cheap home recording

[goosekevin]

i know this has probably been asked a million times before
but im looking for something to record with at home, just to get ideas down and enhance my creativity, forcing myself to do things with ideas

i have a laptop that should be able to run recording software

what CHEAP software and interface is best for this? quality isnt a huge concern but would be nice, will only have access to guitars and bass, maybe vocals through the computer mic? so maybe some sort of drum machine software would be good?

total beginner at this stuff so please help!
thanks

[Decibill]

Mac or PC....?

[goosekevin]

pc! sorry, should have specified

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

get a cheap interface or a used one of an older model from a reputuable company.

m-audio, motu, rme, focusrite, etc etc.
theres really a shit ton of options out there... u can get an interface for like $20 these days.

torrent that software or use audacity or something similar that is free.

[bob the r0bot]

1. One o' deez


2. Get that Reaper share-ware

3. find an amp modeler you like and pirate acquire it

[Achtane]

1. One o' deez


2. Get that Reaper share-ware

3. find an amp modeler you like and pirate acquire it

[Decibill]

A lot of interfaces these days come bundled with "LE" or light versions of DAW software. For example the Lexicon Alpha comes with Cubase LE....Dig around and then we can help with narrowing things down.

[backwardsvoyager]

1. One o' deez


2. Get that Reaper share-ware

3. find an amp modeler you like and pirate acquire it

[goosekevin]

Excellent! Thanks for the responses dudes

So presonus is the way to go? Might try and pick one up used


When I gave recorded stuff with people in my band, there's always been a weird delay between hearing playing the note and hearing it back as you're recording, is that inherent with cheap recording?

[bob the r0bot]

That's a common problem with cheap recording, but it's not intrinsic. The Audiobox is optimized to work over USB, so it has pretty low latency off the bat, and what little there is can easy be dealt with by upgrading your audio drivers to ASIO 4 all (http://www.asio4all.com/) and fiddling with some settings. My computer has the processing power of two GE toasters and I have absolutely no problems with latency. The Audiobox also has the option to blend between a direct signal and the signal coming from the DAW in the headphones so, if you're laying down a solo guitar track and don't need to hear anything else, you have the option of zero latency monitoring from the unit.

[Decibill]

The interface you choose isn't the only determining factor in the amount of latency you have. It will depend a lot on how you set up your projects. The buffer settings in the DAW will have a huge effect on this, as well as how big your projects are and the number of plugins being used. Keep your work flow clean and you should have no problem.

[backwardsvoyager]

The interface you choose isn't the only determining factor in the amount of latency you have. It will depend a lot on how you set up your projects. The buffer settings in the DAW will have a huge effect on this, as well as how big your projects are and the number of plugins being used. Keep your work flow clean and you should have no problem.

All true. I still run a shitty line 6 interface at home but after installing the ASIO 4 all drivers and setting ableton up correctly i never had any problems.

[Achtane]

ASIO 4 all is the best. Instant latency killer.
I'm currently running a Sega Genesis sound chip emulator and Vocaloid into Amplitube at the same time.
This is what I was born to do.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

Sega Genesis sound chip emulator

wish they made one for mac

[Achtane]

Sega Genesis sound chip emulator

wish they made one for mac

The FMDrive dude said he's working on a Mac version, but who knows