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In an earlier life, I owned and was chief engineer and bottle washer at a studio back in the 80's running MCI and Soundcraft equipment. I'm considering getting back into it, but only as a hobbyist in my home.

 

I have a fairly new I-Mac with 16GB of ram. What software would you recommend for me to get started with the basics, and something I could grow into if necessary? Also, what kind of hardware would I need to get my microphones, keyboards, guitars, etc. into the I-Mac?

 

I appreciate any recommendations.

 

TIA

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If you're on a Mac, you could start for free with Garageband, and move on up to Logic pretty easily when you want to invest the few hundred bucks -- at this point Garageband is basically the simplified, trial version of Logic. The nice thing about Logic is that it comes with a lot of house plugins and software instruments that are perfectly usable.

 

Audacity is also a very popular open-source, free DAW -- it doesn't have the built-in plugins and softsynths like Garageband, but it's not as limited as far as recording quality.

 

Those are the ones I have the most experience with. Ableton seems more geared toward looping and live performance, and I've had frustrating experiences with it, but I know folks who love it to death. A lot of the available DAWs, both cheap and expensive, have their own strengths, weaknesses, and areas of focuses, but these days, more and more, it seems like it really comes down to personal preference, as there's enough overlap in features that you can't really go wrong.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Stepping from the 1980s into the 2020s? Can you say "paradigm change", lol. Ok here goes. You'll likely need an interface to get audio into your Mac. The choice of interface boils down to how many simultaneous input channels you need, and how many of them need to be mic-level vs line or instrument level. There's a ton of interfaces from various manufacturers starting at less than $100 for 2-in/2-out, going up to >$1000 for interfaces that have enough inputs to record a full band in one pass. If you work on your own, recording one instrument at a time, you probably don't need a lot of inputs & outputs.

 

Certain interfaces will throw in a "lite" version of their DAW software which will save you the cost of buying any of the Mac heavy hitters like MOTU's Digital Performer, Apple Logic, or Avid ProTools â which are in the hundreds of dollars. ProTools gives you the advantage of easy interfacing with the pro studio world since it's more or less the standard. I think they have a subscription model though, some folks don't care for that.

 

I'm sure you'll get tons of reccs but knowing your input needs and budget would help narrow things a lot. If you're into higher-end audio sculpting tools or virtual instruments you'll also want to budget for those.

 

Just FYI, you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to do multitrack audio on the Mac. You can get started for free right now with Audacity and the audio output of your Mac. I don't think any modern Mac has an analog audio input anymore (other than a built-in mic). There are super-cheap USB dongle interfaces that will give you stereo line in on a 1/8" mini jack. Getting up to speed on a good DAW is a major time investment so Audacity may not be the right one for you â but I mention it because, well, it's free, has all the basics, and you can be up & running right away for $0.

 

[EDIT - Yea, Garage Band, I forgot that one! It's Logic "lite." Can't say how its audio editing features compare to the big guys though, but it's a terrific value (being free can do that!).]

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Agree w/Samuel

I think any of the big names - Logic Cubase DP ProTools etc. - will take you very deep with excellent results.

I would recommend you watch some how-to videos just to see what GUI strikes your fancy. Visit some forums to see what people are bitching about - keeping in mind that bitching on forums probably represents a small fraction of users.

Are you on Catalina? Even Apple"s own Logic has problems with Catalina.

In the 90s I was using Vision software. Loved it. Gibson killed it. I went with Emagic/Logic cause I liked the way it looked! Never sorry.

Professional musician = great source of poverty.

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Answers to your question are budget-dependant with the sky being the limit.

 

When purchasing an interface, consider how many inputs you need but also the convenience of having enough inputs that you can dedicate some to instruments you will be using all the time.

Bear in mind there are LOTS of good sounding "soft synths" and "sampled instruments" that are either free or very low cost. A USB keyboard controller plugged strait into your iMac will provide full access to those and may be all you need. Some of these controllers also offer a couple of mic/line inputs, that could really simplify your hardware situation.

 

If you can go USB C or Thunderbolt 3 with your interface choice, do it. At some point you will want a decent pair of monitor speakers AND some decent headphones.

