computers

[wildcats]

I am a guitar player and want to record for fun. I would also like to record other rythum instruments such as piano, bass and drums. I have the guitar and an accoustic piano but do not have access to the other instruments. I am in the process of purchasing a computer from Ibuypower.com, 1.67 gighrz, 60 hardrive, 256 ram. It includes windows XP home edition and soundblaster live. Here are my questions:

1. Is this enough computer power?
2. What other software and hardware would I need?
3.Is there a way of getting the other instrument sounds (tracks) into the computer without purchasing all of the instruments?
4.Is there a way to do all of the work with just the computer and not hasving outside devices such as sound module, monitors electice keyboard, etc?

sorry if this was too long. You can probably tell I have no idea what I'm doing. Any help would be apprciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[James Argo]

Computers

1. Yes, it's average powerfull. Make sure your HD runs on 7200RPM. And you'll want more RAM, say like 512MB at least...

2. If you do miking, the you'll need proper mic & preamps. You need also multitrack audio software (like SONAR, Cubase, CoolEdit, etc...). If you're not sure which one, post here with plain explanation, what exactly your goal.

3.Yes, you can. You can do it either with MIDI or sample/loop. You only have to sequence the instrument part. If you don't have any MIDI controller, even your mouse PC will do. You choose Sound Blaster, it has Soundfont ability, that means, it can play MIDI internaly, without need any external MIDI devices. You can even change your sound by loading soundfonts files. How to do it ? well... we can talk about it all day long...

4. Yess, you can. No module, no electone, but still you need monitor & proper sound system.

 

[erichenryus]

1. I'm assuming that's an AMD machine by the proc speed. Just make sure you get a stable chipset on that board. Watch out for VIA! but i sounds like plenty of power.

2. You'll need Sonar, Cubase, n-track or some other multitracking software to record and mix your stuff.

3. That's the great thing about computers (among all of the shitty things about computers), you can add a lot of other tones, realistic and not, without ever leaving the digital domain.

4. I would recommend that you check out some more professional sounding options on the sound card. Poke around on this board and audioforums.com a bit. You'll find something better I'm sure.

If you're gonna be micing a guitar and piano you'll need some mics and preamps. check out the mic forum here for interesting discussions on that topic.

You're gonna need some monitors. Don't plan on doing it all with your headphones or monitoring on your stereo.

You can certainly get other sounds in the computer