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Joined: Jul 21, 2005 Posts: 464 Location: On a Highway to Hell
I'm a Mac owner, looking to get some recording gear and software.
Budget is absolute minimum as i'm pretty skint at the mo.
I'm looking for some software that will let me build drum tracks and also some sort of hardware that will let me record guitar and other instruments. I'm pretty certain that Logic is the software way to go but i have no idea when it comes to hardware!
My knowledge of this stuff really is a big fat 0 so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Joined: Feb 22, 2005 Posts: 897 Location: Near the ghetto of Lowestoft
logic is the way to go, get a student to buy it for you as they can get logic 8 for £120 thanks to the discount.
As for hardware, MOTU and apogee are up there with the best.
I've tried several soundcards, ok, rather a lot in fact, and my apogee duet is by far the best. The clarity and sound is just really noticable.
Motu ultralite's are good too, as like the apogee duet, its bus powered, and firewire.
M-audio make good soundcards, but if you can, go with the apogee as its mac only and even the apple remote will then control your volume of the soundcard! not a major selling point i know, but it was designed for the mac. It has 2 TRS inputs and 2 xlr inputs and 2 outputs - all you need!
However, if you want to go cheaper, you could find an mbox 2. These come with pro tools LE hardware all for around £250-£300. Pro tools isnt as creative as logic though, its more professional for just audio, but still a decent platform.
Pro tools LE is only now available with leopard though so it could be unstable still - i dont know.
I prefer logic as it has some not bad sounding kits, basses, pianos and all sorts of instruments.
If interested, i have a "copy" of Addictive drums which works a treat. Very realistic sounds - PM me if your interested and i can post you a cd.
It needs a windows pc to run the serial keygen, but other than, a great piece of software!
Hope this has helped! I study audio engineering, so i know a little bit
Joined: Apr 19, 2005 Posts: 4893 Location: At the bottom of the garden, amongst the birds and the bees
KaptainZamatopf wrote:
How many tracks does the soundcard let you record simultaneously? Does it depend on the amount of inputs?
So for example, if i want to mic a drum kit up and record a live kit, how would i do that?
Yeah, the soundcard isn't the limiting factor, the actual number of physical preamps you have usually is - if you get the Apogee, you only get 2 inputs, though generally firewire soundcards will let you add more pre's by daisy-chaining another firewire product (like a Presonus Firepod, which has 8 pre's, and is easily solid enough quality for home recording). For a drumkit you really want at least 8 pre's, though you usually want another one more so you can record guide guitar at the same time or whatever.
MOTU have a great reputation for sound quality, but I know a lot of people that have to have various bits of equipment replaced because they've just stopped responding - though MOTU have pretty good customer service from what I've heard. If you're looking for a cheap double input type soundcard, I'd recommend the E-MU stuff. I've got a 1616m, which uses the same preamps as Protools mixing desks (the signal-to-noise ratio is insanely low, which is always a good thing around computers). They aren't quite at the same level as MOTU or Apogee, but for the price they're damn good.
Steve _________________ "Enlightenment at the cost of my wings is not a price I am willing to pay"
before i got my new gear i used a alesis multimix 16 firewire with logic..It` was about 350 quid but it`s gives you a mixer / driect monitoring / 8 pretty decent preamps all in one unit . If you are on a budget thats the one to go for in my opinion as you get a lot for your money . This will also give you 16 inputs including spdif ,8 xlr analogue mic inputs , and a few line inputs can`t remember exactley . It`s pretty decent quality sounding too . you can get them on ebay for a bit less money . I`ve gone back to my pc now as it was a lot cheaper for a top end pc than it was for the Mac. My mac isn`t reallyt up to a lot (g4 dual 500mhz, 1 gig ram) but the alesis was really good on it . You will just need to get a firewire card .
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