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Recording music on my PC?
grendel824_
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Okay, I UTFSEd and couldn't find quite what I was looking for, but I'm looking for advice on what I'd need to buy to make decent home recording demos on my PC.
It's a relatively new PC (a couple of years old), and I already have two guitars, a bass, a mic, and a drum machine. I figure ProTools would be the way to go (though expensive as all hell, but a friend might give me his old copy), but I'm sure I need something else, like something that actually lets me plug these instruments into the PC. I've looked at more music-oriented sites, but they tend to be a little too hardcore for my purposes and I get lost pretty quickly.
Oh, and the important thing is that I'm very, very broke at the moment, so the cheaper-but-still-good it is, the better.
It's a relatively new PC (a couple of years old), and I already have two guitars, a bass, a mic, and a drum machine. I figure ProTools would be the way to go (though expensive as all hell, but a friend might give me his old copy), but I'm sure I need something else, like something that actually lets me plug these instruments into the PC. I've looked at more music-oriented sites, but they tend to be a little too hardcore for my purposes and I get lost pretty quickly.
Oh, and the important thing is that I'm very, very broke at the moment, so the cheaper-but-still-good it is, the better.
grendel824_ on
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As for getting stuff into your computer, you need a fancy soundcard/interface. You need ASIO and WDM support, and you need either a PCI option or Firewire. USB2 works, as well, but if you go that route you should make sure you don't have any USB 1.1 devices on that bus.
To start out, you should get an interface that supports at least as many tracks as you'll perform at one time. Usually you can record 4 mono tracks at a time for a relatively cheap price. M-Audio makes some pretty decent stuff; I personally have a MOTU 828mk2, which is likely out of your price range.
Secondly, you need a sequencer/multitrack program. I'm personally a big fan of Tracktion, as it's very up-front and easy to use w/o being gimped.
Finally, make sure you want to use your computer enough so that you're prepared to deal with latency and pops & clicks while recording. Recording on a PC isn't hard, once it's all set up and working well, but there are a few quirks that can quickly frustrate. You may find that a decent multitrack recorder ends up being the same price as a fancy soundcard+software (and you can resell the hardware later on, if you do upgrade to computer recording). I'm not trying to talk you out of going the computer route, mind, just trying to let you know all of your options.
You may also look for a soundcard that offers something like Tracktion for free (as bundled software). That would kill 2 birds with one stone.
an interface is basically just a fancy sound card that usually has a lot more ins-and-outs than your typical run-of-the-mill gaming/multimedia sound device. most interfaces (and many sound cards) utilize ASIO driver architecture, which many multi-track recording suites support. ASIO greatly reduces recording latency (the time it takes for the sound your playing to pass through your computer and come out your headphones). latency is effected by the quality if your hardware, the amount of plug-ins and real-time processing you have running, the speed of your computer and a few other factors.
before I keep going (I could do this all day), I need to know a few things:
1. what EXACTLY are you trying to do? what kind of music do you play? what is the purpose of this music (just for fun, learning, self promotion, etc..)
2. how computer savvy are you? you'd be amazed at the amount of technical problems you run into while recording to a computer and it can really kill your creative energy.
3. how much money can you spend on this?
we'll start there.
P.S. - Eggy, I too have an 828MKII. my love for that thing knows no bounds.