 

There are some great free resources here in Andertons's forum - https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3036360/the-quarantine-freebie-thread#Post3036360

 

This is a free version of my chosen DAW, I've been using it since version 3 (now on 11) and I like it. Not everybody takes to it but free is free and it is far less clunky than Audacity and moving up to paid versions is less expensive than Logic so worth consideration at least. - https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free

 

If you have a vocal mic that you use for playing live, try that first to see if it sounds the way you like. Sometimes a Cloudlifter CL-1 will tranform a mic and make it very viable, I have one and it's worked wonders on a few of my mics.

Whether or not you need a mic(s) depends on what you want to record.

 

Once we know more about your wants/needs/budget/space limitations it will be easier to provide solutions. Cheers, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I run a setup with similar equipment to what you have. I'd buy a four-channel USB audio + MIDI interface that has a DAW program bundled with it - my recommendation would be Cubase AI for the software. Upgrade that to Elements on the 50% off sale (which I believe is annual), and you'll have a good setup that you won't outgrow for quite a while. I used the AI version for several years before upgrading so even that's enough to get you started. Cubase is a great program that will do pretty much anything and is very strong for MIDI work, so that's my recommendation. Runs well on MacOS too.

 

Audacity will drive you nuts plus it can't handle MIDI. It's a good audio editor but not a good standalone DAW. A different free option would be Waveform Free by Tracktion, or Studio One Prime. Studio One Prime (being the free version) doesn't let you use third-party plugins however and the built-in ones aren't the greatest in my opinion.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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GarageBand is free for your iMAC and will give you a lot to work with while you are getting your feet wet. It's also very intuitive to step up to Logic Pro X for $200 USD if and when you outgrow GarageBand since they really do look the same.

 

Logic Pro X also has a 90 free trial right now, so no reason you can't run them both side by side and compare them towards your needs.

Yamaha U1 Upright, Roland Fantom 8, Nord Stage 4 HA73, Nord Wave 2, Korg Nautilus 73, Viscount Legend Live, Lots of Mainstage/VST Libraries

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Given your history and background in the "classical" approach, I would recommend Reaper - it is free to try, and only $60 for a license that last years.

https://www.reaper.fm/

 

The logic underlying Reaper is very "hardware" oriented, basically you create tracks that can route anywhere, like on a large scale mixing console. Reaper is a small, independent company, owned by a certified genius (inventor of Winamp and Gnutella). He's already made his millions, so he ain't going anywhere, this is his vanity project. A good vanity at that! Amazingly, the whole program is like 6 Megabytes (or something like that).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Frankel

 

Plus, they have one of the best forums for support (outside this one!).

https://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

 

To accompany Reaper, I would recommend a USB/firewire mixer that lets you do multiple channels in AND out. For example, I have an older Mackie Onyx 1640i (firewire) that does 16 in/16 out. (you may not need something that big, just describing my experience).

 

With Reaper, I can simply dedicate each channel to a Track on Reaper. Very NOT confusing. Channel 1 is kick, 2 is snare, ....etc. Everything is left plugged in, which lets me record our band like an old fashioned 16 track tape-based studio. Takes me about 1 min to start recording, with the only effort required being to arm the recording on each track. Plus hard-drive space is so cheap, why not record every practice? GEt a few gems in there at times.

 

After done recording, hit "rewind" on Reaper, press play, and I can mix each part with the sliders on the mixing board. This is an incredibly satisfying approach that took me over 10 years to arrive at - way more satisfying than 'effing around with a mouse on each track. However, once you get something you like, then you CAN go in with the mouse and tweak to your hearts content in the digital domain, add all the built-in Reaper processing plugins (or third party), etc.

 

Anyway, just my 2c worth.

 

I think some of the newer Tascam and Zoom recorder/mixers do multiple in outs.

(Edit - the Zoom don't seem to be more than 4 out, but I know you can have them control the track volumes in Reaper through MIDI).

 

Here is a Tascam one that looks promising: 16 in/14 out:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Model16--tascam-model-16-mixer-interface-recorder

 

roy

 

PS - should note that I started recording back in the same time as you (early 80's), got out of it, then back into it in the early 2000's. Maybe part of the reason I like Reaper with a mixer so much - why waste all that accumulated knowledge/work-flow developed years back? My guess is that you (like me) are mainly doing this for enjoyment now, so it is a lot more fun recording and interacting with music than it is reading software manuals and learning a whole new way to cut up and record music. You can do all that on Reaper, but you don't have to, the underlying paradigm is very "80's console" friendly/oriented.

