funkle Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Another vote for Reaper. I'm still getting to grips with it. By far the best tutorials I have found are at Groove3 - http://www.groove3.com/str/reaper-4-explained.html. There are quite a few other Reaper tutorials there but this series really helps get you to grips with it. $35 to download, $15 per month to access all the videos on the website.That website has a huge number of other tutorials too, on loads of different DAWs/bits of software. It's great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) ... I would suggest that it is not 'intuitive' ... Quite so, but it's no worse, and, imo, a lot better than a whole slew of other DAWs I've looked at. Very few folks use the more sophisticated parts, at least from the outset, and, for the simpler 'beginner' tasks, it can be made quite simple to use, once it's been set up initially. That, to me, is the hardest part; setting it up in the first place. Once done, I found it easy to use without pouring through the manuals and stuff. It's the initial plunge, getting through the 'glass ceiling' that is key, I reckon. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fingers211 Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) I sympathise with the OP...took me 2 days to get what I was playing in sync with what I'd already recorded on Reaper... but that was definately down to a lack of patience on my part !! I'm using "viking guitar" somethin' or other on youtube....but I still find myself rushing to the end of the tutorial to get the bit I want ...patience is the key !! Nige Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 (edited) What exactly are you wanting to achieve..? At the moment just my own demos. But I need to be able to create my own drum parts, coz drum loops never have what I want. I play guitar and bass, so my Digitech BP 355 can be used as an interface. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
such Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 my 2i2 arrived and as rubbish as I am with all things technical in general and computer-related in particular, 15 minutes later I managed to record a bass track to a backing track in Reaper. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 (edited) such said: my 2i2 arrived and as rubbish as I am with all things technical in general and computer-related in particular, 15 minutes later I managed to record a bass track to a backing track in Reaper. Good stuff. This Sometimes stuff just works and it seems miraculous , I am very much growing into the camp that believes it is worth getting kit that does the job, rather than to spend time and effort on workarounds which invariably do no more than teach you that it is best to get the kit that just works in the first place. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 (edited) I agree with this ^. I tried the 'zero budget' route, and decided that 'small budget' was better by far. Not that nothing can be done with very little, but that takes skill and talent, of which I am sorely lacking. Not that budget gets those, either, of course, but at least, now, I can only blame myself..! Edited June 1, 2015 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 (edited) I found a CD of Ableton Live Lite 7, which was bundled with my line 6 uxb. Will fire it up tomorrow and see how I get on. I've been faffing with MacWifey' s ipad and have been getting the gist of Garage band. So that's the level I'm working from. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 (edited) I found a CD of Ableton Live Lite 7, which was bundled with my line 6 uxb. Will fire it up tomorrow and see how I get on. I've been faffing with MacWifey' s ipad and have been getting the gist of Garage band. So that's the level I'm working from. So, fired up Live Lite 7, and one afternoon later, have successfully upgraded to the still free Live Lite 9. The problem this time, it kept disappearing, and tying to reinstall just gave the 'uninstall' option. It turned out that my Anti virus was quarantining it each time I loaded it, which meant it disappeared from the program folders. Anyway, I eventually sorted that and have downloaded one of their free drum packs, so I'm going to check out the tuition videos. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 (edited) MacDaddy said: ... Anyway, I eventually sorted that .. Did we mention that you'll be needing a big bucket of patience..? Can't recommend any suppliers, I'm afraid (I'm often a bit short of it, myself..! ). The rewards are worth it, though. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Another laptop for DAW question: a man on the internet said... minimum spec recommended is a 7200 RPM hard drive, 8 gig RAM, i5/i7 processor. Any advice on a reasonably priced laptop in this spec range? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 No laptop recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I really don't know all the spec numbers , but I guess the more complicated you intend the process the better laptop needs to be , I started on a knackered old laptop that jumped around s bit , but it got me started , SWMBO bought the last PC and it gas a lot of numbers , but I don't know what they all mean !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) MacDaddy said: a man on the internet said... minimum spec recommended is a 7200 RPM hard drive, 8 gig RAM, i5/i7 processor. Any advice on a reasonably priced laptop in this spec range? I run an iMac with specs far more humble than those and it works for me Difficult to recommend a specific laptop. The short story is that you want as much processor speed and RAM as you can afford. So I'd suggest setting yourself a budget and use that as a guide. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) Skol303 said: I run an iMac with specs far more humble than those and it works for me Difficult to recommend a specific laptop. The short story is that you want as much processor speed and RAM as you can afford. So I'd suggest setting yourself a budget and use that as a guide. What DAW do you use? Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) What DAW do you use? Reason (version 8) and occasionally Ableton Live ('Lite' version 9). Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) reaper is the least system hungry DAW, wonderfully simple. would echo what skol says, get as much ram and processor speed as is possible, and to ease pressure on the system record to an external harddive. i have an old laptop which has about 3 gig of ram in it which runs reaper, but i can't live monitor without high latency so memory and processor speed Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 (edited) Scan do a range of Pro Audio Windows laptops that they design for DAW use: http://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/daw-digital-audio-workstation-pcs/form-factors I get all my components from them and they're pretty good. and to ease pressure on the system record to an external harddive. I've not heard this before. Surely an internal SATA-3 hard drive (especially an SSD) will be way faster than an external one over USB? Motherboards will have to cope with the data running through the USB bus just as much as it would internally through the SATA bus so I'm not sure how this could free up resources. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 i've heard it from several practicioners of the art. its basically seperating the processes. so in effect the computer is not reading the system and the recording from the same drive and trying to make sense of it. almost like dipping bread in soup. if you throw the bread in the soup you have a soupy bread mess, take the bread from a plate and dip it in the soup and you have a much neater easier food for your taste buds to process... but if you like soupy bread. for what we do its probably not noticeable. i run 3 internall HDD's so i don't record to the same one that is running my system. doesnt have to be external, but he is searching laptops not desktops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mornats Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Ah, gotcha! I run off a desktop and record onto a different drive to my OS drive myself so I'm doing just that. Totally forgot the OP was looking for a laptop for a moment and may not have multiple internal drives. So yep, what you're saying is spot on (but you knew that of course hehe). How much ram do you by the way? My almost-one-year-old system has 16GB and whilst I've not noticed it running out of ram I tend to upgrade it as I go and ram prices are fairly decent at the moment. It doubles as a gaming PC so I try not to skimp on anything. I'd probably say 8GB at a minimum for a new recording laptop though and 16 if you can. Not many will come with 32 I imagine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 (edited) Ah, gotcha! I run off a desktop and record onto a different drive to my OS drive myself so I'm doing just that. Totally forgot the OP was looking for a laptop for a moment and may not have multiple internal drives. So yep, what you're saying is spot on (but you knew that of course hehe). How much ram do you by the way? My almost-one-year-old system has 16GB and whilst I've not noticed it running out of ram I tend to upgrade it as I go and ram prices are fairly decent at the moment. It doubles as a gaming PC so I try not to skimp on anything. I'd probably say 8GB at a minimum for a new recording laptop though and 16 if you can. Not many will come with 32 I imagine. i built my pc with a quad core i5 processor, I only have 16gb ram and that covers all my gaming and recording needs. ram is cheap as chips these days Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 (edited) MacDaddy said: Another laptop for DAW question: a man on the internet said... minimum spec recommended is a 7200 RPM hard drive, 8 gig RAM, i5/i7 processor. Any advice on a reasonably priced laptop in this spec range? Reaper will run on just about any laptop. But like is said, get as big a hard drive as you can. 8 gig ram is more than enough, unless you're running a whole load of fx on multiple tracks. If you're liking GarageBand on the iPad, it might be worth considering a MacBook. GarageBand comes free with it & when you get to a point where you need more control & professional features, Logic Pro X is just like GarageBand but with everything opened up for you to play with. I've recently gotten a MacBook Pro & it runs everything with ease. But you could spend £1k less & have a non apple laptop, run Reaper & buy some VSTs (or you could run Reaper on a MacBook ). Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH73 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 (edited) It's worth checking out the ASIO4ALL drivers if your interface's own aren't up to the job. http://www.asio4all.com/ I tried them with my Focusrite Forte and noticed lower latency. Not a huge amount, but even small amounts count in this situation. I use focusrite 2i2 and asio4all, still lots of latency. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH73 Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 (edited) Yep! The Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and 2i4 are very good quality 'budget' interfaces. I use a 2i4 myself, as it has the additional output sockets I need. Dead easy to use. No latency (on my system) and the recording quality is good for the money. There will always be better, more expensive options if you want to spend money. But for £100-£150 the Focusrite Scarlett products are great. I just bought Focusrite scarlett 2i2 and cannot rid off the latency with windows 7. any suggestions? Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skol303 Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 (edited) I just bought Focusrite scarlett 2i2 and cannot rid off the latency with windows 7. any suggestions? I run an old Mac and my Focusrite interface (2i4) works fine; no latency that I can notice. Sorry, that's not very helpful is it!? Does your PC have any internal sound drivers that might be causing this problem? Perhaps contact Focusrite direct and ask them to advise - I've found them very helpful in dealing with enquiries. Edited March 21, 2018 by Dad3353 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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