Software choice

PoppedEye

PoppedEye

Mike Love Hater
I am in the process of setting up a small home studio in my basement and not sure what kind of DAW software I should invest in.

Here's my plan:

I'm going to be recording guitar, bass, and keys into a Tascam digital recorder and then transferring those tracks onto a laptop to edit and finalize. I want to lean towards software for sequencing and also has a plethora of editing tools and features. I don't own an effects processor so something that can easily apply effects to my tracks would be nice as well. Oh and drums, something that does drums, if such a thing exists.

I haven't really researched all the different software out there (I know, bad me), there seems to be a lot and I don't know really how they differ. I thought I'd ask those of you out there who have had experience with a few and get an idea of what I should put my money towards.

My keyboard is an Alesis Micron and I would prefer software that's compatible with it, though I assume any of them would be.

Btw, I'm working with a Dell Inspiron 5100

P4 2.66 Ghz
1 Gb RAM
60 Gb HD running at 7200rpms
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 video card
Sigma Tel C-Major audio card

And the only previous software I've had experience with is Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.
 
Nothing wrong with Cakewalk 9. If you invested in a simple firewire interface you could bypass the Tascam stage altogether and probably get better audio in and out of that laptop. If you're only recording one track or two tracks at a time, that laptop should do nicely. If you don't own Cakewalk 9, there's Reaper (very inexpensive for what you get) and Audacity (FREE!)
 
Reaper has all the features as the big programs have and it only costs $50. It has millions of non-destructive editing functions you can do on the tracks, but it's not an actual WAV editor. I think it's better though. Very lightweight, stable program that is constantly being updated.
http://reaper.fm

My friend owns a slightly older version of Cubase and it is also a very powerful program, although it feels kind of bloated/sluggish compared to Reaper. I believe it has a bunch of WAV editing functions, you may want to check it out.

Adobe Audition 3.0 is coming out soon (there's a free tryout version available), and now supports MIDI and VSTi instruments. It has great editing capabilities and really nice built in FX that come with it. It's a really nice program. (Edit: I think the full version is out now).



Researching which DAW is right for you can be daunting, especially if you're not that experienced. The best option for you would be to find as many trial/demo version that are available and see. It doesn't matter the price of the software, they will all sound the same. It's more about what works best and is easiest to use. Everyone will have different needs/opinions so it's kind of something you have to figure out for yourself.

Some popular DAWs to try:

Adobe Audition 3.0
Cakewalk Sonar
Steinberg Cubase
Reaper
N-Tracks
Sony Acid
 
I just purchased Acid Music Studio for around 70 bucks and it's very intuitive and easy to use. Plus it comes with an amazing collection of Acidized loops which will work at whatever tempo and key you want. Some of the drum loops are superb!! I use loops as the backbone of a tune when I am first starting to work on it. Acid M.S. supports Dx and Vst effects plugins and VSTi instruments. The interface is better than Reaper's, but Reaper is quite good and it's a free download and a very fast one, too, if you have a dial up connection.
http://www.soundclick.com/lejaz
 
the thing you really have to do is get your hands on some systems already running .... (friends) because you need to know what's gonna work best for you... face it you're not gonna get alot done if you cant wrap your brain around it for starters... then how do you like to work etc... i personally started on the original cakewalk (still have the 51/2" floppies around here somewhere) moved through several versions of it and then switched to nuendo at version 2 and am now on cubase4... cubase is top of the line IMO (and gotta be a reason everybody compares theres to cubase) that said though it has a fairly steep learning curve but well worth it in the long run.... you'll also find lite versions bundled with entry level interfaces so there might be good way to get your feet wet... unless you already have that tascam recorder i'ld think about just going with the computer and being done with it,,, incedently tascam makes some very cool interfaces.... i've got their fw1884 here... good luck...
 
Thank you everyone for all the suggestions, looks like I have some test driving to do. Will definitely be checking out Reaper, looks like a powerful tool at a small price. A question though, Reaper's website recommends ASIO sound drivers though, what are they for? Would they be compatible with my sound card? If not, is that a bad thing?

Also, will there really be much of a difference in sound quality recording onto a Tascam recorder as opposed to recording directly into my laptop with a firewire interface? It's a Tascam DP-01FX 8-track recorder that I'd be using.
 
Google asio4all..I think that's the name. It's a free asio driver that works with Reaper. Download it and then download reaper for free. Then choose asio4all as the driver in Reaper... hitting control-p, I think, in Reaper brings up the preferences window where you set up your driver etc. Reaper has some good tutorials to get you started.
 
I think my favorite DAW software is Nuendo so far, it's a tad pricey though. I've hardly even touched reaper, but people rave about it. And I think you can test it out for free
 
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