computer based recording

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harley_ou812

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Hey everyone. I am new to this site and have been searching through the data base getting some good info. A little backround on me I am a Drummer, Bassist and a guitarist with a want to learn Keyboards as well. I am researching building a GOOD home recording option. I am leaning towards a computer based DAW hence the reason for posting here :) I am pretty technically inclined and I have been "soundman so to speak" in a Professionel studio and sat in the booth with people who know what they are doing much better the I. I would like to be able to record *gasp* 16 channels at once and 24 would be a dream. Now I am not to familiar with products for these applications. I have built a few computers but they were all home pc's.. Did i mention i wanna use a PC? Are there any soundcars that will allow me to record this many channels at once? I also wanna be able to use physical mixer not a virtual.

so finally my question. so what would you suggest for these needs? Is this even feasable? What programs would you sugest? what hardware? what specs for a computer? I am looking for the future and would love to be able to build something that can give me a professional sound thanks you in advance for any help you may be able to give.
 
What kinda money can you spend?
What equipment do you have already?
Acoustic drums or electronic?
Playing all instruments yourself?

Welcome to the site.
I expect answers to these questions by the time I get back from the liquor store! :D
 
my 0.02:

go to prorec.com and follow their instructions for the 2001 'roll your own' tbird machine. narrow your 'soundcard' focus to motu and midiman (delta 1010). the requirement of recording 16 independent tracks simultaneously should be possible between those 2. i have not used the 'ryo' tbird machine nor motu. i believe there are mixers or 'control surfaces' and multitrack software packages to provide the 'physical' mixing solution.

a few notes ( not just researched but Experienced):

* RAID for Practical daw purposes is unnecessary
* '100MB/s' is a BURST spec from small file handling much Unlike
the continuous large files of digital audio. see prorec.com ryo
article for best drives, etc
* beware of motherboards whose only source of this 'ata100' is an onboard RAID controller - it may use alot of pci proportional to drive load. e.g. the abit 133bx has 5 pci slots. 2 of them are tied in with such a controller.
* 'plextor' cdr/rw is good (i use a 12/10/32a)
* in 24 bit 44.1 kHz vs. 24 bit 96 kHz keep in mind the notion
of 'consumer market' (i.e. it's not so much for many that there isn't a very Noticeable difference between them audibly as it is a question of profit in the consumer market. in my case the consumer market (by choice) is myself and i enjoy 24/96)
* in addition to the optimization docs mentioned in the ryo at prorec.com check out (link currently not working, hopefully only temporary):
http://www.tascam.com/support/faq/pc_optimize/6_optimize.cfm
 
As a budget well i dont realy have one for the most part i am saving towards something and lanning at the moment. I want to get the best possible results that i can without spending $10,000 kinda situation. I know that i could go buy like a 4 track or something and be able to record but I also know that i want high quality sound, 16 simultaneous tracks, etc. The drums i would like to record are acoustic drums wich would mean i Have to mic them and i dont have mics yet but as i said it isnt a right this second kinda thing. I want to be able to record by myself and in a live situation.


With the motu and the midiman that you suggested that will allow me to record 16 tracks at once or that it will allow me 2 tracks being mixed from the 16 tracks? As i said i am very unfamiliar with this equipment but i wanna learn it and be able to record with it.
I have a cd burner that i plan on moving over to my new machine as i build it ( unles i decide to buy another) i just bought a TDK VeloCD wich is the same drive as the plexwriter


thank you for the help
 
The RYO at ProRec suggestion is a good one. There are a lot of guys who have followed those instructions. So the forum there is a good place to go if you run into problems putting it together.

As far as soundcards. The MOTU 2408 system is a nice one on paper. I loved it when I first got it. The core system allows 8 simultatious I/O and its easily expanded to give you up to 24. The problem with MOTU is that if you run into a problem they can't solve, they aren't willing to help you out at all. If in the future you decide to upgrade to a dual CPU mainboard, you'll have to replace the MOTU cause it won't work . They do have a USB interface that seems to work well. I don't know too much about it though.

My recommendation is to check out what's available from RME. I'm now using their Hammerfall with the 2408 interfaces and am a happy camper. Support is outstanding also.
 
making progress harley? the rme pages are
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/index.htm
i think (thanks angie, i hadn't heard of it). i found a zappa 1984 interview where he talks a bit about digital recording:
http://www.iron-sausage.com/dig_aud.htm

my daw is tweaky smooth and i'm sleeping with my guitars again so i'm breaking the habits like foruming while waiting for yet another format, fragmentation, etc. i'll return in about 2 weeks to chill in the dragon cave with a 6 of heiney courtesy of my new amoco credit card (laugh a** off here). i'll check back then to see how it's going for ya.

later and happy researching,
jeff
 
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