Bass Folks,
Stemming from a post I started a few weeks back with some troubles I had with my USB interface I wanted to post my observations as a 100% N00b as it relates to recording in the modern world(?) something I have ZERO experience with.
Original Post: Struggling with my USB interface
History/Background on me: I'm a hobbyist/enthusiast bass player. I can hold my own in a church praise band and doing metal/classic rock covers, but that's about it. My recording experience includes a Tascam 4-track about 30 years ago, and most recently recording line-in from a crappy 20 year-old Behringer mixer into Audacity. I would call it "utility" recording. Nothing I would ever share, mixdown (is that term anymore?) or even save.
I decided I wanted to get a USB interface more/less on a whim (see the original post for the full story) which came with a DAW (which I had no idea what that was, and had to ask the guy at GC and Googled it when I got home). My only goal really was to have an easy way for my church band leader to send me bassless music that I could then record a bass part for, and send it back as an example or suggestion of what could be done on that track. For the other n00bs out there DAW = Digital Audio Workstation. It's your multi-track recording software.
So for $79 I got the Presonus Audiobox 96 USB interface, and eventually returned it for the Focusrite Scarlett Solo ($+14 w/15% off coupon) (again, read the original post for details on that). Ultimately I don't know what the problem with the Presonus was. It could have been bad, it could be garbage, it could be user error, I honestly don't know. Soooooo many mixed experiences with it. The guy who suggested it at GC said. "It's a new(er), up and coming company, but it should work great and people like it." When I returned it the guys that did my return said, "Let me guess, clipping, latency, distortion, weird chorus-y effect? - That thing is garbage, everyone returns it".
I have to say, from square one to recording my first note (distorted and clipping as it was) the Presonus was WAY WAY WAY easier to setup and running. From having nothing other than a functioning computer, to recording my 1st note - and no experience with modern recording - I was up and running in less than 30 minutes, MAYBE 15 minutes. Again, with nothing to compare it too, I like(ed) StudioOne (the included DAW). Installed fast, easy to figure out, and just worked. Lots of cool included plug-ins and amp sims and cabinet sims and whatnot. Very very easy. The Presonus also had better/nicer hardware features. 1/4 inch outs, combo 1/4inch/XLR inputs on both channels.
My Focusrite experience was very different. If I had already owned/used a DAW it would have been a 3 second install, no joke, but I don't/didn't have any of that stuff so again, I was starting from scratch. The Focusrite comes with Pro Tools |First. Which seems to be a lite version of the iconic DAW, Pro Tools. I've never seen or used Pro Tools, but I know it's a thing people use. I bought the Focusrite Scarlett Solo. This has 2 inputs, one is XLR only, the other is 1/4 only and it only has RCA outputs. None of this really mattered to me but it's worth noting (I can see noteworthy drawbacks with this). The install took me...a while. The hardware it self was simple. Plug...and it works. The included software was a HUGE pain in the arse though. Sure, you get all this stuff, but it's all links to other companies. Avid is the company that makes Pro Tools apparently, and THEY required me to create an account with Avid, and then they use some 3rd party licensing provider called iLok which ALSO required a separate account, then there is an Application manager you need to install to manage your Pro Tools updates, and creates a little menu for launching your Avid applications (of which I have exactly one of). I get all that done, along with the reboot of my system after each part. And...Pro Tools won't run. I'm getting a message telling me that the cloud functions don't work and if those don't work you can't run Pro Tools. *I* don't give a flying fish about the cloud, I want to record music on my PC. Why do I need the cloud to function. Turns out, after redeeming the license codes, downloading and installing the 3 applications I was never prompted to activate it... I needed to do that. Which, took me some googling and poking around to figure out how to do that.
Finally Pro Tools runs and I open it up. It starts trying to force me into some template and create a project and says "Project 1 of 3".. What? I can only create 3 projects? and it's also counting down my 1G storage capacity. HUH? I just click my way through all of that and I'm finally into Pro Tools. I figure out how to create a track and plug-in one of my active P-Basses. It sounds AMAZING! Crystal clear, no latency, no warble, no clipping, no distortion, just exactly how I knew my bass could sound. It was INSANE! So I switch to my hottest output bass. I plug that sucker in, turn the EQ all the way up, and start slapping/popping and really dig'n in to those lows. Didn't even blink. Pretty awesome. I tried every bass/pedal combination I could throw at it and it handled everything. No clipping or distortion. I had to adjust the levels a little, but I ALWAYS had plenty of headroom for dynamics and aggressiveness.
Conclusion: I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish that Prosonus would have worked better. The entire setup/Studio One experience was soo much better. So much easier, and I'm sorry but Pro Tools looks like it was written in about 1998. It looks like crap. Studio One looks so much better and is much for intuitive for someone with no experience with a modern DAW. Pro Tools, even the "first" version is incredibly complicated. Clearly meant for the seasoned pro in my opinion. It took me a while to figure out how create a track, get it to record, etc. Studio One was WAY more intuitive. Studio One also came with a bunch of legit plug-ins and amp sims. Really cool stuff (had it not made everything distort really bad). Pro Tools came with codes for 3rd party demo stuff that I can't figure out how to integrate or make use of. There was some sort of amp/cab simulation but it was stand alone and added, no joke, 1/2 second of latency. Sounded kinda cool, but I have no idea how to make use of it in Pro Tools, or live for that matter.
Anyway, I hope this helped someone. If nothing else, it helped me process my experience. I'm off to watch about 4000 Youtube videos on how to use Pro Tools.
