What do you guys use for recording?

My extremely non-fancy setup consists of Guitarport and Audacity on my laptop.

Audacity is open source, and well reviewed. I like it cause it's simply. I can just play, select what to keep, and save it.

My extremely basic setup consists of a PC mic and Audacity - PC mic cost about £15 (equivalent about $30, but probably cheaper in the US) and Audacity. I use LAME - which, like Audacity costs nothing - to convert the Audacity wav (?) files to MP3 files. Audacity also has the added bonus of a multi-tracking facility - I think I once had 12 separate and distinct tracks on one song.

:D :D :D

Vic

does anyone use Sony Acid ?

i have it...but dunno how to use it. is it worth learning?

does anyone use Sony Acid ?

i have it...but dunno how to use it. is it worth learning?

Nick might. Nick?

I use Guitarport with Riffworks and Audacity 8)
IMO Audacity is the best free recording program i have seen.

Firebox, a firewire audio recording interface - two channels at a time, plus Cool Edit Pro II. CEP II is now Adobe Audition. It's pricey (was $400 USD), but great for audio processing and editing. The multi-track capabilities are somewhat secondary. I suspect they've probably improved in Adobe Audition.

I recently picked up a Zoom H4 handheld MP3/WAV stereo/4-track recorder. Tried it out just yesterday during some group practice using the built-in stereo crossfield mics. Verdict: good recording capabilities, but lousy user interface. However, the former outweighs the latter. Also has combo XLR/TRS mic/instrument inputs. As the files can be transferred to PC for editing, it should be great for live recording of all sorts.

:roll: does anyone use Sony Acid ?

i have it...but dunno how to use it. is it worth learning?

You have Acid and don't know how to use it? :evil: I know that my opinion on these things isn't taken well here so, I'll leave my opinion out of it for now. Acid has a built in tutorial. The manual explains how to use this.

Mackie Onyx Satellite
Tracktion 3, Samplitude SE, Cubase SE, Acid Music Studio, Beta Monkey Loops, EZdrummer.
Various cheapo mics. A Digitech RP90(how embarrassing), KRK Rockit Powered 5s.
Various plugins: Freeamp 3, Kjaerhaus Classic series, Modern Plugins suite, Fish Fillets and many more. 99% freeware.

Edit: I just added a dbx 266xl to my inserts. Not a huge addition but there it is. One day I mey even record something again :roll:

I myself have a M-Audio firewire interface box, an MXL condenser mic, and old timey Shure dynamic mic, and a copy of both Sony SoundForge and Sonar loaded on a PC.

Audacity?? Hmm, Ive downloaded number of times but never installed it. I should look into that because I hear it's competative with some of the major name-brand software.

Audacity certainly is not competitive with any major software. It is fine for stereo editing and file conversion but is dificult to make practical use of for multitracking and mixing. I know a lot of people use it but that's only because they have gotten used to the workflow. The effort it takes to learn some other, equally simple and equally free software seems too much for some.

I keep plugging this software because it's good: kreatives- Kristal Audio Engine. It's free and good. If all you know is Audacity, Kristal will open so many possibilities for you.

http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/index.php?section=download

NO I"M NOT ASSOCIATED WITH KREATIVES IN ANY WAY.

If need be, I'm totally willing to help anyone who wants to download this software. To get it running and to make use of the thousands of free plugins out there.

New here so I thought I'd share!

I run a regular home PC loaded with Magix Music Studio Deluxe 12. This cost about 50 quid, and has something like up to 32 audio tracks, unlimited midi, and a bunch of effects. You can also add in any free VST plugins downloaded from the web, which has opened up a massive world of possibilities for me!! Check out the results at http://www.myspace.com/calistouk . Crush Me is a pretty good example of a fairly heavily layered mix (that's my other half on vocals - she wrote the original song). High and Dry gives a good idea of the "space" that can be created with a fairly simple acoustic setup. All in all its a great bit of software for the price - and it won't crash your PC to often!!!

Mine goes:
Guitar, bass, piano or vox in through an older Tascam audio/midi interface; all sound modeling done in the audio software Logic Express 7. Sound back out to self powered Altec Lansing speakers, headphones or both.
Guitar modeling: I have a PodXT but never use it. I much prefer a plugin suite from Native Instruments called Guitar Rig or even the Logic presets.

I used GarageBand for ages, as it was so easy to jam and record with (so easy to put basic jam tracks together with).

But for more serious recording I upgraded to Logic Express. I just plug the mic directly into my macbook pro.

New here so I thought I'd share!

I run a regular home PC loaded with Magix Music Studio Deluxe 12. This cost about 50 quid, and has something like up to 32 audio tracks, unlimited midi, and a bunch of effects. You can also add in any free VST plugins downloaded from the web, which has opened up a massive world of possibilities for me!! Check out the results at http://www.myspace.com/calistouk . Crush Me is a pretty good example of a fairly heavily layered mix (that's my other half on vocals - she wrote the original song). High and Dry gives a good idea of the "space" that can be created with a fairly simple acoustic setup. All in all its a great bit of software for the price - and it won't crash your PC to often!!!
Hi-Your music sounds great i just sent the friend request to myspace 8)

I'm just getting started. I used an iMic USB input and Audacity on the last project I did. I had some problems with Audacity crashing, and with the iMic's preamp leaving a lot to be desired.

I'm now using a Lexicon Alpha USB I/O box and Cubase LE4. I like it a lot better. The Lexicon I/O is a huge improvement, and Cubase seems like a fairly respectable mixing application.

Still having some trouble with pops an clicks. I suspect that my problem now is my processor: I'm running a c.2001 Mac G4 that runs at 466Mhz. I can use a USB 2.0 PCI card input or one of the G-4's builtin USB ports (USB 1.1). Neither is ideal. As I write I realize that one thing I haven't tried is unplugging everything but the keyboard and mouse and the Lexicon box from the USB ports to eliminate any spurious inputs. But I think that I need a faster computer at the end of the day.

Anyway, I'm happier with this setup than what I had before. Hopefully I'll post something done with this new setup on Hear Here sometime soon.