Advice for CHEAP DAW for poor Dad

[pbognar]

This is one of those whining "I need some advice" threads...

 

I'm a father of 5 with very little disposable income looking for some advice from you big spenders out there.

 

I'd like to put together a DAW environment on a tight budget, just to do some basic song writing, recording and experimenting. (I think my playing out days are coming to an end...)

 

What I currently have:

 

- An HP computer with an AMD 3200XP CPU, 1g memory, 160g HD running XP

- An HP laptop from work, with an Intel Centrino 1.7GHZ CPU 1g memory, 30g HD (almost full) running XP Pro (no firewire, just USB 2.0)

- A couple of synths - XP-30 and An1x (don't really play keys - just like them)

- An M-Audio Quattro-USB

- I own Logic Audio Platinum 5.5

- I've got guitars and a Boss GT-5

- A spare 40g 7200rpm internal drive

 

What I'd like out of my modest DAW:

 

- Have a source of some inspiring drum grooves be they MIDI or Audio loops

- Have some type of function to be able to adjust audio drum tempos

- Be able to record 8-10 audio tracks

- Be able to record some non-cheesy keyboard/synth chords - either using plugins or controlling my external keys via MIDI

- Have a DAW upgrade path, should I come into some money in the future and not have to throw away what I have learned

 

I could afford to spend about $200 before having to sell something.

 

Some things I've considered:

 

- Stay with Logic 5.5 / XP - buy REX2 Drum Audio CD's

- Get Sonar Home Studio XL and some Drum Audio CD's and ACIDize them

- Sell the Yamaha An1x and go with some additional synth plug(s) for analog stuff

- Sell both keyboards, free up some space on my work laptop, get an external USB drive and USB keyboard controller, and go all virtual synth plug-ins via Sonar Home Studio XL or some other current software DAW - this has the added benefit of being able to be anywhere in the home and be able to do some recording

 

I need some clear thinking people to advise me!!!

 

Thanks

 

Pete

[PaleoPerry]

This doesn't adress all your issues, but I have an AN1X and I like it as a MIDI controller. Knobs, aftertouch, 2 dimensional ribbon controller and a nice keyboard feel. It has some decent sounds of its own too.

[chugheshc2]

Hi Pete, I am playing on a small budget too.... I wanted some drum sounds but I did not want invest in 1)learning another program 2)having "too perfect" drums to go with my less-than-perfect playing.

 

My solution? I bought a used yamaha dd-55 electronic drum doo-dad.

It's basically a 5 piece drum set, with a kick pedal and a high hat pedal, all in one peice.... I recorded it into two channels, it has nice sampled drums in it, about a hundred sets, and it;s pretty configurable if you awatnt o play with it.

plus it does midi, so you could actually go the extra mile and use it to control something else. It alos has some built it rhythm patterns, and a metronome.

I think I payed 85$ on craigslist. to my ears, it sounded pretty good.

I beat the crap out of it for about two years, then I bought real drums.... the yamaha was way, way easier/consistent to use, plus it works with headphones..

if you want I can send you an mp3 of me playing it in a song.

 

you should check out "kristal" it's freeware, and the hardware you list should be capable of many, many tracks.

 

sounds like you just need a mike - for a long time I had only a M-audio duo, and I made lots of songs with that, if you are only tracking yourself, it's probably all you need.

cheers

Chris

cheers

[NewYorkDave]

I have a DD-55. I used it on a few demos but ended up putting it away, mostly because I'm a lousy drummer . The one problem I had with it was that oftentimes the hi-hat pad would trigger strangely. I also disliked the fact that it could only store one custom kit--and stored it in volatile memory, so you'd lose the settings if you powered down without batteries.

 

Later on, I installed Reason on my computer and I tried to use the DD-55 as a MIDI controller, but it didn't work out for me because of the high latency of my system. Now, I create my drum parts on a grid in Reason. It's tedious, but the end result is better than what I'd get from trying to play it in real time. (Ref. what I said earlier about my being a lousy drummer).

 

Pete, if you need some drum sounds to get you started, here's a freebie that (to me) sounds very good. It's what I use:

 

http://www.naturalstudio.co.uk/ns_kit7freedownload.html

[Lee Flier]

For recording software, look no further than here:

 

http://www.cockos.com/reaper

 

Can't beat the features, or the price!

[NewYorkDave]

Wow, that looks extraordinary. I've been using CEP and have generally been pleased with it, but now I wanna give Reaper a try.

[Lee Flier]

Got nothing to lose, it's uncrippled shareware and hardly even takes up any disk space.

 

I've quit using most everything else, even though I have more expensive stuff around. The author is the original author of WinAmp, and he's completely responsive to users as well.

[amplayer]

Given your circumstances, I'd suggest keeping everything you have now, and just add some kind of drum program. One that comes to mind to me at that price is submercible music drumcore. Here's a link at floridamusic, but I think the price would be the same $199 everywhere. In any case, it has lots of drum patterns that sound pretty good.

http://www.floridamusicco.com/proddetail~prod~SUBDC152.htm

[pbognar]

For recording software, look no further than here: http://www.cockos.com/reaper Can't beat the features, or the price!

 

I downloaded the 1.64 build and have also been lurking on the forums.

 

It IS impressive at how responsive the author is to feature requests and the frequency of new builds made available, but Reaper, at this point, appears to require a lot of additional plugins, and an external audio editor to approach all the functionality which I'm looking for.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what plugins, etc. are you using along with Reaper? How do you handle Acid/Groove clip types of activities?

 

The MIDI editing looks a little clumsy, but heck, maybe in the next month there will be a build which addresses some of that.

 

Pete

[HKSblade1]

Fruity loops and a good hardware pci card. Emu 1212m's @ $99 is a great deal

[chipmcdonald]

You can't beat Reaper for usability, and it's 64bit, blah blah blah, and it's cheap.

 

 

... and a cheaper alternative to Fruity Loops, you can't beat the price - Hydrogen:

 

http://www.hydrogen-music.org/?p=main

[pbognar]

 

You can't beat Reaper for usability, and it's 64bit, blah blah blah, and it's cheap. ... and a cheaper alternative to Fruity Loops, you can't beat the price - Hydrogen: http://www.hydrogen-music.org/?p=main

 

 

I want a simple DAW for audio/MIDI recording. My only loop requirements are for realistic drum audio loops to get the composition/recording process going and sounding semi-human.

 

I'm now leaning more toward Sonar Home Studio XL, with additional drum audio loops, and a plug-in or two or Emagic Logic Platinum 5.5.1 with REX2 drum loops.

 

I have yet to install my old M-Audio Quattro USB 1.1 audio/MIDI interface, but it may a little slow - I'll have to see.

 

Pete

[pbognar]

 

I want a simple DAW for audio/MIDI recording. My only loop requirements are for realistic drum audio loops to get the composition/recording process going and sounding semi-human. I'm now leaning more toward Sonar Home Studio XL, with additional drum audio loops, and a plug-in or two or Emagic Logic Platinum 5.5.1 with REX2 drum loops. I have yet to install my old M-Audio Quattro USB 1.1 audio/MIDI interface, but it may a little slow - I'll have to see. Pete

 

 

Wait a second - I just checked out Fruity Loops studio, and it looks to be more than what it was the last time I looked at it. I'll have to take a closer look...

 

Pete