I have had a lot of problems with my stuff, and I really want to get more gear soon, but I don't want to commit if I can't even use it properly, so here it goes.
First, here are my specs, from my profile.
Ok, so my PC is a simple HP desktop I bought and have since added a Firewire card, larger capacity power supply, and video card. The system is actually a p6703w.
The systems hardware and specs are here: http://ow.ly/5OkPg"]HP Pavilion p6703w Desktop PC Product Specifications HP Pavilion p6703w Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)[/]="http://ow.ly/5OkPg"]HP Pavilion p6703w Desktop PC Product Specifications HP Pavilion p6703w Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)[/]
My DAW is Reaper, and I dabble with Fruity Loops. That's about it.
I use a PreSonus Firestudio Project as my interface, and that's all of the gear I currently have.My Process:
To record my demos I use a horrible sequencer called Beatcraft by Acoustica. The thing is buggy, the included samples are crappy, and all of that. I use that to write some drums, (I use some different than stock samples) then I render it to reaper and then record guitars with my Line 6 Spider Valve HD100 head, plugged directly with a Mic cable into my interface.
I should also mention I don't have monitors, just beefy PC speakers connected to the audio out on my pc's soundcard. Most of the time in programs I find this to be "HD Rear Output" or something similar.
Issue One:
Now that you know that, here are my issues. I use Asio4All as my audio device. It's not so bad, but it's kind of problematic to say the least. I can't run two things at once, like Reaper/Firefox or Reaper/Fruity Loops or Reaper/Acoustica because whichever is opened first takes precedent over the Asio driver and nothing else can use it.
Possible solutions: A multi-client driver? Any workarounds?
Issue Two:
I can't really use anything else because I have no idea what I'm doing. For example, I just downloaded the Free Amplitube. I open it, and I don't know how to make a clean guitar from my interface, go into Amplitube, and then into Reaper to record. When I try to adjust the settings, I can't split the input and output to have my input be my Firestudio Project, and the output be Reaper, or something similar. My Only options for device (under the Asio option) are Asio4All, where the inputs are HD Line input 1 and 2, and so forth. No way to get my Firestudio in there. The other option is ASIO PreSonus FireStudio, and the input options are FireStudio Project Mic 1(-8) which represent the inputs on my interface. That's great, but the outputs are all "FireStuio Project daw rt. 1(-10)" I have no idea what to do with that.
Possible Solutions: Professional help? I don't know.
This is a huge wall in my production, as I just want to be able to get to the point where I can sequence drums, record some guitars, and throw some vocals on it without an insane amout of crap to go through. At this point, there is literally no way for me to play guitar along with the drums I'm trying to write until they are rendered and in reaper, and then I have to go back in to Beatcraft, closing everything, and then re-render just to make a tiny change.
Additional info: I've got zero training or experience with recording, obviously, so I just did this all on my own. What may be obvious to everyone here isn't exactly my forte.
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Hi there and welcome to the group. You've come to the right plac
Hi there and welcome to the group. You've come to the right place where we can be completely unhelpful. After your extended dissertation, I expected to hear something akin to puke & snot. Well buddy, you've created some pretty cool stuff. Now you might be going through a lot of, what you believe to be craziness, to get to this. You're not. This is what creative workflow is all about. You have achieved something that most other clueless people can never create. So while you don't like going through all of the craziness, you are learning exactly what you need to be learning. You are producing exactly a well produced product. Could it be better or different? That all depends on how you define that. Of course, when you throw lots of $$'s then you've got something. With $, you can buy the product that will do it all for you. But you are actually thinking out of the box while producing in the box. This will make you a finer expert than most at what you do. I was quite impressed. And most folks here know that I can be a bit of a smartass. While your music is not my personal personal favorite genre, I was impressed by your production. Many of us have to go to great lengths to achieve a vision we have in our heads. The more technically proficient you are, the better your outcome is. And your outcome is already fully professional and absolutely fine. Of course, I could make some suggestions.
While computers can do a lot of things, just like people, they can't necessarily do everything you want all at once, with a mouse. Many of us have multiple computers along with quite a few pieces of outboard stuff. Our computer software is much like our analog control rooms except that, they're not. Systems that utilize an external control surface (resembling a mixer) might be more advantageous to you. This can control programs designed for a multitude of things happening simultaneously. ProTools along with some of their hardware-based controllers i.e. Icon/C24/others, resemble full blown (up) automated consoles. It's not a mouse. So your level of control becomes much more highly refined along with being automatable. While ProTools 9 allows one to use the software with anyone's hardware now, their system was a well thought out integrated entity. Still the device of choice for the money. And that's what you're seeking. Otherwise, you currently have what works. Anything can be augmented with extra stuff. There are smaller digital mixers that are also quite capable. Bottom line, is the bottom line. Anything else you attempt to do will cost you plenty more dollars. Sophisticated production requires sophisticated tools. It is brain surgery not a tonsillectomy. Both procedures are performed inside your head but one is slightly more serious and complicated than the other and costs more. Besides, isn't this head banger music? And what are you doing to produce it? Perhaps there is more than one interpretation of head banger music? In the future, you will discover this was just nothing more than a Fender Bender.
By Jove I think she's got it!
Mx. Remy Ann David