My friend and I record music on my computer using a very old, buggy version of cakewalk and the cheap onboard sound that came with my computer. I'm looking for a better sound card or external sound recording interface, and also some good software for recording. can anyone make any recommendations? I'm looking to spend about $400.00 for the whole setup (not including mics and other equipment which I will consider seperately.) [Edited by - Kelly G on June 22, 2006 6:15:23 PM]

On the hardware side, I'd go for something like the Edirol FA66 or the M-Audio FW-410 (both firewire) or an M-Audio Delta 66.

For software, go for Kontakt2.

Thanks. The avid thing (M-Audio) caught my attention. The M-Box 2 also looks good, but I'm curious about the Pro Tools LE software. What do people think of it? Google brings up many brief descriptions but is there somewhere with more in-depth info?

If you can give a specific question on what aspect of the program I would gladly answer it. I hooked my friends digi 002 factory hardware to it and after some time setting it up it works fairly well. The software in general is pretty good. I'm not necessarily a person who knows the attachments or some of the music terms like reverb well but I was able to find out how to record and find out what some of the other things meant in a short while and then teach it to my friend. The thing I have come across and this probably applies to the digi 002 factory is that we had to reboot the computer because it had to be active on start up. If we wanted to listen to the music we had to turn it off(the digi) and to turn it back on we had to reboot the computer which my friend found out that if you make the computer hibernate instead and then turn it(the digi) back on it would work instead of having to reboot.

There are tons of choices in that range now. Usually you spend around $500 and you get an audio interface and an LE version of high-end audio software.

Buy an Mbox 2 and you get ProTools LE - $499

Buy an EMU 1820M and you get Sonar LE - $499

Buy a Sapphire from Focusrite gets you Cubase LE - $399

Buy a Lexicon Omega and get ProTracks Plus (?) - $299

There are few more, but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

All have 2 XLR inputs for mics , approx 8 line level I/O, and at least one headphone jack. All come with a few nifty plug-ins and whatnot.

There are reasons to buy all of these. ProTools LE is probably the best LE software out there of it's kind.

The EMU probably has the best Mic Pres and Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog converters out there for audio interfaces. Patch Mix can be a pain to learn but it's pretty robust.

The Sapphire has probably the 2nd best LE software and is $100 cheaper than the MBOX or the EMU.

The Lexicon will have some great reverb plug-ins and has the cheapest price tag. (Never heard of ProTracks Plus.)

You asked about ProTools LE? It's pretty good. It's not at all easy to just pick up and learn, though. You have to know something about traditional studio signal flow to really get all the benefits of it since that's what it's modeled after. And if you plan on moving forward into the recording world, it's pretty much an imperative that you learn ProTools. Me? I'm Pro Tools certified but I don't use it much except for some live tracking here and there.

If you already know Cakewalk, I would consider staying with it at least for now. Adding all this hardware to your routine will take more than an afternoon to get the hang of and having an entirely new piece of software to master can really frustrate some people.

Any more specific questions?

Tony

Thanks ya'll. I don't really have a specific question. I just wanted to get impressions from people with some prior experience, I'm guessing all of these "LE" systems probably all have the basic features I'm looking for, stuff like EQ, compression, fader automation, delay and such.

Question for Asem though- You had to shut down the software to "listen to the music"? Does the software not let you moniter what you are working on?

The problem Asem and his friend is having isn't normal at all. If it's a Mac, then you have configured your CORE Audio devices wrong, if it's a PC then...well it could be a lot of things.

The Digi 002 is nice, but it's also $1800 to $2000. I've got two in my studio and they work fine on both Mac and PC PT systems.

The LE stuff definitely has all the basics for time-based processing like reverbs, delays and everything plus plenty of dynamic processing like Compression, EQ, and the likes.

Good luck!

I'm gonna recommend the Digi 002 if you can afford it. If not, I'd go with the MBox 2. Just one thing to note, CoreAudio (MacOS X) is by no means perfect.

Here's a bummer: > digidesign says Windows XP Media Center Edition is "not supported." Maybe Pro Tools LE is not the thing for me. I'm going to consider the other options more closely.

Eidt: or maybe it's not an issue. Are there any significant differences between Media Center Edition and Home Edition?

[Edited by - Kelly G on June 24, 2006 1:34:35 AM]

We had to do it to listen to audio for reguler computer stuff like playing games or internet but we didn't have to for when we recorded. We would record and be able to listen to it right away. The digi is pretty awsome though. the reboot was to make sure the windows(home version if it matters) would pick it up correctly.

anthemaudio is probably right but I found my friends computer to be not so audio oriented. It's the only problem and its not really much of a problem.