Starting up

[shai halud]

I am new to this website. i would like to use my home computer to do recording. I am technically savvy but need to identify what i need t get started. I also need to keep my costs down as i am sending one kid to college and having another coming up in a couple of years.

Background:
Lifetime musician, main instrument is guitar but I am competent on several others.

several years as an electronics tech, currently a researcher in Life sciences.


Have recorded professionally and also used 4 track home recorder.




My major question is what would be a good interface to use for starting up?I assume that many are USB based so that there wouldn't be problems in connecting to the computer. My computer is one year old so I expect that I have sufficient power to support basic recording. I want to be able to plug my instruments in and just get going. Would i need outboard amplification or can i record direct? do the more modest software packages com with effects or do i need more stuff to do this. What are good software packages that would let me do some quality work without breaking the bank with Pro tools?

I guess that this is enough to start. Thanks for your help in advvance and don't forget, don't hesitate to get technical as I have a good theoretical background.

 

[jimmy2sticks]

Welcome to the board!

A couple things that would help out would be to know what kind of computer you have? Operating system and so forth. From there we can start to figure out what is best for you.

 

[shai halud]

Hey, how's it going.

Windows XP OS
512 MB ram
80 GB harddrive
3 GHz processor

As i am not home right now I can't be more specific regarding the hardware but the computer is a middle of the line Dell just over a year old.the sound card is 24 bit but as i have seen in my readings, if i get an audio interface, this is not an issue. I'll check the computer for any sound processing soft ware. i hope this meager information that i have provided will help you to figure out my needs. Thanks

 

[jimmy2sticks]

That's all I really needed. This should be enough to start out, although I would consider getting some more RAM and also an external hard disk for the audio you record.

On to interfaces. Do you have a firewire port available? If not, USB will be just fine. What is your budget? What do you hope to achieve in this investment?

 

[shai halud]

I want to have a platform ready to get ideas into a basic form. I should only be recording one instrument at a time. Maybe i can make rough CD's. Budget is very small. maybe 250-300. Possible upgrade in future but just want to get started I have a Tascam four track but it's a pain and i want to just sit in the living room after everybody is in bed and flesh out my ideas

 

[jimmy2sticks]

Alright, then USB is the way to go. You can get devices starting at around $99. They will allow you to plug in mics/insturments/whatever and record.

Check out the Tascam US-122. It is a decent unit for it's price.

Also, M-Audio makes a variety of entry-level interfaces. The Fast Track USB is alright, as well as the MobilePre.

And you will need multitracking software. Any ideas on what you want?

 

[shai halud]

The guy at Sam Ash said that he had a Cubase program starting at $100. What i want to know is do these programs have intrinsic signal processing capabilities built in, i.e. effects, or do i need to have an outboard effects unit for working the signal. Also, do the available interfaces within my budget put out enough signal strength to record direct? I know that microphone usually requirre preamping for the best signal. Since i won't be processing too many tracks (at first) I suppose the level of mullti-tracking required shouldn't be too large.

 

[jimmy2sticks]

Cubase has a lot of signal processing built into the program, so you won't need any outboard gear to start. Also, these interfaces that mentioned actually have pre-amps built into them as well. You can change the impedence of these inputs to match what you are tracking. Cubase will also allow you to multi-track.

 

[shai halud]

Ok then, I can review different software packages fo cost and effectiveness. The interface needn't be too complicated as I will normally be putting one input at a time into the system. Do you know of any reasonably priced interfaces?Drums, i guess, will either have to come from my digitech 100 unit, although they are preset rhythms, unless i can figure out the midi stuff on the computer. i was playing with the sound card last night and found that it has an extensive array of sounds available including much percussion ( it is a Creative 24 bit card). Do you think that it is possible to use these functions to build up custom rhythms? Also, in reference to you previous post, where exactly does the impedence matching arise in this type of system? inputs and outputs? thanks for your time and input.