Home recording 'studio'

[11thPassenger]

Hey guys,
Just a quick intro, I'm Joel, from Aus, play guitar (PRS, though (soon) an Orange amp)
I'm just wondering about Portable audio interface (i think thats what they are)
I would like to get a firewire or usb one for under $150, I only need one electric guitar input, although if it had a mic slot 2 that would be better.
I saw this http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--TASUS122MKII, any thoughts?
My question, is there something better than this without pushing the budget?
Thanks in advance,
Joel

 

[TetraFish]

Here's another one that might be worth a look just to give you an option.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--MDOFSTRKMK2

I would say just stick to something with a solid brand name. The Tascam is is probably fine. Both come with decent recording software.

 

[TimOBrien]

Here's a good guide and user-tested suggestions that work: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards...ome_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My obligatory standard reply-for-newbies that I keep in Wordpad so this is just a paste (I don't want to re-type this all the time):

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recordin...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-1

PC Recording Studios for Dummies - $16
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Stu...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273169612&sr=1-2
(Wish I'd had those when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)
You can also pick up this book in most any Borders or Barnes&Noble in the Music Books section!

Recording Guitar and Bass by Huw Price
http://www.amazon.com/Recording-Gui...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215734124&sr=1-1
(I got my copy at a place called Half-Price Books for $6!!)

Home Recording for Beginners by Geoffrey Francis
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-Beginners-Geoffrey-Francis/dp/1598638815

When you get a bit into it, I highly recomend The Art of Mixing by David Gibson
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456

And you can get a FREE subscription to TapeOp magazine at www.tapeop.com

Barnes&Noble or Borders are great places to start --- they have recording books and you can go get a snack or coffee and read them for FREE! Don't pass by a good recording book --- this is a VERY technical hobby and you REALLY want to start a reference library!!!

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics and have good tips:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs
http://www.harmony-central.com/articles/
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/tips-techniques/168409-tips-techniques.html

Guitar Amp Recording: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug07/articles/guitaramprecording.htm

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig: http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Other recording books: http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html

Still using a built-in soundcard?? Unfortunately, those are made with less than $1 worth of chips for beeps, boops and light gaming (not to mention cheapness for the manufacturer) and NOT quality music production.
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the built-in soundcard.
Here's a good guide and user-tested suggestions that work: http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
(you'll want to bookmark and read through all of Tweak's Guide while you're there...)

Plenty of software around to record for FREE to start out on:
Sony ACID Xpress 10-track sequencer: http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/
Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net (multi-track with VST support)
Wavosaur: http://www.wavosaur.com/ (a stereo audio file editor with VST support)\
Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com/smm

Another great option is REAPER at http://www.cockos.com/reaper/
(It's $60 but runs for free until you get guilty enough to pay for it...)
I use Reaper and highly reccomend it...

Music Notation and MIDI recording: Melody Assistant ($25) and Harmony Assistant ($80) have the power of $600 notation packages...
http://myriad-online.com
Demo you can try on the website.

And you can go out to any Barnes&Noble or Borders and pick up "Computer Music" magazine - they have a full FREE studio suite in every issue's DVD, including sequencers, plugins and tons of audio samples. (November 2006 they gave away a full copy of SamplitudeV8SE worth $150, November 2007-on the racks Dec in the US- they gave away SamplitudeV9SE and July 2009 issue they put out Samplitude10SE. FREE. It pays to watch 'em for giveaways...)

 

[IndustrialOkie]

Go firewire if you can- I had nothing but problems with usb...

 

[11thPassenger]

Thank you guys very much for the help, I only plan on recording one track at a time, will it matter too much if I use a usb interface, or is a firewire interface really that much better?

 

[r1chard]

Firewire for sure.

 

[11thPassenger]

How does anyone feel about either the M-Audio Firewire Solo Audio Interface?
(http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--MDOFWSOLO)
One to look into getting?
I don't really want my sound to be altered or 'shaped' I simply want to get my guitar/ amp sound into the computer without any stupid noise that line in gets me with my sound card, will this suffice, I'm under the impression that this M-audio solo will be able to do this for me, could anyone please clarify, thank you all for your help

 

[TetraFish]

How does anyone feel about either the M-Audio Firewire Solo Audio Interface?
(http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--MDOFWSOLO)
One to look into getting?
I don't really want my sound to be altered or 'shaped' I simply want to get my guitar/ amp sound into the computer without any stupid noise that line in gets me with my sound card, will this suffice, I'm under the impression that this M-audio solo will be able to do this for me, could anyone please clarify, thank you all for your help

yes, that will do the trick. Just a word of caution with firewire, chances are it will work fine but beware that some firewire chipsets don't work that well for recording so you may have to get a new firewire card. I know you can get a SIIG card with a texas Instrument chipset.

