Good recording software for modeler

[mpv]

I apologize if this is in the wrong section.

I am fairly new to digital modeling. I am loving all of the options it gives me. I purchased a G5, and I am very pleased with the product. It came with the cubase demo, which ran out for me. I don't know too much about what is out there, so please forgive my ignorance on the topic.

Anyway, to my point...

I am looking for inexpensive recording software that I can use in place of the Cubase LE6. I don't need anything too crazy, just something that I can record some tracks to upload to the internet. Currently I am using a field recorder, which is not ideal for what I want to do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jim Soloway]

I don't know if you have a Mac or PC but I use GarageBand for everything and it works just fine. On my PC I used to use Krystal. It wasn't as stable as GB but the results were pretty good and it's free to try.

 

[Akeron]

Cockos Reaper

 

[mpv]

Jim, thanks for the advice, but I have a PC. I'll check out the Reaper.

 

[jb4674]

Reaper is free and you'll understand why if you decide to give it a try. While my personal experience with it was not great, it is a fantastic DAW if your budget is very limited.

In the past, I have used Cubase LE, Reaper, Presonus Studio One and most recently Pro Tools 10. While I'm still on the learning curve with Pro Tools, I would highly recommend you give Presonus Studio One Artist a try. It has a very simple user interface (pleasing to the eyes) and you don't have the "window layering effect" that a lot of DAW's have when bringing up plugins, controls, etc., which makes the user feel overwhelmed especially when learning how to use the product.

 

[Lele]

Reaper is very nice. But for a "beginner" as I am (or maybe I was - I hope), I think that the following choices could be better:
- Acoustica Mixcraft 6: the latest version is a very complete mix software, with several virtual instruments and some basic tracks of drums and other instruments. There are several youtube videos with useful and clear instructions, and the forum at the maker site is helpful to ask and get information.
- Sony Acid Music Studio 9: it is even more simple, with a lot of sample tracks (drums and others). It is less complete and versatile than Mixcraft, but the sample loops are very good. You can use them in Mixcraft too, for example.

These two software are rather cheap, and I think there is a trial version, too.
I use Mixcraft, and i like the possibility to "write" some midi tracks for keyboards and bass, and then to use the virtual instruments.

Then there is also Sonoma Riffworks. It is very simple, and gives a basic nice drum track that you can tweak (and you can buy other drum tracks). It is superfast to put down a couple of guitar tracks. But then you cannot do a lot of editing, and can have just 4 tracks if I remember well. There is also a basic free version. I use it sometimes just to write a riff and play along. In 1-2 minutes everything is ready to play on a basic track.

 

[AndrewSimon]

- Mackie's Tracktion is the easiest full featured DAW on the planet. (not being updated since 2008)
- Reaper is a good second choice
- Studio1 has potential.... but if you like pushing your latency to the limit, it's not your friend.

People need to stop referring to Reaper as free, it's not, it's nagware, they simply trust you to do the right thing.

 

[kleydj13]

I am by no means a professional and have very limited experience with professional recording, but I do have 445 uploads to YouTube and I've used Audacity for about 90% of them. It works great for that purpose and is very easy to use. If you want to start adding plugins, a multitude of tracks, or need ASIO support it becomes obsolete. It also doesn't allow you to set a track with BPM and bars which can make editing really handy like in Garageband. But for me, I'm usually tracking solo guitar or maybe playing over a backing track. Works perfectly.

Audacity is 100% free for both PC and Mac.

 

[jammybastard]

Garageband is the best, but you have to be a Mac user.
Reaper is great, but is not simple to use out of the box.
It's a very powerful program, as good as Pro Tools & Logic, but only if you've taken the time to learn how to use it.

 

[felken]

Reaper, even with a modest learning curve.

It is not really difficult for simple work and can be very advanced if you want it to.

 

[mach90]

reaper most people who struggle with the learning curve I find are people switching from other DAWs

 

[mpv]

I am by no means a professional and have very limited experience with professional recording, but I do have 445 uploads to YouTube and I've used Audacity for about 90% of them. It works great for that purpose and is very easy to use. If you want to start adding plugins, a multitude of tracks, or need ASIO support it becomes obsolete. It also doesn't allow you to set a track with BPM and bars which can make editing really handy like in Garageband. But for me, I'm usually tracking solo guitar or maybe playing over a backing track. Works perfectly.

Audacity is 100% free for both PC and Mac.

This is good. Thank you. I am going to look more into reaper and Tracktion, but for now I think I will just record little snippets with audacity.

Thank you everyone!

 

[Will Chen]

Don't listen to the Reaper hate. Download it and try it out. The demo is free and a full blown personal license is very affordable. I choose it after years and years using SONAR (and Pro Audio previous to it). What you get for the money with Reaper is unbeatable, rivaling the functionality of SOANAR and Cubase without the silly limitations they place on their more affordable software platforms. The developers are constantly adding tweaks and new features as well. Audacity is way limited/harder to use than any of the "professional" DAW platforms out there.

 

[AndrewSimon]

This is good. Thank you. I am going to look more into reaper and Tracktion, but for now I think I will just record little snippets with audacity.

Thank you everyone!

Audacity is cool if you don't need low latency live monitoring.

 

[CPower]

I use a program called Riffworks. It is very user friendly and aimed towards the guitar player. There is a free sample program for download on there website which really isnt that bad. http://www.sonomawireworks.com/riffworks/. Riffworld is the community song share website. There are some great people here. Check it out.

 

[camstudio]

I will put a vote in for Reaper. It is as complicated as you want to make it. If you want to bounce to mp3 you have to download a plug in. All you have to do is place the file in the correct folder and your ready to go. The only thing it doesn't come with is virtual instruments.

 

[Stringrazor]

Any PC recording s/w comes with a learning curve. Reaper, though not technically free, isn't a bad choice. I've used Sonar for years.

FYI, most of the problems people tend to have with PC digital audio workstations (aka DAWs), are caused by the audio interface driver. The i/f hardware can be wonderful but if the s/w driver is lousy, your experience will bad. If you haven't bought an audio i/f yet, do some research first.

If you plan to use "the soundcard that came with my PC", well you can but you may have problems. You'll probably need the free ASIO4ALL utility to get a recording program to support a cheap soundcard's driver.

 

[Capn Spanky]

I'm a Cubase guy, but I'd say Reaper for someone who's on PC and new to the DAW stuff. It's a fantastic value and can grow as you grow. But I would expect you to have a pretty steep learning curve, depending on how you use it. But the same would be true for most DAWs.

 

[SatelliteNine]

plus one on Reaper - also, look into Presonus Studio One - first DAW I've come across that is making many of the protools guys I know consider switching. Easy to use and powerful, and a little free version as well to test out. Both reaper and Studio one are cross platform which is nice.

 

[phel21]

I've been using Ardour on Linux for years. It is also available for OS X. The developers are however asking for a contributions from all users, and OSX-users are required to pay at least a small amount.