Ready to record...help me my fellow guitarists!!!

[Gibby]

just bought an acoustic-electric guitar  (yay!!! Israel songs  ) Now I have a fender, nylon string, acoustic-electric and a schecter diamond guitar w/humbuckers.

now I need something to record with...something with a drum track and overdub loops and stuff!

Any suggestions?!

[Fenix]

Well most of the new multi FX boxes have these features. Try those.

[JayP5150]

Almost all your entry level software has that, too. And I'm talking like $50 range stuff. Dig around cakewalk's site.

[jlynnb1]

you talking about hardware or software??

[Fenix]

you talking about hardware or software??

I think he means both.

Heck if you are talking about software, then you can try free recording software like Audacity. I use it all the time and it works fine for me. It just won't make .mp3s for some reason, it keeps asking me to download a lame.dll file. 

I think a simple mic'ed up guitar to PC setup is fine and cheap.

[gtrdave]

GarageBand...but you gotta buy a Mac to get it. 

[jlynnb1]

if you buy an audio interface for your comp most come bundled with a lite version of a popular DAW....Cubase seems to be the most common.

[Fenix]

....Cubase seems to be the most common.

Not the most user-friendly software out there. It came with the church's Roland Fantom and i could not get my head round it.

[crazyguitardude]

very true Fenix. I have cubase and audacity. Audacity is real simple and they even have a website with tutorials and stuff. Cubase is prolly still better as far as recording and tweeking sounds, but it looks way complicated.

I would say get Cubase or Sonar or something because they can slave a drum machine. I have izotope iDrum and it can slave to cubase, but i'm still trying to figure out that part.

[gtrdave]

I've used ProTools for years/
It's intuitive, powerful and multi-platform friendly.
The M-powered version that comes with M-Audio interfaces is fairly inexpensive, too, and they (iirc) have an upgrade path if you decide to step up to a bigger/badder version in the future.

That said, Audacity is free and fairly simple to use.

[Gibby]

haha...thanks for the input fellas. I gotta do some reasearch about this hardware and software...and prolly get another computer...

[Gibby]

I guess i'm going to hafta buy some $500 piece of equipment and some software 

I could record straight from my PODXT. But my issue with that is this: when I was downloading patches for my PODXT from the internet, my computer gave me the blue screen of death whenever I finished downloading and unplugged my USB port.  Has that happened to any of you guys? (jlynnb1... )

So what set up do you guys have with recording at home? I prolly want to do either mics or DI boxes(which I hate DI boxes).  Who knows what i'll do now...might just do the old cassette tape with the recorder 

[jlynnb1]

nah man....there are some good interfaces for around 200 dollars.

[Gibby]

nah man....there are some good interfaces for around 200 dollars.

i'm trying to cook bro  do you know any off the top of your head?

[JayP5150]

i'm trying to cook bro  do you know any off the top of your head?

While an all-in-one interface is probably far superior to my setup, here's what I roll with, and it gets the job done for me.

Cakewalk Music Creator. I'm actually still using version 2 (5 was just released lol - $39.99).

I have a decent condenser mic (MXL 990 - $70), a Behringer mixer (hmm... maybe $40), and I have USB interfaces for both audio and MIDI (about $30 each).

I know that adds up to more than $200, but it includes a mic, and it was all acquired over about 2 years time as I needed it.

You may want to look along the lines of the Tascam UL-122, etc. I have no personal experience with them, but they are reasonably priced, entry-level interfaces with mic pres and all that jazz.

[JayP5150]

Shoot... that's US 122, but upon further look, not the best reviews.

I'm a moron, and I'm shutting up lol

[gtrdave]

My chain is as follows:

guitar -> Line 6 Pocket POD -> ART Dual MP tube preamp -> Digidesign M-Box (in) -> iMac -> ProTools 7.3 -> M-Box (out) -> ART SLA1 power amp -> Tannoy Proto-J monitors

I use a Joe Meek VC3Q and a few different mics to choose from for my vocals.

I use Apple GarageBand for assembling drum and perc. loops.

I tend to push the Digidesign stuff because, even though it can be pricey, it works well and most of the pros and semi-pros that I know use some sort of ProTools software.

[Chapter3]

go to gc check out the micro br its a 4 track which you can bounce to 32 tracks, has an excellent drum machine, line input and mic input, effects. all of the musicians in our church band have one keyboardist included. we record and share information email tracks to each other and you have the ability to master to cd either mp3 or wave. also you can download to computer. cost about $200.00 well worth it.

[Chapter3]

oh yeah lost mine last week hope someone found it in the hotel i stayed. if not will purchase another as im sick for losing my micro br. pray it turns up soon.

[GMansAxe]

I have been hearing alot about Reaper...  Its really inexpensive around $60.00...  I have heard really good reviews about it.   http://www.cockos.com/reaper/