Recording Software For Laptop?

Darkstrike · #1 12-23-2008, 10:24 AM

Ok, I'm looking to get a better setup for recording, at home, and at jams, as of the moment I'm using Audacity, which I'm not happy with, between lag between tracks, for some reason it plays tracks back in a higher key than recorded when I'm recording a second track, crashing every day....... etc.

Another thing was, I wanted to record two different tracks at once, which Audacity will not do, mainly for my ABG, I wanted its piezo input and miked to record at once.

I got a new laptop today, and I thought what better time to get a proper setup!

I'm not too knowledgeable with computer specs, but mine has a
Intel Pentium Dual Core T3200 (2GHz) Processor,
250 GB HDD,
2GB Memory,

Is it possible to work Cakeworks Sonar with this setup?
If so, which one would suit? These three are the ones I've been looking at,
http://www.thomann.de/ie/cakewalk_so...tudio_7_xl.htm
http://www.thomann.de/ie/cakewalk_so...tion_e_edu.htm
http://www.thomann.de/ie/cakewalk_so..._edition_e.htm

If not, is there another brand that would work?

Either way, what other good recording software is out there?

kraigo · #2 12-23-2008, 11:23 AM

I'm using Sonar on a laptop. It works fine. My laptop is about three years old. It kind of depends on how much post-production you're planning on doing. I wouldn't want to put a ton of soft synths and reverbs on the production. Those things eat up CPU really quickly. It looks like you've got a lot of processor power and a pretty good amount of hard drive space. Depending on which operating system you're running you might want to increase the amount of memory you've got, but you've got as much as I've got. More machine than I do in every other way.

But the short answer is it works fine. I'm using v8 Producer. I've been happy using Sonar and its predecessor (Cakewalk Pro Audio 8.x and 9.x) for a decade now.

KO

Darkstrike · #3 12-23-2008, 11:38 AM

Ok, sounds like I'm good to go, the operating system is Vista Home Premium.

How would I increase my memory, external hard drive?
As for post production, I wouldn't be using it much, mabye adding in synth guitar for solo stuff, and some basic drumbeats, some of that would probably sone beforehand anyway. Reverb, I'd probably use my Boss stompbox before the comp, as I usually do with Audacity.

Most stuff would be either solo bass, guitar and bass(both recorded live), or guitar, drums and bass(all live).

Thanks for the help dude.

Rickett Customs · #4 12-23-2008, 11:42 AM

I just went ahead and did pro tools LE on a Dell Lattitude D820 (XP pro) through a Digi002 console, works extremely well, of course the Sata II xpress card and Sata II external drive is like 20x faster than firewire.

bullshark · #5 12-23-2008, 11:55 AM

You should give Reaper a try: http://www.reaper.fm/

kraigo · #6 12-23-2008, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

Ok, sounds like I'm good to go, the operating system is Vista Home Premium.

How would I increase my memory, external hard drive?
As for post production, I wouldn't be using it much, mabye adding in synth guitar for solo stuff, and some basic drumbeats, some of that would probably sone beforehand anyway. Reverb, I'd probably use my Boss stompbox before the comp, as I usually do with Audacity.

Most stuff would be either solo bass, guitar and bass(both recorded live), or guitar, drums and bass(all live).

Thanks for the help dude.

No. You have enough hard drive space to keep you going for a good amount of time. The memory will be a little printed circuit board about 2 cm x 3 cm. You would probably be best served to go to the place you got the machine from or some local service provider and ask them to do it for you.

You don't necessarily have to, though. Stick with what you've got for now. Software samplers and audio loops tend to get loaded into the computer memory. If you aren't using either you will probably have enough memory.

If you're doing straight ahead rock you'll be all set. If you're doing trance or dance type stuff (lots of electronic sounds - synths, loops, etc.) you might find you need more memory.

Embrace the effects that come with the software:

1) They probably sound better
2) The setting of the effect get saved with the file
3) You can use multiple instances of each effect at once
4) You can refine your work later

Have fun. Audio production will suck you in, for better or worse.

KO

kraigo · #7 12-23-2008, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullshark

You should give Reaper a try: http://www.reaper.fm/

I've heard good things - all that and free, right?

