Help in getting started

[lazy_headbanger]

Thinking of starting home recording in a few weeks and have no experience of it. My sole purpose is to find like minded musicians who I can work with and I started working after finishing my grad this year so don't get much time is touring or playing. I have been a guitarist with a few metal bands as for the experience so this is the gear am thinking of starting out.

line 6 POD GX- to record my axe with. Comes with POD farm for effects and stuff
Fruityloops- Is it ideal for starting out or something simpler or better is there?

Any feedback on my selection??

[String7th]

The line 6 GX and Pod Farm is a great tool for guitars. Tons of amps and things. Not so great on recording anything else.

Do you plan of recording live drums or vocals? If even vocals, I'd suggest another interface. If budget is low, You can look into USB single and double channel interfaces for the same frice. That way you have the options to record with microphones because it's got a preamp built in. And you can purchase Pod Farm or another guitar sim for about $100, or cheaper if you look for sales. Drums can come from $99 EZdrummer or you can really get into programming and a realistic type sound with Superior2.0 and Steven Slate Drums.

I don;t know many people with metal backgrounds who use fruityloops. most interfaces come with Cubase LE and is very good stuff. Or Reaper is available free online, I've heard good things.

[Vulconizer]

The pod stuff can work well for starting out. Has some tweakability.

FruityLoops is not something I'm real familiar with. I've had the ability to mess around with it for about an hour and half or so, total time. In that time, there were a couple of things I liked and a few I was real confused about. There are a few guys on here who can tell you much more about it I'm sure.

I'd suggest looking into Reaper. It's free, has what appears to be a good community to glean info from, and seems to do pretty much anything you might want it to do. It's trial software that comes fully viable from the start. They work on the premise that you will pay for it if you decide you want to use it. The price is extremely reasonable if you choose to do so. It has an excellent set of plug-ins that come with it. You can use it to start out with and grow into it as you learn.

I primarily use Cubase and would recommend using a stripped-down version (like Cubase LE) to get your feet wet with. It will come bundled with certain audio interfaces. It can definitely do anything you will want as far as MIDI production (drum programming, synths, etc.), recording, and mixing are concerned. It can get expensive to upgrade to the "big boy" stuff with all the bells and whistles, though.


Do you have an audio interface if you are planning on using mics at some point?

[Vulconizer]

Thanks String. Great minds think alike, eh? Heh.

[tylerxfury]

ive become comfortable using an analog behringer mixer to a 2-channel usb interface
i usually try to make a top quality sound going in, and then just tweak once its in the daw
i really like the ease of use for adobe audition software
ive used 3.0 but had some glitches in recording so i stick with 1.5
reaper works well but i didnt like it enough to buy
ive used cubase to a limited extent but it seems like more of a pro software and i was much more concerned about getting my micing practice and general mixing practice than a particular software practice...

ive started using fl recently and indeed it is a good beginner program
very easy to understand, comes with decent plug-ins to learn on
ive managed to make use of battery and i should be getting a copy of ez drummer soon
the synths on fl are very versatile and sound great
the guitars are a bit synthetic depending on style of music; they serve my purpose if im composing my typical electronica
overall some good stuff to start with

[lazy_headbanger]

Thanks a ton for the great suggestions guys.
And from the virtual plan that I have constructed is that I don't intend to record vocals as of now. Planning to record the guitar parts and add drum sequence to it.
and for the audio inteface, is it worth a wait to get a better usb interface than the POD GX??if yes, which one?
I tries out fruityloops at a friends place and it seemed a little complex to me, but is great. Maybe I'll try out the Cubase and Reaper and then make up my mind. Keep the useful suggesions coming in guys. Cheers!