What do you use for RECORDING?

[53mph]

Have you looked on the Pro Tools site for demo videos?I watched a few short demo showcases for Sonar, after buying the upgrade to the Producers Edition, and discovered a whole world of things I never knew I could do before.Often the manuals are so dense with information that you get info blindness (like looking at the sun too long). I find watching a pro using the software is a thousand times better than the written word.My 5 cents

[slimcharm]

Protools included a nice demo video of how to use the program.However, I spent hours with it..but for our needs..I like the way the Sony Acid works, its simple, its clearer to me and the files etc are easier to access..plus it gets the job done IF I can figure out how to get the mic working with it.Help with getting the mic to work with the mbox is greatly appreciated! (As is all the other help shared here!)

[slimcharm]

Oh my gosh! I got it to record! Now I have to figure out if I can get a good enough quality recording out of it for our purposes.Thanks to all for your help!

[nickbatzdorf]

You just plug the mic into the mic input, turn on phantom power if it's a condenser mic, select the appropriate input on the PT channel strip, record-enable the track, watch the meter while adjusting the input level, and start recording.The MBox has ASIO drivers, CoreAudio drivers, etc., so you can use it with other software.PT is very straightforward to use. Acid is a totally different kind of program.

[johnnydean1]

Quote:Oh my gosh! I got it to record! Now I have to figure out if I can get a good enough quality recording out of it for our purposes.Thanks to all for your help!Now the fun...................and the expense really start! J.

[mani]

Acid is great fun! I'm talking about the program not the other...er nevermind!

[slimcharm]

Mani,Since you are familiar with ACID is it possible to play your song, record and then have separate vocals and music?The problem I had with the recording aspect was my preferences were set to ASIO Driver or something like that..because I thought thats what it was..also I thought the condensor was a MIDI device.Its tough being clueless in this environment.Regardless..I am determined to figure it out. I do like the ACID program for ease of use..but have not had a chance to work with it since I got it to record..the quality of the recording was not super high..but that may be because of volume and stuff..then again that just may be the program and if that is the case I will have to learn protools..(gasp and cry)BTW Manni I thought the Mbox was limited in what you can use it with?

[mani]

Quote:Mani,Since you are familiar with ACID is it possible to play your song, record and then have separate vocals and music?Yep.Quote:The problem I had with the recording aspect was my preferences were set to ASIO Driver or something like that..because I thought thats what it was..also I thought the condensor was a MIDI device.Its tough being clueless in this environment.If at all possible you should try to use the ASIO drivers with Acid. They are generally more efficient than most other drivers and allow for better latency settings. Broadly speaking, latency is the time it takes for the audio signal to be processed by the computer. If the amount of time is too big (hence LATE-ncy) it can confuse the singer who's trying to stay in time with the track while being recorded. On the other hand, if the latency is too small for your computer to handle it can upset the stability of the program as well as the quality of the sound.Confusing eh?!In short, you want the smallest latency setting possible without negative effects. Latency is sometimes referred to as 'buffer' settings and is usually measured in miliseconds (ms). Can't remember where in Acid you'll find the 'latency' or 'buffer' settings. Haven't used it in a while! Probably under the Preferences menu.Just so you know, MIDI is not sound or audio. It's a music protocol that allows information to be transferred between devices or programs. This could, for example, be music performance information, ie: the notes played, how loud each note is, how long each note is, the tempo of the piece etc. All this MIDI information can be played and stored in a music program and used to trigger the sounds (piano/strings/loops/whatever) in a synthesizer or sampler or virtual instrument.Quote:Regardless..I am determined to figure it out. I do like the ACID program for ease of use..but have not had a chance to work with it since I got it to record..the quality of the recording was not super high..but that may be because of volume and stuff..then again that just may be the program and if that is the case I will have to learn protools..(gasp and cry)Acid is, without a doubt, the most intuitively laid out music program I've ever seen. It's really, really easy to use and makes music making pure fun. The thing is, as Nick pointed out before, if you want to work audio on a computer, at some stage, you're gonna have to do trouble-shooting. And probably sooner rather than later! That's why I recommended the Roland stuff to you earlier. All that stuff just works. No conflicts. No drivers. No not knowing why there's no sound! I hope Acid works out for you but if it doesn't, I would seriously look at one of those boxes.Quote:BTW Manni I thought the Mbox was limited in what you can use it with?I'm pretty surprised that it does to be honest. Nowhere on the Digidesign site does it give this info away. Typical I suppose. They want everyone to use the MBox with Protools LE as a gateway to upgrading to one of their ridiculously overpriced systems! My approach to buying gear has been to never presume that something has a particular capability unless it's absolutely specifically stated by the company. Most companies, in my experience, tend to forget to mention the little 'loop-holes' with their gear. It takes a lot of careful research to ensure you don't get burned by incompatibility problems or other shortfalls. With computer related stuff, the danger is even greater. So far, I've been lucky!!

[hummingbird]

Speaking personally, since I had absolutely no experience with recording, I started with a FREE recording program I downloaded off the net (which I had found out about by reading posts on this forum), I worked with that program for several months. I had to figure out how to move from my computer mic to somekind of audio... so I bought a micpreamp with USB interface & I even figured out how to tell the recording program where the audio was coming from. This program was simple & easy to use and allowed me to record vocals on different tracks (i.e., lead & harmony) and live instruments... it also allowed me to record vocals over music someone else provided. It provided a few simple effects (reverb, coimpression, etc) that I played with.I looked into all kinds of recording software but I could see that there could be huge leaps in knowlege required to use them, and also huge possibilities of system conflicts. I chose to purchase Tracktion2. It's simple, easy to use; I can use MIDI or even sequence instruments myself if I wish. Because I had experience on the 'free' program, moving up a step was easier. I still have lots to learn... and I think it will be a long while before I out-grow Tracktion.H

[slimcharm]

Mani...ok I figured out how to separate vocals from the music etc..that was pretty easy.My issue is really now with the quality of the sound. Some setting is not right as my Rode condensor microphone has to be turned all the way to the right almost to get sound out of it.And then we see that little red light flash up which means its not good. so I went to my computer settings and took a peak..in the sounds section...these were the choices ..voice playback: creative SB live, digidesign or modem 3voice recording: creative SB live, modem #3Sound playback creative SB live, or modem #3 or digidesign mboxand sound record creative SB live or modem #3..How do I know which to select..or do you think I just got a malfunctioning microphone (hmmm sometimes I think I got a malfunctioning mbox and malfunctioning headphones also) then again...could it be me not knowing what the heck I am doing?