Total beginner on a budget!

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MADBASSIST

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I have lots of plans for the future to build a decent recording rig into my flat but, until I am able to complete the project (which on my wages, will probably take about 3 years to do!) I am looking for the cheapest possible way to do some home recordings.

The quality of these recordings does not need to be superb by any means (I have access to a friends studio to do final recordings for the time being), but need to be good enough quality for me to play to friends to give them an idea of the music I am recording.

The recordings will need two guitar tracks and a vocal track, but space to add percussion, bass and further vocal tracks would be advantageous. Also, my personal preferance would be to burn the recordings onto CD when completed.

I have been told that a hard disk recorder with an internal CD writer is what I am looking for, but am unsure as to where to start looking as there appears to be a very wide market for these products.

Any information/advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
 
Damn near any PC with modest horsepower and a full duplex soundcard along with some kind of recording software will do that. I assume since you're here you have the computer already.:cool:
 
You have 3 basic options:

1. PC based using sound card or other similar device
2. Simple digital recorder and PC for mixdown
3. Standalone digital recorder that does it all

They are probably in order of cost. I choose 2, and it works great.

Ed
 
Unfortunately, although I have a computer at my disposal at all times of the day and night, one belongs to my employer, and the other belongs to my landlord and I don't think either would be very happy with the idea of me taking their equipment to pieces to install new hardware/software!

For the time being I am looking for a single unit solution as I am going to leave the purchase of a PC until last (due to the speed with which the highest spec becomes obsolete!).
 
There are many firms that make standalones. Foxtex and Roland are two with good gear. There are dozens of others in varying price and features ranges.

Keep in mind that you can buy a pretty good PC for less than $500, which will also have many other uses. You might consider doing that first rather than last.

Ed
 
You should still keep an open mind about the computer route...

You don't need to run out and buy a new computer.

You can buy a used computer that's running Windows 98se.

You can pick up some freeware/shareware from this site...

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm

Once you save up some more money you can pick up a new soundcard (or even a used one on E-BAY).

I'm sure that will be the most cost effective way to reach your goal.

I'm certain the rest of the members here at HR.COM will offer you some other options and more info. ;)

Peace...

spin
 
Actually that is very good advice.

One source for semi-used gear is the Dell refrubished site. I paid $250 for the last Dell I bought, and it looks as new as it could and still has a new warrenty.

Ed
 
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I've got a recording mate that for his rig he's using a PII-400 with 256 meg of RAM and is running Sonar with up to 30 tracks and no problems at all. He's not running a crap load of real time plugs but he doesn't need to. You should be able to get an adequate PC and the software (you can spend a lot less than Sonar) for a very good price. I would keep the PC option open as you may find out that you prefer using a PC based DAW. That doesn't mean
you won't prefer a stand alone but it's good to have the option and the cost shoudn't be prohibitive.
 
I support the used computer option. With the way newer and faster PC's are coming out, you can get a very practical system for peanuts. Keep in mind that almost all of us who have been on this board for a couple years typed a post in 1999 saying how juiced we were with our sporty new 550MHz SMOKIN' PC! You can get one of them for what?... $250 US bucks? And from the sounds of it you are going for simple yet decent home recording. The only reason you could possibly demand a new state of the art super PC is if you are going to run new, state of the art software. A used 550 with say 128mb of ram will more than record plenty of tracks with any number of non memory eating programs.
 
For $250 I can get a new 1300 Duron, 128DDR RAM, 30GB HD, CD burner, complete with speakers, mouse and keyboard.
 
I too recommend the pc route. Going for a standalone when not knowing what your ultimate recording needs are is a waste of money. With a used pc and cheap recording software you can make decent enough recordings now with the ability to upgrade your pc setup in the future for much less than buying a standalone now and realizing that its limitations warrant purchasing a pc in the future.

Cy
 
..yet another vote for the used PC route. I used a PII 433mhz with 256 ram for about 2 years. I could get 20 tracks with moderate effects plugin usage.

IMO, if you don't need portability, this is the way to go. Much, much more flexibility than with a standalone. If you do need to be portable, you can pick up a used Roland VS1680 for pretty cheap these days.
 
Here's a really weird suggestion. Yes, I know the used PC and N-tracks or Sonar XL or whatever is the best way to maximize performance for minimal bucks, but this is what I did. While I was saving up bucks, and studying gear, I bought a Korg PXR4 Pandora. It was $400 US then, now it's $300. I have no idea about UK pricing. You need a 128mb smart media card also, 2 is better. They're down to about $36 US.
Why? because even when you own a $20,000+ studio (I do, now), it'll still be useful. Fits in the palm of your hand. Records 2 tracks at a time, if you feed it properly (goes real good with a small preamp like M Audio DMP3). It bounces tracks, so you can add more than 4 tracks if you understand it. It downloads to a PC by USB in MP2 format, where you can burn to CD. Fits in your guitar case or backpack. The condenser mic in it is amazing, considering what it is. It's a fair remote recorder, especoally when paired with a small preamp. It has multiple guitar distortions, a few of which are useful. It's a metronome, a basic drum machine, has surprisingly useful reverbs. It's a tuner.
The price has come down because nobody took it seriously, because it's so small. There are lots of bigger machines you could get with CDR drives and whatnot, but in the end, they'll be replaced by better standalones, or a PC based system, or a Protools interface, or whatever. But after all those things have been upgraded, the Pandora is what you will take on holiday, or camping, or to the park. When you hear a great streetmusician, you can whip it out and capture the performance. The little bastard is simply one of the coolest tools a recording artist can own.-Richie
 
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