PC Recording

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FullSailStud

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I plan on buying a sound card and MIDI interface of some type to record on my PC. I already have Acid Sonic Foundry recording software. Ive been playing around recording some songs with the external microphone that came with the computer. I know its ghetto but it works for now. Here is the problem. When I record 3 or more tracks and try to play them back together the sound starts breaking up like its too much info. My computer is one year old Hewlet packard. I have barely used up any of the space on it. Will it perform better when I have the soundcard or is there something i should modify on my PC. Please help me with this. Thanx
Eric
 
Eric, what are the specs of your computer....no matter how old it is, it should get 3 tracks easy.....

try downloading N-Track at www.fasoft.com and record a few tracks with it and see if you get the same problem.....
 
also, when you solo the individual tracks, do they play ok?.....
 
I am not actually sure of the specs of the computer im at school now so I cant look.......Yes it plays the individual tracks perfectly......and it plays three or four tracks fine until the dynamics of the song rise and then it starts messing up. I just figured it was because I didnt have a sound card and its not very good recordings to begin with. What specs should my computer be to able to record plenty of tracks?
 
If you have recorded already and you can play it back, you have a soundcard. There is no way out of that. ;) You should try to find out what brand it is. Soundblasters (often included with pre-built computers) can do a decent job.

Plenty of tracks can vary from one person to another. Are you looking for 20, 40, 120 tracks? There is plenty of other stuff to consider also when determining the required specs of a computer.
 
FullSailStud, welcome to this site :).

You are going to have to give us the specs on your computer. So we can help you acheive your goal.

Write down the type of processor, speed of processor, PC or a MAC, amount of RAM, size of hard drive, speed of hard drive, bus speed, type of soundcard, etc.

Also, tell us what you are trying to accomplish, in term of recording on your computer.

Here are a few links for you to view for added information.

A glossary...
http://www.audioed.com.au/glossary_free1.html

Another glossary
http://www.cp.duluth.mn.us/~dkrantz/glossary.html

Added info...
http://www.studiocovers.com/articles.htm

Shareware/Freeware...
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm

ProTools demo...
http://www.digidesign.com

Vegas 2.0 and Acid 3.0 demos...
http://www.sonicfoundry.com

Sonar and FruityLoops demos...
http://www.cakewalk.com

peace :D

spin
 
My computer specs

OK I was able to get some of the specs on my computer. It is a PC. It has 63 MB of ram and 14 GB and it says 7 GB of free space.
As far as what type of processor and all that, I dont even know where to look. But maybe that will help a little.
 
I encountered something similar to the symptom you are describing when I first started using vegas 1.0. I simply had too much sound goint to the card, and what I was hearing was clipping (digital). Try backing off on your output bus in ACID and see if that makes the bad sounds go away.

Queue
 
Queue is a frickin genius.....I went back to the original post and I agree with him......

in digital, a mix cant go over 0db or it will distort....so if you play back 3 individual tracks at 0db one at a time theyll be ok but throw them together and you have a mess....either turn down the individual tracks or the master.....

your computer is fairly new so ill assume at least a 500mhz Celeron.....I have a HP Pavillion 500 mhz that gets 16 tracks easy, but I have 320mb ram and a separate 7200rpm hard drive.....Id get some extra ram because its dirt cheap and a 2nd hard drive if you are looking for high track counts.....of course another sound card will help, but the onboard one is ok to start with.....

just hoping Queue's advice solves your problem...let us know.....
 
Thanx

Thanx for the help guys....ill try out what you said. Im for sure going to get more ram. thanx again
 
Gidge emphatically stated: Queue is a frickin genius.....
Click to expand...

Who hooo! Thanks for the vote of confidence! (Gee, I hope I'm right.) I'm just good at remembering shit like that:

A story:

Queue thinking to himself, "I can be the multitracking MAN!!!" pulls stuff off of his 4-track (which he joyfully would run into the red for "warmth"). Mixes it all together and hears the rice crispy boys in his song. (Snap, Crackle, and Pop for those of you who aren't getting my reference there...). Hmm, one at a time they're all ok, so they're recorded fine.... Hey what's that little red block over that meter that says 3.7 mean?

That's when the little light bulb above Queue's head goes on! It always pops when it goes up there!!! Look at this fader, betcha that'll keep that from happening again.

I've got some more tricks if that one doesn't work. :cool:

Queue
 
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