Who's using what for recording?

[zionstrat]

Folks- Time to upgrade my home system and like to hear what everyone is using at home- I tend ot like just about everything, started on analog then syncalivers, waverterms and of course protools (not interested in any fights Have found PAris one of the better systems in the last 10 years, and used Nuendo and SX at home for years-

But now rather mad at Steinberg (for the first time in 15 years) and wonderign what's being used for what these days-

Looking at Sonarpro and wonderign what Mackies new gadget is all about?
Requiremnets:
XP
VST/VSTIs
ASIO compatible
Relatively intensive MIDI

Other than that, I'd rather not start with what I want (I want everything and instead want to hear how you are using them- Ie expect most can multi-track these days, use vst plugs and VSTIs, low latenecy, etc-

Looing forward to your input!
Michael

 

[Dirt123]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

My gear is pretty outdated.

HP 600 Mhz PC Windows 98 (!)
Cakewalk Pro 9
M-Audio Delta 44
Creative SB Live!
Behringer MX2642A 16 Ch mixer
Behringer UB802 4 Ch mixer (sometimes you need jus a few more inputs)
Behringer Patch Bay (best investment I've made in a long time)
Pair of old JBL monitors
Old Koss phones
Apex 420 Condensor Mic
Alesis Micro Verb
Bunch of Shure SM58s
Bunch of old pedals
Akai stereo Reel to Reel for "mastering" (ha ha)

Lately, I've been running everyting through the reel to reel , to try & get a little analog goodness in there. Sometimes it's not worth it.

Share ware plug-ins from these sites: (I use the Digilogue EQ & compressor plugins for "Mastering")
http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/audio.htm
http://www.digilogue.de/

Yamaha PSR for Midi sequencing
PAIA "Strings & Things" for laffs.

Oh, and a Vox Tonelab SE for guitar tones. Lots easier than miking the old amp. Allows me to record while children slumber.

BBB

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

Thanks Bob! used cakewalk many years ago and my neundo is just as old!

Dont dump the reals- I've got a ton of 1/4 and 1" from the old days that I would love to listen to..I just didnt keep any anything to play them on

Plug list is great an dmight keep me busy after I upgrade-
Thansk!
m

 

[MDS]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

The new version of ProTools has much Better MIDI implementation, but I certainly understand people not liking ProTools LE (HD is another story! ). Sonar has come a LONG way over the years, so you might be pretty happy with that. If you hadn't already said you're mad at Steinberg I'd suggest Nuendo, as it is probably the most powerful native PC DAW on the market and it has strong Audio and MIDI, which isn't usually the case. I like Vegas for audio, but you'd have to match it up with ACID or something for the MIDI and deal with the whole REWIRE thing. It works great if you're using Reason or something a lot, but it isn't quite as elegant as a solution.

As far as interfaces go, the Mackie 400f is a solid firewire unit. Solid Prosumer quality audio and a MIDI I/O. Downside is no ADAT in...may not matter, but it limits expandability in my eyes. Yoy may never need more than 8 ins, though. The Presonus stuff is worth checking out at the price point, too. They have some new products on the horizon that look pretty interesting.

The good news is most the stuff out there is pretty good these days.

Mike

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

Thanks Mike!
I actually loved protools but never used it for midi- studio to studio to studio, it was practically the only 'similar' varriable, but assumed I can't go that route- Using an 8 track ASIO/ADAT compatabile interface now and want to move software before bumping hardware- Protools still needs proprietary hardware or is that past?

If everyone keeps saying SX is best I still might make the move, but rather unhappy and hate to back off on holding steiernberg responsible- I'd kept vst 5.2 running at home for years because neduno and SX1 had terrible midi and SX was so unstable- Have neudno and SX in the studio and when SX2 came out decisded to make the upgrade at home and Steinberg said, sorry, for the first time in your 17 years of doing business we have decided not to offer an upgrade path..one of the few reasons I waited around for the dbugging of SX- Looks like Stiernberg may have gone MSoft on us

HAdn't thought about the mackie hardware but will keep in mind for future, just downloaded "Tracktion' demo and haven't tried it yet, but unimpressed with the instal and fast look around- Didn't recognise that I happen to have a guitar port on this PC, but dont wantt o talk too bad till I dig in a bit farther- could just be first impression-

Thansk for input and will let you know what I end up doing!

