Jul 29, 2008 01:41 pm What was frustrating you with audacity?
Software help
Posted on Jul 29, 2008 01:01 pm
emmacherry
Member Since: Jul 29, 2008
Hi,
I'm new to this site....it's great...
I am a musician, wanting to record my album at home...now, I have a few things already, I have a small behringer mixer, a laptop...(windows vista)....I have a digital 8-track (need more tracks)...mic's...leads...and a few other bits.
Now, I thought it would be easier if I recorded into my laptop, then I could see the song coming together.
I want to invest in a software program that will do the job....not be too easy - I have Audacity already and it frustrates me.
I've looked into Sonar Home Studio v6, but have read that I will need an interface with this. Or something like The Mbox with Pro-tools...the latter seems more better as it's more of a package deal, but lots more expensive than Sonar......
Argh....I'm confused as what to do, I don't want to spend the little money I have on something that in the long run might end up costing me more or not be good enough.....
Please help....what do you use? and what with....?
I play folk, acoustic, alternative music with vocals.....so mainly Live instruments will be used, but would be handy to play around with other sounds if possible.
Sorry to waffle on.....
Thanks
Emma
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Jul 29, 2008 01:41 pm What was frustrating you with audacity?
Jul 29, 2008 01:52 pm Sonar HS6 is a great ap to start with, and upgradeable for a fee, if you decide you need more... Cakewalk is cool like that . It can produce a high-quality product, as well . As far as an interface for your laptop is concerned, there are alot of choices out there with firewire, and usb options for connection... perhaps a laptop-DAW user will have more info for you on that .
Welcome to HRC, Emma .
Jul 29, 2008 02:07 pm In regards to budget concerns and whatnot...if you plan on at least starting out using only live instruments, Kristal Audio Engine is free, and pretty darn good other than lacking MIDI, but if you are all live, that shouldn't concern you. www.kreatives.org/kristal/
Like Hue said, HS6 is pretty cool and another reasonably priced application is MultiTrackStudio
www.multitrackstudio.com/ full featured shareware type app, I've used it a lot, pretty cool.
ANother one that has some fans around here is Reaper, which is free to try no-nag software that is cheap for non-commercial use if you decide to buy (like $50 I think) www.cockos.com/reaper/
Welcome to HRC.
Jul 30, 2008 08:49 pm Hey Emma, Welcome to the HRC.
I'm one of the Reaper fans, and the more I use it, the better it seems. It's free to try, and full featured, so it's a no-brainer to at least give it a whirl. For those trying, reaper does not inject anything into the registry, so removal is totally clean, nothing left behind.
Now, you say you have a laptop, so I'm gonna assume it has onboard sound, with stereo inputs, and stereo outputs. This may not even be the case, as my laptop (dell 600m) only has a mic in, so it's only 1 input, and 2 outputs (l & r).
I would suggest strongly to get yourself a recording type interface. This will give you better preamp (boost mic signal up to line level), better conversion (convert analog sine wave to digital bits and bytes), better stability, and better latency (the time it takes for incoming sounds to be pushed back out again).
Now a few options that spring to mind, is first the Line6 UX1 & UX2. These are USB connected devices, so you don't need to install much to your laptop, just some software, and plug in the USB. There's quite a few users on here using the UX2 and liking it much (a few with reaper). The UX1 offers 1 xlr input for microphones, but not phantom power. The UX2 offers 2 mic inputs, and supplies phantom power for condenser mics. This would be my first choice, if I were looking.
Line6 products also have modeling and effects built into the device, so you can add different sounds to your voice / guitar / etc.
Also, there's the tascam units. The US122 and US144 seem to be pretty decent. I have one of the older US122s and it's been quite good for me. Others have had problems, but there's a few on here now using the newer ones, and they seem to be working well.
Both of these options (UX2 & US122) are in the 100+ $US range, which may be more than your thinking to spend, but I will say it'll be way worth it if you're doing more than just a few quick projects. If you're looking to do an album/cd, then save yourself some frustration, and get something made for recording / audio production work.
Hope that helps.
Jul 30, 2008 08:52 pm Oh yeah, the UX1 & 2 don't have midi, so you would have to add a device to work with midi data.
The us122/144 have midi built in, I think. My old one does, so I'm assuming the new ones do as well.
If you got a ux2, it'd be pretty easy to add a midi connection. Maudio makes the UNO, i think, which adds midi connection to usb port for pretty cheap.
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