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Here's what I would buy if starting over again. Covers getting your instruments into the computer and the software. Enough inputs so you won't outgrow it quickly, good quality (Steinberg is owned by Yamaha), midi and audio both, and bus powered. Make sure you have good-quality headphones or monitors (and Sonarworks Reference 4 helps a ton for headphone accuracy). And it includes Cubase AI, my recommended recording program.

 

There are two versions. If your computer uses USB-C, you can use this. 32-bit/192khz: Steinberg UR44C

If your computer uses regular USB, there's this. 24-bit/192khz USB 2.0: Steinberg UR44

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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Yeah, Digital Performer user here (nice to see so many others here). Started with Pro Tools and Cakewalk/Sonar, but eventually moved to DP4 because I liked it's workflow philosophy, customizability, and... the online community. (???) Actually, I think this is one of the most important pieces of a complex software package these days. All modern DAWs can do essentially the same things. Some people tell you that one is better than the other, but for the most part they're all different flavors. For me, having a respectful, professional, and helpful online community makes a HUGE difference, and MOTUNation is one of the best I've ever been a part of. It's mostly slightly older users who paid their dues doing TV scoring and working in studios, so they're extremely insightful and less prone to trigger-happy opinions (except for MidiLifeCrisis, but he's a fun old coot and we love him). For instance, I've never seen a "you need to go out and buy this, or you're not pro" comment, that I'm sure we're all familiar with in some (*caugh* GearSlutz) communities.

 

But at the end of the day, I'm going to go against the grain and say that for most things, all DAWs can do pretty much the same things. Film scores, mega hits, award winning albums have been done with all of them. Danny Elfman is a HUGE "GarageBand" fan, for instance, as a part of his workflow. Its personal taste, really. I'm not sure I would recommend DP to you or not. It fits fantastically with my workflow, but I've been told by many that they feel it has a steeper learning curve than most. I can't really say, I had already learned 2-3 DAWs before I got on DP, and picked it up quick. I don't think it's particularly complicated, but some may disagree. It's VERY VERY VERY deep though, with many different ways to tackle the same problem. By comparison, Logic seems to have a more streamlined but "one way" workflow. Logic has a lot of niceties for common tasks, but feels less helpful for complex tasks. Just my take on using it for a few months.

 

Just don't discount the advantage of having a helpful online community.

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

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I'm on my 4th iteration of Logic. I recommend it highly. Despite personal niggles we all have, its mature and dependable. It uses less system resources because its tailored to the OS. That means things like more EXS24 or Alchemy instances with no hiccuping.

 

The bundled instruments are quite good. Alchemy is well-muscled & comes with a major library. I've only felt the need to buy a couple of specialized 3rd-party instruments.

 

Some Ableton users apply a different DAW in the studio, pointing to it as described: a refined tool for concerts. Fair enough. Still, you "should" marry a primary environment. I'd recommend diving into Logic over Garageband. With your history, the basics will be evident early on. Its a big mixer with inserts/sends and an effects rack. It won't be the What; it'll just be the How of getting to the functions.

 

My iMac is like yours, so it'll probably handle the load readily. Its choked on a few things, but I personally go as far as 30 tracks with only rare issues. I was running a small Mackie mixer into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, feeding it a pair of Korgs. One croaked, so I plug the other in directly at times, but I'm mostly in-the-box now. I encourage people to add Focusrite to their list because mine has been a 100%-er.

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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David Emm: yeah, like you, the one DAW I'm not crazy about is Ableton. I get its purpose as a live performance tool, but it's the one program I find myself fighting as a DAW. But it works for some people/genres. I'm a prog rock/jazz guy and the Ableton workflow feels extremely grid-oriented. You can work out of the grid, but I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. I also wish it offered more for live keyboard performance. The first time I used it, I figured it would be like MainStage, then users looked at me like, "why would you want to use it like that?" I realized that Ableton is supposed to BE a live instrument, not be the backbone of an existing keyboard/guitar setup.

 

Maybe I'm too old-school, it feels about as far from Pro Tools/DP/Logic as you can get. But lots of people swear by it and have done fantastic things. But I do think that its features as a DAW are somewhat secondary, and most who use it as such simply do because they started with it as a compositional/live tool first and needed to do tracking.

Puck Funk! :)

 

Equipment: Laptop running lots of nerdy software, some keyboards, noise makersâ¦yada yada yadaâ¦maybe a cat?

