Which software?

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TFranklin

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After reading through the messages in this forum I think I would still like to ask a question...<G>

I'm a musicain. Yes I even studied it in college. Like some many I realized early on that I needed a day gig. I have one and am doing fine. Creating music is still important to me, I'll never give it up and don't really care if it goes anywhere financially. So in my little "studio" I want to know if I can produce a decent CD of my work. I would like to use my sampler, midi sequecing software and some live instruments. It seems some of the software available to do this is really bloated and expensive. What are recommendations for doing this? MAC or PC? Software?

Thanks for any ideas....

-t
 
I would not worry too much about the MAC vs PC distinction. Both computers are capabale of producing quality results. If you are familar with Windows, use a PC; If you own a MAC, use a MAC. The key is to find a setup with a fast processor, lots of RAM, and large amounts of free hard disk space.

If it helps, here is what I use:

I-MAC G4 800
RAM=640mb
OS9.2
Glyph GT5050 80 GB external Firewire drive
MOTU 828 Firewire Interface
Audiodesk, Cubase VST, Live
 
How much do you want to spend?
What kind of quality are you looking for?

I hear a program called N-Tracks is cheap and does both midi and audio recording. If it's just you recording yourself then all you need for a sound card is something like a SB Live.
What kind of mics do you have?
You will need some pre-amps. Check out the Audio Buddy by M-Audio. Get a Behringer direct box for bass. They are cheap and look and sound pretty good.

I am using

Sonar
WinXP
AMD 1500XP
512 MB ram
4 drive HD Raid
Motu 2408 Mk II fire wire

So far so good.
 
I have just started in Home Recording and am on a tight budget. This is what I have:

I am using

Cakewalk Music Creator Pro
WinXP
eMachines 1.1 GB intell celron
256 MB ram
20 GB internal HD
80 GB external HD
Turtle Beach: Santa Cruz souncard

So far so good.
 
inexpensive sw but good for multitracking.
ntracks, powertracks, magix audio studio, traktion, muzys,
or for free try audacity for multitracking. there are lotsof
free midi sequencers on hitsquad.com. to try.
if your heavy into midi with questions try the pgmusic.com
user forums. lots of nice midi pro's on there that helped me in the past. nice people/users always helpfull to newbies etc.
 
Thanks!

Thanks for the replies, that helps. I was hearing that MAC was better because of prioritization of multi-media but it looks as though Windows will work ok with enough horse power. I don't have any illusions of production quality. If I ever create anything someone else wants to produce I'll let them pick up production costs. Live performance is my most likely chance of "being discovered" in my musical genre. Again, thanks for the comments and suggestions.
 
actually

the line between top class studio and home pc recordinmg is
getting very narrow now imho. in terms of sound quality.
on my site , soundclick.com/bmanning is a song called take my love (parental discretion advised), a comical rock song done
using everything elite in terms of recording equipment.
we mixed down in a studio thats mixed hit records.
BUT another of my songs that went to number 1 in the blues general section called Hi tech Man was done using all junk.
junk mics, sound card, diy mic preamps. imho the gap is closing.
this song didnt even use the quality of a mia sound card.
so what i'm trying to say is the gap is closing and more related to
how one engineers the song.
 
When I started getting into sound/video production, I was going between Mac and PC. I've run the same music applications on both platforms, and just like the feel and setup of the Mac vs the PC. Finale, Pro Tools, etc. That being said, I have to both types of machines at home. Mac's are generally more efficient with processor usage (try hitting CTL-ALT-DEL on your PC and you MAY have a ton of programs running that you don't want). I've recorded 3 hours of 8 simultaneous (some stereo tracks) and never once had a hang or glitch. That's a lot of information to process. I have some friends that go straight to PC and only have occasional problems, if at all.

If you're going with live recording (I mostly do jazz and classical) with no overdubs, chances are you will have a number of instruments recording at the same time. If you're looking at loop based recording and whatnot, you can go one track at a time and lesson the information sent to the comp at any given time. That will also figure in.

Another thing to think about too is your display... Imagine sitting at your monitor staring at tracks for hours. Getting a good monitor can be expensive though.

The new G5 dual processors by Apple are amazing. Of course you can look to dump a ton of money into the CPU without even getting a display. Since I'm not made of money, and bought my CPU before the G5's were out, I went with a 1.0ghz iMac with a 17 inch wide/flat display. It sure is nice being able to swing that monitor neck around, and tilt it back and forth, trust me...

