What should I get for my birthday???? eeeee!

[ckbarlow]

I was hoping this forum engine supported true polls to provide you the fun of actually voting, but I guess not -- oh well!

So, as you are probably aware, the US has a holiday on Monday because it's my birthday. So I'm gonna buy some sh*t.

Anyway, what's more fun than spending someone else's money? Everybody chime in! Here's what I've already got:

DAW: Logic Pro

VIs:
EWQL Symph Gold
MOTU Symph
EWQL SD2
EWQL RA
EZDrummer + Nashville extension

Hardware:
MOTU 828
ART TubeMP
My most expensive mike is a Studio Projects C1 -- mostly used on acoustic guitar
UC-33e controller
ASR-10 keyboard, 99.9% of the time simply used as a keyboard controller at this point
POD guitar effects box, though I mostly record dry and use plug-ins. I'm soon going to experiment with using the POD as an insert though.


I'm leaning toward wanting to improve my setup for recording acoustic and electric guitars before I get more VIs, which obviously would point to nicer preamp, nicer mic, possibly nicer interface. But I don't want to break the bank. I also want to adopt the philosophy of buying one great thing rather than two or three cheaper but mediocre things.

So here are some ideas -- vote away, and feel free to write in your own candidates!

-- Apogee Duet, just because it's so elegant (technically and otherwise), and, well, it's an Apogee, so would sound amazing. I have to keep the MOTU though because of a couple of live projects that require that much I/O.

-- Toontrack EZmix + Toontrack EZPlayer Pro-- to complement EZDrummer, which I like quite a bit
OR
-- upgrade to Superior Drummer -- not much savings with the crossgrade, unfortunately
OR
-- Stylus RMX Expanded-- Everyone assures me this is amazing and I believe that, but is it getting old? Is the sound recognizable and dated at this point? Or no?

-- a higher-end preamp? (Not hard to go higher-end than the TubeMP, but that little thing works)

-- something else from EWQL? Their 50% off sale ends Monday, and their 2-for-1 on Best Service stuff ends today, unfortunately.

-- a really nice compressor plug-in?

[t4mh]

Geeezz that some list!! Howwwww aboutttttt allofit!
Keith

[ckbarlow]

You're my kinda shopper!

[Len911]

You say you are wanting to record guitars, and I see wta has a post and is selling a Cascade DR-2 Ribbon mic for $75. I have never used a ribbon mic myself, but I have heard they can be excellent for recording guitars and vocals. I'm just sayin' that $75 seems to be a very reasonable price for experimenting. He also has a classic AKG 414, with the transformer for $500, which is a VERY versatile mic that I'd love to have if I didn't already have one. I don't want to sound pushy or salesy,lol, as I don't have an iron in the fire so to speak, but I would go mic first, then preamp.

[ckbarlow]

He still has it...

[LawTunes]

I had my kids get me (the upgrade to) Masterwriter 2 for Father's Day.

[Len911]

I see he still has it, and it seems like he might have trouble parting with it,lol! He had a post not very long ago where he posted some vocals and was very happy with it. The newer ones don't have the transformer. It's not only a classic, but a studio standard, and for the money it's really hard to go wrong, unless you don't want to tie up your money in one, but wouldn't be difficult to sell if you ever needed to. One of the few things that don't depreciate horribly. IMO a microphone of this caliber is the most difficult thing to let go of. I plan on taking mine to my grave,lol!

[eeoo]

I'd go with a new pre. You could get an sm-57 for under $100 and be set for electric guitars. I fairly recently got a Universal Audio 710 and I'm loving it! Focusrite makes a pre called the ISA one that is supposed to be really nice and there's a huge price reduction right now, I think you can get them for $400, normally around $900. Have fun! eo.

[bigbluebarry]

If you need a good mic to record acoustics, I'll second eo's idea of getting an SM-57 and add to it, the Gauge ECM-87 that Rob Chiarelli's company makes, and then record your acoustic in stereo. I use the 57 near the bridge and the Gauge near the 12th fret and I love how it sounds.

Though I don't have Stylus (it's on my list too), I've heard nothing but great things about it. And in regards to your question about the sounds being too recognizable... I had a chance to watch Mazz use it in person and he was able to make several tweaks to the sounds so that they didn't sound like the standard factory preset. And knowing how well you've been able to take EZ Drummer and tweak your drums so that they don't sound like EZ Drummer, I think you could accomplish the same feat with Stylus. I don't know if they have any updates to their software in the works, but it might be something to investigate, in case a new version is just around the corner.

I definitely think you can't go wrong with crossgrading to Superior Drummer 2.0. You can still use your Nashville expansion pack with it and the standard kit has some great sounds already built in.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the choices you listed though. You're in a win-win situation for sure

- Big Blue

[elser]

The Duet is a highly regarded piece of gear by anyone's standards. It comes up a lot on the gearslutz forum and I've never heard anyone say anything bad about it. That's one place in the signal chain where you probably can't do any better for the money.