teh Forum

I know you want to help me get my computer into music production mode. I know you want to tell me about how I can get software that will help with recording. I know you have programs that will make drums and bass and all that other neat shit, and I know damn well you want to tell me how to get them! I want to use my computer to record, arrange, and mix music using a guitar and microphone. What programs have good drum/bass guitar/orchestra/other instrument sounds? What will I need to plug the guitar and mic into the puter?

Cooledit, ProTools, etc........anyone have copies of anything like this that I could get from ya? (dustin, etc.....)

Thank you gentlemen for bowing to my Obi-Wan hand wave.....

These aren't the droids you're looking for.......

These arent the droids we're looking for...

dude... check out Reason (http://www.propellerheads.se/). I know a bunch of people that have basically replaced a studio's worth of equipment and software with Reason. I've messed around with it a bit myself, and it's alot of fun, and pretty much limitless in terms of the different styles of music you can use it for. Check out the song archive on the propellerheads site to get an idea....

Talk to me more in person this weekend bro.

have to travell to his underground lair where you will find him suspended by flesh hooks...dismount him and drag him with you.

Most likely the recommended extraction technique. He better come out of there soon.

All you need is a CD of stuff that I could give Ryland... What kind of sound devices do you have? Are you just using the PC or do you have some synths? Do you want it to sound really nice? Do you want to spend any $$$ in the process?

... wouldn't recommend Reason as it is very limited in what it can do. I'd say get a nice copy of Cubase VST 5 or Cubase SX (I have them,) and use Native Instruments VST Instruments. I'd also recommend using Sound Forge over things like Cool Edit for sample processing. If you want a very nice sound interface to do multitrack recording for much less than average, I'd go with an M-Audio Delta 1010. They're around $500 instead of a couple thousand. One of those in conjunction with Cubase would eliminate the need to ever use something as smelly as Pro-Tools. How fast is your PC? That would be another determining factor in what types of software and tools you'd want to use. Also, is this just a small scale hobby or do you want to really get into it? I'd recommend picking up any synthesizer from Waldorf, www.waldorf-gmbh.de (you can buy most of their product line at Guitar Center.) I find them to be the nicest products at semi-reasonable prices. For nice analogy synth lines and stuff I'd get any version of the Q or Micro-Q line. (Even the lite model which is fairly cheap is a nice tool to own.) I would use Native Instruments Battery for drum samples and triggering (That's a software drum module for VST-ready sequencers.) If you want spacy pads etc. get a MicroWave XT. You can turn those knobs for hours and hours without knowing what you're doing and come up with amazing sounds. check out Elektron synthesizers too. They're a niche market type thing, so they're a little expensive, but well worth it. I heard Alesis just came out with a nice virtual analog in the three digit price range that sounds quite nice too. (It is a keyboard, so you'd have that on your side too.) I can give you software, but you should get a little hardware too. I suggest picking up a small line mixer too, like a Mackie 1202 or equivalent. Anyway, that's my .02.....