Recording gear... what do you use?

[tone_guru]

I'm looking for a digital 4 track, something simple, easy to use, decent recording quality. I have experience with older cassette tape 4 tracks: Yamaha, Korg, Tascam. The Korg was my favorite, so easy to use.

I thought I'd update my gear and start recording again. I'm just curious as to what you guys use, and your experience with your equipment.

Having an onboard drum machine would be nice, something to lay down tracks with or just jam along with.

Thanks!

[CGord]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

I'm using the Line 6 RiffTracker package. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ker?sku=700519

[bigheadood]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

I'm using Apple's Garageband. Came pre-installed on my mac.

[tone_guru]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

Thanks CGord! I already have a Guitar Port, so I think the Rifftracker is just what I'm looking for. I do most of my jamming at the computer anyway.

By the way, I loved your recording in your thread about Satriani, "Flying in a Red Dream," I believe? Great sound!

Thanks again!

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

Hardware:
Focusrite Saffire PRO 26 i/o (interface)
Little Labs Redeye (DI/Reamp box)
PODxt

Software:
Cubase SX3 (DAW)
ToonTrack's DFHS (Drums)
Spectrasonic's Trilogy (Bass)
reFX's Nexus (Strings, pads, synths)
Plugins by Waves, Sonalksis, Voxengo, Audioease, apulSoft, PSP, etc...

[DankStar]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

lucky for me, my wife is insisting we get a mac as our next computer. I plan on continuing my low-budget metal recordings using garage band. my needs are pretty simple: as long as there's a record button, about 16 tracks, and no latency I've got myself a party.

for the record, I really miss my old vestax analog 4-track deck. it had the most killer reverb i've ever heard. it actually made my vocals sound halfway decent.

[lex666]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

I'm using a Boss micro BR. Its a 4 track digital recorder and has built in drum patterns. It can do a whole list of other cool things too. With an external mic, there's no end to what it can do...

[Dave]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

So, with rifftracker, can you use pre-recorded (pre-made) drum/bass rhythm grooves? Is there any reason to get a pod instead of a tone port if you're only going to use computer recording?

Thanks, I'm a recording idiot and would like to get into it.

[stevie ray]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

I'm using the Line 6 RiffTracker package. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ker?sku=700519

that sounnds bomb cgord


i was thinkin about the tone port alone but i think the rifftracker mite be the way to go now that i heard in action

[stevie ray]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

ive heard good things about the Boss MICRO BR , its pretty similar to the rifftracker

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Boss-?sku=241152



s

[CGord]

Re: Recording gear... what do you use?

So, with rifftracker, can you use pre-recorded (pre-made) drum/bass rhythm grooves? Is there any reason to get a pod instead of a tone port if you're only going to use computer recording?

Thanks, I'm a recording idiot and would like to get into it.

that sounnds bomb cgord


i was thinkin about the tone port alone but i think the rifftracker mite be the way to go now that i heard in action

RiffTracker is a hardware/software bundle from Line 6; it includes the GuitarPort for your guitar to pc interface & RiffWorks recording software (from Sonoma Wire Works). You can buy both seperately if you choose.

Re drum/bass grooves, it can import .rex files, but NOT .wav files. So yes, you can import pre-recorded stuff, but not in the most common format. You can vary the tempo with the rex files, which is what I assume the difference is. Not being able to import wav's does suck.

I believe the POD has more options available re. all the different amp/cab/effects models, though I have more with the GuitarPort than I'll ever need.

Here are a couple of screenshots:

GearBox (the GuitarPort GUI):



All of the effects/cab models w/mic type & placement/etc show up in the screen where the EQ/boost effect is currently displayed. There is also a paid subscription service to GuitarPort online available which I do not use, so it's not shown. You can choose to have stuff like your reverb & delay in front of your cab or after, it makes a big tonal difference. There are bazillions of options to fool with. I mean bazillions.

RiffWorks GUI:



The Song Layers window shows that Riff 3(3) is the one being displayed in the window below. There are four guitar tracks & one bass track (plus a drum track that I'll show in the next screencap). You drag & drop riffs from the song layer window into the very top window to build a song. You can name the riffs (verse 1, pre-chorus, chorus, outro, etc) but I did not with this one.

You can also take whatever you've got in the top window & bounce it to a new riff. For example, if a solo is going to be over 3 8-bar sections of a song, I can take those three bars & bounce them to a new 24-bar riff; all the instruments playing in those three bars will be one track (so you've got to have all your post processing done first). Then I can play over it as often as I need to get the solo right, then insert that riff into the song structure in place of the original 3.

Here's the same thing but with the drum department visible:



You can see what drum loop is loaded up & the effects available to it. I've also got the EQ window open. This window with the eq is available for every track in the riff, & you can see all of the options that are available for post preocessing. EQ is pretty much all I use; the post effects are too heavy-handed for my tastes. If I want compression or reverb or whatever, I'll add it in at the GearBox GUI.

The restrictive part is the drums. They work great, but I can only EQ the drum track as a whole. Try to crank up the kick drum & the snare gets boomy, try to sharpen the snare & the cymbals get too much sizzle, etc. The upside for a n00b like myself is I do not have to write & program individual drums, though I am approaching the point of wanting that much flexibility. Also, there is not much in the way of metal double-kick loops available; the drums in my song "The Crushinator" are the heaviest of the bunch. If you're not doing metal there are many good ones, but I wish I had heavier drums to choose from.

Both programs come with a good assortment of choices, but you can spend much MUCH more than the original purchase in add-ons (& I have). Additional amps, additional effects, additional drum tracks, etc. That's cool in that you can do as much as little as your budget can take, but be warned, after 2-3 years of use I probably have another $500-600 invested in mine ON TOP of the original purchase. I do not regret it, but yeah, it wasn't $189 for long.

Here are the online stores for Sonoma Wire Works & Line 6; get your amps & effects from Line 6, get your drum loops from Sonoma Wire Works.

http://www.sonomawireworks.com/store/

http://line6.com/modelPacks/

Oh, re. final song output; I have RiffWorks output the song to a .wav file, then I convert that to an .mp3 file with Winamp. A neat trick with RW is you can upload directly from your RiffWorks to their site, like SoundClick just for RW users. This is me on their old system:

http://www.sonomawireworks.com/riffcaster/[email protected]

& the new one:

http://www.riffworld.com/Members/CGord/?searchterm=CGord

Hope all this helps!