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kslight
george martin
Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 1255
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 Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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I have been doing a lot of live concert recordings lately, looking for an inexpensive and reliable DAW to serve the purpose. My setup is going to an Alesis HD24XR for 24 channels of A/D and simultaneous recording, and then going into an older laptop running Windows XP through an M Audio Lightbridge. For my last gig I used the evaluation version of Reaper...and it worked okay, the interface is a little wacky to me but it worked. The main function of the laptop is to serve as the backup recorder source, cut out a step of transferring from the HD24XR to the computer, to name inputs, and to monitor (I am not using an external monitoring console).
Any other options? Reaper is okay, but don't want to spend any more than that.. |
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blungo2
suffering 'studio suck'
Joined: 23 Jun 2010
Posts: 455
Location: so close to hell you can see sparks
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| Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:18 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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| It's been a while since i used audacity, which is free, but i think it can pull in multiple tracks, maybe? |
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kslight
george martin
Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 1255
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| Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:33 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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Is it reliable? I think I looked at it but maybe thought it was Mac only (which I see now it isn't) after I visited the page on my Mac and it only had download links on the front page for the OS X version. The GUI definitely leaves something to be desired...  |
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blungo2
suffering 'studio suck'
Joined: 23 Jun 2010
Posts: 455
Location: so close to hell you can see sparks
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| Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:53 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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| I've used it for tons of stuff, mostly on windows, even though i'm a mac guy. Never had stability probs with it. |
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JamesHE
steve albini likes it
Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 370
Location: Philly
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| Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 12:38 am Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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There isn't anything that is going to give you more flexibility than REAPER.
Work through the 'wacky' parts of the interface. With this type of setup, you can save a Track or project Template and have it all setup in less than a second.
Also I think REAPER is the only DAW on the planet that you can Arm / un-arm and add and subtract tracks while recording. potentially useful in live situations.
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a spoon full weighs a ton
http://soundcloud.com/james-eure |
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dgrieser
steve albini likes it
Joined: 15 Feb 2005
Posts: 309
Location: New Mexico
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:04 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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Reaper is very solid. Push record and forget about it. It'll run till you hit stop.
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Hillbilly Chamber Music
http://hillbillychambermusic.bandcamp.com |
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JWL
carpal tunnel
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 1538
Location: Portland, Maine
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kslight
george martin
Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 1255
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| Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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| JWL wrote: | | Harrison MixBus on Linux. |
Not that I like Windows either, but I really hold a negative opinion of Linux..but that is a debate for an entirely different thread. Not sure if this impacts your recommendation, but I am not mixing with the DAW, just tracking. |
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JWL
carpal tunnel
Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 1538
Location: Portland, Maine
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CedarSound
pushin' record
Joined: 06 Oct 2006
Posts: 221
Location: Cincinnatus
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| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:25 am Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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| Quote: | | Reaper is very solid. Push record and forget about it. It'll run till you hit stop. |
Man, is this ever true.. I went back and reinstalled Pro tools 7 on my laptop a couple of weekends ago to export some old projects to import into Reaper, and I ran into installation issues and DAE errors and shit and it took me hours to sort it out.. (Pro Tools won't install with Internet Explorer 8 on it? really? WTF?)
Yesterday, while at work, I imported a track from my Tascam portable recorded into Reaper so I could listen to a band practice from Tuesday night with a little compression on it since the drums were a bit too loud, and I had Reaper minimized and running on my machine while I was on a few different web pages and administrating about eight different servers and updating machines at the same time, and Reaper didn't even flinch.. that program is so lightweight on my system and uses so few resources it's not even funny. I forget that I am using a computer when I run Reaper.. Press record and go.
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Studiodawg
gettin' sounds
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 100
Location: USA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:45 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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| I have been trying to "standardize" to Reaper, but making CDs in Samplitude is so dang easy. Samplitude's stock plug ins are awesome (and I am no fan boy of Magix). Reaper is easily my digital tape deck of choice. I do have a 4 track Yamaha cassette deck and a Fostex E-16 reel-to-reel to choose from too, but am getting a little "digital lazy". I would rather be a musician recording than an engineer playing music so I choose Reaper. |
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farview
tinnitus
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 1173
Location: St. Charles (chicago) IL
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| Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:56 am Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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Reaper is much better than audacity. audacity will cut up your audio track files into bite-sized pieces instead of long, complete files.
Reaper is bullet proof.
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Jay Walsh
Farview Recording and Farview Audio |
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SafeandSoundMastering
gettin' sounds
Joined: 02 Jun 2011
Posts: 100
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| Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:26 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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Buy a flash recorder, you are only as good as your last gig in the live recording game. Much safer IMO.
cheers
SafeandSound Mastering
SafeandSound Mastering
Last edited by SafeandSoundMastering on Sat Nov 03, 2012 6:36 am; edited 2 times in total |
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kslight
george martin
Joined: 13 Oct 2009
Posts: 1255
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| Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:53 pm Post subject: Re: Your DAW when you just need a "tape machine" |
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| SafeandSoundMastering wrote: | Buy a flash recorder, you are only as good as your last gig in the live recording game. Much safer IMO.
cheers
SafeandSound Mastering
Mastering studio |
Noted but, for the scale of gigs I work (not life or death at this point) I think having 2 simultaneous recorders already is sufficient. Maybe not ultimately foolproof, but pretty damn near it. I plan to get one of those handheld flash recorders when I have a little extra cash, and to serve as another room sound. |
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