Hi
I'm sick of using the Tascam protastudio and looking to finally move into the digital age of recording. So I'm looking to upgrade to a "somewhat professional" set up that I can record my band with so we can record an album ourselves.
I'm working with a stock Dell Dimension 3000 (running windows xp) that will eventually be upgraded, and I also have all the drum, vocal, and instrument mics that I'm going to need for now.
I plan on purchasing Pro Tools M-Powered 8, because I'll be running various programs inside of it (triggers, digital effects, etc.) and I hear it handles it very well.
The digital interface is where I'm a little lost. From what I understand, the interface acts as your sound card and mixes and transfers the sound to the computer?
For the interface, I need one with 8 inputs so we can track drums. I was looking at the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R USB Interface. I've heard the quality is very good for the money.
As far as I can tell, this should all be compatible, but as I said, I'm new at this. I want to get decent equipment so I can expand my setup rather than replace it.
Thoughts? What would you do differently?
Comments
You have all the instruments and a studio what else do you need?
You have all the instruments and a studio what else do you need? You need recording equipment in a studio or the control room. Don't want to spare any expense? Then why are you recording into a laptop? Why not purchase a dedicated 24 track digital recorder like the HD 24 by Alesis and a couple of dozen decent preamps along with a monitor mixer? Then you use your computer for your postproduction purposes which will only require a simple interface. And so have you considered purchasing any microphones to record with?? Computers can't make recordings without microphones. Studios don't do well without microphones. You need a bag full of SM57/58 and a pair of reasonably priced condenser microphones. You might need a half a dozen headphones & the amplifier to feed them with. Maybe you should just purchase a studio that is going out of business and is for sale? Lots of those around these days. I'd be happy to sell you my Neve console for $40,000.00. Would you like some Neumann U67's? I'll let those go cheap at $7000.00 for the pair. How about a few UREI 1176's I'll do a pair for $3000.00? Obviously money is no issue for you. But I'm going to keep my Radio Shaft PZM's, all eight of them, because that's all I need to record a rock band with.
Thinking inside the box compartment of my Mercedes 1117 turbodiesel
Mx. Remy Ann David
I would avoid Pro Tools if I were you: M-Powered will only work
I would avoid Pro Tools if I were you: M-Powered will only work with M-Audio interfaces, so your options will be greatly limited. I'm sure the Fast Track is fine, but there are many other options as well, and you also may want to upgrade some day.
I would suggest trying Reaper: http://www.reaper.fm
Its more powerful than PT M-Powered / LE in many ways, it will work with any interface, and its cheaper. :)
Hey, there is an inexpensive piece of multitrack software that h
Hey, there is an inexpensive piece of multitrack software that has real-time effects similar to ProTools called Mixcraft. Very inexpensive and reasonably impressive. Pretty cool how reverb will trail off after you hit the stop button, just like ProTools, just like a digital hardware reverb unit. Not that I liked the sound of their reverb but hey, it's all good.
Now also, IIRs wasn't exactly correct in his statement that only M-audio equipment would work with ProTools M Powered. M Powered now also works with the Mackie Onyx mixers with their digital interface which is a really great alternative to either M-Audio or Avid/Digidesign equipment. Personally, I've not been impressed with Avid/Digidesign's statement that their proprietary based " World Class" microphone preamps to be anything even close to World Class. More like World Crass. It's so proprietary they won't even give you a schematic for their simply dreadful line level inputs on their Avid/Digidesign M-Box 2 which has nothing to do with M-Audio which ain't got no box. They have other units that may in fact sound better than their parent company Avid? I think that Avid/Digidesign purchased M-Audio because they had to carry something that sounded good? Think about it. You can purchase an M-Box 2 for around $450 US which includes ProTools. On the other hand, if you purchase an higher-end M-Audio device, you may spend nearly as much money and it won't include ProTools M Powered which is an additional $295 US. That tells me something. It tells me the M-Audio hardware may in fact be of a higher caliber than the Avid stuff. I mean if ProTools is $295 then the Avid/Digidesign M-Box 2 is only a $250 US hardware device. Proprietary? On a $250 audio interface? I think not. And they are too unprofessional to even supply you with a schematic. I don't like that kind of unprofessional nonsense. How many video tape machines would Ampex or RCA have sold to television networks & stations if they hadn't supplied any schematics? Who could have repaired any MCI, 3M, Scully, Neve stuff could anybody repair if they hadn't included any schematics. Only the API 2520 operational amplifier is a proprietary device worthy of being called proprietary. That's my take. Now it's time for your take 2.
Okay, take 3, they're small.
Mx. Remy Ann David
The M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R, will work just fine with your s
The M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R, will work just fine with your set up. The way it works is, you plug your mics into the interface, the sound goes through the interface and runs a Analog to Digital conversion, the digital data goes into your computer and shows up in Pro Tools. When you want to listen back the Digital Audio gets converted into an Analogue signal runs back through the interface and then out to your monitors.
Hope that helps