new to PC recording...got a few questions

I've used some 8 track analog and digital recorders before and I'm quite familiar with those type of recording devices but I'm interested in Reaper, my PC, and an interphase.

1. I bought My computer from walmart for 228 bux and I don't think it's got the stones to record guitar(bass, drums, and what not) so what is a good bargain computer that has the power to make a quality recording with?

2. What is a good interphase? I was thinking a lexicon omega or lambda...any other suggestions here?

3. What software is the easiest to use (i was thinking reaper because it's cheap but it looks complicated)

4. Are there any other tips and things I should know?

Was in the same boat as you a few weeks ago. Lots of good advice here from the guys lead me to this PC. HP Pavillion P7-1154. Will run you $600+ . with a 20" flat screen monitor from Bestbuy. I up graded to a 23" and let 'em toss in a printer. Wal-mart has alot of HP stuff as well and the same printer was $20 cheaper at Walmart I found out later. I think the guys here were more concered about features and the ability to expand later on than any certain brand name. They advised to steer away from the lap top. Once they gave me some specs, I started shopping and with their approval bought the HP. All this started when my Wife bought me a home studio bundle for Christmas, therefore the need for the computer. It also came from best buy. Samson Studio GT bundle with decent powered monitors, a Samson C01 condenser mic and built in dual usb interface......$199.00 comes with cakewalk sonar LE. Having 0% experience with this type of recording, I was tracking, adding effects, and basically acting like I knew what I was doing in 24 hours. Still got alot to learn but satisfying still to say the least. Most here have more advanced stuff and can point you in the right direction. Good luck!

Jeffro

Cakewalk Sonar is certainly one of the more straightforward software suites to get going on and has the advantage of having a lot of choice for expansion and upgrades on the PC platform for when you get more confident. Reaper looks complicated at first but you'll soon get used to it. The better computer you get, the easier time you'll have - ideally you'd have a separate (fast) hard drive exclusively for your audio data.

Upgrade your RAM... go silly big, minimum of 4Gig.... and if you can upgrade to a dual core processor of at least 2.8 Ghz you will have a good start

you think 4GB RAM DDR3 with a dual core AMD would suffice?

you think 4GB RAM DDR3 with a dual core AMD would suffice?

If the processor speed was somewhere near the 3 GHz range, I think you'd be good to go for the long haul.

I'll quickly chime in....

Although I don't think a laptop is ideal I agree to the 4gig min. for RAM.
That allows computer headroom (so to speak) as one eventually adds more system intensive music apps/plug-ins.

Software choice is very subjective based on UI and work flow preference.
I've used Cakewalk since the early 90's and have stuck with Sonar 5.0PE as it suits my needs....I'd recommend Cakewalk.
Yes...all can look "complicated" but there will be a learning curve for a while with any of the choices available.

Also agree (ultimately) that one should have a separate drive (7500 rpm preferably) for all audio files.

IMO...the audio interface is the tricky one and USB options can be finicky from my reading over the years.
Success stories from this site should help.
I would not rely on the 'on-board' sound for your purposes.

Hope that helps and good luck......carry on.

I use 2gb ram and a dual proc and have for years. More is better. This is fine. And it's interface. Interphase sounds like bad mic placement.

Reaper is fine. If you've used 8-tracks with mixers I don't see why it looks complicated.

I use a presonus interphase but there are plenty that as good or much better. It comes with cubase lite.

Spend the big money on mics and monitors. The inexpensive interphases have better converters than what was state of the art just a few years back.

I'm using a Dell PC running XP Pro. XP only addresses 3-and-a-bit-Gb of RAM so that's all I have, processor is a 2.7GHz Core2 Duo. I run most of my recordings through an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI card using Reaper. There have been times in the past when my recordings would get up to 50 or 60 tracks of audio and Reaper would just run, no issues. I see no reason why I couldn't get a similar spec'd laptop to do the same work and in fact I have a friend who does.