KO

Darkstrike · #8 12-23-2008, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullshark

You should give Reaper a try: http://www.reaper.fm/

I'll download the trial, see how I like it. Thanks.

bullshark · #9 12-23-2008, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kraigo

I've heard good things - all that and free, right?

KO

Yeah to good thing, no to free. The license is 50 buck for home use, 225 buck for commercial use(it's the same software, just the term of use is different). You are free to try it out without limitation for 30 days thought.

Darkstrike · #10 12-23-2008, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kraigo

I've heard good things - all that and free, right?

KO

You get a free trial, and have to pay $50 if you want to keep it, or $250 to use it commercially.

bertbassplayer · #11 12-28-2008, 10:18 AM

On my windows machine I use Kristal it's free for home use.
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Since your running vista you might find that 2 gigs of ram gets eaten up quick if your recording a bunch of tracks, other than that you should be fine.

daffy · #12 12-29-2008, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

You get a free trial, and have to pay $50 if you want to keep it, or $250 to use it commercially.

+1000000 to Reaper!

The best thing is that it is tiny, but very powerful. Runs in very little resources and takes up almost no space, so it's perfect for a laptop.

I use it all the time now - I've kicked out all the commercial ones I used to use on the laptop and I use that and Battery for making drum loops. I record all my rehearsal sessions and practices then pull it apart after.

I have also used it to record session work stuff to send to artists I work with and they have asked me if I do it in ProTools or Sonar or other :-)

Marley's Ghost · #13 12-29-2008, 07:09 PM

I will have to give reaper a try.

Darkstrike · #14 12-30-2008, 05:02 AM

I've been testing Reaper out, its a good program, real good.

Two problems, one I'm not used to the fx yet, that'll just take time.

And two, I still can't record two usb inputs at once, I have a usb mic, and a rockfrog, and I want to record the one instrument from both at the same time, no luck yet.

daffy · #15 12-30-2008, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

I've been testing Reaper out, its a good program, real good.

Two problems, one I'm not used to the fx yet, that'll just take time.

And two, I still can't record two usb inputs at once, I have a usb mic, and a rockfrog, and I want to record the one instrument from both at the same time, no luck yet.

Is it that you can't get them both to appear in the list of inputs at the same time? If so, then use ASIO4ALL and you'll be able to see all inputs and use them.

That's what I do to record from BassPOD, Tascam US-122L and a couple of USB mics at the same time. Just make sure each USB input is on its own USB hub on your computer (you can see this in Device Manager), so that none of them have to share USB bandwidth.

**DougD** · #16 12-30-2008, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darkstrike

Ok, sounds like I'm good to go, the operating system is Vista Home Premium.

How would I increase my memory, external hard drive?
As for post production, I wouldn't be using it much, mabye adding in synth guitar for solo stuff, and some basic drumbeats, some of that would probably sone beforehand anyway. Reverb, I'd probably use my Boss stompbox before the comp, as I usually do with Audacity.

Most stuff would be either solo bass, guitar and bass(both recorded live), or guitar, drums and bass(all live).

Thanks for the help dude.

Hard drive space and memory are two totaly seperate things. Memory is easy to upgrade. Just make sure you know how much your laptop can hold and then max it out. memory is pretty cheap.

Darkstrike · #17 12-31-2008, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy

Is it that you can't get them both to appear in the list of inputs at the same time? If so, then use ASIO4ALL and you'll be able to see all inputs and use them.

That's what I do to record from BassPOD, Tascam US-122L and a couple of USB mics at the same time. Just make sure each USB input is on its own USB hub on your computer (you can see this in Device Manager), so that none of them have to share USB bandwidth.

It reads both fine, so I'll try swapping one to another set of USB plugs on the other side of the comp, see if that helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougD

Hard drive space and memory are two totaly seperate things. Memory is easy to upgrade. Just make sure you know how much your laptop can hold and then max it out. memory is pretty cheap.

Cool, thanks for the info, I'll try to find out how much this thing can take.

**Ukiah Bass** · #18 01-29-2009, 05:18 PM

So if I hooked a Tascam US 1641 USB audio/MIDI interface to my laptop with a single USB connection, would the Cubase LE 4 software that's provided with the Tascam be able to simultaneouly record/play back multiple tracks of input? That's my goal, but I've never used this kind of device before. Thanks.