USB or PCI?

  • Thread starter Thread starter axemayhem
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A

axemayhem

New member
Well I am new to this so this is probably the right place to ask a few questions.

My best friend (bass player) and I (guitarplayer) want to start recording our original songs (metal). I ventured into a Guitar Center to look at software and hardware to get started. The clerk grabbed Cakewalk Home Studio and the Fostex USB adapter with 2 mic preamps and 2 line inputs and said this all you'll need.

Now to my question. What is the better way to input audio into my PC? USB,or should I look at investing in a PCI sound card? Could someone recommend a few budget oriented sollutions? Currently I have the standard sound blaster stereo card that came with my computer.

I am also intersted in what software would be the most flexible to get started with? I am hoping to be able to create drum tracks on my PC as we currently do not have a drummer in the loop. I've been looking at Cakewalk's Guitar Tracks Pro but I also have access to ACID and Sonar. Where should I start?
 
drum loops

ive tried using programs like leafdrums and pc drummer to program drums, pc drummer is real good software (pcdrummer.com) you can program a track and convert it to a wave file. but i started using drum loops instead because its a lot easier and quicker for ME mainly cause i dont have any drum experience and have a hard time composing them, you can find a bunch of them on the net, most royalty free too, then all you have to do is hack em up and put them to your liking!!
 
First off.... welcome to our home here at HR.COM. ;)

1. What is your budget?

2. Are you using a desktop or a laptop?

If you are using a desktop, then I would suggest PCI (take a look at the M-Audio soundcards).

If you are using a laptop, then you have no choice but to use a FireWire or USB soundcard.

spin
 
axemayhem said:
...... also intersted in what software would be the most flexible to get started with? ...... I also have access to ....Sonar.....
Click to expand...

Then you should use Sonar, for your tracking and mixing (I use Sonar 3).

However, if you have the money, you might want to download demo versions of ALL of the multi-track programs. Decide which program you like to use the most, then buy "it".

spin
 
axemayhem said:
......I am hoping to be able to create drum tracks on my PC ....
Click to expand...

Since you already have ACID, you can make your drum track with it (Acid).

You might want to purchase some CDs with "live drum" samples.

Look for...

Purrrrfect Drums

AND

Drumkit From Hell

If you have problems finding these CDs, email me. :cool:

P.S. Some people like to program their drums in Fruity Loops Pro. i prefer to use Acid.

spin

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First let me say thanks for all the input and I am glad to be on the BB.

My budget is not cheap but not unlimited. I would like to stay in the $100-$300 range for my I/O device, seeing as I am just getting started.

I am currently using a desktop. The real reason I was asking about USB vs. PCI is to find out which will really give me the best quality recordings. I realize USB might be more flexible in terms of using with either my desk top or my lap top but it is the flexibility worth the audio quality trade off that seems to be the opinion of many of the posts I've already read.

It might be important to mention that I will only be recording at the most 1 or 2 instrumets/mics at any one time and most of my work will be done stacking or compiling tracks that are recorded individually.

Has anyone switched to USB from PCI or vice versa that might be able to give me a real world comparison of their experiences?
 
In my experience the PCI is far better for sure than usb. But after USB 2.0 came I didn't try any of the usb soundcards, so I dont know. Fire wire is much stable too, I have worked a lot in that and never had problems, but again USB 2 is a little faster than firewire and I haven't tried any yet.
 
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