Whats up with this Audio Studio 7 deluxe with Aardvark?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bloozguy
  • Start date Start date
B

bloozguy

New member
I have been converting a practice room in our high school band room into a recording studio experience for students.

I intended to duplicate my system to some degree that I have at home, which is a multi media computer with Cakewalk. I started with Cakewalk 9.0 Pro Audio which came bundled with the Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96....and upgraded to Sonar 2...

We had a multi media system built, purchased a Shure KSM27 vocal mic...and I ordered the Aardvark Direct Pro...only, while Musician's Friend advertised it was bundled with Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.0....it came with Magix Audio Studio 7 deluxe software.

I shot off a question right away to Musician's Friend to ask what the heck??? ...but a google search revealed that now Aardvark comes bundled with this Magix....

So, what's the deal anyhow? Anyone familiar with this Magix software? I imagine its much cheaper than the Cakewalk Aardvark use to bundle, so they get more money no doubt on their sale.

What can anyone tell me about this software....as I need encouragement at this point. Not looking forward to having to spend nights at the school learning a new system so I can turn around and teach it.

thanks...

Bloozguy....
 
magix

i use magix audio studio all the time with powertracks.
imho - mas is superb. in every way. a tip for you.
i learnt this at the beginning. lets say you want a standard
24 track multitrack set up with all mono tracks. SET IT UP AS A TEMPLATE, you call up when you start each new song.
read the help very carefully. everything is automatable including automated recordable mixer moves. it was a bit steep learning curve initially, but now it all makes perfect sense.
another tip - if you notice you can hilite individual bits of a track and lower the volume of just that bit. also try and understand and learn how the effects work. they are very good as well as the compressors on each channel and the eq.
another tip, set up each new song in its own folder under windows.
there is nothing better imho.
 
I've used both Magix Audio Studio and Sonar. Magix isn't bad, but Sonar is far superior.

I'd argue the case with Musician's Friend if I were you. Maybe you'll get something out of the deal (it was falsely advertised). I doubt you'll get a copy of Cakewalk, but you might get something.
 
i tried sonar once. please list why its better.
considering mas is really samplitude that a lot of top studios use.
frankly i dont think one needs anything more than mas.
it has every feature i would ever need to do a great song.
ive recorded in top studios, and heaved a sigh of relief when it came along. for the price mas cant be beat. especially considering all the automation and effects features ,,,,forgetting the fact the wole other side midi studio is included as well.
for 49 bucks retail it ROCKS !
it works for me day after day with stability a lot only dream of.
aardvark included it probably becayse they know its ace.
 
Audio Studio 7

I've been using Studio 7 for a while now, and while I agree about the steep learning curve, things started to make sense once I printed out the "Tips and Tricks" from the help menu. Personally, I've only scratched the surface with this program, but I think I'll stick with it for a while. Here's a link to their board if you're interested. http://support.magix.net/boards/magix/index.php?
 
monkeyshock

monkey, your very smart. i really find the mixer is so sweet for adding a bit of compression and/or effects on the fly while playing back. its VERY deep. i know people whove spent 100k on a studio
who are surprised when i show them how deep the features are.
the eq is soo flexible. but what i really like is the stability of audio studio. ive owned 2 inch studios, and for me day after day i record songs without having to worry about other things.
what sound card do you use with it ? because i'm thinking of a card upgrade this year.
 
manning1 said:
i tried sonar once. please list why its better.
considering mas is really samplitude that a lot of top studios use.
frankly i dont think one needs anything more than mas.
it has every feature i would ever need to do a great song.
ive recorded in top studios, and heaved a sigh of relief when it came along. for the price mas cant be beat. especially considering all the automation and effects features ,,,,forgetting the fact the wole other side midi studio is included as well.
for 49 bucks retail it ROCKS !
it works for me day after day with stability a lot only dream of.
aardvark included it probably becayse they know its ace.
Click to expand...

Here we go again...:rolleyes:
 
brzillian

i'm no newbie to recording having owned several studios.
including 2 inch studios.
before i bought both powertracks and magix audio studio
i talked to lots of people that owned and used them as well as owning many different competitors products as well. so i got a lot of unbiased opinions. including user forums.
imho - a lot of newbies spend far too much on their project studios. when i was a newbie i did the same thing.
powertracks has won kudos from electronic magazines as has magix audio studio. so i'm not alone in my thinking.
they both come with excellent reviews/references.
both have been rock solid in everyway day after day for me.
and together with the value for money cheap price that counts a lot more with me than a lot of features - most i wont ever use.
newbies have a choice, they can either blow 10k on a rig, or
take my heed and spend 2500k with these two products as their bedrock and spend the rest on good mics and preamps, and a good sound card , which is what i believe really matters or
"where the rubber hits the road".
sorry we dont agree. best regards. this set up works beautifully for me for a total software cost under 100 bucks.
 
