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#278127 - 08/07/10 09:28 AM
Which road to go down? Need advice.
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rossh
Be Nice (I'm New!)
Registered: 08/07/10
Posts: 7
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Hi, I need some advice. I've been playing for 18 years and play for my own enjoyment, occasional small gigs and jamming. I like to write my own songs (again for myself, family and friends) and have successfully used a Boss BR-532 and 'Audacity' on the computer. I am comfortable with this method but have found 2 drawbacks: 1)I would like to expand to more than 4 tracks. 2)It sounds great on the Boss but by the time it has transferred to the computer it is in mono and has none of the panning left or right etc.
I've been looking around and these are my options and thoughts.
1. An 8 track Boss with CD burner so I am getting exactly what I am creating without going through a PC.
2. guitar rig 4 with something like Reaper - my concerns are that I'm not sure I get a drum track with this setup.
3. Cakewalk v-20 studio.
4. The new Boss BR-800 which comes with Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 LE.
I am leaning towards the BR 800 as I am familiar with the setup, my only concerns are: Would I need to upgrade the Sonar software?
Can this setup transfer my songs onto the computer exactly as they are on the Boss unit? would there be problems with time lag, mono/stereo etc?
A lot of questions I realise but I don't want to spend the money and get it wrong.
I have a reasonable computer with decent memory.
Thanks,
Ross
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#278143 - 08/07/10 11:25 AM
Re: Which road to go down? Need advice.
[Re: rossh]
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Skyline Band
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 08/09/06
Posts: 452
Loc: Leamington Spa
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From what you describe I can perceive a major crossroads here.
You're familiar with your Boss Br-532 so naturally lean towards the BR-800 as that route offers the comfort of semi-familiar territory, but it may become another staging post on the way to a full DAW setup (on PC or Mac) which is where you'll probably end up anyway as your level of recording sophistication increases. I'd recommend double checking that the BR-880 is really what you want to buy next.
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the BR-880 so can't answer most of your questions. Sundry personal thoughts though:
- Amplitube 3 is better than GuitarRig 4 IMHO, as the latter sounds digital and glassy to me.
- Reaper is very good, but Sonar is even better (ok, more expensive also, but a sound investment).
- There are plenty of affordable and great-sounding drum software packages, e.g. EZDrummer.
- You've got a computer, so bearing in mind the limitations of the Boss boxes, why not just use the computer plus (eg)Sonar, Amplitube, EZDrummer, a soft synth package (for piano, brass, string sounds, etc) and you're good to go.
- NB: As a songwriter, have used Band In A Box to help try out chord sequences, styles and arrangements?
I hope a wee bit of the above is of some use!
John
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#278168 - 09/07/10 06:11 AM
Re: Which road to go down? Need advice.
[Re: Skyline Band]
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rossh
Be Nice (I'm New!)
Registered: 08/07/10
Posts: 7
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Cheers John, very helpful. I had a feeling it would be best to go down the computer route but just had no idea of what programmes to buy as there are so many. Are the drum packages like EZDrummer fairly easy to use?
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#278174 - 09/07/10 09:40 AM
Re: Which road to go down? Need advice.
[Re: rossh]
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Gilles C.
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 09/04/10
Posts: 409
Loc: Dunstable, UK
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I use Sonar LE with a Terratec DMX 6-Fire sound card on a WinXP desktop PC. I am not experiencing any MIDI delay but there is a slight but noticeable audio latency; I guess this is because my music computer processor is quite sluggish by moden standards: after recording, I have to slide audio parts a few milliseconds to the left.
Cubase LE, which is also bundled with various bits of audio hardware, has a much better user interface and is more stable but it is limited to two VSTi slots, which is no good for me.
For drums, I am very old fashioned and use an external Akai S1000 or my trusty Emulator 4.
_________________________
Fender Telecaster Standard (MIM) Vintage V100HB (Les Paul style) £48 Squier SA-105 acoustic Behringer X V-Amp Marshall Valvestate 80V 
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#278253 - 12/07/10 05:55 AM
Re: Which road to go down? Need advice.
[Re: Noise_Maker]
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rossh
Be Nice (I'm New!)
Registered: 08/07/10
Posts: 7
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Thanks for all the good advice. I do, ideally want to go down the PC route rather than a Boss unit but don't want to spend hours trying to work out how to use the various bits and pieces-I've heard good things about cubase but have also heard that it can take a lifetime to get the hang of.
Any thoughts from people on the guitar rig v Amplitube debate or is this one I'm going to have to work out myself?
Ross
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#278258 - 12/07/10 06:36 AM
Re: Which road to go down? Need advice.
[Re: Noise_Maker]
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rossh
Be Nice (I'm New!)
Registered: 08/07/10
Posts: 7
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Helps a lot, thanks very much. The whole thing is making my head hurt. Have just been looking at Cakewalk and their Sonar 7 studio is £70 but the Sonar 8.5 studio is £223, I'm obviously missing something. I'm desperately trying not to give up and buy the Boss thing as I know that would be a backwards step.
Thanks Noise Maker, as you've probably worked out, simplicity is all important for me.
Cheers again
Ross
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