine.
Thanks.
 
bobbo,

Nope, not an emachines. I looked at an emachine for a friend of mine...they wouldn't let me rip the case off at the store so I have absolutely no idea how good they are. (god I'm a freak) I do know that the cases on them are generally small making me wonder how many and what type of expansion slots they offer, which would be my biggest concern with them...and I mean all expansion slots (hard drive bays, memory slots, PCI slots, ISA slots, etc). You can probably find out if the new soundcard will work by checking out their website. I have a feeling that it will.

I build all of my machines from scratch. There's really no other way to go as far as I'm concerned. My current system (that I use) is a Celeron 400 (oced to 500Mhz) on an Abit BE6 motherboard that has a UDMA/33 and a ATA/66 controller built in. That's a total of 8 devices supported right on the mobo! Pretty cool. My soundcard is a cheapo SB16 ISA card that I've been moving from machine to machine...I think I originally bought it in 1995 and am just to cheap to get something better. My video card is a CL Riva TNT 16MB 3D/2D accelerator that totally kicks ass in most games...much prettier than the 3dfx cards. My hard drive is a Quantum CTX 10GB 5400/66. Oh, and I've got 64MB of PC100 SDRAM in there...not enough I know. Plus an ethernet card so I can play games over my own personal little geek network with my geek girlfriend and her geek daughter. :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
Thanks Slackmaster2K for your info.
The machine I have does have an extra PCI 2.1 slot, a couple of ISA slots and I am able to upgrade the memory. I am always thinking of sometime getting someone to custom build me a better system, and let my wife use the emachine for school and such, but I kind of wanted to see how a new soundcard might react with it first. But I do dream of a better one for just recording purposes! That would be very nice. I guess I can always send the card back if it doesn't work well. I've heard of and seen a gadgetlab wave 8/24 card and wonder what is meant when they say it uses a full length PCI slot. The card looks longer, but I wonder if PCI slots come in two sizes, because the PCI slot in the emachine isn't more than 4 inches I wouldn't think, and the gadgetlab card looks to be about 8 inches long.
Thanks again, and happy recording!!
bobbo
 
PCI slots only come in one size, however card size can vary considerably. For instance, my network card is tiny and doesn't stick out past the end of the slot at all. However my video card sticks out way past the end of the slot.

This CAN cause problems, mind you... ESPECIALLY since you only have 1 PCI slot. Take a look at where everything is positioned on the motherboard...hopefully nothing "large" will be inline with the PCI slot or you won't get a large card in there.

I had this "problem" with my last motherboard. It was a Super7 AT mobo and the CPU was right behind the last PCI slot, meaning that I could not stick a larger card like my video card in that slot without removing the CPU fan...no way jose. Good for me the board had 5 PCI slots :)

The layout of most new ATX boards that I've seen, however, will not have this problem.

This is one reason that I have a hard time recommending "name brand" machines to my friends and family. Sure they're easy, but then suddenly somebody wants to install this or that gizmo.....hmmm...maybe yes, maybe no. I'm especially disappointed with the current move BACK to "integrated" video, sound, and modems that you often see on name brand PCs. This is very evident in Celeron systems as they are typically marketed as being "the cheap solution", even though the difference in CPU price is no longer significant.

Ramble, ramble...good luck. Let's just stick the brighter side of things and assume it'll work just fine :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
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