Home Studio 2002 cost me $69, does everything your precious little piece of software does AND supports DXi/VST softsynths aas well as ACID loops. The upgrade to HS2004 was another $45 and now adds ASIO driver support.

Do the math...:rolleyes:
 
so why brzillian

if you are correct brzillian why did so many people owning both
your home studio as well as powertracks and magix tell me before i bought that they preferred powertracks and magix audio studio ? i did not get this comment from one, but many people.
maybe it just comes down to personal preference.
anyway i'm really happy. i dont use loops because i believe this is a lazy way of songwriting. i like to write songs from scratch with
as much heart as i can put into them. i dont need real time vst synths, just plug in an external midi capable synth with thousands of presets. anyway as i was trained as a computer engineer i dont believe the pc has the power yet to handle lots of real time processes with synths and effects. in a couple of years this will change.
 
by theway brz

i looked at home studio yesterday for the umpteenth time.
it IS a good product with good value for money.
likewise sonar IS a good product.
 
manning 1

Manning, you are light years ahead of me(as most everyone here is). I'm new to recording in general. Try not to laugh when I tell you I just purchased a Soundblaster live from ebay, and it will be an upgrade to my system...he, he. I'm here to learn from you guys while dealing with a minimal budget at this time. I agree with what you said about using loops. Though since I don't have a metronome on my Magix studio I'm beginning to use drum loops as a temporary track to make sure I keep good time.
My next 3 steps will be:1, get a decent mike for recording acoustic.(I'm using a Sony vocal mic) 2,upgrade Magix Audio, and 3, get the Audiophile 24/96. OK........now you can laugh!
 
monkey

the audiophile purchase makes sense. i'm waiting for the new magix audio 8 which i'm sure will have - i hope anyway -
amplifier for guitar modelling. they are now advertising a 2004 release. also i expect they will put in vst support.
frankly i haveenough effects with what ive got.
on the midi click, yes you can get midi click tracks. just go into the midi studio part of audio studio. in midi studio there are tons of midi tracks for setting up drums. and i dont know about your version but mine on cd came with all sorts of wav and midi loops
and so on including drum sounds you could cut up, build a loop
and then import as an audio track into audio studio and then add your other tracks. powertracks is also neat for building drum tracks because it comes with pre-setup song styles like rock, blues, jazz etc. about 80 different styles to build a song.
also if you check magix audio studio has a drum grid editor you can use to build all sorts of different drum tracks.
on the condenser mic i would go for something like a v67g into
a vtb1 preamp. or if you can afford it i'm a great fan of beyer mics.
i guess now ive made that recommendation, brz is going to say i'm a shill for beyer !
i have no affiliation to any companies i recommend.
i WOULD asap upgrade to the audiophile. a sweet sound card.
 
manning 1...slightly off topic.

I plan on looking into the midi studio more closely, and though I haven't received it yet, I'm already regretting the Soundblaster purchase, maybe it'll do for a month or so- I guess I can always use it to play mahjongg in surroundsound.
After reading your comments, I checked out some reviews on the vtb1 pre-amp...sounds encouraging,and the price is good. While on the subject, I wonder if you might consider listening to a couple of pieces I recorded, and tell me if you think my next move should be for the pre-amp rather than a mic. I'm starting to think that with a stronger signal, I could eliminate the noise I'm getting, and just be more creative with mic placement. Does that thinking have merit ? If you have just a couple of minutes, have a listen and tell me what you think needs to be addressed first. http://www.nowhereradio.com/attaboy/singles If not...no problem. Thank you for the help.
 
monkey - i listened.

