What's your recording setup and method?

[Jeid]

I used Slate Drums and then layered some more natural samples on top of them.

Honestly.. Youtube is your friend

[Alkaline]

I'm looking at USB interfaces at the moment, specifically the Line 6 POD Studio UX2. Has anyone had any experience of using this particular interface or any good experiences of other interfaces that have the same level of functionality. I like the look of POD Farm in particular as well, i gather you can use this with other interfaces as well?

[maud 'dib]

I'm looking at USB interfaces at the moment, specifically the Line 6 POD Studio UX2. Has anyone had any experience of using this particular interface or any good experiences of other interfaces that have the same level of functionality. I like the look of POD Farm in particular as well, i gather you can use this with other interfaces as well?

I got a USB interface for my laptop recently, mainly because the line-in seemed to operate only in mono, which was of no use to me. It was around 20 buck off e-bay, and works fine- really good solution for saving time buggering about with sound cards and that- especially as I move between various computers and operating systems. Works good in windows and Linux. I dump to Audacity or n-track. Tried Reaper but didnae like it.

It only does the two mono tracks though, might not be the option you are looking for. Personally I use the PC stage just to make a final stereo wav. - from old school analogue tape- I just find recording multitrack on computers far to time consuming for a part time hobbyist like me.

I realise this reply probably won't help- I'm just feeling chatty.

[Alkaline]

I got a USB interface for my laptop recently, mainly because the line-in seemed to operate only in mono, which was of no use to me. It was around 20 buck off e-bay, and works fine- really good solution for saving time buggering about with sound cards and that- especially as I move between various computers and operating systems. Works good in windows and Linux. I dump to Audacity or n-track. Tried Reaper but didnae like it.

It only does the two mono tracks though, might not be the option you are looking for. Personally I use the PC stage just to make a final stereo wav. - from old school analogue tape- I just find recording multitrack on computers far to time consuming for a part time hobbyist like me.

I realise this reply probably won't help- I'm just feeling chatty.

I just bit the bullet and bought the UX2, from reading a crap-load of reviews and bacgrounds online it seemed like the most flexible and affordable option for me. I absolutely love the idea of POD Farm as well and can't wait to have a mess around with it.

In terms of recording software, i already have Audacity but i was considering buying Reaper or Acid. What didn't you like about Reaper?

I still have a tascam four-track that i could use as the front end of this set-up if i wanted some "tapey" sounds.

I do need a decent mic though, i guess the SM57 is pretty good for both guitar and vocals? I actually have the innards of a few vintage Shure mics that made their way into my possession about 9 months ago but no bodies to put them in

[Runcie]

I've got a line 6 UX1 that I used for around 6 years. I used it to record some rough Marionettes demos in my bedroom and for just slinging some ideas out to pals. They're really good for the price (although some of the gearbox sounds are a bit shite). Mines given up on life now but I'd highly recommend them.

Saying that I bought a Yamaha THR5 last month to replace the old line 6 and it's really great. It's a wee guitar amp/audio interface/iPod dock and only cost like £179.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/amps/thr/thr5/

[Alkaline]

I've got a line 6 UX1 that I used for around 6 years. I used it to record some rough Marionettes demos in my bedroom and for just slinging some ideas out to pals. They're really good for the price (although some of the gearbox sounds are a bit shite). Mines given up on life now but I'd highly recommend them.

Saying that I bought a Yamaha THR5 last month to replace the old line 6 and it's really great. It's a wee guitar amp/audio interface/iPod dock and only cost like £179.

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical-instruments/guitars-basses/amps/thr/thr5/

Aye, POD Farm is a massive improvement on Gearbox by all accounts. The ability to record dry and then add effects after is a worthy upgrade on its own but they seem to have improved a lot of the other sounds on there as well. It mimics a lot of the stuff i have already hardware-wise so it seemed like a decent choice and a reasonable alternative to setting all that gear up just to drop some ideas down, given that i live in a flat at the moment.

[maud 'dib]

I just bit the bullet and bought the UX2, from reading a crap-load of reviews and bacgrounds online it seemed like the most flexible and affordable option for me. I absolutely love the idea of POD Farm as well and can't wait to have a mess around with it.

In terms of recording software, i already have Audacity but i was considering buying Reaper or Acid. What didn't you like about Reaper?

I still have a tascam four-track that i could use as the front end of this set-up if i wanted some "tapey" sounds.

