I am looking for a recording software or setup that my son has been asking for. He wants to record his guitar playing and bass playing and vocals and use a program to mix it. I dont know what the hell he is talking about so I need your help. I want to get it for him for Christmas.Thanks. What ever happened to the f...ing tape recorder?
I want to buy this... http://www.musiciansnews.com/guitar...litube_jimi_hendrix_guitar_amp_software.shtml there are different versions of this software... it gives you all the effects on your pc...and you can record. Not sure if this is exactly what he wants but its sweeeeet.
PC or Mac? Did he happen to mention the name of the program or does he have a friend that already has the desired setup? ..............and finally, what kind of spending limit (if any) is being considered?
PC, and I dont want to spend an arm and a leg for it....$400? maybe....He didnt tell me the name. His friend has it at his home.
don't bother with expensive software or hardware. try Audacity. it's open source freeware. unless your son is good at making music, i wouldn't buy a professional one just yet. he may get bored real quick. what i do is, have a mic and record guitar/bass/vocal with Audacity. very good software. just google it. you are welcome
$400? are you talking about POD XT LIVE? that's a modeler you can hook up with a computer. actually, i would get POD XT LIVE X3. those things are better than any software you can buy your son. those things are awesome. once i save enough, i'm getting one myself. it comes with software i believe.
I would consider downloading Reaper. http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ It will get him started and let you spend the money on a decent audio interface and a microphone/stand/cable. Whatever audio software you buy make sure it will allow you to use ASIO drivers. To recap: A Shure SM-57 microphone (for starters) $80.00 Mic stand and cable Reaper Software - free (but it is worth purchasing the license for $50.00) M-audio Delta 1010LT Audio Interface (has mic pres and will cost around 200 bucks or so) This will give him everything he needs to get started. If you want to spend more then consider Cubase SX as that is probably what his friend is using in regards to software. If not, Reaper will get him well on his way until the little free-loader gets a job. Cheers, Brock
I use a ZOOM H4 Handy Recorder. http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4133786&JRSource=nsa&nsa=1 You can use built in mics for recording live bands and acoustic stuff. And you can use the two 1/4" and XLR inputs for recording guitar, bass, and mic vocals. You can either save it to an SD card or use it to record directly into the CPU. It comes with a trial verison of Cubase or you can just use Audacity for free.
The Zoom is cool. I have a couple of friends that work on those - both stand-a-lone and as an audio interface. Works well... Has some decent modelling for going D.I. as well.
Damn I'm behind the times. Sounded like the son was asking for a 4 track recorder to me. That should be easy?
The Zoom is a stand-a-lone 4-track recorder but with the benefit of having amp simulation for plugging guitar direct. Has two built in mic pres as well as a stereo condensor mic setup in x/y config. The bonus is that you can use it as a two channel audio interface two and from the computer. It would be an excellent choice. But no, that wasn't what he was asking for and you are behind the times!
Believe me, there are many times I have thought about tossing the computer in the drink and getting myself a 16 track 2" machine tape machine. One software company, in particular, is due a bill for my Jack Daniels spending for the last two years...
The drum application BFD. In Samplitude Pro the latest version crashes immediately upon playback for me. I had to roll back through three updates before I found one that works properly (although also with its fair share of bugs - but knowing those issues I can at least work with it). Spent hours trouble shooting codemeter runtime versions, Samplitude versions and BFD versions before finding that the problem is with BFD. The process of finding the issues and knowing what not to do was a pretty frustrating experience. Incidentally this same version of BFD (ironically labelled a "final release") is unusable in several other applications as well (such as Logic). Rolling back a few versions eventually located one that, while missing some features I would use, is at least functional. Very frustrating when things should be so easy if they only worked as advertised - and mostly do if you get the right revision installed instead of always relying on the latest version to be the one with the least amount of bugs.
If he has never recorded before and just wants to do guitars and vocals I would get a cheap cakewalk software. Buy a mike and then tell him to go to town. Should be under half your budget. Ofcourse he is gonna want the same crap his buddy has so all of this is academic.
if there is a specific one he mentioned you should probably get that, rather than going off what we say. i guess how much you spend depends on how serious he seems about doing this. if you arent sure, i definitely wouldnt go spending more than a couple hundred bucks on program and mic. you can get a program like cakewalk or cakewalk guitar tracks for about $100 and it will do the job nicely. i use sonar now, which is a branch of cakewalk (or vise versa?), but i used guitar tracks for a few years and it is a great program. get a good mic for about $100 - sure sm-58 or 57's are popular - 57's are the more versatile of the two for recording, but 58's are better suited for live performance. however, for equal money you can get a sennheiser e835, which is a better mic, imo (ive got all 3). aside from the software and mic, you will also need an interface to get the microphone/instrument into the computer. you can record by plugging a mic or instrument directly into your computers soundcard and you can get good sounds, but it you are serious about recording you can do alot better. an interface might be one of those things you hold off on until you are sure he is going to stick with it b/c they can get pricey. the best interfaces are firewire, although usb is popular as well. firewire is a much higher transfer rate though (i believe twice as fast). if you dont have a firewire card on your computer you can buy one for about $30. m-audio makes good stuff - they have a good firewire (410) interface for $250. presonus - i think their little 2 input box runs about $250 (firebox). its basically the smaller version of what i have, which is the firepod - i would recommend presonus stuff to anyone. no problems at all with it. hope that gives you a better idea of what you are in for - this stuff aint cheap!
Thanks for all of your replies. I know he doesnt want what his friend has because he mention to me that it was cheap and basic. A nice reasonable starter setup would be nice. I didnt know that this would happen after buying his first guitar when he was a little kid.Where do I buy this at? Online or guitar shops? We have purchased all of our guitars at Fullers but I dont remember seeing any of this stuff there.
