Hi from Scotland

[Octal]

A long time ago I used reel to reel tape recorders almost intuitively.
Once again I would like to venture into home recording and nothing at the moment works the way I think it should in this digital era
Recently I acquired a Shure SM87a mic, a pair of Centrance Microport Pro analog to digital low latency convertors with USB connection to a PC and am considering Reaper as recommended by Centrance. Like Photoshop, Reaper offers great flexibility but appears difficult to set up a basic two track recording facility for a complete beginner.
As a fingerstyle guitarist I have a Shertler DYN G pick up for my classical guitar. Also available is a Frame guitar with RMC hex pickups for driving Roland VG88, VG99 or a Axon Mk2 guitar/midi convertor.
The more I read as a digital recording beginner, the more confusing the best mix for home recoding becomes.
I should also mention that I ocasionally work with a singer mainly on Celtic music and we would like to attempt home recording and later live performance.

[uab9253]

I am particular to what I use, which is Cubase, but I have not used anything else. I came to PC recording from tape, originally, then Roland Digital hardware, but I love it. I've never had such power available and I can record things quickly and easily that sound good. Sonar, Cubase, Acid Pro, Ableton, ProTools, they all have their proponents and detractors. You really can go too far wrong with any of them. Good luck!

[Octal]

Thanks for your advice.

Starting with a simple question - is my lap top suitable for real time audio recording?

I came across "pc notes" on page 202 of Sound on Sound magazine, June 2008 edition and tried the DPC latency checker free utility. It confirmed that my almost new Dell Precision M6300 laptop runing Vista Ultimate will introduce regular audio drop outs. Perhaps I should invest in the Edirol R44 four track recorder to start with and attempt to learn and experience the basics of digital home recording with good hardware disconnected from my laptop

[chipbasschao]

Hey Octal...

It is quite possible to use a Laptop to do Digital Recording successfully. I did for several years with the following setup:- Advent 7026 Laptop with Pentium4 2.66ghz CPU, 512MB DDR RAM, 60GB 2.5" 5400RPM HDD, Internal AC97 Soundcard running Window XP Pro. The main problem I had was Hard Drive Speed, but after I added an External 160GB EIDE Hard Drive via the USB2 Port, everything was GREAT.... I mainly use Propellerheads Reason for Composition but I had full VST Effects installed as well via Reaper No Problems at all!!!... I think you WILL have problems if you're running Vista though - it's not really Music-User friendly (unless it's improved drastically) Hope that helps....

[Octal]

Hi Chipbasschao

Thanks for replying. Just after I posted my last thread, I surfed this site and came across a link to "Optimising your PC Audio on Windows Vista" on the Focusrite Answerbase web site. Really useful as two links "Vista Bottlenecks part 1 and part 2" were also included.

Nothing is impossible any more as long as you keep surfing

[brandondrury]

Like Photoshop, Reaper offers great flexibility but appears difficult to set up a basic two track recording facility for a complete beginner.

I'm glad you mentioned Photoshop. I have written articles on the topic of recording software and I often compare the learning curve to that of Photoshop. The big boy stuff often takes a bit to get used to but provides tremendous benefits in the long run.

I wouldn't say that Reaper (based on what others have told me, I use Cubase SX3) is hard to use. I would say that you need to understand it before you can use it.

This recording software stuff works much the same way as the analog tape does. With analog tape, you started with a mic, routed to a preamp, routed to a specific input of a tape machine. With softare, you go through the mic, preamp, analog to digital conveter, and then you have to route that signal to a specific track in your software. The concept is mostly the same. There is just something "hidden" about the menus in recording software that is a bit more obvious with a patchbay.

It confirmed that my almost new Dell Precision M6300 laptop runing Vista Ultimate will introduce regular audio drop outs.

Thanks for the tool. I just wrote a quick blog about it. It appears to be useful tool for troubleshooting audio recording problems. I didn't expect my home computer to pass the test, but it did even with a billion programs running all at once.

I would not advice buying a 4 track recorder. Instead, I would highly recommend you purchase an audio interface actually designed for audio recording. Check out my Home Recording Soundcard Wizard. It'll save you some time.

Brandon

[Octal]

Brandon

I really appreciate your advice. I have attempted to use Reaper and got lost in ASIO4all drivers and basic settings in Reaper - I assume this would also happen with Cubase. Here in the beginner stalls I can see a long climb with many a slip ahead. Your web site has already helped and one day soon (?) I look forward to my first acceptable recording

Best Redards

Octal

[brandondrury]

I'm glad to hear that RecordingReview.com has reduced the burden a bit. Keep on working!

I have attempted to use Reaper and got lost in ASIO4all drivers and basic settings in Reaper - I assume this would also happen with Cubase.

That's hard to say until you've tried it. The driver issue doesn't need to be complicated. However, if you are using ASIO4all, I'm assuming you are using your stock soundcard. In those cases, you are simply "hot rodding" your current stock soundcard. There is nothing wrong with that, but you have to consider that your soundcard may not be as "hotrodable" as we may like.

Brandon

[pipelineaudio]

Octal, hit up the reaper chatroom when you get a chance, theyll get you all set.

Brandon, either Jim Roseberry or one of the ADK guys showed me some tools to find out who is lighting up the reds in DPC latency checker. If you were to write the be all end all in diagnoses, you would be the king for all eternity!

Here is one of them, RATT, but it was so hard to use for me I gave up RATTV3

There will be more and more laptop people coming, especially with USB soundcards which are notorius for getting burped and dropping out. If you made the one central database for figuring how to fight this battle it would be most appreciated.

[brandondrury]

Alright, well I'm taking a look at RattV3 now. This stuff is WAY over my head. I guess I could attempt to write a big troubleshooting guide, but I have no real understanding of the internal workings of a computer. I guess a person could go in and fix "service routines (ISRs), deferred procedure calls (DPCs), and timer DPCs" but I have absolutely no idea what that stuff means.

I'm of the opinion that a dual boot system is always the way to go, with the latest software, and the latest drivers. I look at the operating system as either "broken" or "functional". The second something goes haywire, I backup everything and immediately format and reinstall Windows.

So I don't know if we want to open up a Pandora's box with all that mumbo jumbo above because I've always dealt with my recording computer issues myself without the need for digging that deep.

I'll have to put some thought into this one.

Brandon