Please help a technophobe!

[Antag]

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

[froglord]

Both Sound on Sound and Computer Music have special "recording for guitarists" specials out at the moment. Check 'em out at your local newsagents.

[maxingwell]

Computer Music is also quite good (or used to be - I haven't bought a copy in over a year).

[aisuru]

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.