Firstly thanks in advance to all you cool folk for continuing to help me and others like me get their stuff together!
Let me explain, firstly: yesterday my C: drive completely died, which wasn't so bad because it only had Windows on it - all my audio was safely on a seperate HDD and also backed up to DVD. Today I've been reinstalling Windows (fun!) and all my software, as you do, and something has gone awry, because my audio interface (Seasound Solo EX) no longer works, it just pops and flashes a little and does nothing else. There could be loads of reasons for this - I suspect some kind of hardware conflict (I have two Seasounds and they both behave in the same way).
But that's not what I'm posting about...
The Seasounds are old bits of gear (although pretty well respected as far as I can tell) - they use a parallel socket for goodness sake - and recently I've been studying my setup and wondering if I could improve it. My PC is fast, AMD64 3500+ with about a gig of RAM or so, but the unreliability was worrying me, so I was thinking about going down the Mac route, but they're just computers too, and they can break down as well. I'm starting to think it might be worth just accepting that, and making regular backups after every session.
Then I got to thinking, if I get a mac, I might get an Mbox and try ProTools. But I'm getting pretty good at Cubase, and I've got a good workflow going on - if it ain't broke, why fix it? It's allowing me to track instruments and record MIDI information, that's all I need it to do!
But I do think I need to get up to date and get a new interface, probably a USB or Firewire one, which sounds simple enough, but which one? I've heard good things about the Firebox? Plus, I like to use outboard gear like my compressor/limiter/de-esser, and if I get a small all-in-one USB unit how will I get those into the equation?
Do I need to invest in a small mixer, run all the instruments through that, into the interface, and record that way? I record mainly rock, using a MIDI'd electronic kit, vocals, guitars and bass through a Pod Pro, that kind of thing.
I'm sorry there are so many questions, but I'm halfway through an album I've been working on for over a year, and it just seems like every piece of gear I own is conspiring against me completing it! I'm prepared to spend money to get a set up that's quick to use, good sounding and easy to navigate.
So, I realise everyone's taste is different, but I'd really like some input from you guys - should I update my setup, and if so, to what? Would a mixer allow me to record with send effects, and give me the flexibility I need to record quickly and easily? Would it mean less swapping out of cables? (I think I could leave the pod plugged into channel 2, mic in channel 3 etc)?
Thanks guys, sorry again for moaning but I hope some of you know the stage I'm at and can sympathise!
Let me explain, firstly: yesterday my C: drive completely died, which wasn't so bad because it only had Windows on it - all my audio was safely on a seperate HDD and also backed up to DVD. Today I've been reinstalling Windows (fun!) and all my software, as you do, and something has gone awry, because my audio interface (Seasound Solo EX) no longer works, it just pops and flashes a little and does nothing else. There could be loads of reasons for this - I suspect some kind of hardware conflict (I have two Seasounds and they both behave in the same way).
But that's not what I'm posting about...
The Seasounds are old bits of gear (although pretty well respected as far as I can tell) - they use a parallel socket for goodness sake - and recently I've been studying my setup and wondering if I could improve it. My PC is fast, AMD64 3500+ with about a gig of RAM or so, but the unreliability was worrying me, so I was thinking about going down the Mac route, but they're just computers too, and they can break down as well. I'm starting to think it might be worth just accepting that, and making regular backups after every session.
Then I got to thinking, if I get a mac, I might get an Mbox and try ProTools. But I'm getting pretty good at Cubase, and I've got a good workflow going on - if it ain't broke, why fix it? It's allowing me to track instruments and record MIDI information, that's all I need it to do!
But I do think I need to get up to date and get a new interface, probably a USB or Firewire one, which sounds simple enough, but which one? I've heard good things about the Firebox? Plus, I like to use outboard gear like my compressor/limiter/de-esser, and if I get a small all-in-one USB unit how will I get those into the equation?
Do I need to invest in a small mixer, run all the instruments through that, into the interface, and record that way? I record mainly rock, using a MIDI'd electronic kit, vocals, guitars and bass through a Pod Pro, that kind of thing.
I'm sorry there are so many questions, but I'm halfway through an album I've been working on for over a year, and it just seems like every piece of gear I own is conspiring against me completing it! I'm prepared to spend money to get a set up that's quick to use, good sounding and easy to navigate.
So, I realise everyone's taste is different, but I'd really like some input from you guys - should I update my setup, and if so, to what? Would a mixer allow me to record with send effects, and give me the flexibility I need to record quickly and easily? Would it mean less swapping out of cables? (I think I could leave the pod plugged into channel 2, mic in channel 3 etc)?
Thanks guys, sorry again for moaning but I hope some of you know the stage I'm at and can sympathise!