Some advise and help please

[c slipper]

Hi everyone. Let me first off saying I am new to home recording and sequencing. I have used ProTools quite a bit in a professional studio, but thats about it.

I have decided on building a home studio and I am starting from scratch. First things first: I am getting a new computer. I want to get a mac desktop, so I figured an i-mac (with upgraded ram to 2gigs) will do. Does this computer come with all the required equipment (sound card/hard drive)? I thought that have read that it is necessary to have a separate hard drive to run protools. Is this true?

I will be recording vocals, guitar, bass, and midi at home. So, based on what I have read, I believe the M-box with protools will suit my needs. Is this a reliable product with professional sounding results? I already have the necessary mics for guitar/vocals, and the bass will be DI (does it go right into the mbox?). Also, will I need to purchase monitors, or will good studio headphones be fine?

Secondly, I will need a sequencer for the midi parts. I want to do drums and other looped synthesized sequences. One of my biggest questions is what program I should purchase for these needs. I have been told either Reason or Digital Performer would be good.

Lastly, I already own a Yamaha s30 synthesizer. Will this have the ability to control Midi in a program like Reason? And if so, is it possible to use the sounds already programmed into the keyboard? Since I am new to Midi, I am a little confused about this topic. Is the synthesizer I own completely full of midi sounds? Are samples midi? Would a synthesizer have real drum samples in its sound bank?

Thanks for the help!

[brandondrury]

Does this computer come with all the required equipment (sound card/hard drive)?

This computer will come with a soundcard, but not a real deal recording audio inteface. For those, check out the home recording soundcard wizard in my signature. If you are going with Pro Tools, than the audio interface is included by default.

I thought that have read that it is necessary to have a separate hard drive to run protools. Is this true?

I ALWAYS recommend using a second hard drive for audio files.

Is this a reliable product with professional sounding results?

In terms of reliability, I haven't found one program that is any more reliable than the other. Pro Tools has typical / average reliability.

As far as professional sounding results, softare and hardware do not produce any results without human input. For pro results, you need a great song, great performance, pleasing sounding room, great instruments, and an engineer who doesn't screw up the capture of this. The gear used is a tiny part of the capture process. Pro Tools doesn't sound any better or worse than anything else out there.

the bass will be DI (does it go right into the mbox?).

If you aren't sure about this, you may want to consider doing a bit of research before purchasing the Mbox. This implies that you haven't researched other factors as well.

Secondly, I will need a sequencer for the midi parts. I want to do drums and other looped synthesized sequences. One of my biggest questions is what program I should purchase for these needs. I have been told either Reason or Digital Performer would be good.

I hear Pro Tools has a sequencer, but I've never found a person who thought much of it. Reason is very powerful. I don't know much about Digital Performer, but I'm sure that Digital Performer can record audio. So I don't see any point in getting both Digital Performer and Pro Tools. In fact, Digital Performer won't work with Pro Tools hardware, but Reason can use Rewire for this.

I'm big on Cubase, personally, as it has an awesome sequencer and it is great for recording audio as well. You may want to research how well it does on a Mac. If I couldn't use Cubase and I was a Mac user, I'd go with Logic. I wouldn't even think about it. The ONLY reason to get Pro Tools is to make it easy to open your Pro Tools files in other studios. If you don't do that, I don't recommend Pro Tools.

Brandon