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What do you use? Recommendations?
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jeremykeys
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Joined: 19 Jun 2011
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 2:27 pm    Post subject: What do you use? Recommendations? Reply with quote

Hi there! I'm looking at making the big jump to multitrack recording on a computer.

For several years I'mve been using a a Yamaha AW16G recorder but it's old and it now is time to upgrade. I've considered a few options but none of the dedicated new recorders do everything that my old machine does. Also, my Yamaha is pre USB! It does have a CD burner in it. The new Tascam doesn't allow for panning, compression and a few other things on the tracks that you have recorded. This makes mix/down a problem.

Sooooooo! I'm thinking about getting a laptop, muliti channel inter face and or a mixer. I can't afford to go Mac even though I would like to. The reason for a laptop is so that I can record live drums at my drummers house. I live in an apartment and have to watch the noise levels.

What are any of you people using and what do you think might be good for me?

I can get away wiht a minimum of 8 mic inputs, preferalbly XLR.
Phantom power is necessary because of the mics that I own.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance
Jeremykeys
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If music is the food of love, play on and play loud!
Gear: Kronos 73, Triton Pro-X, Wavestation EX, Polysix, King Korg, Monotron and Monotron Duo, Minikorg, Moog Grandmother, 1 Roland U-20, Hammond M3, 4 acoustic and 6 electric guitars, 1 Ibanez 5 string bass, a bunch of microphones and other very cool toys, 1 wife and 3 cats!
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SanderXpander
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Joined: 29 Jul 2011
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are many roads to walk (see me wax poetic here) and nobody can really look into your budget, commitment and desires. So it's pretty hard to get specific. I'll split it into three parts;

Sequencer/DAW
I use Sonar X3 Producer myself. I really like the Sonar platform for what I do, if you don't need a lot of sounds and plugins "in the box" or are planning to get third party ones, the Studio edition will probably suffice, or even the basic "X3" edition. What I really like about it is its take comping features and its seamless integration with Melodyne which I use constantly for vocal edits and fixes. The included Melodyne edition is called "Essential" and suffices for basic tasks, if you need more Melodyne offers a 150 euro/dollar upgrade after you initially register to its full-on "Editor" version which is pretty much the industry standard for this kind of stuff. I like Sonar's workflow mostly but I've been with it for a while. The best advice I could give is "pick a DAW and stick with it". Reaper is a cheap and relatively popular one, with powerful features and good plugins (no sounds), but I personally found its workflow very obstructing, constantly having to menu dive for basic tasks etc.
Cubase is still popular and may be a good choice if you are still considering to switch to Mac later, as it is fully cross-platform. Sonar is Windows only.
You may also be considering Ableton Live but while I do enjoy its workflow sometimes for song creation and live use, for extended recording and take comping it is pretty cumbersome, I wouldn't recommend it.

Laptop;
Get an i7 quad core based laptop, with at least 8GB of RAM and a large 7200RPM drive for your recordings and stuff. Preferably with a second Drive, an SSD for the OS and programs. You really don't need a cd/dvd drive a lot unless you want to actually watch DVD movies on it or something. Get an external 30 dollar drive for installing stuff that absolutely needs to be done from disc.

Firewire is mostly on its way out, but it has been popular for audio interfaces for a long time, so watch what you're getting, I would recommend something USB based at his point. The amount of ports may be another important consideration for laptop choice, as it's generally not recommended to connect audio and midi gear through an extra hub. A high screen resolution and an extra video port (HDMI or DVI) is well worth it if you plan on editing and mixing at home, the extra screen real estate will be a major advantage.

If you go Windows 8.1, the touch implementation is supposedly getting really good, which may useful especially if you're going with Sonar which is in the forefront with touch support. Either the laptop screen or your external monitor would need to support it, obviously.

Interface;
The MOTU 8Pre seems made for your stated purpose. There isn't a very wide selection of mobile interfaces with 8 mic inputs, although there are many "expansion boxes" with 8 preamps and an ADAT output to connect to smaller interfaces with ADAT (which are relatively common). Still, it would be another device to add. MOTU has a good reputation for drivers and hardware. It's perhaps a step under RME but above M-Audio, Edirol and other entry level brands. The only minus I can see for your needs is that it only has one main stereo out and one headphone out. Which would make it impossible to create multiple headphone mixes for simultaneous recording. It does have ADAT I/O so if you'd add another ADAT based converter you could get 8 extra ins and outs.

Other options to check out would be the Edirol/Roland Octacapture and the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20. Both have also gotten favorable reviews. I should mention I don't have any personal experience with any of them, except that a friend has an 8Pre and seems to be happy with it.

Good luck, whatever you go with!
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Bald Eagle
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Joined: 25 Jan 2009
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Location: Long Island, NY

PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

SanderXpander wrote:

I would recommend something USB based at his point. The amount of ports may be another important consideration for laptop choice, as it's generally not recommended to connect audio and midi gear through an extra hub.

Using hubs is not recommended but most issues with hubs are power related. I have 3 powered hubs in use with a variety of devices and have not had problems. A powered hub does not guarantee that there will not be a problem but it will help in most situations.
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree, but if you're recording and playing back many audio tracks at the same time you're putting a lot more stress on the USB bus than if you're just using a mouse and some midi keyboards. The theoretical limit of the USB bus is not the same as its practical stable use limit.

