Recording Gear, Going to get a new computer and gear+software for recording |
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Jun 12 2008, 02:22 PM
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I was also going to upgrade everything, a Mac, external soundcard/interface with all possible connections and also get the Line6 POD X3 for better guitar sound. I bought the POD X3 live and it stopped there.
The X3 proved to function a lot better than my old Guitarport and that gave my computer plenty of more CPU power so I never had to exchange the comp. It used to stop at 4-5 audio tracks before and I belive now that my guitarport took care of recording but left the playing of sounds to the internal soundcard. The X3 does everything by the looks of it since the computer doesn't seem to spend any of it's power on sound recording and playing. And the POD X3 has mike connection so I really don't need a soundinterface either especially since it's so quick and all. Then you could go with Reaper as your recording program of choise. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jun 12 2008, 02:35 PM
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QUOTE (skennington @ Jun 12 2008, 03:32 PM)  Agree with MickeM on the pod and using Reaper as the DAW. If using a condensor mic, make sure that the pod provides phantom power source. I've learned things the hard way recently. My Toneport UX1 did not so instead of installing an in-line power supply, I just went with a decent dynamic.  The POD does not have phantom power. It's only drawback so far. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jun 12 2008, 02:35 PM
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Pod x3 will be a good choice..Also I'm am very satisfied with my line 6 toneport ux2..
-------------------- For GMC support please email support (at) guitarmasterclass.net
Check out my lessons and my instructor board. Check out my beginner guitar lessons course! ; Take a bass course now! |
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Jun 12 2008, 11:56 PM
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QUOTE (Fsgdjv @ Jun 12 2008, 04:13 PM) Is reaper availiable for mac or will I have to buy a pc for that? Otherwise, I'll check out the pod X3, even though I have a pod and never really liked it. But if I would use the pod I wouldn't be able to mic the amp up then? And, what would you recommend me on getting for recording singing? The X3 Live has (don't know with the bean) a mike input. I never tried to mike an amp with it but I don't see why not. It comes with some presets you surely could use. You would want another sound interface if you're looking for a real pro sound using two mikes at different positions and angles. If I remember well the X3 has one input only. You can record vocals through the X3 aswell, use your mike and select a preset. There's a demo video over at Line6 that shows that. -------------------- My bands homepage
All time favourites: B. Streisand - Woman in Love, M. Hopkin - Those were the days, L. Richie - Hello |
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Jun 13 2008, 09:46 AM
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QUOTE (Fsgdjv @ Jun 12 2008, 02:13 PM) Is reaper availiable for mac or will I have to buy a pc for that? Otherwise, I'll check out the pod X3, even though I have a pod and never really liked it. But if I would use the pod I wouldn't be able to mic the amp up then? And, what would you recommend me on getting for recording singing? There's a pre-Beta version of Reaper for Macs here . Comments on the stability/robustness of the build all seem v positive. WRT your wider question - Audio Interface - how many inputs/outputs do you think you'll need and what will you be recording - ie guitar only, vocals, other instruments; only studio or live; only you or your group in a single take etc, etc. What types of connectivity do you want/need for the interface - XLR mics, HiZ jack for guitar, normal jack for line, MIDI etc? Do you want or need Firewire, USB2/1.1, and an external interface or do you want an internal PC card? PC - Mac or PC - personal choice but arguably the Mac will give you greater integration between the Mac and interface and software. A PC will give you a wider choice of software. Whichever route you go you then need to think about whether the comp will only be for music or be multi-purpose. If the former you need to concentrate on CPU, RAM, Hard Disc performance and get the best audio interface you can afford and downgrade the video card. However if you want to play new games then you'll need a good video card and will probably have to trade off music performance. Think about whether or not you want a state of the art Mac/PC - do you need 64 bit and/or Mac Panther/Windows Vista or can you get away with 32 bit and Tiger/XP... Also how confident you are in upgrading components? If you are you can retro fit to upgrade the internals of a PC pretty easily but Macs (whilst you can do it) tends to be a bit harder. If you are very confident here a good option is to completely spec a pc and build it yourself (something that quite a lot of us do for a music pc). If you aren't it is possible to buy a Mac or PC that has been built for music - they tend to be a bit more expensive then the off the shelf versions but not too much more - you can get them from bigger music retailers. Software - do you want to use freeware/shareware only or do you want to also budget for commercial software - sequencer, VSTs and VSTIs. Do you need/want soft synths or are you more interested in guitar and recording effects? For some suggestions take a look at the stickied lists in the recording sub-forum. Budget is important - how much and how you want it split between computer, software, audio interface. So, sorry no recommendation from me just questions for you to consider. If you can give us some more info on what you need then we may be able to narrow it down a bit .Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Jun 13 2008, 04:19 PM