I do need a decent mic though, i guess the SM57 is pretty good for both guitar and vocals? I actually have the innards of a few vintage Shure mics that made their way into my possession about 9 months ago but no bodies to put them in

I suppose given hindsight I didn't really give Reaper much of a chance- I downloaded it in a fug of hubris, I read an interview in the wonderful tape-op* mag about Jason Lowenstien using it and just thought it would be great. I don't use many tracks really, all I need is a stereo mix and some drop in's and twiddles, but what's the phrase?- counter intuitive- that's how I found reaper at the time. Don't let it put you off though- loads of serious proper recordists use it.

SM57's are good, I prefer my AKG dynamic though. It's horses for courses. It's about the room, I found that out pretty quick- cap. Toms sounds bad pretty much all the time, my bedrooms sound bad all the time- but my living room sounds great. Big room- lots of echo, but in a good way.

Room is first, desk/preamps second, mic's third and DAW is way back there....

I just bought a ribbon mic and a cheap AKG condenser, so I'll see how that goes.

that's my tuppence.

Good luck though min.

*tape-op is free, good articles, and some quality gear porn.

[toiletbag]

I suppose given hindsight I didn't really give Reaper much of a chance- I downloaded it in a fug of hubris, I read an interview in the wonderful tape-op* mag about Jason Lowenstien using it and just thought it would be great. I don't use many tracks really, all I need is a stereo mix and some drop in's and twiddles, but what's the phrase?- counter intuitive- that's how I found reaper at the time. Don't let it put you off though- loads of serious proper recordists use it.

SM57's are good, I prefer my AKG dynamic though. It's horses for courses. It's about the room, I found that out pretty quick- cap. Toms sounds bad pretty much all the time, my bedrooms sound bad all the time- but my living room sounds great. Big room- lots of echo, but in a good way.

Room is first, desk/preamps second, mic's third and DAW is way back there....

I just bought a ribbon mic and a cheap AKG condenser, so I'll see how that goes.

that's my tuppence.

Good luck though min.

*tape-op is free, good articles, and some quality gear porn.

Good thoughts, but I think the preamp and mics should be the other way around. Often changing the mic will have more of a significant effect than changing the pre in any given situation.

[FatHand]

I just bought a Macbook Pro, a genuine copy of Cubase is on route. Unfortunately my original MBox has no support for the newer operating systems so an upgrade to a Focusrite Saffire along with a Rode NT2A is on the shopping list for later this year. I have the Virus TI and looking at replacing the MPC2500 with a NI Maschine for a pretty awesome portable production unit. Will be going for the Komplete Ultimate plugin collection at some point if I can pull together some money from selling some keyboards. That should do for quite a while until some other gear lust takes hold. I'm getting better.

[scottyboy]

I use: guitar - StealthPlug - AmpliTube 3 - Tracktion.

StealthPlug is an uber-simple USB audio interface for guitar and AmpliTube is amp/FX modelling. I guess the POD Farm discussed above is similar. I'm thinking about swapping Tracktion for Reaper, which I've just downloaded...

I actually mainly use it for practising, because AmpliTube is infinitely better than my hardware practice amp (microcube) and I can jam along to stuff and play it back. And occasionally as a notebook, in case I ever learn to sequence drums properly.

[Jaaakkkeee]

Anyone know of a cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap interface that will sound better than using a 1/4" to 3.5mm adaptor and plugging in to my input on my macbook?

Doesn't need to be the greatest, just, better than what I'm doing at the moment.

[FOX]

My setup (for my sketchy home demos, not for my album, which was done with Bedford Studios):

Acoustic guitar/vocals/amp etc -> mic -> TASCAM US-something (looks a bit like http://static.musiciansfriend.com/derivates/6/001/376/746/DV019_Jpg_Regular_242193_front.jpg) -> MacBook with Garageband.

Cheap(ish) and cheerful!

[Guest Gladstone]

Is there a limit on the number of tracks you can simultaneously record to using Reaper?

Our drummer has bought a set of drum mics and there are 7 of them, so we need to be able to record at lease 7 tracks at once, but preferably something like 10 so we can record drums together with bass, a guide guitar and guide vocal. Having the ability to record everything we have at one time would be good for demoing live tracks as well - so upwards of 12-14 tracks would be good.

On the Reaper website, it just says "multiple tracks" or something, so I assume they don't limit it?

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Is there a limit on the number of tracks you can simultaneously record to using Reaper?

Our drummer has bought a set of drum mics and there are 7 of them, so we need to be able to record at lease 7 tracks at once, but preferably something like 10 so we can record drums together with bass, a guide guitar and guide vocal. Having the ability to record everything we have at one time would be good for demoing live tracks as well - so upwards of 12-14 tracks would be good.

On the Reaper website, it just says "multiple tracks" or something, so I assume they don't limit it?