 

[r1chard]

I think Firewire works better, no doubt it is faster, I have also people having more issues with usb. I have owned M audio and so have my friends, it is good stuff.

I would not buy the tascam myself. I just don't know how well it performs but you can only go by what other say and there are some people that don't like it, read the online reviews and what some owners have said about the gear I don't like that there have been a number of bad reviews. Some have been good but again, I would trust Maudio. (though any product could get bad reviews because people don't know how to connect the device or use a computer).

http/Tascam-US122MKII-USB-2.0-2channel-AudioMIDI-Interface customer reviews

 

[Tobe]

The difference between Firewire and USB is "bandwidth" not "speed".

The bandwidth of USB 1 can hande about 6 channels of 24 bit/48KHz, or 3 stereo pairs, all travelling at the same speed as a card that can handle 100 stereo pairs.

 

[r1chard]

The difference between Firewire and USB is "bandwidth" not "speed".

The bandwidth of USB 1 can hande about 6 channels of 24 bit/48KHz, or 3 stereo pairs, all travelling at the same speed as a card that can handle 100 stereo pairs.

Are you guys really that anal about semantics here? But I can play.

It is all about speed, usb is a high speed bus. Usb.org uses the word high speed on their logos. http://www.usb.org/developers/usb20/

Definitions of bandwidth on the Web:

•a data transmission rate; the maximum amount of information (bits/second) that can be transmitted along a channel
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Bits per second my friend are a speed rating. I am a little suprised you wasted time trying to correct me when what I said was correct. But also suprising is that I even bothered to reply

 

[Tobe]

A firewire can move more bits per second because it has a wider bandwidth, but each bit travels at the same speed. It's like adding extra lanes to a highway, the speed is the same, but you can carry more traffic.

If you had huge volumes of data to dump across the connection then the more bandwidth the better, but if you are moving 6 channels of sound (at 24/48kHz) in real time then USB 1 is just as "fast", but that is about its limit.

 

[11thPassenger]

I only plan on recording one guitar track at a time,
thank you all for your continued contributions to help me understand and decide what to get.
Are Line 6 POD Studio UX2 any good?

 

[Reek]

Are you guys really that anal about semantics here? But I can play.

Getting facts straight is essential to this being a productive forum, There's no need to slag on Tobe for pointing out details. You can state your opinion in a kinder way.

I am a little suprised you wasted time trying to correct me when what I said was correct. But also suprising is that I even bothered to reply

I don't care if your a noob or if you've been recording and working with gear for years, Others can point out things you never knew. Don't be so aggressive, None of us here know everything. Tobe was pointing out facts.

Now on the original subject, I have used USB(1.1 and 2.0) and Firewire interfaces on both PC and Mac's. They have all worked fine (Aside from a bad unit here and there, it happens), as long as my system was setup and optimized for use as a recording setup.

I wouldn't cal USB bad, If you need to record more than 1 or 2 inputs at a time look into a USB 2.0 or Firewire interface. Otherwise USB is fine.

As a side note: If your going to go for a USB 1.1 interface look for one with direct monitoring(Most now have this).

 

[Reek]

I only plan on recording one guitar track at a time,
thank you all for your continued contributions to help me understand and decide what to get.
Are Line 6 POD Studio UX2 any good?

USB 1.1 will work fine for that, See above.

I have never been a big fan of the line 6 stuff (Not to say its bad), I use this for all my basic demoing and like it a lot.

Its a pretty decent price at BH too.

 

[Tobe]

Thanks Reek, and sorry if I came accross as a smart arse r1chard.

 

[austinm08]

A firewire can move more bits per second because it has a wider bandwidth, but each bit travels at the same speed. It's like adding extra lanes to a highway, the speed is the same, but you can carry more traffic.

If you had huge volumes of data to dump across the connection then the more bandwidth the better, but if you are moving 6 channels of sound (at 24/48kHz) in real time then USB 1 is just as "fast", but that is about its limit.

I'm glad someone (you) who knows what they're talking about finally showed up. Some idiot was recently claiming USB 2.0 was just as fast/good as Firewire. I was taught a while back by an instructor what you just explained, but had forgotten exactly why Firewire was a bit better. Thanks.

 

[TetraFish]

I would think the biggest disadvantage of USB is that it is commonly used for other things. Mouse, external drive, dongle, keyboard etc. which may be using some of that bandwidth where as typically you would only have one firewire device. So just be careful that you don't have a lot of items running on USB when you're recording.

 

[Tobe]

Hi austinm08,

I know Firewire can carry more than USB 1.1, I'm not sure about USB 2.0.

 

[Tobe]

Yes, there are all sorts of bottlenecks and considerations TetraFish. It looks like USB will be a standard that will outlast firewire, but by the time you are struggling to connect your breakout box to future computers with firewire, it will probably be time for a new one anyway.