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Looking for recommendations for a simple easy hard disk DAW for a beginner. Wnat to use DAW for the purpose of recording my Triton sequences, and vocals. Not looking to be a producer, just to get my songs down. Thought about Digi 001, or some other computer-based system but I think it is over the top for what I am trying to do. I like the hands-on simplicity of the hard disk recorders. Looking for come recommendations about the Zoom MRS 1044CD Digital Studio, and the Boss BR 1180 Digital system. Thanks in advance for all your help.

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anonymous Fri, 07/12/2002 - 09:48

Dude.....get a Dell.

Seriously, you should consider using what you already own. I was just reading up on the Korg Triton studio. That bad MamaJama ought to be able to do what you want. Check it out in the latest issue of Keyboard.

Maybe you don't own the Studio, if you have the regular triton with a SCSI interface, you should still be able to put vocals into atrack, and burn a CD. I don't know maybe the earlier tritons didn't let you add vocals to a sequence, and burn CDs.
Ntracks, I'll second that. just push record and go.If you are doing all your sequencing in the Korg, then that should be fine, also give a look at PTfree.
Sonar maybe a little more than what you want. Save some money and get HomeStudio2002. Same thing as Sonar, but for a person not wanting to get into producing, or multitrack recording, HomeStudio is a better Economical choice.
Also I see terratec is selling some nice audio interfaces that come with a free version of Micrologic, which is to Logic as HomeStudio is to Sonar. I prefer Logic, it is really easy to use, until you try to set it up to automate you outboard gear like the triton(However i believe the Triton is popular enough that others have more than likely did all the hardwork and all you would have to do is download a simple file.
Anyway, there are a bunch of choices out there, sorry I don't know much about the Zoom. You really can't go wrong(if you have enough patience), But I would look into the capabilities of the Triton you already own, and go from there.

Opus2000 Fri, 07/12/2002 - 10:16

You know....I am troubleshooting a system for someone with Sonar 2.0 on it...how do you guys stand that software? It's laid out terribly! It's cheap yes...but the WDM support sucks...the driver implimentation needs serious work..what's up with it automatically mirroring Midi input? it fucked up my Roland JP8000 pretty good! Even tho I didn't have any Midi tracks enabled it recorded midi data on top of an audio track? Huh?
Also...you have to create a template right off the bat to keep the settings you like...Cubase or Nuendo is system wide on the preferences...
You can't do things in real time like you can in Cubase or Nuendo...What's with the console view vs the ***er view? No rewire mode...no VSTi support...etc etc etc
Uggghh...well, that's my ranting for the day!
Opus

anonymous Fri, 07/12/2002 - 23:00

yo opus: the console is the ***er unless you are talking about the tabs; real time? what kinds of things are you referring to because i can do effects in real time and also edit; as far as templates go, one reason why your templates were system wide in cubase and neundo is because they are from the same manufacturer, i found that i always had to make new templates with other manufacturers; for the rewire mode, not to sure on that because i'm waiting to get a copy of reason 2.0 so when i redid my system i didn't install version 1 but you can use your reason synths with sonar; true support for vsti sucks, i will agree strongly with that; and as far as the other software problems you are having, i haven't experienced any of those so i can't really help you too much unless you tell me step by step what you did. oh and curious as to how it messed up your roland.

Opus2000 Sat, 07/13/2002 - 09:31

Well, I didn't dive to deep into the program too much since all I was doing was making sure it works..which I did finally do...ended up having to raise one of the buffers(the one above the latency settings) and then having to raise teh disk buffers on the advanced page and things were ok...template for Rewire? huh? You don't need one for that in Nuendo or Cubase...
anyhue...when I had my JP8000 hooked up Midi in and out to the 428 and pressed record on Sonar it somehow sent some sysex command out to the synth and caused it to freeze up while holding a note....it also dropped the octave down two wholw octaves!! Wierd sounds came out and I couldn't stop it unless I turned the thing off! So I went into the Midi section and told it not to echo every Midi note...it was just plain silly I tell you...Sonar may be good for beginners but I can not see how they can call it a pro software...
editing is not intuitive..screens are not intuituve..that's just me..maybe because I'm so used to Nuendo and how fast it works and how nicely laid out it is..it made me spoiled!
I don't even like the Pro Tools interface that much either....to each his own they say!
Opus

anonymous Sat, 07/13/2002 - 22:18

whoa crazy man ( what happened to your roland). i never heard of anything happening like that. there are only two things i can think of that might have caused the problem: 1) if your roland has a local that can be turned off and on, maybe you forgot to turn it off; and/or 2) the instrument definition you used for the roland was faulty. my friend had that problem for a while and his sound module didn't work properly with cakewalk until he found one that worked (instrument definition that someone wrote for the sound module he has). i don't know. i never used any roland keyboards or sound modules with cakewalk products because i have a korg and does me fine for the moment. (man i wish i had a roland)

about the editing: i think that it has the best editing features of all cakewalk products out there but the problem is, unless you buy or can get a hold of sonarpower book, you can't always see what all it can do if you are trying to learn it by yourself. very intuitive on my end but then again i've been using cakewalk products for a while just as you've been using nuendo and cubase.

as far as the gui goes: you're right on that. i think that steinberg kicks ass on interface! :D

Opus2000 Sat, 07/13/2002 - 23:00

No..still on XP...which I like very very much these days...very solid and stable...
Yeah..I first started out using Cakewalk 6 I think it was...looooong time ago..still know how to work Cakewalk/Sonar...
Maybe I'll install it on my machine(while I still have the client's CD!! lol ) and give it more attention..I do need to learn it a little more since the Apogee MiniMe is out and I have to make sure it works with most programs and compile a list to put up on the Apogee website..oh the woes of being tech support! lmao
Opus :D