You would need some kind of interface that takes ten inputs. (like yer ma lol)

[Stroopy121]

The limit is basically dependant on how powerful your computer is.

If the computer is overloaded, you'll get lag and all kinds of nasty shit in there. That said, using Reaper (actually it might have been Cool Edit) I've recorded around 12 tracks on a fairly modest desktop. Just suck it and see.

xx

[Guest Gladstone]

We have the interface already - just need a DAW that can simultaneously record lots of tracks (at least 7). It looks like Pro Tools (which came with the interface) only handles two at once.

I'm looking into getting Reaper anyway, so just wondering if those with experience of Reaper can say "oh aye min, you can record 250 million tracks at once"

Two of the guys have macbooks so we can fire in with garage band if necessary, but I've got a Vaio on order and will be using it for all things music related, so a DAW that does the trick on there will be most excellent.

[Jeid]

You're only restricted by your interface. Depending on your version of Pro Tools, it can simultaneously record 32+ channels at a time.

[Stroopy121]

Yeah Pro Tools can do a fucktonne, the college use that and have a moster 32channel desk for live recording.

Reaper is free so it can't hurt anyway, but I've definitely used multiple recording chanels at once in it.

And in exchange for this sage advice, I'll accept some free practise time in your studio.

xx

[DistortedScience]

Just thought I'd throw in elements of my home studio kitlist, there are pictures on another thread so don't want to clog things up here...

- Hardware:32/8/2 Soundcraft ‘Ghost’ LE (with Meter Bridge), Creamware Minimax ASB, Behringer MDX2600,

Samson S-Com, Alesis 3630, Behringer T1952, Roland SRV-3030, Alesis Microverb 4, Behringer XR2000, Behringer EX3100, E-Mu Orbit 9090, Access Virus Rack, Behringer V-Amp Pro, Behringer PX3000, Sontronics STC-2, M-Audio Axiom 25 & Oxygen 61, 2x Pioneer CDJ1000mk3, 2x Technics SL1210mk2, Behringer DDM4000, Korg Kaoss Pad, Senheiser HD-25.

- PC:Dell Inspiron 530 (Intel Core Duo @ 2.20 GHz), 2GB RAM, Windows XP Pro (SP2), GeForce 8400GS (with 2x 15” LCD Monitors), 2x M-Audio Delta 1010 LT Soundcards.

- Main Software: Pro Tools M-Powered 8.0.5, Wavelab 5.00, VST2RTAS Adapter 2.11 (+ VSTi/RTAS plugins)

[FatHand]

Just thought I'd throw in elements of my home studio kitlist, there are pictures on another thread so don't want to clog things up here...

- Hardware:32/8/2 Soundcraft ‘Ghost’ LE (with Meter Bridge), Creamware Minimax ASB, Behringer MDX2600,

Samson S-Com, Alesis 3630, Behringer T1952, Roland SRV-3030, Alesis Microverb 4, Behringer XR2000, Behringer EX3100, E-Mu Orbit 9090, Access Virus Rack, Behringer V-Amp Pro, Behringer PX3000, Sontronics STC-2, M-Audio Axiom 25 & Oxygen 61, 2x Pioneer CDJ1000mk3, 2x Technics SL1210mk2, Behringer DDM4000, Korg Kaoss Pad, Senheiser HD-25.

- PC:Dell Inspiron 530 (Intel Core Duo @ 2.20 GHz), 2GB RAM, Windows XP Pro (SP2), GeForce 8400GS (with 2x 15” LCD Monitors), 2x M-Audio Delta 1010 LT Soundcards.

- Main Software: Pro Tools M-Powered 8.0.5, Wavelab 5.00, VST2RTAS Adapter 2.11 (+ VSTi/RTAS plugins)

Very nice! What kind of virus do you have?

My synth line up is currently a TI Polar, Nord Electro, Juno 6, Moog Concertmate MG-1, Korg PE1000, MS2000, JP8000, circuit bent yamaha vss200, NI Maschine... I use a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP and a Macbook Pro 7i blah blah. Oh yeah and a Fender Rhodes. My go to keys are the Virus and Rhodes, all the others are really just nice to have. Just bought my first proper recording mic ... an SE2200a mk2. It's giving some good results. No outboard stuff yet but got some plans.

Quite fancy getting a couple of new analogue synths... a dave smith tetra and arturia minibrute.

[DistortedScience]

Very nice! What kind of virus do you have?

