IF i bought a powerbook

Well, the MBox comes with ProTools LE, a slightly limited form of Reason and Live, and a simple (and not very good) amp modeller. Really, you should get a mic for guitars because digital direct-recorded guitars just sound like expletive.

 

Until you're working with real instruments and mics, you may well be happy with Garageband, which comes with the mac. There are also several minimal usb interfaces coming on the market.

Good enough to sell at gigs is more a matter of what your audence will like than quality of the recording.

 

I agree with covert - GarageBand is by far the most user friendly program you will find - and it comes FREE on your laptop. The program comes with drum loops, amp models, FX, instrument loops, etc. and is a great place to start. I know of people who have recorded full-length albums using GB. Eventually though you will want some other sounds besides the ones given to you in the software so you'll either want to expand your loop library (Apple sells expansion sets for GB) or move into tracking your own live sounds.
When you're ready to move into more live tracking I think the best way to go is the Mbox. It's small, doesn't cost too much, has decent mic-preamps, and comes with Pro Tools - Which is still the industry standard in digital recording. I can't think of anything better for tracking to a laptop.
Either way - have fun making music!

 

Just to be contrary...

>> GarageBand is by far the most user friendly program you will find

I can't stand it... it keeps moving around the screen in the most irritating way. The most counter-intuitive interface I've ever wrestled with. It's a royal pain in the ass to use as a "real" recording interface. I don't expect it should be pro-level, I'm just talking about simple tracking and basic editing, like cut and paste. However...

>> it comes FREE on your laptop.

... and you can't beat that price. So no reason NOT to try it and see how you feel before dropping money on anything else.

>> I know of people who have recorded full-length albums using GB.

Really?? I don't, but I'll take your word for it. Seems like it would be nearly impossible.

 

I have been recording with RPC, Its a band I have been working with for about a year, and we are right on the verge, seriously.... we MAYBE had 25% of the guitars through my splawn, Zinky, or Marshall JTM-45... ALL the other guitars were DIRECT... and it has fooled MORE than a handful of Professionals.... They all say, WOW, what amp did you use to get that sound.... Technology is REALLY making it easy to record...

 

User friendly on a Mac would have to be Garageband. There is also an active and informative crowd at the Apple support site for it if you run into trouble or just need more info. And there is a growing number of sites and forums and third party software dedicated to GB and to post your tunes. A lot of available drum loops.
Very easy to get going if it's your first DAW. It has some limitation's compared to other DAW's but it's feature implementation continues to improve with new versions. GB utilizes AU plug ins and there are a number of AU plug guitar sims. I have had good results using a tube preamp hooked up to my interface.
I use several other DAW's quite a bit but still go to GB. It's a very cool little DAW. I think you will find many people use it to create their own CD's.
For interface's depending on your DAW, budget, I/O needs and the sound quality you are looking for....there are quite a few choices. M-Audio, Presonus, DigiDesign, Motu, Metric Halo, etc...If the interface needs a driver it may be worth checking in with users to see if there are any driver issues.
I think for audio it's nice to have FW rather USB and zero latency monitoring. It's also nice to have a buss powered capable interface with a notebook. Interfaces generally tend to come bundled with DAW's and other software which may make them more attractive to you.
If in the future you want to track drums. The Presonus Firepod with 8 mic pre's is something you may want to look at.

 

Garage Band is by far the easiest and most powerful (cheap) program out there.

If you want more , get Logic, or ProTools.

 

yup, garage band is dead simple. my bass player's 13 yr. old kid was able to start making music immediately.
on top of that logic is cool. but rather that PTLE i would think about ableton live. but then, i think that PTLE is a pretty crippled program compared to PTHD or logic, cubase, DP or live.

 

Just for fun, here's one:
www.thegaragealbum.com

 

These "crippling" differences being...?

 

Thanks for the link. I'll take a listen sometime over the next few days.

 

track count.
inability to use the audio interface U want.
poor midi implementation.
freeze?
does it have full PDC implementation yet?
poor latency performance w/mBox.
lack of comprehensive time/stretch functionality like live, logic, DP. cubase, maybe? haven't used cubase in a while.

those are a few that come to mind straight away. i'm sure if i spent another minute thinking of more stuff the list would be longer.
i suppose "crippled" is a relative term, but compared to the other programs mentioned let's just say it doesn't have the "features" of the other stuff.

 

My two cents and then some on this notion or belief that PTLE is crippled by member µ¿ z3®ø™.

There is a reason that ProTools is the industry standard other than a huge company pushing it. It is far easier to deal with audio and editing than Logic or DP. The plugins sound far better, even on The LE version. I mix for a commercial jingle house on a regular basis and I can say with out a doubt that Protools sounds better than Logic. I don't know if it is more the plugs or the mixer and summing but the Logic mixes never sounded as punchy as the ProTools mixes EVEN when I ran it in DAE mode using all of Protools plugins. All of the writers and the company owners brought it up before I said it. That is why they bought two more Protools systems.