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Another +1 for Tracktion"s Waveform, which just got updated. But yeah, if you"re on a Mac, GarageBand and Logic are the way to go. It seems Logic Pro 11 is on the horizon, so you may want to wait a while (and enjoy the 90-day demo). Finally, have a look at Bitwig. It"s quite remarkable in that it combines a linear approach (like Logic) with a clip launcher (like Ableton"s Live) and it"s a modular beast. You can start with Bitwig 8-Track and move on up. There"s a sale on that gets you a free U-he synth (Repro, one of their very best).
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Another +1 for Tracktion"s Waveform, which just got updated. But yeah, if you"re on a Mac, GarageBand and Logic are the way to go. It seems Logic Pro 11 is on the horizon, so you may want to wait a while (and enjoy the 90-day demo). Finally, have a look at Bitwig. It"s quite remarkable in that it combines a linear approach (like Logic) with a clip launcher (like Ableton"s Live) and it"s a modular beast. You can start with Bitwig 8-Track and move on up. There"s a sale on that gets you a free U-he synth (Repro, one of their very best).

 

I knew I'd crossed paths on here with another Waveform user! Check out this thread and please post interesting stuffs. Cheers, Kuru

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3032872/the-waveform-tracktion-daw-thread#Post3032872

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Hi Guys,

 

Thank you so much for all the insights and experiences. At the moment, a friend has lent me his MacBook Pro running Cubase 10.5 for a project we're working on. I'm tracking all my keyboard parts to pre-recorded bed tracks done in an outside studio. The interface he uses is a Universal Audio Apollo Twin 2x2 Thunderbolt, which seems quite nice but is fairly expensive $1200 CDN.

 

Yes, I don't want to limit myself to any recording situation that might arise, so I'm thinking an interface with more available inputs and outputs. I was also thinking of Cubase Elements as a starter DAW ($100) as I could get the full version if I grow into it. I must admit, Apple Logic Pro also sounds intriguing and the price seems fair. I also discovered on-line this Zoom L12 / L20 recording mixing console which acts as a USB interface as well. You can multitrack with this mixer Any thoughts on these Zoom units?

 

My budget is flexible, but I am 67 yrs. old and don't want to throw thousands of $$$ into this. Looking for value I guess, and to not be backed into a corner because I didn't spend a few hundred dollars more the first time. Make sense?

 

Thanks again guys.

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Since you're getting up to speed in Cubase you might as well stay on that platform. It looks like most Steinberg audio interfaces are bundled with Cubase AI which I admit I know nothing about except it's a stripped down version of Cubase. How it compares to Cubase Elements I don't know, but it does seem to cover the basics. https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/ai/

 

For US$350 you can get a 6x4 interface & that software: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UR44C--steinberg-ur44c-usb-audio-interface

 

HTH

 

[edit - Looks like Cubase AI is a level up from Elements - I would definitely save your $100 and put it towards the interface!

https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/compare-editions/ ]

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I am glad that everyone has been forthcoming with useful information for you! (I am also glad that a few folks have mentioned the Studio Workshop forum, where topics don't disappear off the front page QUITE as fast as they do here in KC. :D )

 

Everyone has given you really good advice so far. If you're going to be working with a friend who uses Cubase, then that might be a good platform for you to settle on; personally I don't like it at all, but that's because of how I use and relate to DAW user interface and infrastructure. A lot of my music colleagues use and love it. I don't think that a "lite" version would be a good investment; too many features are limited or turned off - this is true of nearly every DAW that has such a version, and is especially onerous in Pro Tools Free.

 

If you're trying to save money, Logic Pro X is a very good option. Because of the current health situation, Apple is offering the full program on a 90-day trial basis for free. That would at least give you a chance to play with it without risking any money. Garageband is also a surprisingly good DAW and is very easy to use and get up to speed with.

 

Some folks like PreSonus Studio One. It's an excellent little DAW, with a neat tiling system for windows that keeps your screen from getting cluttered, and it comes with a lot of good built-in sounds and instrument plug-ins. They make a version called Studio One Artist that comes free with all their hardware; you can't use third-party plug-ins with it, but the internal tools are good enough for most folks.

 

However, I have to cast another vote for Reaper here. It's the unsung hero of DAWs; it will do nearly everything the big boys do, and a full license for the program is only $60. They don't even MAKE a "lite" version, and aside from the time limit on the demo trial, they don't break any features. Cockos is a great company, and if you buy version 6.0 now, you're guaranteed free upgrades until they release version 8 (not 7).

