

What do you recommend?

Discussion in 'Recording Gear and Equipment [BG]' started by fleabass89, May 6, 2001.

  1. I'm looking for a computer program that I can just plug a bass or guitar into and record as an mp3. I don't know what to get. I would prefer it to be under $100 sale price, and something that you can program drums into. There are so many choices, what would you recommend??

  2. dave64o


    Jun 15, 2000
    Southern NJ
    You *could* just plug a guitar or bass into your soundcard, but you probably won't get a decent recording without some kind of preamp or an amp simulator, at least for the guitar. After you get your feet wet, you should look into something like a SansAmp, POD, J-Station, or at least an effects box with a cabinet simulator. You might be able to get away with recording the bass direct though, even for the long term.

    I've been using n-Track for close to a year now and for the price it's a great bang-for-the-buck value. The basic package is $39. Then there's a 5-band parametric EQ plugin for $18 and a compressor for $20 (there's a built-in compressor but this one offers more capability). It will also work with any other DirectX plugin and I think it can also use VST plugins (not 100% sure).

    It records WAV files (and I'd guess most other programs do too), but you can mix down your tracks to a single WAV and then convert that to an MP3 with the built-in converter. I've seen people suggest getting a different converter, but at least this one comes bundled with the program. It also has a built-in MIDI sequencer and piano-roll editor, but i haven't really used them yet. Can't tell you how well it works, but if your sound card has a MIDI synth it's a cheap way to get the drums.

    You can download a demo version from their website - http://www.fasoft.com. You can also get a more unbiased opinion on the n-Track User Forum at Homerecording.com - http://homerecording.com/bbs/forumdisplay.php?forumid=18
  3. I just bought Cakewalk music creator for about $50 because my band is trying to record and we can't afford to record any other way. It works quite nicely and I would recommend it, the only problem I have is that you can only record one instrument at a time(because the sound card of course has only one input) so we have to mic the drums and plug the three mics into a mixer before going to the computer or plug the guitar or bass from the amp to the computer. Which brings me to my question- can I get anything to make it possible to plug in multiple instruments and record them to different tracks, maybe something that would plug into the usb port or something?

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