That said i have worked on many DAW platforms and I don't think that PTLE is crippled in comparison to it's competitors. Of course it is more limited that HD. Host processing vs. PCI cards. That is a no brainer to anyone that really understands computers.

 

which would be be the entire opposite of what most peeps working in pro audio experienced when listening to the summing busses of the various DAWs as recorded on lynn fuston's CDs.
i actually DID rephrase my comments, vis-a vis, "crippled".
now if ya wanna talk about THAT....
or the assertion that anyone can tell the difference between ANY of the DAWs in a double blind test....
whatever.

 

In my opinion and seeing what DAW's are actually used in professional studios, I still say Protools is the Standard for good reasons. I will say that I have seen an increasing number of Nuendo which sounds quite good from what I have heard played from it. I would love to do something on Nuendo in the future. Logic is much more common in Europe than here but is far more difficult to use and deal with audio in my opinion. I know alot of people that feel this way. But then again there are others that feel opposite.

I can't comment on the Lynn Fuston cd as I have not heard it. I am sure there are situations that are the reverse also. So to quote your post and you obvoius dislike for Protools. "whatever"

Lastly I will add that I am not in any way saying that all other DAW's are useless. I think a great mix is possible on just about any DAW. It is really about the song (artist and musicians) and the user (engineer, mixer)

 

At the risk of repeating myself, I'd say again it depends on the application. Talk about comparing apples to oranges... the only similarity among these platforms is that they all fall under the heading of "DAW" and can produce a final product of uncompressed audio. If they all worked the same and had identical functionality it would be a simple question of which sounded best... or was the least expensive.

I have to laugh when these arguments start on the net, because I never hear these arguments in the real world. No one I know makes an issue of this stuff in ordinary conversation. If a friend of mine says he likes to work in DP or Logic and we're both making a living, what's the fricking argument?? No one pays us based on our choice of DAW. It's music! They pay us for what comes out of their speakers.

I work in ProTools and when I collaborate with a Logic or DP user there's no translation problem at all. 24-bit/44.1 is 24-bit/44.1 in any studio. Yes, it's a little easier when I collaborate with a ProTools user because we can open each other's session files. But it doesn't take much to work around that.

If I need to go outside for my own tracking, editing or mixing I prefer to stay in ProTools... so yeah, then it makes a difference to me.

On the audio quality question... I know a remixer whose dance mixes in Logic have sold multiple millions... and as far as I know he has received zero complaints about them not being "punchy" enough. In fact, they are punchy as hell. I've never A/B-ed the same mix on both platforms, but my guess (and it's ONLY a guess) from your story is that there was a difference in the clock.

 

Great mixes have come out of Logic and PT. One platform will cater more to one type of personality and workflow than the other, which makes it better for that person, but not better in general.

Unless other factors are in play, like compatibility, or perception. If ProTools makes your studio more compatible, or give the impression to potential clients that you stand at a higher level than studios that use Logic, then it's better for those reasons. But for pure fidelity, both have very similar potential.

 

Quote from MichaelK
"I've never A/B-ed the same mix on both platforms, but my guess (and it's ONLY a guess) from your story is that there was a difference in the clock."
__________________
Quote from Elambo "Great mixes have come out of Logic and PT. One platform will cater more to one type of personality and workflow than the other, which makes it better for that person, but not better in general."


They were both clocked from the Apogee Big Ben. Also the tests were done both using Logic in DAE mode (which sounded far better to all of us than in Core Audio mode. But, like I had stated before in my previous post. I have heard great mixes from bothI think the thing that some people miss is that they start baggin on one system when they don't have alot of experience with it or are partial to not liking it because of some issue they have.

I think my post could be misinterpreted because of my word choice after responding to µ¿ z3®ø™ posts using the term "crippling". Also some of the small issues that he listed are not so major to most of us with easy solutions.

I own Logic and Protools (002rack) because I have to work in both for my clients. I have achieved great results from both but I prefer Protools. I can also more earily achieve the sound I am looking for in Protools. My comment on the summing was from experience with clients and a little from my personal works. But I still use Logic for some things.

MichaelK and Elambo and some others around here who are more open minded and or experienced get it. Like I had said a great mix can come out of many DAW's. I totally agree with MichaelK's comment on compatibility. It is never really an issue for me either between Logic and Protools or other systems. DAW choice does have alot to do with how someone works and or what their needs are as Elambo said.

I appreciate the other posts from members that also have experience in both platforms. It is ultimately alsmost impossible to compare the platforms and rate them fairly against each other because there is more to it that which systems summing is the best or which one has automatic dealy compensation, or has the ability to freeze tracks. In the end it is all about the final product and NOT how you got there to me.