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Forums - Music techology
Subject: Questions from a (relative) newbie
Viewing all 12 messages - View by pages of 10: 1 2
Original Message 1/12 04-Feb-98 @ 07:13 AM - Questions from a (relative) newbie
First of all, let me start off by saying this is an absolutely awesome site. I stumbled upon it while searching for some info on an analog synthesizer I am considering purchasing (a Moog Rogue) The info here is top notch, and is exactly what I've been searching for.
At any rate...
Some questions.
I've been composing dance music so far in the far beyond excellent program, Impulse Tracker. Although I haven't actually tried Making Waves, from what I've seen it is a hyped up version of impulse tracker, without nearly as many features, and a much more expensive price tag (Impulse Tracker is free and comes with a mono wave writer, and you can register for 30$ (us) and get a stereo wave writer. I have a SB Pro (I REALLY need to upgrade) and have been using alot of shareware synths to get my samples (which will soon change once I got my Rogue
) and have been outputting my stuff to a standard cassette tape using the line out jack on my card. Needless to say, the sound quality sucks, and I've been considering upgrading, but in the starter setups section, I read something about outputting your sound direct to DAT, and then mixing it down (externally?) I am a little unclear on how exactly that works, and what steps I would need to take to set that up. Would I just plug the DAT into the line out jack of my soundcard, or would I have to do something else? Also, for future reference, what's the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound, and what's a quid? I've been having some difficulty discerning proce ranges because I don't know the exchange rates.
Next question:
If I do decide to purchase this analog synthesizer, how would I sample it into my computer directly? I had intended on just micing the amplifier, but from what I've gathered sampling directly yields much more accurate results. Again, do I need to purchase a better sound card? I'm 18, working part time for minimum wage, so my budget is rather limited. I'd rather save up and buy a DAT (if such is possible with my current setup) and use my SB Pro to monitor my music, rather then have to buy a new soundcard and some other stuff too. In a nut shell, I'd like to know what steps I should take in order to get the highest quality sound on a limited budget, what I should get and what I shouldn't.
Just out of curiosity, do any of you track? It seems to me trackers are way better then software sequencers, in all respects. Maybe I'm wrong though.
Thanks and keep up the good work kilo-
Brandon
one last thing, if you're interested in Impulse Tracker, go to my web page...
http://members.aol.com/apester000/index.html
At any rate...
Some questions.
I've been composing dance music so far in the far beyond excellent program, Impulse Tracker. Although I haven't actually tried Making Waves, from what I've seen it is a hyped up version of impulse tracker, without nearly as many features, and a much more expensive price tag (Impulse Tracker is free and comes with a mono wave writer, and you can register for 30$ (us) and get a stereo wave writer. I have a SB Pro (I REALLY need to upgrade) and have been using alot of shareware synths to get my samples (which will soon change once I got my Rogue
) and have been outputting my stuff to a standard cassette tape using the line out jack on my card. Needless to say, the sound quality sucks, and I've been considering upgrading, but in the starter setups section, I read something about outputting your sound direct to DAT, and then mixing it down (externally?) I am a little unclear on how exactly that works, and what steps I would need to take to set that up. Would I just plug the DAT into the line out jack of my soundcard, or would I have to do something else? Also, for future reference, what's the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound, and what's a quid? I've been having some difficulty discerning proce ranges because I don't know the exchange rates. Next question:
If I do decide to purchase this analog synthesizer, how would I sample it into my computer directly? I had intended on just micing the amplifier, but from what I've gathered sampling directly yields much more accurate results. Again, do I need to purchase a better sound card? I'm 18, working part time for minimum wage, so my budget is rather limited. I'd rather save up and buy a DAT (if such is possible with my current setup) and use my SB Pro to monitor my music, rather then have to buy a new soundcard and some other stuff too. In a nut shell, I'd like to know what steps I should take in order to get the highest quality sound on a limited budget, what I should get and what I shouldn't.
Just out of curiosity, do any of you track? It seems to me trackers are way better then software sequencers, in all respects. Maybe I'm wrong though.