to 43 days mp3. very sweet piece you did there. please could you tell me what you are using currently for mic and preamp and i'll try and make sensible minimum cost suggestions for improvement of the noise issue. in the interim.....
1. is it possible you are picking up fan noise from your computer.??
also be aware that say you have fan blown central heating , mics can pick this up.
2. i notice fret finger noise as you move guitar fretting positions.
i clean this up in audio studio by highlighting the piece of fret noise zoomed in then you will see a icon in audio studio up in the upper bar towards the left. sort of greyish. click that then hold cursor over the hilited part and arrows appear. just drag down with the mouse, and the fret noise can be lowered in volume to zero if you wish of just that noisey piece of the track.
solo each track, and silence the areas where you are not playing in each track.
3. another way of reducing noise is there are several free or shareware noise reduction software. try this in cool edit 96.
youll find it by searching on google. within cool edit 96 load in a wave track (having checked the noise reduction and save options), and highlight an area of the wave where you arent playing , just noise. bring up the noise reduction transform to read the noise area. DONT click OK. click CLOSE.
then highlight whole wave track, go back into noise reduction transform and click OK. BUT , dont use extreme reduction using the slider. try about 15 to 20 per cent. so no artifacts are introduced. or alternatively try 10 per cent, and repeat till you
start to hear artifacts. and save the pass before no artifacts.
having noise reduced your tracks, rebring them back into audio studio and remix to a mixdown file. NOTE: when in cool edit DONT change the length or cut out a piece of the track for obvious reasons. in audio studio hipass everything above 50
to 100 hz. experiment with the low frequency cutoff. so a lot of low end junk gets cut out. this might help. with some cheaper sound cards a cut in the 2k to 7k region helps in cutting the upper distorted range of some sound cards. but only carefull minor cuts.
hth.
 
monkeyshock - i got the noise out of 43 days.

to help you, and as an experiment i managed to get a lot of the noise out of 43days as i think its a sweet piece. unfortunately i cant get the fret buzz out as its embedded in the stereo master.
i am doing some more mastering tricks as i post this.
ive manged to get the acoustics quite in ones face upfront.
there is also this nice highlight towards the end of the piece i like that i'm trying to bring out more. tell me where to upload the denoised/remastered version , and then you can compare to the original as an example of what can be done with a bit of carefull editing/mastering.
 
Manning 1

Jeez, I don't really know what to say. You really went out of your way on this...Thank you! I'd like to hear what you've done, is email ok or is there a better way? I'm not using any ftp. If you need username and password to upload to nowhereradio, let me know...You should know though, that I plan to re-record these as soon as I can get a decent set-up...these tunes are rough drafts.
Ok, here's what I'm using.
Ess Audio Drive chipset...no true soundcard as yet, though I should get that soundblaster within a week.

The only pre-amp I have is whatever windows uses I guess. I did get the latest driver update.

The mike is a Sony f-v610 cardiod dynamic vocal mike, it says-imp 6000. I couldn't find it at the sony site, But it's probably the equal of what they offer for about $60.
About the cool edit...can you save files with the demo version?
I've been working on my playing to reduce string noise, but I'll search around some forums for info on quieter strings.
I really appreciate the effort manning, I'll owe you one for sure!
Work is slow, so money is tight but, do you think I should go for a pre-amp first or a better mic? I should be able to get the Audiophile 24/96 in a month or so. I.ve read some of your posts in other forums, so I know your qualified. Thanks man ! email is: jraerobins@cs.com
 
Last edited:
monkeyshock

considering what you have in terms of equipment i think youve done well. particularly given the ess sound card.
minimum i would say get yourself a mixer even if you can only afford a ub1002 for 90 bucks. preferably a preamp like a dmp3 or a vtb1 for 130 bucks. i dont know that particular sony model.
but i assume its not xlr. if its quarter inch male plug on the end you might try a preamp in a cassette deck in the interim while you save up, and go from cassette deck line out to line in of ess.
if you do save up for a new mic and mixer and/or preamp,
really you might let a store try one of the condensors like an apex 430, or even rent a few to try. as its so difficult to try in a store.
i have now finished remastering the 43mp3. no noise now - right
up front in your face. sounds great over akg pro mastering headphones. i could do more mastering, but sadly my time is limited due to my songwriting schedule. the simplest way to get it to you is to put it up on my own site at soundclick.com/bmanning,
and then you tell me when youve downloaded it and i will delete it from my site. if you are concerned i'll even put it up as monkeyshocks song if you wish. but i'm kinda pleased how i cleaned it all up, including a little glitch hereand there.
like night and day. i think youll be pleased. ive learnt a lot of mastering tricks in the last 25 years from mastering pros.
get back to me or email me at manning1@canoemail.com.
you WILL be very surprised. took me a good 3 hours. BUT I LOVE A CHALLENGE.
all the best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top