Don't Fear

[filkertom]

Windows folks looking for solid music editing/recording software (and not wanting to shell out for the big-gun software, like Reason or Sonar or Cakewalk or Acid/Vegas or Ableton) might want to give Reaper a try. Looks great, lots of features, currently freeware (with a shareware v1.0 coming this summer).

I loves me some Acid Pro 6.0. What are you all using right now, and on what OS? Any particular VST or VSTi plugins? (In my case, Bandstand, Spectralive, and the Kjaerhus Classic series.)

Comments

[unkbar.livejournal.com]

I use GoldWave, and I intend to investigate Audacity, which is open-source. My needs, I suspect, are rather different from yours. My main application is restoring old amateur filk tapes.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Indeed, Audacity should do pretty much what you need to. And don't overlook those Kjaerhus plug-ins -- they really are good, and they're free.

You gonna be at PenguiCon? Anthro? huskiebear says hi. :)

[unkbar.livejournal.com]

Alas, not Penguicon. I'm bossing a D.I. contract at Eeriecon in Niagara Falls this weekend. I will definitely be at Anthrocon, though. I think it's way cool that you're going to be there.

Send a Bear hug back to huskiebear for me!

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

As a dabbler, I've been getting by with my mix of incompatible toys scattered between an old Mac and an ancient Linux box. I recently added an AMD64 system to my collection for a programming project and have been speculating on moving all music stuff in that direction.

Thanks for the tip. Your pointer to Reaper may give me more incentive...in great part because their proposed licensing looks sane. (Aside: I hate the fact that some music software still clings to the idea of invasive copy protection. Wearing my developer hat, my first commandment is, "Thou shalt not annoy the paying customers.")

Since I'm using a USB interface for audio/MIDI on the Mac, migrating that should be simple.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Word. I wish to God Acid didn't do precisely what I need, and so well, because Sony's really pissing me off lately.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Sir, are you psychic or something?

On my way to work this morning, I was thinking to myself, "I have a lot of stuff on vinyl that I ought to get into a format that I'd actually use." The major barrier to this has always been software...

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Glad to help. As unkbar says above, start with Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) and work from there.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Magix Audio Studio 6, Audacity 1.2.3 and Cakewalk Music Creator 10 (which I've never tried using for anything other than MIDI), on WinXP (spitspit). Just downloaded Reaper to give it a once-over. I'd be doing it on the Linux side of my system, but truth to tell, I've never gotten sound to work on my Linux box.

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, you're using Magix? I had version..erm...4, I think. It irritated the crap out of me...used its own file formats for everything, lost data constantly, did everything too quietly, and just generally filled me with hot buttered dammit.

I recorded two albums with it, though...

-=ShoEboX=-

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Got it from a musician in Cincinnati that I was on a job assignment with last year (this guy is unbelievable--why he's not recording professionally is a mystery to me). I've had better luck with it than with Audacity, as far as actual recording goes. Audacity has a tendency to choke on me about ten to fifteen seconds into a track. I've also gone the route of using Magix for recording, and Audacity for assembly.

[wormquartet.livejournal.com]

One of my birthday presents I got from my wife was "permission to buy the new Adobe Audition upgrade," which finally...FINALLY...supports VST plugins. So as soon as I actually go ahead and buy the bloomin' thing, I shall be joining you in this glorious world of add-onnitude.

I'm using ModPlug tracker (freeware, yay!) for music programmitude because I still prefer tracking to anything else I've tried. It doesn't do anything FOR you, but gives you all the control in the friggin' world, which is what I want. I don't generally use loops or any of that - I sample my own instruments and create my own beats and melodies and such.

-=ShoEboX=-

[hms42]

Windows based - Adobe Audition 1.5 (2.0 exists). CuBase (installed, not played with much yet) and conversion to mp3 - CDeX.

Mac (Intel Processor) - Garage Band and CuBase. I am looking for better to my tastes and preferences. I have to look at Audacity for the mac.

Harold

[lukeski.livejournal.com]

My brother JT (DJ Skrabble of Madison's #1 hip hop group "the Crest") uses ProTools. So does my former engineer Daniel Robinson. I'm not sure what my current engineer Jared Ringold of Possible Oscar (formerly "the Nick Atoms") uses. My two main programs are GoldWave and Acid 4.0, but I want to upgrade my software and hardware on my computer in the near future so I can have a home recording studio and DVD editing capabilities.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Let me make it real easy for you: The DVD drive should be made by either Plextor or Philips. By far the two best and most reliable manufacturers, with very comparable specs, so that it comes down to which has the software you like. A bit pricier than others (although you can often find sales at New Egg or even CompUSA), but way the hell worth it. Says the man whose first DVD writer, an HP that I got because it was $40 cheaper than the Plextor, destroyed my main hard drive.

[the-mad-elf.livejournal.com]

For the time being I'm using Audacity on my PC. Considering the amount that I do not know about sound, recording and editing could fill volumes so far I've found it ot be easy and seimple to use. Though at this point I'm just doing some simple voice recording.