Setting up your PC for Recording

[berbs]

god day sirs.

san po ba makakabili ng interface na mura lang?
sa us kasi around 49 dollars lang.
san po ba?

[Xelly]

@Xelly - most laptops come with 5400 rpm drives. Recording at 96/24 can be hard on the cpu especially if you have several tracks already. There's nothing wrong with using 44.1 khz/24-bits for recording. Just post a link to your recording... I can PM you my email addy instead.

Tnx for the info sir!! So makakatulong ng malaki sa latency kung ibaba ko sa 44.1khz sampling rate? If you dont mind sir paPM ng email nyo para send ko sa inyo yung wav file? Tnx!!

[alvincflorentino]

Hello. Hope someone could help me decide. I'm planning on getting an audio interface which I could use for both PC and Mac laptops. I have a basic idea on the needed specs to run audio recording software, plug-ins, etc on the PC: at least dual core but leaning towards core 2 duo, 2-2.5 gHz, at least 2GB ram, USB/Firewire ports, a large hard drive. However, I'm at a loss to the detailed specs on Macs since I've never owned one. I'm planning on getting my son a Mac for school purposes but it should double as a recording tool. Are the specs the same as for PCs like I mentioned? My purpose for getting 2 different platforms is so that he will become adept at either one using Sonar on the PC and ProTools on the Mac.

Next, since I shall be going cross-platform, the most basic interface I'm considering is M-audio FastTrack Pro USB. It's got all the bells and whistles plus MIDI I/O which is essential and it's very portable. And it's relatively cheap. It does work with PCs, right? Cuz I know it works with ProTools albeit the M-powered version. Will this also work with the LE version in case I purchase the LE instead? And can the ProTools M-powered or LE version be installed in both the PC and the Mac with no issues? I'm not too keen on using firewire as there seems to be more compatibility issues with the chip and it's attendant hassles. I know the MBox 2 will also work but will it work with PC?

Thanks in advance guys...

[KitC]

Will this also work with the LE version in case I purchase the LE instead?

No. LE versions only work with Digidesign Mbox and 001/002/003 hardware.

And can the ProTools M-powered or LE version be installed in both the PC and the Mac with no issues?

We have had no issues with HD systems sharing with LE, but I'm not so sure between LE and M-powered. There is no practical difference between LE and MP save for hardware. If you are using M-audio, just install the MP version instead on both platforms.

[alvincflorentino]

No. LE versions only work with Digidesign Mbox and 001/002/003 hardware.

We have had no issues with HD systems sharing with LE, but I'm not so sure between LE and M-powered. There is no practical difference between LE and MP save for hardware. If you are using M-audio, just install the MP version instead on both platforms.

Great. I think I got it. So, it's M-audio >>> PT M-powered >>> PC or
                                        M-audio >>> PT M-powered >>> Mac;

Another possibility is............MBox 2 >>> PT LE >>> PC or
                                       MBox 2 >>> PT LE >>> Mac

Right?

[KitC]

Right.

[alvincflorentino]

Great. Finally, what "decent" specs should I look for in a Mac to run PT M-powered? Like I said, I've never owned a Mac. Please give me the most basic spec and I can work up from there. What's G3 and G4 and will they suffice? I can see you responding with "track counts and plug-ins will suffer, etc..." but I mean tracking and recording wise and not necessarily extensive mixing "in the box."

[KitC]

What's G3 and G4 and will they suffice?

Those are very old models. Worse, they won't run Leopard.

Get yourself a new mac mini. It's more than enough. You will need a usb m-audio though so no pci soundcards to go with it. You can also go the mbox route if you prefer.

[alvincflorentino]

What about specs for a Mac laptop? Would prefer that to a desktop.

[KitC]

Any present day mac laptop will do if that is your preference. Remember that you will need an external drive to go along with that mac if you want to record audio, although you can record to it's internal 5400 rpm drive. To accommodate the external drive for audio, you will most likely need firewire, and you only get firewire with the macbook pro models. Worse, macbooks no longer come with expresscard expansion slots so if you're planning on adding a UAD-2 card for ex., you just can't. Firewire and USB are all you get for your expansion needs. You do get an SD card slot, but seriously? Along with the iPad, the removal of the expresscard/pc card slot just brought more questions than answers for me.

Try to gauge your wants vs. what you really need.

[alvincflorentino]

...although you can record to it's internal 5400 rpm drive.

I think that's acceptable. Will be using a USB interface anyway so 2 tracks may be handled fairly easily...I think.

