Which software you use to make audio recording

Which software you use to make audio recording

  • Pro Tools

    Votes: 295 13.2%

  • Samplitude 24/96

    Votes: 68 3.0%

  • Cubase VST/32

    Votes: 436 19.5%

  • Nuendo

    Votes: 135 6.0%

  • Cakewalk Pro Audio

    Votes: 222 9.9%

  • Cool Edit Pro

    Votes: 411 18.4%

  • Vegas Audio

    Votes: 97 4.3%

  • n-track

    Votes: 151 6.8%

  • Sonar 1.0

    Votes: 226 10.1%

  • Logic audio

    Votes: 191 8.6%
  • Total voters
    2,232
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I do have other software on the computer but its a farely fat box. Win98 sitting on a 7200rpm, 1 UltraFast SCSI2 drive for recording, 800MhZ PIII.

Matt:
I did listen to the artist whose music you suggested and the first thing that I noticed is that its all electonic, probably MIDI. All of my stuff is analog converted so they are all sound files. I wonder if this is an issue. You also got me thinking that maybe the SCSI drive is the culprit...

I'll give you an example of my dilemma: Last night, I wanted to get a couple tracks down in Cakewalk because I was in the creative flow. I turned on my MIDI metronome to get a 140bpm click, and started playing guitar. About 1.5 mins. into recording, the click fingered itself and totally threw off the timing. I ignored it and just resynced my playing being that it was just the idea I was trying to get down. When I was listening to it during playback, the recording would sputter and stutter and sometimes it would just stop playing. I would have to reinitiate the play button. This is the same sort of thing that would happen with Cubase except, sometimes the program would lock up for no apparent reason. Just clicking on a button would cause it.

Applications should not respond this way. I don't have these problems with other software I run on the computer, just these two programs...

All I can say is, if you've had good luck with the software, more power to you. After reading many boards, others have had my experience frequently.

Peace
 
Earthcub- my honest opinion is the other software on your computer. Your PC (unquestionably) is a bit of a rocket- however, what I have been told is- don't EVER put other software on your music PC (to clarify- you can- but you need to run a dual boot system.... one for music, one for games/internet etc).
I took this advice and have had no problems (and my PC is but a PII 266 128Meg 7200rpm IDE HD for audio only).

One thing I am certain of is that the internet will make recording music nearly impossible with cubase (all the temporary files screw up the operating system speed). Also things like virus checkers etc will really slow the computer down.

Have you thought about a dual-boot system? Then again- it's probably easier for you just to use another program to record the audio.

The sputter etc that you talk about used to happen on my PC when I was NOT recording digital audio (that's how bad it was). It would sputter & stop while playing back Mp3 files!! It's about 4 years old now, and it had so much crap on the HD (and in the startup files) that it was slowed to the speed of a Microbee (do you remember those computers??).

Anyhow- I formatted both HDs and set it up as I've described (one HD for OS & Cubase - the 7200rpm HD for audio) and it has worked fine.

Regarding the artist you listened to- everything you hear is digital audio. He does use MIDI initially (for jamming) but then records each bit track-by-track into Cubase. I believe that with his ultra-slow system he may have to use a new song to record each new track (and then paste the audio into each new track) but I'm not sure.

I just hate computers. Things aren't supposed to work this way. :o)

Matt
 
Matt:
What OS are you running? I'm on Win98b and I've found that this OS is probably worse that any other I've used which would be, all Mac OSs from CE on, all Wins back to 3.1, multiple vs of Unix and Linux, Novell, Atari, Commodore, jeez ;O). It really has alot of resource problems and I wouldn't use it if it were not for the fact that I have software that won't run on any other platform.

I am very conscious of how my programs are installed and where my memory is being used. I have my volume control and a resource monitor in my sys tray, and I never run other software when I'm running my audio software... I even had Cubase installed on this computer before any other software and it had the problems that I've spoken of...

I may take your advice on the dual boot... Its just such a pain to go from one to the other as I've run these before. It may be easier to resurrect another box that I have in the closet to run my other apps for work.

Thanks for the thoughts...
 
Yeah I'm using Win98b too. It does suck big time.

You know- perhaps the BEST package I have ever used for MIDI (in terms of its PERFECT reliability) is Dr. T's Tiger Cub. I used to run that about 8 years ago on a trusty Commodore Amiga 600.

If you can be bothered- try the dual boot.
It's annoying to me not to be able to use internet while I listen back to tracks etc - but it makes performance so much better (especially on a system like mine, which is far more challenged in terms of performance than is yours).

Good luck!!
 
:D
Me...? Well it's quite cool for me to use Cakewalk Pro 3 for MIDI things. Trust me, it's really old fashioned, but it's all you need for MIDI !!! It's simple and easy to use. When it comes to Audio, then I will use Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 for mix with my MIDI track. Process my audio with Cool Edit Pro for Noise Reduction. Sound Forge for modulation FX ( Chorus, Flange, etc ), TC Native Reverb for the Reverb things. Off course, after all, it depends on what you work. I'm not mentioning about the prizes of the software it self. Most of them offering a good prizes compare to what it does.
What do you think ?
 
I voted for Vegas because I agree for me it's been solid as a rock, rarely bugs out, works with every sound card I've ever had, and requires very little configuration. I use it for tracking, and I would use it for the final mix IF it were friendly to VST plug-ins. I'm not much into MIDI, so that's not a factor for me.

