I would like to use my computer to make recordings.
Why, you may ask, would I want to preserve all of my accidental ornamentations (also known as flubs)? Well, just in case I ever improve, I’ll have something with which to compare my playing.
Is there any cheap… around $40 - $60 (or cheaper) software that would allow me to record, so that I could then burn a cd?
It would need to be fairly simple, since I don’t have the time or inclination to learn complicated software. Also, what kind of hardware do I need to support the program?
On 2002-12-23 15:17, paulsdad wrote:
Is there any cheap… around $40 - $60 (or cheaper) software that would allow me to record, so that I could then burn a cd?
Cood Edit (from Syntrillium software) is shareware that is an excellent choice. I think it is up to around $75 for the basic version of “Cool Edit 2000” now, and all kinds of wild plugins are available. The shareware expires after 30 days.
However, if you don’t need all the bells and whistles and if you search google and do a bit of tracking you can still find installation files for “Cool Edit 96” available on the net. That has far fewer features, but is still very powerful, and its shareware doesn’t expire. Instead, you can only use two modules at a time (you choose which two each time you start the program). That’s a little inconvenient but it’s still a very useful program. You just have to plan your approach and do saves in between operations. (I.e. start program enabling save and noise filtering functions, record your piece and filter the noise, save the file, exit the program, start program enabling save and time-based effects, add reverb, save file, etc.) I think a lot of people were never buying the shareware because all of the features were accessible if you didn’t mind restarting the program often, which is why the newer versions of the software all die after a 30 day trial.
If I was going to do a lot of recording I’d definitely buy the latest version of Cool Edit though as it is an extremely capable program and well worth the price if you need the newer features.
As for hardware, any decent sound card will do for basic recording, but if you want the best go for one that will do “full duplex” where you can play a wave file and record at the same time. That makes it easy to build up multi-track stuff without having to burn an audio CD to play along with as an interim step.
I use and like GoldWave, a shareware product. (www.goldwave.com)
You can download a fully functional trial version that will work for quite a while. To license it for full use costs only about $40, as I recall. A lot of other folks on the board seem to use it as well.
I use multi track studio lite. It is free but only has three track capability. Two tracks and one to master. Easy to use and creates .wav files. Lots of bells and whistles to help cover up the flubs. http://www.multitrackstudio.com/
I use Cool Edit 2000 with the Studio plug-in so I can play the whistle over a guitar backing. I don’t have a DAT device, so I plug the electric guitar directly into the computer, and I run my mike through a guitar amp and disconnect one of the speaker wires in the amp.
On 2002-12-23 17:14, paulsdad wrote:
Thanks for the input. That gives me something to research. What kind of microphone do I need?
I use Cool Edit 2000 with a Shure SM57 microphone and an AudioBuddy preamp. Since we’re sorta neighbors, drop by and play with it sometime. (I’ll give you a call, or you can call me.)