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I am not computer savey confused and even though I have a load of patience for many things computers are not one of them. mad

That being said in YVHO what is the best, the easiest, the most user friendy softwear out their for using these very expensive typwriters as recorders. blush

Believe that with my new Samson G-Track,and my imagination I can really go to town BUT not if I have to mess around with OS that contain clitches that it would take a tech. to figure out. (Note: Went to the Forum site for Cakewalk and they have a whole section just for the Sonar LE and most of the Post are negative.)

Please reply.

Douglas


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Hi Doug Audacity is the simplest to use and most user friendly program. It is free (a great selling point) It has a forum where tech issues and questions can be answered and also there are free tutorials to help. That said for simple recording and edititng users need only the most basic PC skills. One click recording without any major setting up is easy and placing a cursor is or draggin cursor over a part is about all you need to do to edit. It also has an undo function if you mess up. Try it. There have been a few threads on Audacity a while back in the tech forum you may want to look back at them.

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Thanks BJM I will check out the other post on the subject and download the program later.

Douglas


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Just wanted to say that I downloaded Audacity and it is user friendly. Thank you very much.

Douglas


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The only place you may find Audacity difficult is when converting to mp3 files. You'll need the compatible converter/encoder installed. That is LAME and can be found on the download page at Audacity/Soundforge. There are some other plugins and a VST enabler that you should also download and install. You'll need them later on.


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Hello Dak. Thank you for the info. much appreciated.

Doug


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Following on from Dak there are extra FX etc that can be dowloaded and added. Here is a link where you can select some Fx to download. There are hundreds more available if you search for them. There are also many tips and tutorials. Here are a few links to help get you started

http://www.softpedia.com/downloadTag/Audacity+effect

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/features-1.3-j.php

http://free-loops.com/free-vst-plugins.php

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html

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Thanks Jim. I will be looking into all of them.

Question: could you please explain (in English) what exactly "loops" and "vst" plugins are?

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Here are links that will explain. You may not want to use loops and VST at this stage of development. Learn to walk before you run is a good idea. Most folk record dry "no added effects when recording" and then adding compression, reverb, echo etc digitally to enhance the sound is easier. These plugins allow you to do that. It all sounds double dutch but when you start recording and experimenting with editing etc you will find these tools very useful. It does not take long to get the basic hang of it. If you google Audacity tutorials then you will get step by step instructions on how to record and use these plugins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_loop

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Thank you once again. I have my work cut out for me don't I?



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Here is what I do to create an MP3 file. In Audacity, I create a WAV file by clicking File/Export as WAV. Then I use Musicmatch Jukebox (which came with my PC) to create an MP3 from the WAV file. That takes only one basic step.

Walt


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Originally Posted by Walt Lamberg
Here is what I do to create an MP3 file. In Audacity, I create a WAV file by clicking File/Export as WAV. Then I use Musicmatch Jukebox (which came with my PC) to create an MP3 from the WAV file. That takes only one basic step.

Walt


Why the extra step? You can easily export a MP3 from Audacity. Just make sure you have LAME installed.

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Garageband anyone? Very, very simple. Comes with even the cheapest Mac Mini.

http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/

For the PC, you could also try Songsmith. There is a free trial you can download and I'm curious if this is something that other songwriters might use as well.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/index.html

Another possibility is Band-In-A-Box by PG Music. Create the whole band by simply typing in chords and selecting a style for the song. You will probably need to tweak it later in a more sophisticated program, but it can be very useful for framing out a song. [pc and mac versions available]

www.pgmusic.com

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I'll chime in w/ Larry and vote for GarageBand. I love it. 2 albums (and lots of other projects) in the can w/ it and one more getting close. It's never got me distracted w/ tech (like other things I used before it). There are times I've had to work around it's limitations, but not many.

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I was in to analaog samples before I was on the internet and started off as a synth head.
But who influenced that music was post punk and progressive acts that played their instruments with minimal recording means before it was degradated to the on button.
I prefer to keep it emotive not having the playing skills.
I may be the wrong person to say.

But much of the recording software is limited to only what it gives you.
And special software relies on your computer's specs and can be troublesome.
Computers and programs seem to be made to be screwed up.