Cubase and Nuendo have always given me problems recording - too much latency for some reason. But for mixing and mastering, I really like the Steinberg stuff.

Someone asked about ProTools on AMD...I've used the Free version with a 650MHz Duron, but I had to dedicate at least 80% of my processor to the program. To tell you the truth, I don't find that ProTools does anything that other software can't do on a typical PC, and learning the system just isn't worth the trouble IMHO.
 
Midi/Audio Tracking: Sonar
Audio Editing: Sound Forge and Cool Edit Pro (but have been using SF more and more)
Loops: Acid (but Sonar has made it so I probably won't be using Acid much longer. I can do everything in Sonar, it's just a matter of learning how!)

When I first started computer based sequencing, I fell in love with Cubase and thought that it was far superior to my experience with Cakewalk. However, when I made the jump to audio recording on the computer, I didn't have the money to get Cubase VST, and settled for Cakewalk 8. It was a bit of a fight, but I progressed through CW 9 and recently upgraded to Sonar and I think it's a really powerful program. I think the new interface is awesome.

I especially like the new loop features in sonar, and seriously think that as time goes by, and I learn sonar better, I won't be using Acid anymore because sonar does it all.

I downloaded a free version of Cool Edit Pro a long time ago, and it was my first Audio editing software. I still like it, but Sound Forge seems to work with a little less hassle with Cakewalk, so I've slowly been doing more and more in SF.
 
Maybe this should be a separate thread, but I see a number of people using loop software (such as Fruity Loops) along with their recording software. While I've been doing midi stuff for years, DAW is new to me.

Could somebody explain what the loop software is used for and how it is used with the recording software? Is a full song exported from the looper to a wav file or just pieces and then imported to the recording software?
 
OPun..

It can be done either way. With Fruity, I always compose complete drum tracks, then export them to WAV, then convert the sample rate to 48k, then import them into Vegas.

The tracks could also be built one loop at a time by saving each one as a short WAV, then using copy/paste into a Vegas or Acid track. I've tried doing it this way, but always run out of patience before I run out of song.
 
earthcub -

For what its worth I'm having a 180 degree experiance from you. I'm running Cakewalk Pro 9 on a PIII/533, Gadget Labs 824 card, using Windows 98SE. Like you am recording 100% audio, average 5-10 tracks per song, but one with 20. I'm having no stability problems whatsoever. I think I've had one crash in the last 6 months.

I support about 200 machines mostly running Win98 at work, plus I work with NT workstations, Novell and NT servers, and 5 systems at home. Almost every stability problem I've seen on 98 relates to running too much stuff at once. If it's properly installed, hardware properly setup, and you don't overload it, it can be quite stable. Likewise I'm not having any oddites with Cakewalk, but I also don't overload that with plug-ins either.

And I haven't come up with a good enough reason to upgrade to SONAR yet.
 
RWhite,
I have the problem even if Cakewalk is the only program running, nothing in the systray.
Well, I've been doing some talkin' and multiple sources claim its Cakewalk 8 that's the unreliable factor. I've really wanted to do some loop work so I decided that it was time to jump into Sonar. I just bought it yesterday and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the problems will be gone. I'm going to transfer all of my cakewalk 8 files over in the next couple of days, so I will let you know the results.

Peace
 
I use Logic Audio Platinum 4.7 because I find it the best of those software I have tried. I have tried also Cubase VST32 v5.0 and Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 and few other software. There is no limitations with Logic so I can let my music fly the way I want it.
 
cakewalk pro 9 cause i have learned it and survived the learning curve. why change when what you got works smooth?
 
bhlewis, that's my philosophy too: it's better to understand the system you have, even with limitations, than to have all the latest bells & whistles you can't figure out howto use!
 
I sequence all 16 tracks on the synth and only need to record one stereo track.
Wavelab works perfect. I record 24/96, process, edit, convert to 16/44 or mp3 without switching the software. Besides for some reason I get a little higher level through Wavelab than through Cake.
 
Matt, RWhite, et. al.,
So, I've made a couple of switches. I dumped the Win 98 OS and installed Win2K again now that I don't have to run Cakewalk8 anymore. I installed Sonar. I had some problems with the IRQs at first and then I talked with a guy at Cakewalk and he gave me some great info on uninstalling the ACPI Steering that loads as the default IRQ sharing driver. I then able to get all of my cards on separate IRQs!
So, what do I have now? A great system! Sonar, once I got the newest WDM drivers for my Delta44 and Sonar, the program is stable as a rock. No glitches at all. The interface is very much like Cakewalk so it was an easy transition. I love the Groove Loops tool being right inside the program. I've been recording audio loops from my JX-305 and its easy as pie.
If I had one gripe, its that they removed the audio editing capability that Cakewalk used to have, which I was used too. What they replaced it with is Slip Editing which allows you to "hide" portions on an audio track. It interesting and I like it but I'm still getting used to it. Also, I got the XL version of the program. It was really expensive, but it comes with a suite of DXi plugins and the Cakewalk FX 1&2 effects. I'm still not so sure it was worth it as there are alot of other plugins out there, many better for the job, but for MIDI, these are kinda cool and the quality is great.
Also, I really like the CPU and DISK usage meters in the UI.

Peace
 
Cubase VST/32

It has everything I want and there are lot's of plugs and VSTinstruments avaliable. I also use Wavelab3 for editing audio files.

But someday I'll be moving up to ProTools.


fim
 
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