Which setup to choose?

C

ChoppinBroccoli

New member
Hi,

Basically, what I want to do is record guitar, bass, vocals, and MIDI stuff with a MIDI keyboard and soundfonts, using either Cakewalk or Vegas.

I've narrowed my audio workstation setup schemes down to these 2:

1) Buy a Digi001

2) Buy a Mackie mixer, and SB Live! Platinum(for recording guitars and to use the MIDI keyboard/soundfonts with), while using my Turtle Beach Montego II for playback.



Right now I'm leaning towards #2. I'm iffy about the Digi001, as I own a PIII 450 PC. Sure, I meet the requirements, but I think a Mac might be the way to go with the Digi001.

So I know the SB Live! would be great for the MIDI stuff, but will it be suffice for recording guitars/bass/vocals?

Thanks in advance
 
There are obviously advantage in each option. The digi001 is a "turnkey" type deal - take it out of the box and off you go, but having a mixer hooked into a computer does allow for a certain amount of flexibility when your recording. An all in one like the digi is certainly nice to start with, but in many respects it's like putting all your eggs in one basket. The mackie and sound card approach means it will probably cost a lot more in the long run, but you can upgrade only sections at a time, which might help the hip pocket somewhat.

The SoundBlaster card isn't brilliant for recording, but for starting out, it will work OK (I'm still using mine due to lack of funds). Don't know much about the turtle beach stuff - try a search - there might be some interesting stuff.

OK, I haven't been much help, but I gues it's a start.

- gaffa
 
Well for a start the Digi001 wont work will cakewlak or Vegas so unless you fancy Pro Tools (and it is a top bit of software) then forget about the Digi001.

The SBLive is bottom of the heap when it comes to recording cards - sure its got soundfonts but the most important thing is recording quality and that's not exactly the SbLives strong point.

My advice would be to check out the M-Audio Omni i/o and Delta 44. Its a top quality solution giving you twin mic pres plus instrument inputs, inserts, aux sends and inputs and two headphone outputs and more. Its nearly half the price of the Digi001 and has excelent drivers so everything works with it. Also, get an SBLive value as well so you can still use soundfonts and it'll also give you a midi interface which is the one thing the OmniI/O lacks.

Hope this helps
Robin
http://www.pc-music.com
 
Just to throw in my two cents...

I would recommend the "open" solution. It will give you the flexibility to grow the solution according to your own needs over time. Products that bundle a bunch of features in a single box tend to do none of the well, in an effort to provide a low price point.

Most of the purchases I have been sorry over have been due to a desire to kill two birds with one stone. Usually what I end up with is two wounded birds and no stone.

Going with the mackie will let you introduce a better sound card when you decide its necessary, and (as previously mentioned) will let you select from any of a number of Wintel centric software solutions.
 
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