I know this board is full of musicians of various levels, so I was wondering if anyone uses their PC to record music, and if so what do you use to do so? I play (or attempt to play) guitar. I also play piano but my house is too small, so that currently is at my parents. And every time I build up some spare cash (is there such a thing?) I buy a new guitar instead of a keyboard :-P

Currently I have a cheap USB mic that's sufficient enough to play around with, but I'm looking for a low-cost more appropriate option. Would love something that would let my plug an actual Mic in and the guitar at the same time, but record them to two separate tracks. Right now I have to record one, then record the other. Not aiming for studio-quality (if you heard my singing...or my playing...you'd know why ). Just something that's better than current set up.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

I use my PC to record my music, but only to record it and not to make it. No softsynths here. I record via midi (limited, I don't master midi technology) and audio. My PC does contain midi soundfontbanks, but I use these simply as sound source for my hardware keyboard, so in practice it works just like the internal sounds of my keyboard. I also use the PC to add some effects to, or manipulate recordings afterwards.

I play philicorda (751T, transistor) organ, korg MS2000 synthesizer, Roland EM-15 keyboard (bnl edition), I try to play guitar and a Moeck recorder. I have tried to sing, but wisely I limit myself to vocoders now. Still trying to get nice results from those.

I make all kinds of music. At the moment I'm in a hurry to finish a recording. It's a cover for a contest. I don't like the song, but I like to make something new out of it .

For recording the acoustic guitar, I have a microphone (old akai) and a Fishman Rare Earth (humbucker edition), which I don't use now as I play nylon strings. You've got multiple options to record guitar:

-external microphone
-internal microphone
-magnetic pickup (for steel strings)
-any combination of these, possibly with (geometric) delay effects.

If you want to record a combination of these to multiple tracks at once, it's getting a bit tricky. A PC isn't good at it, unless maybe if you buy an expensive soundcard with multiple audio inputs. You don't find these for cheap prices though. An alternative is finding a hardware analog or digital multitrack recorder, but these also usually are quite expensive.

An alternative is simply chosing a mixer, setting the mix of both sources OK, and recording the mixed output from the mixer as 1 channel in the PC. Of course, you can't alter 1 part afterwards. But it's a lot cheaper. These remarks go for any combination of two or more sources, so voice + guitar, 2 guitar sources, multiple guitar sources + voice, etc

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Yeah, that's the problem. I like to be able to edit both parts seperately. Guitar usually doesn't need much tweaking, usually just some level limits, sometimes some effects but not often.

My vocals on the other hand makes me sound like I'm the love-child of Ben Stein and one or all of the Chipmunks. Usually requires more creative editing.

The software I use lets me record one channel then go back and record another while playing back the first. But it's a lot harder to get tempo and timing right that way. I know m-audio makes a device for this, forget the name. But I think it still falls into the "duel inputs-single track output" category.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

I haven't recorded, personally, but I have used my gaming box to produce a digital recording of a music senior's recital. Still have my "master" in my shelves somewhere. Turned out well, except the recording environment was definitely suboptimal. (On the recording, you could hear a modulated hum as the elevator cables resonated while changing lengths as the elevator went by from time to time.) Thankfully, it wasn't bad enough to ruin the recording. You could easily miss it if you didn't know to listen for it.

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- Moose's one-line review.

"your going to regret that one. You are now a colonoscope...
- Chrissy, corrupting PraedSt's wish.

I recently picked up one of these,comes with the Cubase software.
I bought it primarily as an aux mixer for my drums,but I've played around with it & I like it so far.The drums sounds are,in my very experienced opinion,pretty crappy tho.

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"An armed man is a citizen
An unarmed man is a subject"

Robert A. Heinlein

The DigiTech RPX400 is a guitar processor that has a mic input on the back (3 prong, not 1/4 inch), has a USB output to the computer, and comes with ProTracks (designed by the the people that made Cakewalk i think) which will record your guitar and vocal on separate tracks. The software handles up to 16 tracks. It's really pretty simple and the processor itself is awesome. I owned one for a while but sold it because I just record an audio podcast, not music. The guys at my local music store use it for home recording as well as playing live.

Edit: Oh yea, you can also hook up at least one additional input device to the unit. I plugged in a second mic when I was using it.

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I was just sitting here contemplating the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

From the propaganda :

So even though being USB, this still is an ordinary mixer leaving you with a single stereo track.

I can ask a synthesizer forum how they do multitrack recording at once on the PC. I assume they simply have a multi input soundcard though...