My hardware is out of date now compared to all the quad core stuff that's on the market, but it is still up to the job. You could get the fastest PC you can find and still find it's not quick enough if it's bloated with dodgy software running in the background. Remember as well that the difference between, say, 2.8GHz and 3GHz is next to nothing in terms of what you'll notice. More cores will make a difference because it increases the number of tasks the computer can do simultaneously.

Reaper has a magnificently low CPU overhead and it does everything I want it to. It will certainly do way more than an 8 track ;)

In terms of interface, if you'd like something with two mic pres a Line6 Toneport UX2 gives you two and can be picked up pretty cheap used now. The advantage there is that you can then run simulations of high quality pres you might not otherwise have access to, Neve etc. And obviously you can still mic up your tube amp if you want to but it comes with amp and effects models for guitar which can be very useful if you need the convenience.

Stuff as much memory in your pc as you can afford. It is worth getting Win7 64bit so you can use more than 4gb. Any pc around $500-600 should be a good starter comp.

Reaper is a good free tool to learn on and is actually quite powerful. Most software is difficult to master at the beginning, but once you learn it you will find that most systems have similar features but you access them differently.

I like Sonar and Logic for ease of use, but my needs require PT.

As for the interface, you can't go wrong with the low cost Presonus or Focusrite units.

IMHO - Besides memory size which ONLY removes swap time of the software; especially if you have lots of stuff running in the background like anti-virus, e-mail and microsoft search and other non- recording stuff, think about the number and type of hard drives as well. Having two hard drives instead of one reduces switching between all the files that come in to play (temporary files, recorded tracks, media, all the windows stuff etc.). If your system is on one drive and your recording is setup on another you gain a lot of performance.

Also if your video and audio is being run by an onboard video controller (on the computer motherboard) rather than by a separate card that plus into one of the slots, you also have buss contention which slows things down. The CPU is really one of the least important factors once you are at dual core or above. Sometimes you can also add a dedicated card with USB support and improve performance over the ones on the motherboard. Especially now that USB 3.0 is out there.

Software performance is also a big deal at the recording point where you may end up dealing with latency or delay issues; especially when overdubbing. This can be overcome with interface power and there is lots of options from simple multi-channel direct interfaces to pretty sophisticated mixers; which can also double as your main audio (monitors, headphones etc.).

I recommend you visit the audio recording forum and do some reading in the newbie section and even on some of the software specific threads.

http://www.audioforums.com/forums/index.php

Best of luck to you.

If your system is on one drive and your recording is setup on another you gain a lot of performance.


Or you could do what I do with two drives and use RAID0 :mrgreen:

Or you could do what I do with two drives and use RAID0 :mrgreen:

Raid 0 is fast, hope you have a backup though. I started using SSD drives for op system, so far so good with those.

Any modern computer can handle music making easy. At my school they had a pentium II PC roughly 200mhz processor which was totally capable of audio multi tracking.

I think relying on proper profession hardware that plugs into your PCI slots or firewire helps if you are lacking in processing power. USB is processor hungry.

Also selecting "efficient" software and using stuff like effects in the right way too, all helps.

I myself managed to make quite a bit of music on a 500mhz AMD processor. I was dealing with a large amount of audio samples, software synths and effects but not any actual long length live instrument recordings.

Any dual core will find music stuff easy.

Raid 0 is fast, hope you have a backup though. I started using SSD drives for op system, so far so good with those.

Oh yes, I have a NAS box that I backup to, and I periodically fill a hard disk and hand it to a friend (who lives in the next town) for safe keeping. Even if I was using RAID1 or 5 I'd do the same, redundancy is no substitute for a good backup.

Oh yes, I have a NAS box that I backup to, and I periodically fill a hard disk and hand it to a friend (who lives in the next town) for safe keeping. Even if I was using RAID1 or 5 I'd do the same, redundancy is no substitute for a good backup.

That's for sure. Sounds like you have a good setup!

I use reaper on an old P4 with 1G of RAM and a 7200RPM HD. I use a MOTU 8Pre firewire interface. Works good.