Staring Dedicated or PC DAW, need help!

[icebelowfreeze]

Hey,

I Been Saving and Doing research on Home Recording for about 3 months or so, but have been recording in pro studio's 5 years or so watching and trying to learn everything i can. Now That I Finally am working with a little doe im wanting to start getting some equiptment. I've been reading forum and site reviews on both DAW's Computer Based systems and Dedicated Consoles.

I Mostly Record Hip-Hop/ Rap/ R & B so its mostly going to be used mostly for Vocals over imported instrumental files or i'll possibly get an MPC to make beats. Im Looking too have good quality recording's and something that dosn't take a PRO to operate due to a limited amount of engineering skills. I've Read Book's and will be attending a engineering school here to recieve more knowlege in the art of recording.

Im Not very wealthy either so I was kinda looking for the best bang for the Buck. Price range maybe $1,500-$2000 or less if possible but any feedback will greatly help me out.


Ice

 

[wheelema]

Any dedicated box is a PC. Specialized, but essentially a PC.

How many channels/tracks are you going to be recording at the same time? This is a hardware question... if you are just going to be recording one, or at the most two people, then I would suggest something different then if you were going to by playing with seven other people. Judging from your post, I would guess it's just you, but you never know.

How many tracks do you anticipate being in your composition? This is a software question. The more tracks, the more effects, the more pricey the software.

Last I checked an MPC is a relatively pricey piece of hardware.

 

[icebelowfreeze]

Thanks for the reply....

Me and my brother are the main two vocalist's, if anyone else happened to record with us it would be organized and done with one Mic by Punching them in. Im thinking the most Tracks it would take to record a song would be up to 24 so Im looking for something with 24 Tracks or more so to be able to overdub/adlib vocals and chorus. Effects is always a plus too.

I Heard that Acid and Nuendo are great programs to work with, but would a PC Set up be more logical to use then a SIAB (Studio-in-a-Box) console?

Thanks for All your Help,
Ice

 

[icebelowfreeze]

uppin for some advice

 

[manning1]

1.save the mpc money and try hotstepper - a free program using wave proper audio samples. rent a bunch of drum machines or buy some samples CD's for sampling.
my wife bought me last xmas a software called ejay for 9 bucks in a bargain bin. came with gazillions of "beats" , "synths" - you name it. then just export
as a wav file THEN...
2. if you want to try a great cheap program for multitracking
powertracks from pgmusic.com. it will let you edit around your "beats"
six ways to sunday. ive built many drum tracks with it for myself and friends.
powertracks will also let you record 48 audio tracks plus has tons of effects built in. just import your beats into it either from hotstepper or ejay and build your rhythm track. it also has a slew of built in effects.
also has a great midi sequencer so you could do drum tracks and has "song styles" and a bunch of other stuff youll find interesting. just try the demo.
best 29 bucks i ever spent.
3. i prefer amd pc's. a good athlon will do 80 tracks. way more than i need.
youll also need a mixerr like a yamaha mg for the mics and a decent soundcard. lotta folks here like audiophiles and deltas.

 

[tedluk]

For some reason, this has been a hot topic lately around here.

I fall firmly into both camps!

Both the DAW and Stand Alone approaches have their merits and their disadvantages. It's up to you to decide what's important.

In a nutshell here are the major points for each:

DAW- A PC (or Mac) based system has the advantage of being more easily upgraded allowing you to take advantage of new hardware and software technologies as they become available. Since you are dealing with components, you can pick and choose what you use and put together a system that is optimized for what you want to accomplish. Though this is a lot of work and requires a fair amount of research on your part. The finished system can be extremely powerful and quite cost effective.

Drawbacks- All of the above! Since you are working with components and not a dedicated system, it's up to the user in most cases to get it all to work properly. This can be a HUGE ordeal sometimes. With all the different choices and vendors, the odds of something not working as you hoped are pretty good. Since technology is ever advancing, you'll constantly be looking at new hardware and software and you will be constantly tempted to purchase new items to improve/maintain your DAW. This is a never, never, never-ending process and can quickly empty all but the deepest of pockets! I know I'm exaggerating a bit, but seriously, this can become a problem unless you can resist the urges to continually move up. A stable DAW can be an awesome tool, but getting one takes a lot of dedication and effort. Other things to consider are that you will need outboard gear most likely to put it all together. Either a mixer or a control surface might be needed or desired to help you get your signals into the DAW and to manipulate them once inside.

Stand Alone- Right now, there are a ton of these on the market covering nearly every price point. they offer differing features so it's hard to lump them all together. Basic advantages are- One, simple, dedicated piece of hardware optimized for recording and mixing and nothing else. Generally, this means fewer bugs and software problems, though they still sometimes crop up. With most devices now setting up can be as simple as hooking up mics and speakers, adjusting a few settings and hitting record! For some people, that alone is the reason to make this choice.

Another plus is increased portability. If you're going to be setting up in different locations or recording live frequently, a stand alone can be simpler to work with.

Drawbacks- Closed system. For the most part these units are not upgradable and have limited expandability. Recording quality sometimes will be lower than that of a DAW, especially in the less expensive units. This is a hard comparison to make because there are low quality soundcards out there as well.

The ultimate combination is to have both! With the right combination you could then record in either device and transfer tracks in and out of both for further editing and processing.

I hope this helps. Look around these forums for other threads about this topic. We've had some good debates on it and there are valid points on both sides.

Ted

 

[icebelowfreeze]

thanks Alot for taking time to help me out.... I Also really appreciate how you showed the downfalls of the two, most forums i would go to people would just give a sentance long awnser, you all really helped me decide on what direction to go in. thanks again.

 

[tedluk]

Hey! I'm really glad I helped.


Soooooo...

What did you decide?

Ted

 

[manning1]

ted - a great analysis of pro's and cons you did there.

 

[icebelowfreeze]

thinking im going to go with the computer set up

 

[aposiopetic1]

great advice... i currently own a cubase vst and need advice on the "xtra" hardware and good soundcard recommendation...also looking at the korg d32xd ....any help is appreciated

 

[tedluk]

I'm a SONAR man, myself, so I can't tell you anything about Cubase.

The soundcard thing is a good question. I use the Mixtreme cards from Soundscape, but, I doubt that anyone else has one but me! It's a great card, but not very popular. The company has had a lot of problems, but is now doing well again (they survived a stint with Mackie owning them and almost ruining them). I hope they start doing a better job of marketing their product because it's a rock-solid card with excellent drivers and simply works without any real effort. It's big drawback is that it uses a TDIF interface and that standard did not gain wide popularity. I wish they would either incorporate an ADAT in addition or switch over. If you're interested at all, and they make a great product line that's recently been updated with some awesome new products, check them out HERE

The Korg is a fine unit, however, I encourage everyone to take a long look at the DPS24 from Akai. I think it's the best hard disk recorder out there right now! Definitely worth serious consideration. I know it's what I'm going to get as soon as I can afford it.

Ted

 

[icebelowfreeze]

as far as a Sound Card for a computer i would recommend Delta or Soundblaster Platnium is supposed to be good.

 

[tedluk]

as far as a Sound Card for a computer i would recommend Delta or Soundblaster Platnium is supposed to be good.

I think it's pretty much generally accepted that, for serious audio work, you would want to avoid the soundblaster at all costs. They just don't have the features, stability or quality that you need for audio.

Lots of people like M-Audio and, depending on your software, the new cards from E-mu offer a lot of bang for the buck, but there are some dirver issues if you're trying to use WDM.

Ted