As far as software goes, you're going to get what you pay for sometimes. Digital Performer 4 is around $300, and Pro Tools LE 6.1 ships with their units. If you're thinking of going with a Mac, check out the MOTU interfaces and software. Those are the two programs I am most familiar with and since they work fine for me, I'm not going to try to tackle another program...

You can have the greatest program in the world, with every plugin ever made, but if your mics or preamps stink, there isn't going to be much you can do about it. There is a reason the big studios will get you the best recordings; they have huge mic cabinents with great mics, and high quality preamps, along with EQ'd rooms, etc. To the average ear, studio/vs home recording is going to sound fairly equal, especially when you compress to mp3 and whatnot. The way I try to hear the difference between what I'm working on and great engineering is to put my instrument sounds side by side with theirs in Pro Tools and try to pinpoint the differences.

Anyway, long winded.

iMac 1.0 Ghz G4
17 inch display
768 mb ram
80 gig HD (fills up FAST)
Digi 002 rack
Pro Tools LE 6.1
 
Hi t,

I'd like to toss "MultitrackStudio" into the mix, for your consideration. I got into home recording early this year along the lines that you describe - mainly to get my ideas down with the least hassle and best quality I could afford, as well as having fun with it.

After demoing a lot of software, I settled on MultitrackStudio and haven't regretted it one bit. My recordings are VERY comparable in quality to that of some of my friends that use the "high-priced" software - the difference being mostly experience in mixing.

MTS has plenty of audio and midi features, while being easy to use. It's also very stabile on my pc.

Check out http://multitrackstudio.com/

You can learn more about the program here and download a free Lite Edition.

Good luck with your musical pursuits and don't forget to have FUN!
 
Software

All, Thanks for all the great advice. It looks like a midrange product will probably be right for me. I'll take a look at all
the solutions mentioned.

-terry
 
i agree with satch

multitrack studios biggest plus is the stability and the impressive carefull thought that went into it. it also sounds very good.
and the included effects are pretty impressive as is the support for plug ins. the thing i liked about it is the way the developer cut down all the complexity of various menus and windows.
a superb development effort imho that a lot of newbies would do well to try out before spending more money.
 
I started with cool edit pro and still use it, so far it has to be the most user friendly software Ive ever used, I didnt like cubase due to its complexity too much, cool edit was very easy to use and straight forward, Another great peice of software is nuendo man they did a real good job on that program, alot more user friendly then alot of software Ive seen.. I cant wait to be able to get my hands ona digi 002 and learn that system, looks soo sweet and ITS PROTOOLS MAN, lol... anyway Id recomend cool edit to anyone, a kid can operate it and it has alot of decent plugins, you might want to download Native waves gold or platinum bundles... Anyway I used to work on macs doing non linear video editing and so far Ive found no difference from PC to MAC, There both really good machines just depends on which your more comfortable with ya know.. enjoy..

My computer dwarfs everyones lol

2 17" Flat screen samsung's
Windows XP
Cool Edit Pro 2.0
Nuendo v1.6
Fruity Loops
TRACKS mastering software
3.06Ghz pentium IV
2.042GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Video Card
Sound blaster Audigy platinum ex 24bit recording sound card
350GB Hard drive w/ 100GB external
40x cd rom burner
4x dvd R

blablabla for all the rest, I built it myself and i must say Im rather happy with it..
 
Holy crap that is one helluva machine!

I must say in my brief time mucking about with audio recording, I've only used Cubase VST and SX - SX is superbly sexy but I agree with the previous poster in that it is amazingly complex.

Luckily I love a challenge!
 
TFranklin.........

Once again, how much money do you want to spend?

spin
 
BTW.............

You can download free demo versions of the software from their respective site. :cool:
 
Software

Thanks for the suggestion, I've been looking at a number of solutions. It's not really a matter of money. Of course budget always has some limitation but software is cheap compared to hardware. I am leaning toward a notation solution and separate sequencing solution where I can import/export MIDI files. I like to write the music first, then pull it into a sequencer and start playing with sounds and effects. In addition, I don't want to get to dependent on software. I would rather import MIDI into my hardware sequencer for playing out of the studio and use hardware effects and hardware seqencer. Don't laugh at my old school stuff but you can do alot with a Kawai Q80 and a Yamaha A4000. Anyway, Ntracks looks good and I may also decide to use Finale Print Music. The reasonable prices will make it easy start there and upgrade later. I cautious of the "all-in-one" studio software, to many eggs in one basket. If you never leave your studio I'm sure it has many advantages....

-ttyl
 
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