Firewire and USB are all you get for your expansion needs.

I could go the USB external drive route for recording audio but frankly, I've never tried recording direct to external drive so I don't know how efficient or effective that is.

I need a Mac for basic ProTools recording, but I don't want to spend my life savings to be able to do that. So there. 

[KitC]

The rule of thumb is that you don't record to the drive where your programs and OS are. Even partitioning the drive only causes problems are far as head travel is concerned causing possible dropouts if the drive can't keep up. That's the reason why we recommend having a 2nd drive for audio data. Worse case scenario is when the OS drive fails, it will take all data, including your audio along with it. Think of the 2nd drive as a failsafe.

If basic stereo recording is what you need, you can get a more powerful pc laptop for the amount of money you will spend on a macbook. And let's not get into macs being less prone to viruses... osx is less secure than even vista.

[Xelly]

The rule of thumb is that you don't record to the drive where your programs and OS are. Even partitioning the drive only causes problems are far as head travel is concerned causing possible dropouts if the drive can't keep up. That's the reason why we recommend having a 2nd drive for audio data. Worse case scenario is when the OS drive fails, it will take all data, including your audio along with it. Think of the 2nd drive as a failsafe.

If basic stereo recording is what you need, you can get a more powerful pc laptop for the amount of money you will spend on a macbook. And let's not get into macs being less prone to viruses... osx is less secure than even vista.

Ok lang ba sir gumamit ng external hard drives na usb 2.0?

[KitC]

Ok lang ba sir gumamit ng external hard drives na usb 2.0?

One of the reasons firewire is often recommended is because of the way it doesn't stress the cpu as much as usb does. While usb2.0 has theoretically greater data throughput, remember that this is 'burst' speed, not continuous data transmission. When writing audio to disk during recording, sustained throughput is more important and this is where firewire beats out usb, especially firewire 800. This means that usb drives are often better used for backing up data instead of recording direct to disk

To be honest, however, I have never tried to use a usb 2.0 drive for recording, but I'd rather be safe with my data than not. There is a new development for usb with the version 3.0 protocol, although it remains to be seen if usb 3.0 can provide the necessary sustained data throughput for audio.

[alvincflorentino]

The rule of thumb is that you don't record to the drive where your programs and OS are. Even partitioning the drive only causes problems are far as head travel is concerned causing possible dropouts if the drive can't keep up. That's the reason why we recommend having a 2nd drive for audio data. Worse case scenario is when the OS drive fails, it will take all data, including your audio along with it. Think of the 2nd drive as a failsafe.

If basic stereo recording is what you need, you can get a more powerful pc laptop for the amount of money you will spend on a macbook. And let's not get into macs being less prone to viruses... osx is less secure than even vista.

I think I've gone over the top requiring a Mac just for basic recording into ProTools when, like you said, I can have my cake and eat it too with a PC laptop running Protools LE or M-powered as long as I have the correct interface.

[alvincflorentino]

Here's another topic related to my last post. I've an HP laptop with an AMD 64 X2 proc and I'm thinking of using ProTools on that machine. Will there be any issues and, if so, is there a solution other than buying an Intel-based laptop? Here are the specs to my current laptop:


Thanks for the advise!
 

[KitC]

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=3&langid=100&categoryid=35&itemid=23010

A look at the Digi specs indicate compatibility with AMD processors, but they specify Nforce chipsets... even the outdated Via KT266 chipset is stated!

Check with the link above for compatibility, or you could try the DUC forums in their windows PT forum.

[alvincflorentino]

Yup. Thanks for the info. I did go through those pages but I guess I needed someone who has actual experience with AMD. Luckily, I asked the same question in the recordingreview.com forum and someone had apparently used the combination successfully (AMD X2/nForce4/ProTools LE8). However, he was using an MBox2 rather than the original MBox. Oh well, hafta try them out first...

[KitC]

If it's any consolation, we tried out PT 7 M-powered on an AMD DAW with a 1010LT at the defunct PIMP studios... ask BAMF.

We hated the PT interface, though. And preferred Cubase as our recording software of choice. The funny part? We would master the mixed down tracks using Sonar's VC64.

