Heartland

Hi,

Finally decided it's about time I worked out how to play, record mix etc stuff through my PC.

I have various bits of software floating round the place:

Cakewalk
Acid 4
Fruity Loops 3.01
Goldwave
Pro Tool Free
Reason 2.5
Rebirth 2.01
Soundforge 6
Steinberg Wavelab 3.04
Nuendo 1.5.1
Cubase VST32 5.1

Soundcard is a Soundblaster Live

Hardware includes Guitars and keyboard with Midiports

I am possibly looking at buying this: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy ZS Platinum Pro 7.1 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ ... cards.html

as this has an amp that should stop me from frying my soundcard when I plug stuff into it!

I have no idea how to make a good setup of all this (or even if I can!)

Any advice would be appreciated! PM me if you need any further details.

Well that's a big question with many, many answers (aint they all!).

First thing I would suggest is decide on which core software to got for,
personally I use Cubase and it took a while to get used to after analogue recording - but it works for me now. I have however heard good things about Cakewalk. Pro Tools etc costs a fortune to upgrade, it's the best but generally offers way more than anything but a Pro requires.

I would make absolutely sure that the core recording/sequencer software is compatible 100% with the card, would presume it is though as its a SoundBlaster.

The other big question is what type of music you are aiming for - if its more guitar etc than anything I'd suggest something like a Pod for the guitar sounds - much easier (and quieter) to get decent sounds than miking amps etc. (http://www.line6.com/products.html?category=3)

I cheated and opted for this Roland package -http://www.edirol.com/products/info/archive/u8.html
basically did all I wanted out of the box and it works with Cubase and Cakewalk....just been discontinued so there may be some bargains to be had!

Also worth buying a copy of Sound On Sound Mag (http://www.soundonsound.com/), plenty of advice there - I've had to stop reading it for a bit as I always end up finding something else to buy

Bit of a ramble, but drop me a line if I can assist and hope that was some help.

Cheers

Dave

Until V.recently Creative labs - makers of the soundblaster didnt make ASIO drivers (the main ones used for cubase) so you will probably get a lot of latency (delay) when using your current card. The new ones get promising reviews but I havent got experience of using them.

If your UK based ComputerMusic is v.v.good as a first port of call - good demo software, reviews etc.

www.tweakheadz.com is a GREAT site for the beginner - there are a lengthy list of step by step tutorials that will get u up2 speed soon.

Theres also a forum but PLEASE read the tutorials before posting - 90% of the questions have already been answered!

For the record I have no affiliation with either of the above, Im just a beginner myself.


Good luck in starting out - stick with it!

CellThree wrote:Soundcard is a Soundblaster Live

I've got one of those, and when I first tried to record audio through it I found even with everything turned up to 11 if was hardly recording diddly squat, so I have to use the pc's internal soundcard. (It may have been because the soundcard installed a whole bunch of annoying popup menus and other sh!t. I wanted a soundcard not a circus, so I deleted the lot. I may have deleted something important, but surely all you need is the soundcard and drivers?)

Assuming your Soundblaster doesn't play silly buggers like mine did, when recording audio make sure it's not turned up too loud. It may sound like an obvious thing but you'd be amazed by the number of people who claim to know what they're doing and then go and have the audio set too loud so all the peaks are flattened which causes crackle/clicks.

i use cubase vst32 5.1 with my m-audio "audiophile" soundcard:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=pro ... b83343bfb8

about 130 quid, 'tis very nice indeed - with zero latency (i use a lot of vst plugins for virtual instruments and real time effects).

i used to use an old version of cakewalk which was great for purely sampled stuff (ie: recorded guitars etc) but useless for drums machines, and was not vst compatible.

also, if you go with cubase (or cubase sx) and need any vst drum machines, synths or effects send me a pm

i have a couple of nice oberheim dmx and linn drum emulators

Cool, thanks everyone!

So far all this is above my head. The main reason for sticking with the Soundblaster card is purely because I do a lot of gaming (and can't afford a seperate computer to dedicate music to) and the one mentioned above has every sort of input on it as well.

Dave, that little system you linked is rather cool, but I'm on WinXP Pro so doesn't look like it would work too good.

I don't seem to have had the same sorts of problems that you had Dan, mine worked just fine after I installed it. Sound is good generally.

K, next main question. What leads do I need to connect the keyboard up to the Soundcard? (I'm starting from the very bottom remember?)

I'll have to sit down the Cubase manual at some point and work out how to get it working.

Life was so much easier with analogue stuff. *sigh* I'm always been a plug guitar into amp, hit distortion pedal, rawk! type of guy. I'll get this figured out though!

Thanks Quiff, I think I have that Oberheim DMX thing as well. There were some links up a few weeks ago I seem to remember.

I suppose I outta find out what most of that software I've mentioned above actually does huh?