Help From You Cakewalk Gurus!

[bferber]

I have a Portastudio 424mkII that I want to have connected to my HP desktop (1.2GHz, Win98, stock sound card) via the Edirol UA 1A and used as a mixdown unit. I need some type of software to "record" the 2 tracks coming out of the Portastudio onto my desktop. My ultimate goal is to burn these tracks onto CDs. I could get a dedicated CD burner, but that's waaaay beyond my budget.

Question: I've been looking at Cakewalk's Music Creator 2003 and Home Studio 2004. Which is recommended and why?

Eventually, I'd like to get a sound card with 4 inputs so I can take the 4 tracks from the Portastudio directly into the computer and mix them down there. For now, the plan is to mix the 4 tracks on the Portastudio and "record" them as a standard 2 track master on the hard disk. Any recommendations as to a better (and fairly cost effective) way to do this would also be appreciated!

 

[BluesMeister]

Hi BFerber

The new HS2004 can handle multiple inputs, which is fine if your soundcard has more than two inputs.

The previous version, HS2002, could only handle two inputs simultaneously. That suited most home recording-type people who would probably lay down tracks one at a time, either as a single mono track or a stereo track.

HS2002 would not have been the best choice if your sound card had multi-ins though. You would probably go for the more expensive Sonar.

Of Music Creator I know nought.

HS handles MIDI and audio and is great for laying down MIDI tracks and overdubbing real instruments along side.

I don't know if HS can import audio direct from the PortaStudio, I suppose it should do, provided you arm a track and hit the record button. I can't think why that wouldn't work.

--
BluesMeister