[kaishin_zurcs]

sir kit,


        I am sorry but i need yet again an expert advice from you

        I had avquired a USB fast track m audio. It seems that mic is picking up voice and i can hear it in the speakers and audio but i cant seem to record anything using adobe audition 3.0. I tried to check and an error occured while trying to hardware setup to m audio.






i tried pretty much everything stated in this thread.. http://forums.m-audio.com/archive/index.php/t-1476.html

1.) reisntalled driver
2.) used the onboard card for output (as advice in the thread)
3.) device manager put a check on power saving off for usb hubs
4.) disabled start up for m audio in ms config
5.) Try enabling the "Do Not Map Through This Device":

i do not what to do from this point and it seems that it is a known issue. I just felt that I didnt reasearch enough before even buying this stuff. hope my money is not lost with this gadget, thanks sir kit.

I am running XP sp2, 1 gig memroy 200+ hd space..

[KitC]

Not enough data on your pc. I need to know specific make of motherboard and maybe cpu.

Since the fast track is usb, you might have to check on the specific usb port you are using. One thing about usb devices, once you install the fast track to a specific usb port, leave it there! Although usb is supposed to be plug and play, most driver installs 'affix' the device to a particular port. I seem to recall that the fast track is usb 2.0; if you are plugging into a usb 1.1 port, that could be the source of your problems.

From all indications of your screenshot, it appears to be a driver issue to me. And what's the deal with using onboard audio for monitoring? The fast track should be capable of it. You cannot use 2 different audio devices with asio. Asio drivers do not share at all with multiple audio devices. For you to monitor using the onboard, you have to use WDM or Directsound drivers.

You can also experiment with asio4all if you are having problems with asio implementation.

[alvincflorentino]

If it's any consolation, we tried out PT 7 M-powered on an AMD DAW with a 1010LT at the defunct PIMP studios... ask BAMF.

We hated the PT interface, though. And preferred Cubase as our recording software of choice. The funny part? We would master the mixed down tracks using Sonar's VC64.

In all honesty, I'm a Sonar guy through and through, ever since Twelve Tone Systems came out with Cakewalk 3.0 (I think). The only reason for me wanting to venture into ProTools territory is because my son is getting into Music Prod and they use both Sonar and ProTools (which you already know since you taught there, right?) and, therefore, I'd like for him to have access to and become as familiar as possible with both platforms.

BTW, don't you just love that VC64? Ha!

[KitC]

You should hear VC64 (and sonar in general) in a true 64-bit environment. I've heard that some engineers now prefer Sonar 8 plus Win7 Pro or Ultimate 64-bit for mastering. I'm trying to verify this though.

[melodic_claws]

Hello mga ser,

Binabasa ko tong forum at nakakatuwa kasi ang dami kong natututunan though yung iba ang hirap i apply as iba iba kasi yung DAW at interfaces na ginamit. Just want to hear pieces(madami talaga kelangan ko kasi talagang baguhan ako sa field) of advices from the expert.

My set up is the just simple. A guitar/bass/mic-->zoom g2.1u-->PC(cubase LE4) Since wala po kaming drummer, we uses drum machine softwares na tinimpla ko rin according to my taste.

Layin nung mga mga tunog, ayus naman, all are sync according to my ear's perception.

Here are my questions. Sana po masagot nyo mga ser

1. Yung drum machine, pano sya lalabas na real drums. Na satisfy ako nung na hybrid ko sya acoustic mixcraft5 by using compressor plugins. May iba bang teknik na pwedeng gamitin (metal pala ang genre ng tugtugan so more of malutong na snares and double bass drums

2. Pag kinocompare ko yung mga advertise professional CD sa ginawa kong output.. Parang payat ang tunog nung sa akin.. Tinaasan ko na up to 4-5 decibel gamit ang adobe audition ang output(sama ang mga hard limiting and many more efx na mapapalakas at mapapganda ang output ng recording). May settings ba ako na dapat i set sa cubase in terms of output production?

3. Say naka 3 songs ka na, pano mo papantayin ang decibel output nito kung i burn mo na sa CD. yung tipong pantay lahat.

4. Sa vocals, I am using Shure mic PG58, paano papaangatin ang tunog ng vox at pati na rin ang bass(by pass lang to walang efx para hindi maghalo sa tunog ng gitara)? May teknik din ba dito or efx or any hybrid utility na pwedeng gamitin?

Yan po muna ang aking queries. Sana po hindi kayo naguluhan sa mga tanong ko.. any suggestions, responses will be highly appreciated.


Edit: This question has been posted to other thread pala.. nde ko kasi alam kung san ko rin popost sa anong thread

[sugonidamaso]

Nice forum sir!i'm using sony acid studio 7.my problem is pano ko po i-separate ung background noise that i recorded from tape?played it from walkman to pc.any idea po?thanks!