Is there any software like Garage Band for your PC?
 

Something easy to use that has everything you need in 1 piece of software. Drums, keyboards, guitar you can plugin and it lets you use different effects and speakers. I don't want something that i need to spend 2 weeks on just figuring out how it works.

Mixcraft or FL Studio, but the learning curve is much higher than you'd get with Garageband.

Will they let you plug in your guitar?
And can i buy a keyboard and plug that in?

I use http://www.image-line.com/documents/flstudio.html

Yeah that's more like Garage Band i guess. But i'm gonna try out fl studio as well.

There is also LMMS for windows. A bit more like FL Studio

Cool, thanks.

there are lots really. Cakewalk will do.

Acid is as easy or as hard as you want.

They all have demos. None will allow you to plug a guitar in. They will all need a preamp type interface.

Personally I use Ableton Live. They have a free version to check out but it's limited.

Plug your guitar into Podfarm

The learning curve on ones like FL Studio have kept me from getting beyond old simplistic sequencers + SynthFont. I don't use instruments though so dunno if they're supposed to be more intuitive for people with studio experience or what.

Won't the iRig work?

Interesting

Acid is great, and you can buy lots of pre-made loops to get things started.

I've never used one, but that looks like for just screwing around, are you trying to get a decent sound?

Recording live instruments is the only thing you need real studio equipment for anymore these days because it's still hard to a get a good recording of a live instrument or vocal. Everything else you can make sound professional at home with a computer, except the the live instruments and vocals.

That iRig will not give you a professional sound or even close. If you are just laying down scratch tracks or goofing around, it will work fine as long as it's compatible with the software you choose. But if you want a sound that is similar to commercially produced stuff, you will need a quality pre amp to plug the guitar in or actually mic an amplifier, which is much harder but will produce a better sound. A lot of the "shredding" you hear in guitar playing is in the sound coming from an amplifier, you can't get that with a software amp model.

I'm willing to buy a pre amp. What can you recommend?

Also what kind of soundcard do i need?
I plug my guitar into rhe pre amp and the pre amp into the soundcard, correct? And a keyboard into the midi input of the soundcard?

Depends on your price range of course. The more money the better the sound but there is a law of diminishing returns, especially if your other equipment is not as good as the preamp.

For an entry level preamp, I would say go with something like a Focusrite Scarlett. Pretty good sound, the drivers are solid under Windows and if you get one like the 8i6, you can use it to play live shows depending on what you are doing.

http://www.focusrite.com/

That's just my personal opinion though, I'm not saying it's the best since I have no idea what music you are making or anything like that. But that's a good place to start looking for a dedicated preamp that will allow guitars, bass, or vocals to be recorded.

Pre amp is usually USB. Keyboards are almost all usually USB as well.

I see, but still i will need a decent soundcard right? Or am i thinking wrong?

And what do you think of this?

http://line6.com/podstudioux2/

I really like this as it has all these guitar effects.

With the 8i6 i could play live with other people and record it straight away? I mean we all could plug in our guitars and bass and mic at the same time? Am i right? Sorry for the questions but i'm really new to this stuff.

The Pods are nice, but the preamps aren't quite as good for recording. They do come with a lot of amp models, so if you are just getting started, those will come in handy. A preamp will not come with any guitar amps.

You can buy guitar software amps, such as Native Instruments Guitar Rig which is a VST that runs in your software. But that brings the price up as well.

I could see getting the Pod just to get going, then once you get an idea for what you want to do, you can move to a dedicated preamp.

With the 8i6, you have two separate preamps, so you can record two instruments or vocals directly.

Recording equipment is definitely one of those things where you always are on the verge of needing new equipment, or looking for better equipment. So don't blow too much money early on, since once you start recording, you start seeing what you really need and what is a sort of a waste.

Ok thanks.

The thing is i 90% of the time will record alone but as a know a lot of musicians i'm pretty sure we will be recording stuff with multiple people as well. And then i don't want to screw around with just 1 input. So i might have to get something more expensive right away i think.

Sorry to keep bugging you but i'm still confused about the soundcard part. With these preamps do i need a soundcard at all?

Also i'm gonna buy a new computer system just for this, anything i need to keep in mind while buying one? Amount of RAM?

Ok on my list:

New computer
27 inch screen
Headphones
Microphones
Pre amp
Speakers
Keyboard
Electronic drumkit

Already got the guitars and bass.
Am i missing something? Do i need a mixing panel? FLstudio already has a build in mixer, is there any reason why i would want to buy one and have it in front of me instead of on my screen?

A mac mini.

No Mac for me. I realize it works well with music software and hardware but so does a pc. I have no reason to switch to a mac.

Garageband
Logic

There's two reasons to switch right there.

I don't see a reason *not* to buy a mac if you want a dedicated box for music.

Aside from the fag mac hipsters annoying you.

:D

Now i wouldn't mind using Logic...
Fuck...

Is Logic Pro good enough for a home studio?

check out gearslutz forum, lots of info.

I found the Fastrackpro to be really good, Akai's apc is a great controller and comes with Ableton live which is really user friendly (way more than Sonar for example).

Logic Pro is what is used in many professional studios, so yes, more than good enough for home use.

:thumbsup

Yeah i really looks good. I want to use it.
The thing is i'll be spending twice as much on a Mac than on a PC just to use this software.

really?

500GB
2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
2GB memory
500GB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 3000
OS X Lion

600 bucks

Seems the same as a comparable dell to me?

Ya that seems decent but i bet that same system will cost way more here in Holland for some reason.
And 2gb memory? Really? If i would buy a new pc for this i would buy no less than 16 gigs?

Also do normal lcd screens work on a Mac or am i forced to buy one of those $999 27 inch Mac screens?

Any screen works, and I can't see you really needing more than 4 gig of ram unless you plan to have a gazillion VST instruments running at once. But you can go up to 8 if you want. Crucial.com is your friend.

I live in Holland. I won't be ordering through American sites.

So a Mac mini with 4 gigs of ram will be plenty to run Logic Pro? Are you sure of that?
4 gigs really doesn't sound like a lot to me but maybe it's different in Mac terms.

I run Logic with two gig just fine.

My friend is a producer and he uses a mini with 4

Also, crucial are awesome and even will sell to you http://www.crucial.com/eu/internatio...try=NEDERLANDS

:)

Enjoy

and if you want guitar toys, I play for hours with this http://www.apple.com/logicpro/plugin...for-guitarists although guitar rig is also good.

Cool...well looks like i will be going Mac then. Never thought that would happen. Thanks for all the info. It really helped me.

Then buy a PC, install Parallels or Virtual Box and install OS X Lion and Garage Band.

Get the best of both worlds!

Nah, i think it's retarded when people do that. Like people buying a mac and then use all kinds of software to run pc apps. That's just dumb.

But for the record I'd go with a Mac too, always nice to be able to run windows programs too though so a virtualized setup is always a nice addition

You have any more questions or thoughts, feel free to just email me. Always happy to help.

Thanks!

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