GZsound

Yeah.. the "best preamp" discussion. I have seen stuff all over the map. Is an RNP really a hundred bucks worse than a Grace 101, or only a quarter as good as a UA 2-610? Or one tenths as good as a Manley..? And then we get "buy a used Symetrix SX202 for $150.. or get a Seventh Circle pre kit, or you can't make good music unless you have a _____. It is extremely confusing. The bottom line question in my mind is if good music can be made with an RNP, or a Symetrix or a Seventh Circle.. or any sub $700 mic pre..or is it simply impossible to get a good sound without spending several thousand dollars on a "name" pre? Really hard to get a definitive answer.

It sounds like you are looking for a sound module that will also record your guitar. You want bass and drums in a "thingy" that will record your guitar? Why? Why not get an interface, a drum sequencer and a synth with bass sounds. You can record drum parts, synth parts, guitar parts, etc. You don't need to record your guitar into a sound mocule.. You need to record your guitar into your computer. You might check out some of the drum machines out there. Some have bass sounds..I think. Personally, I would buy a keyboard with drum and bass sounds, an interface with midi and analogue inputs, and you have what you need, except you have to play or write all the parts yourself. For cheap, check out an Alesis QS6.2. keyboard. Good sounds, lots of midi capability, etc. and it makes a great midi controller keyboard that just happens to have over five hundred sounds available.

There are two mics that seem to get good reviews and would save you some money. A shure KSM 44 and an AT 4047 or 4050. I have used the Shure KSM 32, which is similar to the 44, and I have used the 4047 and 4050 mics and they all are great all around mics. I prefer the 4047 because it sounds warmer to me. Langevin also makes a mic in the seven hundred dollar range that got really good reviews in a recent high dollar mic shootout in EQ magazine.

I read these Sonar comments with interest. For some strange reason I keep hoping to hear nothing but good because I apparently, deep down want to return to Cakewalk. I started with Cakewalk on an 8088 with no hard drive, two 5 1/4 floppys and an amber monitor. It was so slow, the cursor couldn't keep up with the notes being played.. I kept with Cakewalk all the way up through Cakewalk Pro 9 and then the world ended for me and Cakewalk. I could never get the software to work properly. I then made the horrible mistake of buying Cakewalk Pyro and threw it in the trash can within about four days.. Never looked back. I really want to like Sonar... Just can't.

Originally posted by UstadKhanAli Why don't you find someone to do this stuff for you and then buy the components at New Egg? That's what I suggested. And that's where we got all the pieces for my computer. I just had a guy the builds inexpensive computers build me an inexensive computer..using stuff I specified from New egg. Or check out Sweetwater or Wave Digital (see an earlier link I provided), which may be several hundred more but provide technical support, warranties, and all the tweaking that you mention. There's other options out there. Personally, if I can find someone that actually provides decent tech support, I'm willing to pay for it. That's worth a lot right there. Otherwise, just suck it up, buy the components, put it together, and don't worry about it if you want cheap. Especially true if you use someone that has a relationship with equipment dealers. Bad components can be returned and replaced, whereas if you do it yourself, you may not be able to return a defective motherboard, for example because they will claim you installed it improperly.

I just can't imagine why someone would spend a couple thousand bucks on a computer for music. Unless it's got some fancy water cooling or something.. I cannot figure out what in the heck costs so much..

Well... first off. Try breaking your comments into something other than a total run on sentence.. us old guys have trouble reading a mass like that.. Second, I have been working on my computers since my first 8088 and am not a total idiot when it comes to computers.. But... I did as much research as I could on music forums to try to find what would be a good made-for-music computer that would not break the bank. I also started paying attention to computers for sale on my local Craigslist and in nickle ads, local computer shops, etc. Once I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted my computer to do, I called a guy that always had really good deals on computers for sale on Craigslist. I asked him if he would be interested in building me a custom computer. I ended up with a 2.7 gig Celeron D with one gig of ram, 450 watt quiet power supply, two 160 gig SATA drives and a Plextor CD - RW unit and a decent graphics card. $385.00. After six months it still works perfectly. Fast and quiet. No matter what you buy, it will be obsolete before you get it home. Figure out what your needs are, figure out what the payback on your investment will be, and make your purchase. I did a five song demo for a singer songwriter a week after getting my new computer.. It paid for the entire computer music system....

I buy inexpensive USB S/PDIF sound cards from Frys Electronics for under $60. There are several avaialable.