Gotta Start Back!

[bizpat72]

Hi everyone, I'm new at RecordingReview.com and very excited I found this forum.

I started playing music as singer, rythme guitar and bass about 15 years ago. Unfortunately, the band I was playing with splitted even though we had relatively good success in bars in the region of Montreal, Qc.

Today, I have so many ideas for new songs that I gotta start back where I left...

Back in 1999-2000 my band and I were recording with Cubase. We recorded a few of our songs but we were using so many cheap devices like soundblaster cards, microphone made to chat over the web, that while the song rocked, we couldn't produce what I would call professional studio sound. Today with better home recording gear, if I could record something that would sound like Don't Turn Away, I'd be very very happy.

Cubase or Cakewalk

In recent reflexions I thought Cakewalk might be an option, but after reading some posts in the beginner section of this forum, I think it would be dumb to learn a new recording software. So I guess Cubase it is.

Better MIDI sounds

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am on the impression that buying a better sound card would really help. I want drums, bass and keyboards that sound better than Sound Blaster's. Would buying a card like the Focusrite Saffire LE or the Edirol FA-66 help me (I don't need multiple inputs, 2 is more than enough)?

I'll wait for some feedback,

Thanks in advance
Pat

[Electriclight]

Yeah,
Do yourself a favor and buy an audio interface made for audio recording. The soundblaster will have latency issues. Plus you can record at a higher sample rate and bit rate with one of these interfaces. The interfaces you mention are fine. If you want other suggestions use the Sound Card Wizzard on this site.

[brandondrury]

First I want to see that Cubase now is DRAMATICALLY better than Cubase from 2000 or so. I had Cubase VST5 and I never really liked it. Cubase SX3 (which is no longer being made) is infinitely better. It's good enough I never bothered to upgrade to Cubase 4.

There aren't many people I don't recommend Cubase to.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am on the impression that buying a better sound card would really help. I want drums, bass and keyboards that sound better than Sound Blaster's. Would buying a card like the Focusrite Saffire LE or the Edirol FA-66 help me (I don't need multiple inputs, 2 is more than enough)?

Yes, the audio interface is definitely worth purchasing for sound and the possibilties it opens up. With low latency you can monitor with your recording software and therefor don't need an external mixer. The adding of compression and effects into the headphone mix is easy to do within the recording software as well.

In regard to MIDI sounds, this depends. There are some soundcards that come with "sound fonts" which is just another name for a synthesizer. Most audio interfaces do not come with any synths or samples, but may come with software that has this sort of thing bundled. If the aim is to improve synths and samples, you should look into the huge palette of free synths our there or consider buying premium synths and samples.

Brandon