My synth line up is currently a TI Polar, Nord Electro, Juno 6, Moog Concertmate MG-1, Korg PE1000, MS2000, JP8000, circuit bent yamaha vss200, NI Maschine... I use a Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP and a Macbook Pro 7i blah blah. Oh yeah and a Fender Rhodes. My go to keys are the Virus and Rhodes, all the others are really just nice to have. Just bought my first proper recording mic ... an SE2200a mk2. It's giving some good results. No outboard stuff yet but got some plans.

Quite fancy getting a couple of new analogue synths... a dave smith tetra and arturia minibrute.

You indeed have some very nice toys at your disposal, some of those synths made me sex wee Serious old school analogue business. I'm guessing you'd control the synths via MIDI (where applicable) recording them into the DAW as a mono/stereo WAV file for further editing/manipulation/sculpting?

I'd love to get pretty much any Virus TI (for the VSTi style DAW integration - though I've read it's still a bit sketchy at times) and a proper JP8000 (I bought Adam Szabo's 'JP6K' VSTi for now).

That circuit bent VSS200 looks to be heaps of fun (googled images of the original item), who modified it for you or did you purchase it already done? Do you use the VSS a lot? How do you find it to work with in a musical context?

I have a Yamaha PSS-30 (practically a kids toy) and an old Korg DDD5 which are both seldom used, getting them modded may revitalise them somewhat.

It's a Virus Rack, essentially just a rack mountable version of the Virus B: http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/virusb.php

[FatHand]

You indeed have some very nice toys at your disposal, some of those synths made me sex wee Serious old school analogue business. I'm guessing you'd control the synths via MIDI (where applicable) recording them into the DAW as a mono/stereo WAV file for further editing/manipulation/sculpting?

I'd love to get pretty much any Virus TI (for the VSTi style DAW integration - though I've read it's still a bit sketchy at times) and a proper JP8000 (I bought Adam Szabo's 'JP6K' VSTi for now).

That circuit bent VSS200 looks to be heaps of fun (googled images of the original item), who modified it for you or did you purchase it already done? Do you use the VSS a lot? How do you find it to work with in a musical context?

I have a Yamaha PSS-30 (practically a kids toy) and an old Korg DDD5 which are both seldom used, getting them modded may revitalise them somewhat.

It's a Virus Rack, essentially just a rack mountable version of the Virus B: http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/virusb.php

I midi all of my softsynths, maschine and quite often use the TI part of the Virus. Everything else either has no Midi (or convenient way of setting up midi) or I prefer just to play au naturale. I really like the integrated TI, but like working with any syths I find it saves time to decide on a sound first before laying anything down. You could waste hours trying out/creating different sounds after you've got you're line.

I actually acquired the Yamaha from a generous soul from these boards. To be honest I've only used for one song and didn't even use the mods. I think there is a link to my soundcloud on my signature... the last track on my page is made entirely with the Yamaha, even recorded vocals using the 8 bit sampler and crappy plastic mic attached. One of my favourite tracks that I've done, muchos lofi.

It's the same as the one on this website http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/VSS.html

[threeornothing]

I'd love to get pretty much any Virus TI (for the VSTi style DAW integration - though I've read it's still a bit sketchy at times) and a proper JP8000 (I bought Adam Szabo's 'JP6K' VSTi for now).

I'm glad RockAustin didn't mention to you that he was selling one! I am now the proud owner and it is an amazing machine... Im not much of a synth head but have been using soft synths for a while now but not having to use a computer (and clicking about on one parameter at atime) and having EVERY parameter ready to control with knobs and sliders is just awesome..... I tried that JP6K vst, doesn't sound a thing like the 8000 to me, woul highly suggest picking one up!!

I am ditching my cubase setup and just using a Roland JP8000 and Korg EA1 (as a primitive sequencer, although its sounds are ok) recording on an old blackface ADAT. Using the SPLIT on the JP8000 I can program some drum sounds on the lower part (combination of white noise and triangle wave with creative filtering and using keyboard tracking to get the low keys thudding and the high keys noisy, then using the arpeggiator (or better, RPS) you can get some rhythyms going) I do the same trick on the Upper part to get a bass in the low keys and lead in the high keys, and drive the bass from the Korg EA1 with the EA1 clock being sync' withthe JP8000, play lead/chords in real time, record, overdub...no sequencing or computers or ground loops (only draw back of the JP8000, its not double insulated!) Now have my heart set on something else for drums and something better for bass (like a doepfer dark energy) but I need to finish off paying the JP8000 first! hehe...

[The Milner]

Electric drum kit, Garageband and an Iphone or Ipad with an Irig, boom!

[Jaaakkkeee]

Electric drum kit, Garageband and an Iphone or Ipad with an Irig, boom!

wanna make dance music together?