Oh yeah, one more thing....No one mentioned a drum machine....do you use the arranger drums? Isn't a full realistic sounding drum machine better than the PSR 2000 drums or any other arranger drums for that matter? I mean, if you're laying down a track on a digital recorder, I would imagine one would use a boss, or alesis or roland/yamaha drum machine , right? OK I lied, one more thing...no mention yet of a synth....would it not be a sound assumption that a Roland Rs-9/5, Yamaha S-80/Motif or karma would be useful for laying down quality synthesizer tracks...or do you manipulate the arranger sounds through the PC software? Ok that's all for now Cheers Brian

Hi B2,
I don't know any dedicated 'drum-machine' that sounded better than the latest 'upper-class' arranger keyboards. (mine is the Ketron SD1)

My studio-setup :
a. Ketron (solton) SD1 arranger keyboard
b. Harddisk-recorder VS1880 Roland (great machine)
c. Mixingconsole Mackie 1202VLZ
d. AKG microphone C3000 condensor
e. Yamaha MSP5 powered nearfield speakers
e. PC (Intel P-III 650) with Terratec soundcard. (CubaseVST & Soundforge)

Since I own the SD1 the keyboard recordings are 'live' without the need of midi-editing afterwards.
In fact the PC is only used for mastering with Soundforge and CD's burning.

SK880user is SO right telling Creative Soundblaster cards are NOT professional, most of the cards don't support ASIO and have huge latency delays.
A well priced (hi-class) card is the latest Terratec DMX6fire 24/96 and this one has all connections you want.(about 250 USD)

kind regards,

Roel


[This message has been edited by Roel (edited 01-02-2002).]

Thanks Roel,

great info for sure...I have been educating myself on the PC software....there are many to sift through, but sound forge and Cubase keep making the tops of lists...A buddy of mine just purchased the yamaha awe4416 digital recorder....I had been looking at the Vs1880 at the same time. we have loved recording on the the Yamaha, and it does have some great features, but my budget will most likely push me in the direction of the Roland. I'm glad you are happy with the machine. It has had some fantastic reviews lately. best of luck in 2002 and beyond..Thanks for taking the time to respond Brian

[This message has been edited by B2 (edited 01-02-2002).]

B2,

Here is where people are going to get upset from me.

I sometimes use the arranger styles in professional recording. However, it depends what arranger you are talking about. You have guessed correctly that the Quality of drum samples are important. However, the way it is arranged, is also important to give you a sense of realism.

For example, Yamaha Styles are one of the best for they are well-arranged. However, they are not fit in my humble opinion for professional recording because they sound like coming from an arranger keyboard. They are good for performance but not professional recording. When you want to record a song based on a style, you want each part of the automatic style to sound as unique and distinct from other so that it gives you an impression that each track was recorded separately for the musician ear. And it sounds that it played by live musician on an real acoustic instrument for the public ear (who are not musicians.) NOT YAMAHA! but SK880 gives you this. However, Yamaha styles are better than SK880!

Let me elaborate on this by giving you an extreme example: You do not want the drums of the style to continue to play in its normal variation pattern WHILE it is playing the fill-in. Clearly, a real drummer will not do that. Now, almost all keyboards have figured out this by now.

You want each track of the auto-style to have a sense of independence of other tracks. There are so many other point of view. To my well-trained ear, I reject any recording of mine in which I detect auto-accompaniment. So you will find me, in so many sessions, deleting the auto bass track and record my own manual bass.

Some are even more senitive during performance and will play their own manual bass, like Uncle Dave does. For me, during auto-style performance, I am so busy doing other things, I do not have time for anything on the left hand other than playing the actual chord.

I second the AKG C3000B choice.

I believe it is an excellent price and sounds very good on vocals, especially female vocals.

I own:

C3000B
TLM103
BLUE dragonfly

My sister liked the dragonfly best on her voice. But she liked C3000B more than TLM103 on her voice. You cannot go wrong with C3000B. (That made me think about trying AKG 414-Tl2 one of these days.) I never had luck with Audio-technica mics when others like them.

I 3rd the AKG C3000 choice.

I used the AKG C3000 condenser mic for all the song demos on my website.

I currently run Cakewalk Sonar XL on the PC. I've been a longtime devotee of Logic audio on the Mac and actually think Logic is really not difficult to learn or use at all. The older versions of Logic were difficult to figure out (steep learning curve) but the current version is really user friendly and easy to learn. Logic has the slickest user interface (imho).

- Scott http://scottyee.com

My home studio consist of Roland G1000 and E-600.The rest is pretty much computer based..I have Power tracks and Cakewalk9[use PT most of the time], and for recording, I use Acid Pro 3 and Sound forge..For Hammond, the B4 is unbeatable[software]..Everthing is mixed down with effects[plug ins] and burned to CD[All with in the computer[P3 running 98 Second edition]...This setup will let you save the other 20 grand plus....

You guys are too much, lots of good stuff to digest, but here is the $1,000,000 question....I am sensing that there are 2 schools in this home recording business...1. PC based and 2. digital recording/analoge. PC based has all the effects and mixing/editing/mastering embedded in it. Digital recording such as with the VS series or AWE 4416 or similar products have some effects on board, can be enhanced with effect boxes/modules, and can be mastered/mixed and a CD burned with an additional recorder or in some cases a built in one. Next question, do you ever mix the process??? Example, record on a digital recorder, and then mix and master on a PC or visa verse. Are there advantages to one over the other, or is it like synths and arrangers....it's all what you,re comfortable with and can afford.....I can see a problem taking a digital recorded sequence and going to a PC because wouldn't there be a difference in the sound levels that are dependent on the sound card and speaker quality...how do you regulate this effort and not basically amplify something that has been amplifed? And by the way...what the heck is Latency???? I am ashamed of my inability to look it up in the dictionary...But I fear I would not understand anyhow....Keep those calls and letters coming sports fans..brian

Brian,You can mix and match.The Roland Hardware is great and complete.Latency,has two meanings,the first,the time delay[audio card],signal from a midi controller to the audio[wave],via the sound card[direct drivers virtually make this acceptable]. This is only a problem when you mix a realtime part with a recorded part[audio].The second example,Latency is that period of time when a expected advent is late[And your wife is very miserable][baby makes3?],

so Fran.......DaraLynn was a surprise?????
You rascal, you !