Brian
Stemming from a post I started a few weeks back with some troubles I had with my USB interface I wanted to post my observations as a 100% N00b as it relates to recording in the modern world(?) something I have ZERO experience with.
Original Post: Struggling with my USB interface
History/Background on me: I'm a hobbyist/enthusiast bass player. I can hold my own in a church praise band and doing metal/classic rock covers, but that's about it. My recording experience includes a Tascam 4-track about 30 years ago, and most recently recording line-in from a crappy 20 year-old Behringer mixer into Audacity. I would call it "utility" recording. Nothing I would ever share, mixdown (is that term anymore?) or even save.
I decided I wanted to get a USB interface more/less on a whim (see the original post for the full story) which came with a DAW (which I had no idea what that was, and had to ask the guy at GC and Googled it when I got home). My only goal really was to have an easy way for my church band leader to send me bassless music that I could then record a bass part for, and send it back as an example or suggestion of what could be done on that track. For the other n00bs out there DAW = Digital Audio Workstation. It's your multi-track recording software.
So for $79 I got the Presonus Audiobox 96 USB interface, and eventually returned it for the Focusrite Scarlett Solo ($+14 w/15% off coupon) (again, read the original post for details on that). Ultimately I don't know what the problem with the Presonus was. It could have been bad, it could be garbage, it could be user error, I honestly don't know. Soooooo many mixed experiences with it. The guy who suggested it at GC said. "It's a new(er), up and coming company, but it should work great and people like it." When I returned it the guys that did my return said, "Let me guess, clipping, latency, distortion, weird chorus-y effect? - That thing is garbage, everyone returns it".
I have to say, from square one to recording my first note (distorted and clipping as it was) the Presonus was WAY WAY WAY easier to setup and running. From having nothing other than a functioning computer, to recording my 1st note - and no experience with modern recording - I was up and running in less than 30 minutes, MAYBE 15 minutes. Again, with nothing to compare it too, I like(ed) StudioOne (the included DAW). Installed fast, easy to figure out, and just worked. Lots of cool included plug-ins and amp sims and cabinet sims and whatnot. Very very easy. The Presonus also had better/nicer hardware features. 1/4 inch outs, combo 1/4inch/XLR inputs on both channels.
My Focusrite experience was very different. If I had already owned/used a DAW it would have been a 3 second install, no joke, but I don't/didn't have any of that stuff so again, I was starting from scratch. The Focusrite comes with Pro Tools |First. Which seems to be a lite version of the iconic DAW, Pro Tools. I've never seen or used Pro Tools, but I know it's a thing people use. I bought the Focusrite Scarlett Solo. This has 2 inputs, one is XLR only, the other is 1/4 only and it only has RCA outputs. None of this really mattered to me but it's worth noting (I can see noteworthy drawbacks with this). The install took me...a while. The hardware it self was simple. Plug...and it works. The included software was a HUGE pain in the arse though. Sure, you get all this stuff, but it's all links to other companies. Avid is the company that makes Pro Tools apparently, and THEY required me to create an account with Avid, and then they use some 3rd party licensing provider called iLok which ALSO required a separate account, then there is an Application manager you need to install to manage your Pro Tools updates, and creates a little menu for launching your Avid applications (of which I have exactly one of). I get all that done, along with the reboot of my system after each part. And...Pro Tools won't run. I'm getting a message telling me that the cloud functions don't work and if those don't work you can't run Pro Tools. *I* don't give a flying fish about the cloud, I want to record music on my PC. Why do I need the cloud to function. Turns out, after redeeming the license codes, downloading and installing the 3 applications I was never prompted to activate it... I needed to do that. Which, took me some googling and poking around to figure out how to do that.
Finally Pro Tools runs and I open it up. It starts trying to force me into some template and create a project and says "Project 1 of 3".. What? I can only create 3 projects? and it's also counting down my 1G storage capacity. HUH? I just click my way through all of that and I'm finally into Pro Tools. I figure out how to create a track and plug-in one of my active P-Basses. It sounds AMAZING! Crystal clear, no latency, no warble, no clipping, no distortion, just exactly how I knew my bass could sound. It was INSANE! So I switch to my hottest output bass. I plug that sucker in, turn the EQ all the way up, and start slapping/popping and really dig'n in to those lows. Didn't even blink. Pretty awesome. I tried every bass/pedal combination I could throw at it and it handled everything. No clipping or distortion. I had to adjust the levels a little, but I ALWAYS had plenty of headroom for dynamics and aggressiveness.
Conclusion: I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish that Prosonus would have worked better. The entire setup/Studio One experience was soo much better. So much easier, and I'm sorry but Pro Tools looks like it was written in about 1998. It looks like crap. Studio One looks so much better and is much for intuitive for someone with no experience with a modern DAW. Pro Tools, even the "first" version is incredibly complicated. Clearly meant for the seasoned pro in my opinion. It took me a while to figure out how create a track, get it to record, etc. Studio One was WAY more intuitive. Studio One also came with a bunch of legit plug-ins and amp sims. Really cool stuff (had it not made everything distort really bad). Pro Tools came with codes for 3rd party demo stuff that I can't figure out how to integrate or make use of. There was some sort of amp/cab simulation but it was stand alone and added, no joke, 1/2 second of latency. Sounded kinda cool, but I have no idea how to make use of it in Pro Tools, or live for that matter.
Anyway, I hope this helped someone. If nothing else, it helped me process my experience. I'm off to watch about 4000 Youtube videos on how to use Pro Tools.
Brian
