sound cards, music software programs

[music_man]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

I just bought a HP Media Center PCm7160n, mostly for recording music. I
went to best buy. I bought the sound blaster audigy 2 ZS platinum to go
with it. Best Buy called during the set-up to say the case wouldn't
hold the unit; plus , they don't carry the platinum pro, which is the
external model. As an aside, they also failed to give me the speakers
they promised with the package.This leaves me with what I thought was a
mac-daddy computer with a substandard sound card. Alas, I've lost faith
in the evil empire so I'm looking for some advice.

I've been recording on portable Roland units for years, but am new to
computer recording. I have a 16 ch. Allen & Heath mix wizard. Can I use
this with the sound card or do I plug instruments/mikes directly into
the unit (can you do either)? Are there better/other options than the
sound blaster? I am considering Pro tools and Live 5 as a recording
medium. Does anyone know how these two software programs compare?
-sound quality and ease of use are my biggest concerns. Are there
others I should check out? Thanks, any help is appreciated.

 

[music_man]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

perhaps it would be better to return the computer and have one built to
my specs. Let me know what you think.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"music_man" <bcole94@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1122378262.141695.288580@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com

> I just bought a HP Media Center PCm7160n, mostly for
> recording music.

I can't imagine why you did this. The "Media Center PC" is
mostly a marketing concept, but its hardware technical
comment almost entirely relates to putting a TV receiver
into a PC. Nothing wrong with that if you want to replace
your TV with a PC, but what does this have to do with audio
production?

The canonical audio production PC is simple, simple, simple.
Other than what it takes to make the thing boot a minimal
version of XP or whatever, it's characterized by lotsa high
performance storage and a really nice audio interface. In a
desktop PC that audio interface would ideally be a PCI card,
most likely one that mangles audio the least reasonbly
possible. IOW, probably not a SoundBlaster.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <1122378262.141695.288580@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com> bcole94@msn.com writes:

> I just bought a HP Media Center PCm7160n, mostly for recording music. I
> went to best buy. I bought the sound blaster audigy 2 ZS platinum to go
> with it. Best Buy called during the set-up to say the case wouldn't
> hold the unit; plus , they don't carry the platinum pro, which is the
> external model. As an aside, they also failed to give me the speakers
> they promised with the package.This leaves me with what I thought was a
> mac-daddy computer with a substandard sound card. Alas, I've lost faith
> in the evil empire so I'm looking for some advice.

Best advice I think that anyone in this newsgroup can give is to
return the computer and get something else. Even a plain vanilla H-P
from Best Buy with an external Firewire or USB audio interface (or a
PCI-card based internal interface that you install yourself after you
get it home) would be preferable to the "Media Center" configuration
that's loaded down with applications pre-installed that will most
likely get in the way of good audio performance.

Best Buy will take anything back within 30 days. Get your butt back
there and get something else. A build-it-yourself solution is always
best, but if you don't want to be bothered with that, look around for
a shop that does this sort of work and discuss your requirements with
them. You'll get what you need, and probably spend less money.
Computer-builder shops used to be on just about every corner but
they're getting rarer. Let your fingers do the walking in the Yellow
Pages.

> I have a 16 ch. Allen & Heath mix wizard. Can I use
> this with the sound card or do I plug instruments/mikes directly into
> the unit (can you do either)?

Yes. You'll find the mixer is a very good accessory for your sound
card. While several audio interfaces (better quality all around than
the usual "sound cards") that have mic inputs can take a microphone
directly with reasonably good performance, few will be better than the
mic inputs on your A&H mixer. And mic inputs on the SoundBlaster and
that ilk are essentially useless for studio quality mics.

> I am considering Pro tools and Live 5 as a recording
> medium. Does anyone know how these two software programs compare?
> -sound quality and ease of use are my biggest concerns. Are there
> others I should check out? Thanks, any help is appreciated.

There are dozens of perfectly good recording programs. ProTools is of
course an industry standard, but in order to use it, you'll have to
get some Digidesign hardware (which includes some of the M-Audio
product line, pretty good interfaces at a decent price, if you use the
M-Audio ProTools version). I've never heard of Live 5. Many of the
respectable audio interfaces come bundled with perfectly usable
programs, so if you buy a decent interface, not only will you have
good quality audio going in and out of your computer, you'll have free
software that's probably pretty good. For example, the TASCAM
interfaces are bundled with a version of Cubase, and that's a pretty
well respected program.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Hi,
Are you refering to Live by Ableton?
It's not really a program I would consiner for recording, It's a DJ
mixing system with some great time compression and expansion tricks in
it. A version of Live comes with Pro tools I believe, or did with a a
version of Slow Tools I got recently.
That computer sounds like a nghtmare, I use Macs myself. But you should
get someone to build a PC for you specifically for Audio.
Regards
DS

 

[Guest]

minda