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Ok just staying with a Mac -
I think it should be within budget to go for something along the lines of: Mac - Mac Pro 1x2.8GHz cpu, 500Gb hard drive, 2Gb RAM, latest Leopard 10.5.x OS, 64 bit system - @1750 Euros. You can always get extra RAM and a 2nd CPU fitted later - if you can do it yourself you'll save a fortune over what Apple charge. Also, at a later date you could add an external hard drive - they're pretty cheap. Plus 20'' display -@400Euros. You may already have a display that will work with a Mac - but check as from memory Macs use the digital video interface and not the analogue that most PC video display run on. Audio interface - MBox 2 (4 ins/2 out USB interface. Ins include phantom powered XLR) - @350 Euros. (Interface includes a copy of the Protools LE version 7 sequencer. MBox has a DI HiZ input so you can plug an electric guitar in to it and there's phantom power to the XLR input.) The MBox also comes with drivers for pc and ProTools LE sessions can be opened on Pro Tools and Protools HD systems (many pro recording studios use Pro Tools HD). With the MBox and Pro Tools you may need an i-Loc usb key - they cost about 30Euros but try to get it included in the package. Thats @ 2500Euros. What's left you could put towards a guitar amp emulator/microphone/headphones/monitors. For recording vocals look at getting a good condenser mic - something like a Rode NT1A is a good starter. Any additional software, for now I'd look in to freeware/shareware for the Mac; afraid I'm not up on freeware/shareware for macs so can't help much here but you could look at the Mac version of Reaper. The MBox does also come with some additional software. If you look around you may be able to get it as all in one package for less - prices here are really if you buy the bits separate. If you don't want Pro Tools LE the other major Mac orientated package is Logic but MBox should integrate seamlessly with Pro Tools. The only real downside of the MBox/LE as I see it is that LE is limited to 24 bit 48kHz and 32 track simultaneous recording. Having said that very few people would need more then these to be honest. You can also upgrade the LE to a full version of Pro Tools and you can get an extended version of the software package that comes with the MBox. Internal vs external sound cards. It's partially personal preference. I prefer internal - for an external part of the price is the casing and some internal cards can pass data much better across the buss albeit most systems won't notice a difference between the two. (You only really notice it if you start running a lot of plug in effects and lots of recording channels all at once.) External has the big advantages of being easy to install and easy to move between different computers/locations. So unless you are 100% sure about only using a single computer in a fixed location then an external is probably best for you. For a synth - think about getting a midi keyboard and using some software synths - see The Uncreator's recent thread (flagged on the GMC community news part of the main page yesterday/today) as Brett asked a very similar question. A really cheap midi keyboard starts at under 100Euros - they go up in price though to 1000Euros. For softsynths, there are loads available including some very good free/cheap ones - I like Green Oak's Crystal (free) and also Native Instruments do very cheap cut down versions of it's Rhodes Piano, SCs Prophet 5 and Yamaha DX7 synths. Hope this helps. Cheers, Tony This post has been edited by tonymiro: Jun 13 2008, 04:20 PM -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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Jun 13 2008, 10:39 PM
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Hmm, I saw that you can get Locig Express quite cheap together with the computer when you buy a mac, is that a good program or is it really stripped down compared to Logic Pro?
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Jun 13 2008, 10:59 PM
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Besides everything that Tony (co nicely) put, I would add a Shure SM57 for micing the guitar amp.
Costs about 80$.
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Jun 17 2008, 08:01 PM
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Thats sound fine to me mate
-------------------- For GMC support please email support (at) guitarmasterclass.net
Check out my lessons and my instructor board. Check out my beginner guitar lessons course! ; Take a bass course now! |
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Jun 18 2008, 09:17 AM
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Get the guys in the shop to 100% it - only things I can think of that you may need quickly are:
USB lead to attach the MBox - may be one supplied so get the shop to check - and a couple of midi leads if you want to attach a midi keyboard. Mic stand and pop shield.One thing - if you're getting the whole thing from a single shop then push for both some money off and try to get them to chuck in some free stuff - ie the leads, the mic stand, pop shield and maybe some free software. Cheers, Tony -------------------- Get your music professionally mastered by anl AES registered Mastering Engineer. Contact me for Audio Mastering Services and Advice and visit our website www.miromastering.com
Be friends on facebook with us here. We use professional, mastering grade hardware in our mastering studo. Our hardware includes: Cranesong Avocet II Monitor Controller, Dangerous Music Liasion Insert Hardware Router, ATC SCM Pro Monitors, Lavry Black DA11, Prism Orpheus ADC/DAC, Gyratec Gyraf XIV Parallel Passive Mastering EQ, Great River MAQ 2NV Mastering EQ, Kush Clariphonic Parallel EQ Shelf, Maselec MLA-2 Mastering Compressor, API 2500 Mastering Compressor, Eventide Eclipse Reverb/Echo. |
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