Thanks and keep up the good work kilo-
Brandon
one last thing, if you're interested in Impulse Tracker, go to my web page...
http://members.aol.com/apester000/index.html
Message 2/12 04-Feb-98 @ 07:17 AM - One more thing
Make fun of me if you will, but I haven't a clue what a hi-fi is. Anyone care to illuminate me? It's mentioned in the getting started section as rudimentary hardware, and I don't know if I have it or not.
Thanks-
Brandon
Thanks-
Brandon
Message 3/12 04-Feb-98 @ 08:47 AM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
No-one will make fun out of you here brandon,(well apart from Jock, but he`s not here ) I can give you a little bit of advice, but there are many more "qualified" people here to answer your questions, firstly if you want to buy a dat (which personally i think may be a bit extravigant for your set-up) then you should have a good quality soundcard with an SPDIF output, cheapest is possibly creatives awe64gold, secondly drop the trackers and go for "proper" sequencing pakages, I used to use trackers back in the Amiga days, and when i turned to PC`s i looked at there versions and thought what a load of fuckin shite!-and I still feel the same way about cubase!, but seriously drop the tracker and go for something like cakewalk..
P.s a Quid is slang for 1 pound (75 cents, summink like that)
) I can give you a little bit of advice, but there are many more "qualified" people here to answer your questions, firstly if you want to buy a dat (which personally i think may be a bit extravigant for your set-up) then you should have a good quality soundcard with an SPDIF output, cheapest is possibly creatives awe64gold, secondly drop the trackers and go for "proper" sequencing pakages, I used to use trackers back in the Amiga days, and when i turned to PC`s i looked at there versions and thought what a load of fuckin shite!-and I still feel the same way about cubase!, but seriously drop the tracker and go for something like cakewalk..P.s a Quid is slang for 1 pound (75 cents, summink like that)
Message 4/12 04-Feb-98 @ 08:49 AM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
No, hang on....fucked that conversion up , hahahahaha, too early here
Message 5/12 04-Feb-98 @ 11:14 AM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
Well, a hifi is a stereo... basically you should one as
good as you can get for proper listening. Everything should be as "transparent" as possible for music production for accurate results.
As for synths, try getting one with MIDI as it will make life easier. I think this is a higher priority than a DAT.
good as you can get for proper listening. Everything should be as "transparent" as possible for music production for accurate results.
As for synths, try getting one with MIDI as it will make life easier. I think this is a higher priority than a DAT.
Message 6/12 04-Feb-98 @ 11:24 AM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
Yes, no-one will make fun of you here Brandon. Just keep in mind when listening to any advice from spot that he is into some horrific music style called `Tesko' which is an obscure and tasteless hybrid between East 17 and janet jackson, one would expect.
Without getting too out of my depth here ( I don't have years of experience in audio like some of these guys do), my advice would be to have a look the terratec EWS64Xl sound card....it has a lot of the high quality features you require eg digital I/O as Spot mentioned, midi I/O for sampling from your synth, inbuilt sampler, and synth. It is a good price for a good number of features. Look at the sound card section on Kilos site for more information.
Without getting too out of my depth here ( I don't have years of experience in audio like some of these guys do), my advice would be to have a look the terratec EWS64Xl sound card....it has a lot of the high quality features you require eg digital I/O as Spot mentioned, midi I/O for sampling from your synth, inbuilt sampler, and synth. It is a good price for a good number of features. Look at the sound card section on Kilos site for more information.
Message 7/12 04-Feb-98 @ 02:46 PM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
Acid, you know so much about me its scary, ;)
Message 9/12 04-Feb-98 @ 03:12 PM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
well mate....if you're happy with the tracks you're creating, lets say you're using alot of samples and loops in the tracker s/w and when you add the analog synth it'll give you more loops etc........ ok if you're happy with the tracks you're making, then you gotta ask........do i want to master the stuff??....... is it necessaary.......like say maybe you wanna go out and play the stuff from dat live or whatever,,,,,,,,then yes....get a dat......and an S/pdif only card such as from D-Man or whatever...... you can monitor via the soundblaster, then either:
1. hire the dat when you're ready to mix......
2. buy a dat..........
bear in mind that the price of a dat and a card will be enuff to buy a pretty big fuck-off synth, or several modern analog modelling units or whatever....... but we come back to the old 'dance music' thing again.......
