Question for all the musicians out there

[danbouck]

I have got back into playing guitar this year after a few years of not playing (been playing for 18 years). Anyways I want to record some stuff lately, what program is best for doing that? I also want to mess around with drum and piano simulators.

 

Any help would be appreciated,

 

Dan

[craigdritchie]

If you have a Mac, Garageband works great.

[danbouck]

If you have a Mac, Garageband works great.

 

No Mac for me, thanks though

[Roy]

Dan, for a PC you can use Mixcraft. Lots of tips on how to use it on Youtube as well.

[blaque]

I just bought a Line-6 Pod Studio UX-2 not too long ago and so far i love it. I dont play thru an amp and modelers anymore. It connects via USB and i play right thru the computer. It comes with some recording software as well but i just downloaded Audacity and use the UX-2 as a plug in to record. Im trying to find the time i need to really produce some overall recordings but all ive had time to come up with are some guitar tracks. VERY fun so far

 

[thalweg]

Multitrackstudio.com Great software with free demo (three tracks) $99.00 for unlimited tracks. Blaques recommendation for the UX2 is also good. You don't want to use your internal sound card. The above UX2 is an external sound card and input device all in one, with the added bonus of guitar amp modeling. Basically any guitar sound you want plus the ability to mic sounds like piano, vocals...etc etc

 

Once you really get into it then a more professional system is Sonar, Cubase, or Pro-tools and a more quality external sound interface like the Mackie Oynx family of pre-amp interfaces is what you should be looking for.

 

There's a lot to learn to get pro-sounding recordings with home based gear. EQ, compression etc etc...but with the above stuff you should get rolling pretty quick.

Edited July 27, 2010 by waterrunner

[Canuck]

The Line 6 Pod Studio is awesome. There is a cheaper simple version without some of the features of the UX2. You download added amp models and setups for them that sound amazing. Basically you get the ability to play just about any amp/equipment/pedal combo you want with full adjustments. I highly recommend picking up a set of powered monitor speakers to connect to your PC and Pod Studio. These are really good (really good price too) and stand up well to playing electric guitar through:

 

http://www.mostlydigital.ca/product/H77973/Hardware-Speaker-Speaker/M-Audio-Studiophile-BX5A-Deluxe-Speakers/&sort_and_order=score_desc&currentRecord=22

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

i use a program called cool edit pro. it's very functional and was readily available via torrents.

digital recorders are pretty cheap these days as well.

 

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/recording/multitrack-recorders

[Kinger]

Pro Tools all the way if you can get your hands on it.

[JohnF]

Pro Tools all the way if you can get your hands on it.

 

Be careful with it when using a PC. There are issues moving between different OSs as my son learned. The Protools company offers excellent support but the issue I believe is drivers to cover the newer Windows Operating Systems. Matt bought it to run on XP and has done all the upgrades but is now snookered other than using old XP machines.

 

It's a pretty expensive way to go anyway unless you're really seriously into the music. I gather there are some pretty good multi track input devices and processing software available for PCs at reasonable prices. If you want to talk to Matt about it just send me a pm and I'll have him answer on my machine. He's got this whole PC music recording and mixing schtick pretty much sorted out without spending an arm and a leg. My brother has a professional studio setup and he even asks Matt questions sometimes.

 

JF

[danbouck]

Thanks for all the help! Basically I can't put a lot of money into this, it's just for fun and I'm sure the kids would like to have groceries instead of me recorded some tracks. I'm going to look into some of the programs above and try some out if they have free trials.

[hurraylien]

try reaper its free and very powerful, they ask you to buy if you use for 30 days but its a modest 60 dollars.but there are no restrictions after the 30 days.also i believe if you want to run pro tools on pc you need either didgdesign or m-audio hardware cards also there are tons of free drum,piano and synth vsti out there to drumcore is a really good drum prog they have a free version only one kit but it sounds good and will get you on your way.you can pm me for the links if you like

[Chris]

I use Cool Edit at home for personal use. Easy to use. The interface on most programs are similar. If you get more serious about home recording then another vote for Cubase.

[drewbrew]

Cubase 5 is descent.I just got into home recording 2yrs ago and it works great! Fairly priced also for what you get!

[ccmtcanada]

I record all of my bands stuff...both live and track by track recording. I have used cubase, cakewalk and a few of the others mentioned here, but I find they can be system hogs.

 

I then downloaded a free program from the internet. It's called "Audacity". It doesn't have all the "pro" functionality the other pieces of software has, but it's very easy to use. I use it exclusively for recording now.

 

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

 

 

 

 

[tybrad]

I always used adobe audition

[addymark]

I bought the newest edition of pro tools over a month ago and at first it was tough to use but it is starting to become pretty good. Still a lot more to learn though. industry standard.