Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: Antag on May 18, 2006, 05:09:40 PM
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I'm almost embarrassed to admit I don't know this but...
What you do you need in order to use a PC ro record/make music? (when I say "make" I mean still playing a real guitar and/or bass but recording it on the PC and making the drum parts on the PC).
I've been thinking of replacing my old four track & while flicking through the Turnkey catalog it dawned on me that I have no idea what most of the stuff in it does (e.g. whats a "Firewire audio interface", what does all this stuff on the software page do? what do you use a mic preamp for?)
Of course, I'll probably just end up buying a Tascam DP01FX & use the PC for backing the hard disk up via USB, but I was curious as all this technology seems to have passed me by :D
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Both Sound on Sound and Computer Music have special "recording for guitarists" specials out at the moment. Check 'em out at your local newsagents.
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Computer Music is also quite good (or used to be - I haven't bought a copy in over a year).
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a Firewire audio interface is an audio interface that connects through a Firewire port. Firewire is another type of interface like USB. basically, the interface is a way to get sounds in and out of the computer, so you can record them. like the line or instrument ins on a Tascam 4track.
a mic preamp is basically like the preamp on a guitar amp - amplifies the signal up to a line-level. many FW/USB interfaces have them built in.
the software varies. applications like Cubase, Sonar, Logic are all audio/MIDI sequencing/recording programs. they're what you actually record with, and what you use to sequence drums, for example. soft synths are software versions of instruments - so the computer runs a virtual synth, drum machine etc. - and are 'plug-ins' that require a host application like Cubase to run.
personally, i'm moving away from solely computer-based recording and getting more hardware.