Entering The World Of Digital Recording - Help!

V

vitamin worm

New member
Hi Everyone,

So I am selling off the analog gear in my project studio and going digital because of the ease of use and control mostly. I am looking for which software packages you guys thing would best fit my needs and which you think i should shy away from altogether.

I will mostly be recording garage-rock, punk, and indie rock bands.

I have an AMD Athalon 1.6 Ghz PC with windows XP.
I will soon be using an Echo Layla 24/96 sound card (though recording at 24/96 isnt a top priority of mine at this point). My mic cabinet consists of the following:
ECM8000s (Pair)
Marshal MXL604s (Pair)
Rode NT-1000
A couple of 57s
A couple of 58s
Shure Beta 87
Shure Green Bullet
ATM25 Kick Mic.
Dunno if the mic info was important or not. Just thought it should let you know what level I am at.

I have worked with some beginner type PC recording packages (CEP, N-Track) and I am not really interested in going that way. A friend who has a studio here in town uses Digital Performer and that is a program that looks really interesting to me.

I especially like the plugins and stuff he has. So now I am considering the following software packages:

- Sonar
- Cakewalk Home Studio 2002 (What are the major differences between these two).
- Acid
- Vegas
- Nuendo
- Others I didnt mention???

A decent compressor is a must. It would be nice to have some good reverb effects too (Plugins are fine with me so long as they dont sound like ass).

Can somebody who has been around a bit more than me give me some pros and cons of each of these on my system and for my purposes.

Thank you very much in advance. If you need any more info please let me know.

-Franklin-
 
Last edited:
Being a computer recording maniac I would like to say don't even think about selling your analog gear. Use both and be happy.

Vegas is my favorite.

Get a good 8 in 8 out card and ues the analog deck for recording and the computer for composing, "mastering", and doing edits.

Believe me the first time your computer gets all screwy you will be stoked to have that deck up and running. Tapes don't crash.

If noise is an issue get a better deck.
 
Well I have spent soooooo much money keeping my reel to reel in good shape. I just want something that is going to always be working for me.

Although I absolutely do see your point about using both.

My hope is to eventually pick up a 16 track reel to reel and an expansion card for my Layla to bring it up to 16 tracks and work with both. I am quite a ways away from being able to afford that though.

In the short term a good versatile program is what I need. I am still an analog slut though ... and will upgrade at my first given chance :)

Thanks a lot for your input. I appreciate it very much.

Anyone else have an opinion?

Thanks!

-Franklin-
 
Franklin,

> Well I have spent soooooo much money keeping my reel to reel in good shape. I just want something that is going to always be working for me. <

Then let go of the past and embrace the future. Buy Sonar XL, a good soft-synth or three, and don't waste your time anymore with outboard gear. Yes, you need a fast (1 GHz. or better) PC to do all recording and mixing inside the computer. But once you make the leap you'll never want to go back.

--Ethan
 
Are the effects that come with Sonar 2.0 XL any good?

Does Sonar accept VST plugins?

I have played with some VST plugins before (mostly in Nuendo and although there were a couple of very good ones ... i found many to be pretty cheesy).

Thanks!

-Franklin
 
i personally like the timeworks compressor and eq that come with sonar xl. the other effects that come with sonar are ok at best imo.

you can run vst in sonar but you need a vst wrapper like directxier or the fxpansion wrapper. i think they both cost around 50 bucks.
 
Ethan Winer said:
Franklin,

> Well I have spent soooooo much money keeping my reel to reel in good shape. I just want something that is going to always be working for me. <

Then let go of the past and embrace the future. Buy Sonar XL, a good soft-synth or three, and don't waste your time anymore with outboard gear. Yes, you need a fast (1 GHz. or better) PC to do all recording and mixing inside the computer. But once you make the leap you'll never want to go back.

--Ethan
Click to expand...

DITTO!
 
Re: cpu speed

auburncatfish said:
Is 1.0 ghz essential or can you skate by with something like 650 mhz?
Click to expand...

depends on what you want to do my friend!

right now i am running a 24/88.2 project with 32 tracks. 90% of the tracks are running waves EQ plus, and there are a few sonic maximisers, waves rverbs and waves L1s floating about... gives the CPU a beating, running at about 80%. the hard drive is still taking it, at about 35%. this is with an athlon XP1800 (1.53Ghz) and a 7200RPM audio drive.

BTW vitamin worm, give samplitude a look (www.samplitude.com). amazing software package. and you gotta love the WAVES plug-ins.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top