Having the old .wav software and with what is at hand has been the best.
I'm out to make an album set of songs and special software seems more tacky sounding then my old synth samples I would not post online.

Audacity is great too and at least has made the sound cleaner in a digital enviroment.
I only use the panning though, not the effects.

But that is just my 2 cents.

I am just an amatuer that is out to do that dream recording.

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Cool Edit and the old Cakewalk Pros (pre-sonar)

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Doug

Audacity is cool for beginners with limited knowledge with computer and the simplicity is way above the prehistoric cakewalk.

Im glad you already using it. During editing you can pull out the plug ins like the compressor, reverb and other guitar bass plugins. The cut and paste with audio microsurgery is so easy with no pops and click. So easy to drag and drop the wav file.

I created one song using audacity with loop guitar, a midi bass and drums and recording vocals is smooth as a breeze. But I havent try the vocal comping. I dont know if audacity can do it.

I agree with DAk you cannot convert this to MP3.

Goodluck with your music production.

Lynman

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Originally Posted by Lynman Bacolor

I agree with DAk you cannot convert this to MP3.


Wrong. The LAME codec enables mp3 conversion - I've done this many many times on Audacity.

Mackie used to have Traktion for free which was very easy to use.

The old Cakewalks were the best and most convenient for marrying MIDI tracks and audio files. The new Sonars are much better of course, but a bit complicated.

The Music Production studio is a free program from Frieve which is similar to Cubase/Sonar and also very easy to use.

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Suggesting prehistoric sonar makes no sense. We are using computer and you tell us to use abacus. Get my analogy?


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Originally Posted by Lynman Bacolor
Suggesting prehistoric sonar makes no sense. We are using computer and you tell us to use abacus. Get my analogy?

Sheesh. Don't reply on anything you don't fully comprehend.

First of all, Sonar/Cakewalk is far from "pre-historic". It's more complicated to use than FREE Audacity, BUT it has all the features needed to produce anything music related. The latest Sonar (version 8, released last year - pre-historic? use Google instead of coming to wrong conclusions) virtually can stand toe-to-toe with any DAW.

I have been using Cakewalk since the MIDI-only days and it's the easiest, most comprehensive sequencer to use. When Audio recording was added in the late 90's, it became one of the top 3 Midi-AUDIO DAWs (along with Cubase VST and Logic).

Now, the only reason I use Cakewalk (Pro 9.0 from 1999) instead of upgrading to the latest Sonar is because I don't want to spend $300-$500 dollars to upgrade from something that is still useful, to be used for a hobby. AND I DON'T USE PIRATED SOFTWARE.

I have more than 15 years PROFESSIONAL recording experience, on both analog and digital platforms. I don't consider myself an expert, but I certainly know more than people who are dabblers and just gain "knowledge" from using crack software.

Squarely back on topic - this is how I'd look at this

- if you come from a linear multitrack tape recording background, the traditional linear DAWs are the best - Sonar/ Cubase/ Logic/ ProTools etc.

- if you come from a loops/ DJ background, the loop-based DAWs are for you - ACID, FL, Ableton Live

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that's why I'm sticking with GarageBand for the meantime. It's free with any Mac (no one can accuse me of using pirated software), and it's good enough for "almost final" sounding demos. Some, if not most of the demos I've made with it can actually fool musicians to thinking it was done in a sound proofed studio, but that's also because of the interface and mic I'm using.

My guitarist, before we recorded at my place, told me we'll have to go to a studio for a "clean" demo, but after recording one of his songs, he was convinced we didn't have to.

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Ooops sorry darius what I mean prehistoric cakewalk. Anyway you are the expert here with years and years of experience. No quaalms here. Yoe are the boss.

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How do you teach comprehension?

Originally Posted by Lynman Bacolor
Anyway you are the expert here with years and years of experience. No quaalms here. Yoe are the boss.


Originally Posted by Darius Babylon

I don't consider myself an expert,


I guess you can't. I guess we'll have to wait for pharmaceutical companies to come up with a cure for poor comprehension.

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"Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?"

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Just to chime in, I like to use REAPER. It's intuitive and powerful, fairly inexpensive, and you can demo it for free with no functional restrictions; pay for it if/when you're ready (I suspect this may not be the case forever though).

http://reaper.fm/


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