 

[Artie]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

Adobe Audition is pretty good. Used to be Cool Edit Pro. Does everything. Not too expensive.

 

[MDS]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

Thanks Mike!
I actually loved protools but never used it for midi- studio to studio to studio, it was practically the only 'similar' varriable, but assumed I can't go that route- Using an 8 track ASIO/ADAT compatabile interface now and want to move software before bumping hardware- Protools still needs proprietary hardware or is that past?

If everyone keeps saying SX is best I still might make the move, but rather unhappy and hate to back off on holding steiernberg responsible- I'd kept vst 5.2 running at home for years because neduno and SX1 had terrible midi and SX was so unstable- Have neudno and SX in the studio and when SX2 came out decisded to make the upgrade at home and Steinberg said, sorry, for the first time in your 17 years of doing business we have decided not to offer an upgrade path..one of the few reasons I waited around for the dbugging of SX- Looks like Stiernberg may have gone MSoft on us

HAdn't thought about the mackie hardware but will keep in mind for future, just downloaded "Tracktion' demo and haven't tried it yet, but unimpressed with the instal and fast look around- Didn't recognise that I happen to have a guitar port on this PC, but dont wantt o talk too bad till I dig in a bit farther- could just be first impression-

Thansk for input and will let you know what I end up doing!

Protools still requires its own hardware, though they bought M-Audio, so those interfaces work with Protools M-Powered.

That is definitely a shaky move on Steiny's part...

Adobe Audition is a great audio product, but the MIDI stuff is very lacking. I used to work for Syntrillium, so I know VERY well how lame the MIDI stuff is. It is great for audio, though. Very powerful and runs well on a calculator.

Mike

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

Thanks for the input guys!

Will have to look at Audition- First thing I nocied on their web page is spectral editing, something I've really missed from the old days with Sterinberg Avalon-

The more I think about it, minimal midi may do the tric these days- I used to do a lot of crcestral stuff and needed a lot of contraol for articulations, group control, etc. But frankly, most of the time I just bang out a backing that gets replaced anyway

Also did a fast run though Traction last night- Still not sure what I think but it is differnt- Turns out on reboot it had found my guitarport, and not the way I'm normallying going to record, but took about 2 minutes to builde 3 of 4 layers - Differnt intuitive interface, but makes it hard to tell what's there and what's missing-

Thanks and will let you know more about my hunt as it progessses!
m

 

[Rich_T]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

I run Pro Tools LE 6.9 in conjunction with reason 3. This covers most bases for audio and midi editing. I use the M-Box as my interface, but I might upgrade that soon. This is all on an Apple Powerbook G4.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

Kruss-
What's your feeling on PT pros and cons these days? Obviously the standard, but file compatibility, etc isn't nrealy as big a deal and I wont have client comign in to say 'it must be protools'- Are there any big differentiators for you, or maybe have a long history with pt?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

I am using SONAR for tracking, and Wavelab for editing. I use an Echo Mia sound card, since I am the only one who ever records here. I was initally turned off of Nuendo because I thought it was meant for more video projects. Can someone who has used SONAR and Nuendo compare the 2?

 

[CapoFirstFret]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

I'm using pro tools M powered 7.0 on a Mac iBook and using an M Audio Firewire 1814 for an interface....SM58's, 57's, Audix drum mics, and AKG C1000S and C3000S for condeners...

it covers me pretty well for what I need

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

I like Cool Edit (Adobe Audition), use that with Rode NT-1 and Shure Beta 57 mics through an Aphex 207 preamp. Very simple, very straightforward, works well for what I want. . .

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Who's using what for recording?

Mincer- We both need the same review because I'm moving from Nedundo and looking at sonar Tell me what's missign in Sonar and I'll tell you about Neundo-

Neundo is fine for recording- Just about all the bells and whistels you could ask for but different fromat from old VST so long learnign curve- Not very intutive- And just forget about midi-

GS- Your the 2nd cool edit vote- But essentially no midi?

Also, a report on Traction demo, take back my first notes- It did find the Gport and I will try it with my full rig tonight- Very different but easy to use interface- But paradigm is so differnt I can't find things like inserts- Maybe they aren't there, or maybe I'm looking in the wrong place-

But 100% recomendation if you need somethign to catch tracks on from the road, etc.