Kelfazon's solution looks more like what the OP is looking for.

oh btw to answer one remaining question from the OP: I use simply an Audigy2 soundcard's line in to record, one track at a time. Or the gameport midi interface, when dealing with midi. No mixing or multitracking for me, no midi syncing. I make recordings that easily have 6 tracks or more, one go per track, and I simply need to take care that I play them with the correct timing. It can be difficult indeed. But that's the way all solo artists from say 20 years ago and earlier did things, certainly those working with acoustic instruments. Nowadays you still need to do it when working acoustic. And when playing in a band, you also need to get your timing right with the rest of the band, it's the same problem. Getting yourself a proper arrangement overview on paper will help you. I've made one for my current recording with details for every beat for every track. Unless you loose count, it really helps when recording the first tracks. After a while you have a basis of already recorded tracks to listen to while recording new tracks, and it becomes less relevant.

At the moment I've finished the fourth track of this recording. Still need to add voice and at least one string track, so that's at least 6 tracks in total. I no longer bother to count the takes, but I estimate at least 50, and at least 15 of those covered the full length. Recording can be time consuming .

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Thanks Kelfazin, that looks like it's probably what I want. I'll check it out.I had some fun last night recording "About a Girl" and adding a second guitar part. Would love to be able to add drums w/o having to know how to play drums or own a set But most of the syth drum stuff I heard is more suited for techno/synth music rather than what I play.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

Oh the RPX400 has a large drum library built in and sounds awesome. Can't remember how many styles, but it covers just about everything.

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I was just sitting here contemplating the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"

very long back I tried to tape my voice on the pc, but there were disturbances in the taping and since later I could not clearly tape my voice on the pc. the aerial disturbances, micro sounds asside create taping a difficult task. for taping the glass cabinet is require for that mic and the recorder. I am not confident, but the facility is fine with the pc, so that the typist will not get any boaring result.

When I first started playing the guitar, I would actually hook up the line directly from the guitar to the line-in on my soundcard and record from there using Sound Recorder. Surprisingly, it sounded decent. My playing sucked, but the sound was ok.

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"4th Law of Modern Thermodynamics: Where Mihoshi is, Chaos Reigns." ~W. Hakubi
"Gun control is hitting your target; Recycling is reloading your brass." ~ Lex of Dirty Work.

Was that electric guitar? That can be a tad bit dangerous (rather uncontrolled, clipping signals...). You'd better use a virtual guitar amp between the guitar and the PC if you don't want to work with real amp + mic.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I used to use an Atari ST a lot for music - built in MIDI ports! Great for connecting all manner of devices, including an acoustic guitar with a MIDI pickup, and superb software available.

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The key to PC Audio Recording is to make sure that you don't play or say anything that might be upsetting to any particular ethnic group.

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Yeah, it was an electric, an Ames special. At some point I'll invest in a real guitar and amp setup...been a while.

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"4th Law of Modern Thermodynamics: Where Mihoshi is, Chaos Reigns." ~W. Hakubi
"Gun control is hitting your target; Recycling is reloading your brass." ~ Lex of Dirty Work.

I'm looking for a nice (cheapo ) guitar, but the extra cost of a (v-)amp is holding me back atm. The cheapest second hand v-amp already adds at least 50€, and I'm thinking of spending only slightly more on the guitar . And recording through a cassette deck's throughput is also a bit dangerous.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

The best value for the money in a USB microphone I have seen is the Samson C01U. It sells (internet stores) for under US$100, and it has the specifications of studio condensers selling for $100s more. My MXL SP-1 was only US$40, and it sounds fantastic -- I don't have any reason to believe the Samson C01 would have been any worse. I was going to purchase a C01(not USB) for US$70, until I found the SP-1.


My home recording studio:

PC: win2000, 2.6 GHz Celeron, 768M RAM, 80 GB ATA HD
Software: Cakewalk Home v9.0
Audio Board: Creative AUdigy 24 bit, 96 kHz, low-noise amplifiers
Mixer: Behringer 2442 (used -- 2 dead channels)
Microphones: Marshall/MXL SP-1 studio condenser
................. AudioTechnica MB-1000 dynamic.
PA: Radio Sahck stereo 250Watt
Monitor speakers: RCA 3-way
Extras: cables, connectors, adapters, microphone stands

Acoustic Electric: Yamaha FX-310 w/ built-in condenser pickup.
MIDI Keyboard: Casio 400 series (can't remember the exact model)

This is a very cheap setup for a "component" recording studio -- under US$900.


.

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LoL! Seems your joke went unnoticed. I thoroughly enjoyed it though.
It sounds like using a mic to record from amp actually is the perferred method. My mic isn't very good for this though, as it has a "noise cancellation" feature that cancels out any noise that isn't dirrectly into the tiny opening at the end of the mic. Doesn't hurt the guitar recording *too* much, but the vocals you have to almsot have the thing in your mouth for it to pick up, but then you get all the wind/popping. Guess I just need a nicer mic.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

samson and audio-technica both make excellent mics for reasonable costs (around $40) that we just augment with a nice pop filter. The filters can range from $10 to around $90 depending on what you buy. My favorite pop filters are Shure PS-6 Popper Stoppers.

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I was just sitting here contemplating the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank what?"

"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot." --Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot"