Simple recording gear

[Jimi-C]

Not sure which forum this goes in, so I'll throw in the Backstage for now.

Any suggestions on simple recording units? Like maybe a 4 or 6-track thing with some FX? Definitely not looking to build a recording studio, just a box or two and a couple of mic's - if I even do it all. I also don't want to do it off my PC, because then you have to deal with software, RAM, HDD space, crashes, blah, blah. I've been writing a few new songs again lately, kinda thinking about recording them, or at least getting some decent sketches down on something better than a phone voice recorder app. I've delved into home recording a long time ago, but I just have little patience with menus and scrolling and knobs where traditional sliders belong, etc. But the hardest part was always getting drums down right. And you need a good drum machine for that. I've had the Alesis drum machine, and one those early 2K's Roland boxes. I'm really meticulous about getting the drums perfect, but trying to get all that perfection out of my head and into a drum machine would take me so much time and effort, that I would get burned out on the song and gave up before I even finished the drums. Preset drum tracks aren't for me, those are just tracks to jam to, not for building your own songs with.

Has technology in this realm advanced enough to make it simple, easy and portable? I wonder if I could actually find it fun, instead of a PITA for once.

Thanks.

you might not like pc stuff , but I use an open source recording software call " Audacity " its free and not too complicated . I also overdub on a boss loopstation 5 and it has nioe drums to keep time , I can play it all back on my pc with audacity and a lexicon interface and add as many tracks as I want , at the end mix it all down and export it as a mp3 , ogg vorbus , or what ever format you want .
it's not as good as Qbase or something like that , but it works and it's*******FREE****** not shareware , but FREE like all open source software
link https://www.audacityteam.org/ I use linux but I think there is a windows version.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

you might not like pc stuff , but I use an open source recording software call " Audacity " its free and not too complicated . I also overdub on a boss loopstation 5 and it has nioe drums to keep time , I can play it all back on my pc with audacity and a lexicon interface and add as many tracks as I want , at the end mix it all down and export it as a mp3 , ogg vorbus , or what ever format you want .
it's not as good as Qbase or something like that , but it works and it's*******FREE****** not shareware , but FREE like all open source software
link https://www.audacityteam.org/ I use linux but I think there is a windows version.

Thanks Jimi. I'm trying out Reaper at the moment. I don't recall but I think a license is only $60? I'll check out Audacity too - I didn't know that was free.

 

[proxy]

Not sure which forum this goes in, so I'll throw in the Backstage for now.

Any suggestions on simple recording units? Like maybe a 4 or 6-track thing with some FX? Definitely not looking to build a recording studio, just a box or two and a couple of mic's - if I even do it all. I also don't want to do it off my PC, because then you have to deal with software, RAM, HDD space, crashes, blah, blah. I've been writing a few new songs again lately, kinda thinking about recording them, or at least getting some decent sketches down on something better than a phone voice recorder app. I've delved into home recording a long time ago, but I just have little patience with menus and scrolling and knobs where traditional sliders belong, etc. But the hardest part was always getting drums down right. And you need a good drum machine for that. I've had the Alesis drum machine, and one those early 2K's Roland boxes. I'm really meticulous about getting the drums perfect, but trying to get all that perfection out of my head and into a drum machine would take me so much time and effort, that I would get burned out on the song and gave up before I even finished the drums. Preset drum tracks aren't for me, those are just tracks to jam to, not for building your own songs with.

Has technology in this realm advanced enough to make it simple, easy and portable? I wonder if I could actually find it fun, instead of a PITA for once.

Thanks.

Zoom H6

 

[Australian]

Unfortunately no. That's a really nice song though. What is it about that song that you like?

I havint lisind too it yet butt I saw the werd spaseship

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Zoom H6

I'm thinkin' at least something with faders: Zoom R16, R20 maybe... we'll see. Right now I'm messing around with Reaper.

 

[Jimi-C]

Thanks Jimmi. I'm trying out Reaper at the moment. I don't recall but I think a license is only $60? I'll check out Audacity too - I didn't know that was free.

You're welcome , it's Free as a bird with a ( General Public Lincense ), I just downloaded the latest version . it's not as versital as proprietary software and has its quirks, but it will get the job done for home use.

 

[EFR]

I'm thinkin' at least something with faders: Zoom R16, R20 maybe... we'll see. Right now I'm messing around with Reaper.

Just stick with Reaper. I started out with Reaper 9 years ago and a simple behringer USB mixer and made some great mixes. Now I have have a full studio with outboard gear and a 24 channel vintage mixing desk and still use Reaper! I'm still learning stuff on Reaper all the time and it expanded with me every step of the way. Best $60 I ever spent.
For simple song writing stuff, MT Power drum Kit 2 is a free plug in that I've used that works great. Just find the pattern you want and drag and drop each measure into your DAW to build the drumtrack for your song.
I'm a total cheapskate and have lots of suggestions on free plugins if you get more serious, and have years using Reaper if you have any questions on that hit me up. The biggest time saver is to set up templates for the kinds of projects you're working on so you can open one up and everything is there and you can just start making music.

 

[Markedman]

ZOOM. ZOOM ZOOM. ZOOM ZOOM

ALL THE WAY TO HONG KONG LIKE CHEECH AND CHONG

ZOOM IS EASY AND STRAIGHT FORWARD.

THROW THE FUCKING COMPUTER OUT THE WINDOW WITHOUT HITTING JOE BIDENS HEAD..

ZOOM.... CATCH US IF YOU CAN!

ZOOM R16, ZOOM R24.

ZOOM

Absolutely this ^^^^^ zoom is soooo easy even a politician’s son could use it.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Just stick with Reaper. I started out with Reaper 9 years ago and a simple behringer USB mixer and made some great mixes. Now I have have a full studio with outboard gear and a 24 channel vintage mixing desk and still use Reaper! I'm still learning stuff on Reaper all the time and it expanded with me every step of the way. Best $60 I ever spent.
For simple song writing stuff, MT Power drum Kit 2 is a free plug in that I've used that works great. Just find the pattern you want and drag and drop each measure into your DAW to build the drumtrack for your song.
I'm a total cheapskate and have lots of suggestions on free plugins if you get more serious, and have years using Reaper if you have any questions on that hit me up. The biggest time saver is to set up templates for the kinds of projects you're working on so you can open one up and everything is there and you can just start making music.

Thanks EFR.

I think this might be coming together a bit. I installed Reaper and MT Power Drum 2 yesterday, been playing with it for a couple hours today. Thanks to a few vids, I think this is going to work very well: so far it looks like I can: 1) start off with pre-made patterns & fills, 2) modify them from there if I want to, or 3) create my own from scratch (I assume - I haven't tried it from scratch yet, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't capable). I'll need to be able to program drums from scratch at some point, since using pre-made patterns is limiting.

This will allow me to create the drum tracks on my PC, then record them into an outboard recorder, and then continue using the recorder for everything else (since I don't want to do full-on music production on my PC).

So next up, I'll buy the Reaper license, and make a donation for MT Power Drum 2 to ditch the startup nag screen. As well, I'm considering buying the Zoom R20 as a recording device. I could use my BOSS BR-800, but I think I'd like better quality & features and more tracks, as the BR-800 would only leave me with 6 tracks after recording the stereo drum tracks into it.

 

[JeffMcLeod]

Not sure where, but at some point in this thread the word "simple" in the title got tossed aside.

 

[Mrmadd]

ZOOM R16 ALL DAY

ZOOM R16

OK... ZOOM R20 WORKS TOO.

THEY ARE NOT COMPATABLE WITH EACH OTHER.

I HAVE 2 R16s

ZOOM R16

EASY TO USE, STRAIGHT FORWARD RECORDING. NO DAMN MOUSE TO PLAY WITH, JUST PLAY MUSIC AND RECORD!

 

[Mrmadd]

With DAW type setup, R16s can be tied togetther for 32 tracks.

They can be tied together without DAW also.


ZOOM R16

ZOOM R20

ZOOM ALL THE WAY!

 

[PelliX]

Another vote for Reaper. Audacity (which is really just a multitrack recording and editing application) is FOSS, but Reaper is indeed a proprietary DAW. That said, if you can live with the nag screen, it's free for life. I paid for it because I honestly felt it was worth it, and despite them having sold Winamp to Yahoo back in the day, I have a heart for the (former) Nullsoft team. On of the key things I to this day dislike about Audacity is its MIDI support. Or lack thereof, despite pretending to have it. It's still my goto editor, though.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

ZOOM R16 ALL DAY

ZOOM R16

OK... ZOOM R20 WORKS TOO.

THEY ARE NOT COMPATABLE WITH EACH OTHER.

I HAVE 2 R16s

ZOOM R16

EASY TO USE, STRAIGHT FORWARD RECORDING. NO DAMN MOUSE TO PLAY WITH, JUST PLAY MUSIC AND RECORD!

So let's say I use Reaper to create and edit the drum tracks (I'm not using a drum machine and tapping pads all day).

Then I get a Zoom 20 and record the drum tracks stereo from my PC.

By what method, then are you recording guitar, bass, keys, and getting your effects?

 

[JeffMcLeod]

So what have you decided upon?

So what did you decide on?

lmao you should have did the second one in red

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Hoping one of you can help, many words for a simple problem:

I've been working on a drum track in Reaper, using the MT PowerDrumKit, and made some edits to the track. Normally, when I open Reaper, the MT Drum kit window appears automatically. There is no minimize button for the MT Drum kit window (apparently you can only drag it out of the way or close it), so I simply closed it, and later saved the project. However, the next time I opened it, the MT Drums window no longer opens automatically, which causes zero audio output without the drum window open. Is there a way to simply pull it back up?

As a horrible workaround, in the Reaper menu I had to go to: Insert > Virtual Instrument on new track..., and re-select the MT PowerDrumKit again. This creates a whole new blank drum track. I then had to copy my entire original drum track, paste it into the new empty track, and then delete the original track. This cannot possibly be the only way to resolve this issue every time you close the Dru kit window and save the project. That's ridiculous.

So again, how do you pull the drum kit window back up?

 

[PelliX]

Vin, you can either left click on the "FX" button of the track (as instruments are considered FX in many regards in Reaper) or right click on FX and select the instrument. The latter will open the 'drumkit' without the FX chaining side tab.

Also, might I recommend using the 'multi-out' version of the drumkit? That way you can adjust the levels of the drums individually without having to adjust the velocity of the notes.

 

[Calebz]

Hoping one of you can help, many words for a simple problem:

I've been working on a drum track in Reaper, using the MT PowerDrumKit, and made some edits to the track. Normally, when I open Reaper, the MT Drum kit window appears automatically. There is no minimize button for the MT Drum kit window (apparently you can only drag it out of the way or close it), so I simply closed it, and later saved the project. However, the next time I opened it, the MT Drums window no longer opens automatically, which causes zero audio output without the drum window open. Is there a way to simply pull it back up?

As a horrible workaround, in the Reaper menu I had to go to: Insert > Virtual Instrument on new track..., and re-select the MT PowerDrumKit again. This creates a whole new blank drum track. I then had to copy my entire original drum track, paste it into the new empty track, and then delete the original track. This cannot possibly be the only way to resolve this issue every time you close the Dru kit window and save the project. That's ridiculous.

So again, how do you pull the drum kit window back up?


View attachment 118186

Clicking on the FX button for the track should bring the entire fx chain up. If the only VST on the track is MT drums, it should generally go directly back to that.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

Clicking on the FX button for the track should bring the entire fx chain up. If the only VST on the track is MT drums, it should generally go directly back to that.

Thanks Calebz. That works while your still in an active session, but either way, once the MT Drum window is closed, I don't see a way to make it reappear. Then, with the drum window closed, if you save the project and close Reaper, the next time you open it, MT Drums doesn't automatically open again, and there is no sound regardless of the on/off state of the FX button. Apparently MT Drums needs to be open in order for there to be sound from the track. Very strange. There must be a way to open and close the MT Drum Kit window.

The fact that there is no minimize button is puzzling, because it takes up so much space. Otherwise you have to keep dragging the window out of the way, which again, seems ridiculous.

 

[PelliX]

I've used the Black Pearl drumkit as I'm on Linux, but the concept is identical:



EDIT: Also, there is no need to have that window open for 'sound' to play back. Neither does the track have to be record armed, actually, though it doesn't hurt. Do other tracks provide sound in the scenario you described?