P
pedro_sandchez
New member
Okay guys. Back in high school (about four years ago) I used to be in a rock band. I'm fairly proficient at bass and am decent on drums and guitar. Since the band broke up, I've just played around here and there in my spare time, but lately I've gotten the urge to do some solo recording.
The following is about my experience with recording equiment. Its long so if you arnt interrested just skip to the next paragraph.
I have some back ground in home recording but not with totally computer based setups. In my high school rock band days we used a boss digital recorder (cant remember the model but it had 8 tracks and I think could record two at a time, built in drum machine, etc...). We would record all of our track, then transfer them to the computer (boss recorder used a smart media card) and edit them in cool edit pro and put all the tracks together in acid. I was pretty proficient in acid and cooledit. Now in college I'm studying electrical engineering and I work in a sound lab with a professor. Here I've gained a little home recording experience as well. We have two dual processor (dual core so its like four processors almost) 64-bit systems making up a unix cluster. Each computer has its own recording setup comprised of a m-audio delta 1010, a rack pre-amp (also by m-audio), and a speaker amp powering 8 monitors. With this setup we can effectively record 16 audio tracks simultaniously into audacity. We then apply filters and such in matlab. The lab setup isnt for music, its for research me are doing which I can explain if anyone is interrested)
now to the point of this post.
what I want to be able to do, is record myself (and maybe a friend from time to time) playing songs I've composed. I'd also like to have pc midi instruments to play along and add into my mixes.
Reguarding software:
Like mentioned above, I've used acid pro before but I dont know if is really what I want to use now. It was great for what it was but I'd like something with a little more functionality. So right now I'm trying ableton live to do the mixing and add in some midi (it comes with a limited amount of instraments) along with audacity to do the actual recording.
I would however like something that would do it all so I wouldnt have to use both audacity and ableton. I know ableton does record but I dont like trying to edit (cut out parts and stuff like that) clips in its interface as it isnt all that great. would cakewalk or cubase or something else better suit my needs.
What is some good midi software with plenty of instruments and such?
Reguarding hardware:
I am yet to purchase any actual hardware.
Since I dont need several tracks I was considering the m-audio fast track usb (my computer only has usb) or the mobilepre usb for interfacing to my computer (rigth now I'm just plugging into the line in on my sound card). Are these good choices? do I need the pre-amps of the mobile pre or will the fast track work just as well? any recomendations for other options that might perform better?
and for a midi controler I was considering a keyboard style one like the m-audio keystation line, and later on a drum pad style controller as well)
does it sound like I am thinking in the right direction here?
sorry for the long post but I just wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out.
well, now that you know what I want to do, and the little bit of background that I have, if you have any suggestions for hardware/software to fulfill my needs that would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
pedro
The following is about my experience with recording equiment. Its long so if you arnt interrested just skip to the next paragraph.
I have some back ground in home recording but not with totally computer based setups. In my high school rock band days we used a boss digital recorder (cant remember the model but it had 8 tracks and I think could record two at a time, built in drum machine, etc...). We would record all of our track, then transfer them to the computer (boss recorder used a smart media card) and edit them in cool edit pro and put all the tracks together in acid. I was pretty proficient in acid and cooledit. Now in college I'm studying electrical engineering and I work in a sound lab with a professor. Here I've gained a little home recording experience as well. We have two dual processor (dual core so its like four processors almost) 64-bit systems making up a unix cluster. Each computer has its own recording setup comprised of a m-audio delta 1010, a rack pre-amp (also by m-audio), and a speaker amp powering 8 monitors. With this setup we can effectively record 16 audio tracks simultaniously into audacity. We then apply filters and such in matlab. The lab setup isnt for music, its for research me are doing which I can explain if anyone is interrested)
now to the point of this post.
what I want to be able to do, is record myself (and maybe a friend from time to time) playing songs I've composed. I'd also like to have pc midi instruments to play along and add into my mixes.
Reguarding software:
Like mentioned above, I've used acid pro before but I dont know if is really what I want to use now. It was great for what it was but I'd like something with a little more functionality. So right now I'm trying ableton live to do the mixing and add in some midi (it comes with a limited amount of instraments) along with audacity to do the actual recording.
I would however like something that would do it all so I wouldnt have to use both audacity and ableton. I know ableton does record but I dont like trying to edit (cut out parts and stuff like that) clips in its interface as it isnt all that great. would cakewalk or cubase or something else better suit my needs.
What is some good midi software with plenty of instruments and such?
Reguarding hardware:
I am yet to purchase any actual hardware.
Since I dont need several tracks I was considering the m-audio fast track usb (my computer only has usb) or the mobilepre usb for interfacing to my computer (rigth now I'm just plugging into the line in on my sound card). Are these good choices? do I need the pre-amps of the mobile pre or will the fast track work just as well? any recomendations for other options that might perform better?
and for a midi controler I was considering a keyboard style one like the m-audio keystation line, and later on a drum pad style controller as well)
does it sound like I am thinking in the right direction here?
sorry for the long post but I just wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out.
well, now that you know what I want to do, and the little bit of background that I have, if you have any suggestions for hardware/software to fulfill my needs that would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
pedro
I enjoy seeing this every other newbie posting...