It's more of a rule of thumb than a law set in stone anyway.
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jeremykeys
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Joined: 19 Jun 2011
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I figure I'll be using Cubase. That's what most of my friends are using and this allows me to easily transfer songs back and forth to compare mixes and stuff. Plus, if I have any questions I can easily get answers nd I have used it the most in the past on other projects.
I Gus's I'm going to have to decide on a mixer. I don't like using a mouse to mix.
_________________
If music is the food of love, play on and play loud!
Gear: Kronos 73, Triton Pro-X, Wavestation EX, Polysix, King Korg, Monotron and Monotron Duo, Minikorg, Moog Grandmother, 1 Roland U-20, Hammond M3, 4 acoustic and 6 electric guitars, 1 Ibanez 5 string bass, a bunch of microphones and other very cool toys, 1 wife and 3 cats!
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could consider a control surface instead of a mixer. Or a mixer/soundcard with a built-in controller option (like the Behringer X32 series).
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jeremykeys
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 6:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have been thinking in that direction but for some reason, sometimes behringer stuff is hard to get here in Canada.
_________________
If music is the food of love, play on and play loud!
Gear: Kronos 73, Triton Pro-X, Wavestation EX, Polysix, King Korg, Monotron and Monotron Duo, Minikorg, Moog Grandmother, 1 Roland U-20, Hammond M3, 4 acoustic and 6 electric guitars, 1 Ibanez 5 string bass, a bunch of microphones and other very cool toys, 1 wife and 3 cats!
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Weird. I'm not usually a big proponent of Behringer stuff and you could certainly get better converters but as an all in one solution it's hard to beat and it has been getting pretty good reviews.

I mainly wanted to "warn" against a real audio mixer, in most cases it will add a lot of complexity and cost to a computer based DAW.
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jeremykeys
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Apr 13, 2014 1:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After having been to some of the big music stores here, my wife and I have come to the conclussion that for what I want to do I should just get a Presonus 16.4.2 digital mixer and probably go with a Nac computer.
One of the big things for me is that I don't want to have to do volume adjustments with a mouse. The way I record I'm always adjusting levels, panning, compression and effects all through the process.
That way I get to build the song exactly the way I want to. I do this with my Kronos and my Yamaha AW16G.
I'm planning on running Cubase 7, tha artist version. I've read very good reviews on it and even though it doesn't have all the feature of the full blown version, it has more than enough for me in my apartment.
I really don't need a lot of headphone mixes. Not that many heads!

We'll see what happens though. All in all it is a lot ofo money and we keep changing our minds! Wink
_________________
If music is the food of love, play on and play loud!
Gear: Kronos 73, Triton Pro-X, Wavestation EX, Polysix, King Korg, Monotron and Monotron Duo, Minikorg, Moog Grandmother, 1 Roland U-20, Hammond M3, 4 acoustic and 6 electric guitars, 1 Ibanez 5 string bass, a bunch of microphones and other very cool toys, 1 wife and 3 cats!
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 8:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sounds like you arrived at a pricey but well-considered conclusion Smile
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jeremykeys
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Joined: 19 Jun 2011
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 11:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, it's not as expensive as it could be. We're buying the board used. It was installed in a church and only used for live sound. We're getting it for $800 less than what it would cost if we bought it new. I'm hoping to pick it up tomorrow but the weather is looking pretty ugly, so we might have to wait a couple of days.
Now, we need to find a computer that will do the job properly.
_________________
If music is the food of love, play on and play loud!
Gear: Kronos 73, Triton Pro-X, Wavestation EX, Polysix, King Korg, Monotron and Monotron Duo, Minikorg, Moog Grandmother, 1 Roland U-20, Hammond M3, 4 acoustic and 6 electric guitars, 1 Ibanez 5 string bass, a bunch of microphones and other very cool toys, 1 wife and 3 cats!
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 12:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice deal!
My friend uses it with a Nuendo (kind of like Cubase) system on PC, so I think it'd work fine if you have a system you can spare right now. Just assuming you can't wait to start Wink
EDIT oh and since it's Firewire only, make sure your new system has it or that you get the Thunderbolt/Firewire adapter if you're going for Mac.
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jeremykeys
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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 10:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No system to spare right now. All we have is the 10 year old PC in my wife's offive here. We've been talking aout replacing it for a couple of years too but I think that all it needs is a new spring and a key to wind it up! Wink

As for the music computer, we still need to do some more research into it. I've heard pros and cons about both Mac and PC. We have a couple of companies that speciallize in computers for music so I'm going to pick their brains! Twisted Evil
_________________
If music is the food of love, play on and play loud!
Gear: Kronos 73, Triton Pro-X, Wavestation EX, Polysix, King Korg, Monotron and Monotron Duo, Minikorg, Moog Grandmother, 1 Roland U-20, Hammond M3, 4 acoustic and 6 electric guitars, 1 Ibanez 5 string bass, a bunch of microphones and other very cool toys, 1 wife and 3 cats!
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would (again) go with what your buddies use, if possible! That will save you so much headache it will easily make up for the price difference.
Virtually all plugins and DAWs are available on both platforms, the major excluded ones are Logic (Mac only, and a very good program) and Sonar (Windows only).
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SanderXpander
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

By the way I realize this will be quite a jump for you and require a lot of time and energy to master, but I think you'll be super happy with whatever you choose! Recording is one thing, but editing is just soooooo much nicer on a computer based DAW! Smile
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