One synth, maybe a drum box, and a few samples is actually quite adequate to produce endless steaming tacks...(if you can create good ideas and grooves)........ so that may be all you need........
As spot said above....(was it spot?)........ the other option, is to get a big memory sampler, and trigger syuff via midi......(possibly also syncing longer audio parts with a midi & h/d s/w)...... but, then you will need to have a machine to mix down to, and a small mixer........ the other option is a acid says..... get something like the terratec, or pinnacle or whatever, that IS a sampler and synth.......appearently Holger wrote to me this morning to say that at the terratec site, they are advertising a plug-in board for the EWS that is in fact 2 waldorf microwave synths !!......... now the terratec would be a better sou8ndcard..... a 4 mb synth, FX and a sampler.....as well as having an s/pdif section.........you can mix the samples, (which can also be shorter loops and parts from the Moog) the synth sounds from the built in digital synth......the audio parts from the audio tracks of the midi & hard/disk s/w all together out via the s/pdif to a dat..........!!
But.......that'd mean you'd need the software...... & the EWS card......total about 450 (UK price) for the card..... and MAYBE.....you can find a s/w such as cakewalk pro audio for very cheap!!
SO......if you're happy with your sound...... stick with what you're using....... and look at the above...... dont fall into the trap of thinking.."I gotta get more stuff"....... maybe the next step is to actually get out of the house and promote your tunes!
1. hire the dat when you're ready to mix......
2. buy a dat..........
bear in mind that the price of a dat and a card will be enuff to buy a pretty big fuck-off synth, or several modern analog modelling units or whatever....... but we come back to the old 'dance music' thing again.......
One synth, maybe a drum box, and a few samples is actually quite adequate to produce endless steaming tacks...(if you can create good ideas and grooves)........ so that may be all you need........
As spot said above....(was it spot?)........ the other option, is to get a big memory sampler, and trigger syuff via midi......(possibly also syncing longer audio parts with a midi & h/d s/w)...... but, then you will need to have a machine to mix down to, and a small mixer........ the other option is a acid says..... get something like the terratec, or pinnacle or whatever, that IS a sampler and synth.......appearently Holger wrote to me this morning to say that at the terratec site, they are advertising a plug-in board for the EWS that is in fact 2 waldorf microwave synths !!......... now the terratec would be a better sou8ndcard..... a 4 mb synth, FX and a sampler.....as well as having an s/pdif section.........you can mix the samples, (which can also be shorter loops and parts from the Moog) the synth sounds from the built in digital synth......the audio parts from the audio tracks of the midi & hard/disk s/w all together out via the s/pdif to a dat..........!!
But.......that'd mean you'd need the software...... & the EWS card......total about 450 (UK price) for the card..... and MAYBE.....you can find a s/w such as cakewalk pro audio for very cheap!!
SO......if you're happy with your sound...... stick with what you're using....... and look at the above...... dont fall into the trap of thinking.."I gotta get more stuff"....... maybe the next step is to actually get out of the house and promote your tunes!
Message 10/12 04-Feb-98 @ 10:50 PM - Thanks everyone
Well, you've given me alot to think about. Frankly, I am quite happy with the tracks I'm producing now. They may not be done on a sequencer, but still sound ok to me. Maybe I'm just a novice though. Maybe I'll send one to the demo corner and get some feedback on it. Another thing, I have been working with Cool Edit Pro (I have a pirated ver.) and can use that to do mixing...is that good enough? Are external mixers significantly better? Also, I do have access to a CD-R writer, so maybe I can just mix down to one big wav file and then copy that to a CD. That would yield sound quality just about as good as a DAT right?
Thanks-
Brandon
Thanks-
Brandon
Message 11/12 05-Feb-98 @ 09:56 AM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
Well, you probably shouldn't advertise the fact that you're using illicit software on a public forum..... I've got a suggestion for gear.... Go to used music stores that are run by guitarists.... I swear by it... You get all kinds of cheap gear. They're like "Huh? This thing is a box.... How do you make it work? It's broken.."
Message 12/12 06-Feb-98 @ 01:11 PM - RE: Questions from a (relative) newbie
mate.....if your happy with your sound.......that's enuff......... you dont have to use a sequencer......
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