Fed up with computer based recording

[kenny mac]

Hi all,
I've got to say although I had warmed to the auria pro set up for recording,I'm sick to death with software issues,crashing projects and now today I lost a whole weeks work that I was pretty chuffed with.
I got an error saying I had used too many tracks but instead of leaving what I had recorded it seems to have wiped it all.
I'm gutted .
Last one I purchased I cant use because roland didnt bother their arse to update drivers as they stopped making the item.
Seriously thinking about going back to a decent stand alone set up.

[Pete C]

I feel for you Kenny - I can't get to grips with PC recording and still use a Boss BR600. Every time I record a song I have to export it to an old laptop which runs on Vista as Roland have stopped supporting the BR600 so it won't communicate with my PC (windows 10).The laptop is 11 years old, the battery is dead and the internal clock has to be reset from 2007 to the current date and time every time I switch it on. Once i've exported it to the laptop I have to transfer it by memory stick to my PC to tidy it up in Audacity and upload it to Songcrafters. I'm dreading the moment either the Boss or the laptop fails as there's not a lot of standalone recorders on the market. Most of the ones still available don't have the BR600's built in drum machine so it means also having to buy a standalone drum machine as I can't fathom out how to work the PC based drum programmes.

Pete 

[Mike_S]

Blimey, yes I always sympathize with anyone struggling with technology as I hate computer issues that happen in my normal day job. I always feel big companies kind of have everyone over a barrel regarding their products. Seems like if you upgrade one thing it throws other things out so you have to purchase more things to put it right and the cycle goes on and on. Made even worse these days in my opinion with automatic updates.

The only thing I would say with regard to making music is I would highly recommend GarageBand. Although it is not used my music professionals I guess, I think it has everything you need to get some quality recordings done. That way I look at it I am never going to be a music pro so it's good enough for me. I have never had and issues with it crashing - or very rarely- and it is a piece of cake to learn.

Obviously you need an Apple laptop or computer, but after that outlay, it's good to go for years worth of music making. Good luck though Kenny I hope you find a working solution moving forward.

Mike

[Greeny]

I feel for you. I'm clinging on to the MBR way of doing things, even though (like Pete) I have to go through a rigmarole of transfers and fiddling around.

My original MBR's headphone socket is pretty much fucked, so I toyed with going the full GarageBand and iRig route. But what did I do? Bought a another second hand MBR. It's probably a comfort thing, but it's also because it's fucking awesome.

I will eventually have to succumb though. We all will. And, for me, it will be a GarageBand solution. I already do my electronic side project (never shared on here) in GarageBand, and it's pretty cool just uploading directly into SoundCloud. But it does need Apple kit to do it.

Maybe it doesn't matter - as long as we make music!

[Flash Harry]

I use Reaper on a 2012 Dell laptop running windows 7. I use a Focustite Scarlet 8i6.

I don't think that it has ever crashed on me.

I also use Midi from the Scarlet for synths and my drum kit.

Recently I bought a Behringer X-Air18 which again interfaces with Reaper, all 18 channels down a USB connection, it still has not crashed.

I'm getting to the point where the amount of audio the PC has to shift off disk is getting too much for the processor and I'm considering updating my laptop and running it on Windows 10. Or I may break out the Macbook and use that. I could get my hands on the fantastic rhythm stuff in Garageband.

I would recommend using Reaper, you can download it for free and use it for as long as you like, it's intuitive and there's loads of freely available VST and VSTi plugins which are compatible with it.  I have paid for a personal licence  for it, it wasn't expensive. It runs on Mac, Windows and now Linux.

I know that 64 Guitars likes Rosegarden which is a Linux based DAW, I have looked at it but have stuck with Reaper.

I like the MBR, it got me into this stuff, but I wouldn't choose it over a computer based DAW, particularly one as stable and as functional as Reaper.

Change your software Kenny.
 

[64Guitars]

I would recommend using Reaper, you can download it for free and use it for as long as you like, it's intuitive and there's loads of freely available VST and VSTi plugins which are compatible with it.  I have paid for a personal licence  for it, it wasn't expensive. It runs on Mac, Windows and now Linux.

I tried Reaper years ago and was quite impressed. Unfortunately, my computer wasn't adequate for it and I don't have an audio interface, so I haven't bothered much with any DAWs except for mixing the tracks I've recorded on my BR-864.

I know that 64 Guitars likes Rosegarden which is a Linux based DAW, I have looked at it but have stuck with Reaper.

Rosegarden is great for MIDI but it's not very good for audio tracks. Same with LMMS. The best free DAWs I've tried for Linux are Ardour and Qtractor. Tracktion's Waveform Free looks good too but I haven't tried it.

If I was going to buy a DAW, the one I'd most like to try is Bitwig. It's got some really great features and I've heard lots of good things about it.

But really I don't use any DAW software regularly except Audacity (if you can call it a DAW). It serves my needs perfectly except for the lack of MIDI. When I need to mix audio tracks and MIDI tracks, I use Ardour or Qtractor. But when I'm only working with audio tracks, I prefer to use Audacity. It's simple and easy to use, yet has powerful editing capabilities. The trouble with most DAWs is that you need to invest a lot of time learning them if you want to get the most out of them. Since Audacity doesn't have all the bells and whistles of more powerful DAWs like Ardour, Reaper, Cubase, Pro Tools, etc., it's much easier to use and doesn't require as much effort to learn it.

By the way, all of the software mentioned in this message is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS except for Rosegarden and Qtractor which are Linux-only. Tracktion Waveform Free is even available for the Raspberry Pi!  A Raspberry Pi with Waveform Free could make an inexpensive dedicated DAW which might be a good substitute for a standalone recorder. Since you wouldn't be cluttering it up with other software, you'd probably have fewer software issues than you would running a DAW on your laptop or desktop computer.

[Flash Harry]

Tracktion Waveform Free is even available for the Raspberry Pi! 

I didn't know that..

[cuthbert]

Tracktion Waveform Free is even available for the Raspberry Pi!  A Raspberry Pi with Waveform Free could make an inexpensive dedicated DAW which might be a good substitute for a standalone recorder. Since you wouldn't be cluttering it up with other software, you'd probably have fewer software issues than you would running a DAW on your laptop or desktop computer.

Ooooh - that gets the old wheels turning. I've still yet to do a Raspberry PI project - this could be it!

[guitarron]

I use Reaper on a 2012 Dell laptop running windows 7. I use a Focustite Scarlet 8i6.

I don't think that it has ever crashed on me.

ive been using reaper ever since cakewalk gave up the ghost-never looked back. a bit of a learning curve-but is VERY well supported and cheap-
works on linux with WINE

[Mike Huntingford]

Hi Kenny - I feel your pain Sir.  I, like others here, use Reaper and also the former SONAR Platinum 64 for windows.  These two DAWs have been solid.  Also, in another post, I indicated that Reaper can be used to access real-time jamming over the internet via the included plug-in called reaNIMJAM.

Mike