 

My main platform for making music is Ableton Live, which is in fact a very different user experience from pretty much any other DAW. I use it for live performance all the time. However, for traditional linear recording, it's really awkward to work with, and you'd be much better served with another DAW that has a more conventional layout.

 

As for interfaces... see next post :D

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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Interfaces can be very simple or very tricky, and your choice should be decided by "use case", meaning what you want to do and how you want to do it.

 

royGbiv was kind enough to point you to my tutorial thread about this stuff: https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/3032942/demystifying-interfaces#Post3032942

 

In your case, I have a particularly strong recommendation.

 

A lot of folks here are used to doing everything "in the box" (ITB), and favor small tabletop or rackmount interfaces that just get all your I/O into your computer with no extra hardware or fuss. They can be very powerful and are very compact. However, I think that you will be very ill served by this approach.

 

One thing that ITB folks sometimes tend to forget is that for someone who has little DAW experience and a ton of hands-on background with analog mixers, a rackmount interface can be a fucking nightmare that's enough to put you off music for life. You either have to mix on screen, using a mouse, or install a dedicated MIDI/USB control surface to attach to your DAW, and even then you're doing more configuring and jumping through hoops to do what should be instinctive and quick. Do not underestimate the importance of being comfortable and familiar with the workflow as you get into the DAW world!

 

What you want is an interface that is actually built into a real mixer. You will have actual channel strips, knobs to turn, very few new features to learn (and those are analogous to what you're used to), and some extra features that you may find handy. Buried inside this mixer will be a USB or Thunderbolt interface that does all the talking to your computer, and it's usually placed in such a way as to work seamlessly with a conventional workflow.

 

The Live L20 is an excellent example of this. It's a small but powerful mixing console that allows multitrack recording and playback in a familiar format: think of mixer-to-tape direct outs and flipping the console for multitrack mixdown from tape playback as analogies. It has some built-in effects, and a way to record direct to a memory card in multitrack format, so you can transfer your tracks from a live session to the DAW later (and have a built-in backup that's separate from your iMac). There are a lot of these products out there, ranging from 3 channels up to 32, at varying price points and sizes and feature sets; most of them will do the job for you and leave you feeling fairly comfortable about the experience.

 

One word of warning! Some of these mixers, even big ones, don't actually have multitrack input to the DAW, or full multitrack output. Depending on what you're doing, you might be able to get away with a single stereo return from your computer for monitoring purposes (I do), but having the mixer boil everything down to one stereo master mix before recording it to your DAW can be a huge pain in the tail. The new Korg mixers are like this; I actually mentioned this to the developers when I got a sneak peek at it at NAMM over a year ago, and they stated that their use case simply didn't entail multitrack playback at all, and they wanted to keep costs down. Their choice, but not that of most folks.

 

Anyway, that's my 2 cents' worth. I will probably cut and paste this into the above forum. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask more questions as you go, either here or in the Studio Workshop!

 

mike

Dr. Mike Metlay (PhD in nuclear physics, golly gosh) :D

Musician, Author, Editor, Educator, Impresario, Online Radio Guy, Cut-Rate Polymath, and Kindly Pedant

Editor-in-Chief, Bjooks ~ Author of SYNTH GEMS 1

 

clicky!:  more about me ~ my radio station (and my fam) ~ my local tribe ~ my day job ~ my bookmy music

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To echo the others.

 

Garage Band, its free

 

Progress to Logic Pro, it is not free but a one off $200 if I have the funny money which is the USD correct.

 

Audacity, its free and I have been using it for years.

 

Look up the iRig products for interfacing kit.

 

An alternative is a Behringer UMC 204 HD or similar, this is what I use with my keyboard and guitars.

Col

 

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Since you're getting up to speed in Cubase you might as well stay on that platform. It looks like most Steinberg audio interfaces are bundled with Cubase AI which I admit I know nothing about except it's a stripped down version of Cubase. How it compares to Cubase Elements I don't know, but it does seem to cover the basics. https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/ai/

 

For US$350 you can get a 6x4 interface & that software: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UR44C--steinberg-ur44c-usb-audio-interface

 

Agree, that"s what I would do if starting over.

[edit - Looks like Cubase AI is a level up from Elements - I would definitely save your $100 and put it towards the interface!

https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/compare-editions/ ]

 

No, that"s backwards. The chart is highest edition on the left. I used AI for three years before upgrading to Elements. It"s the best 'limited' version of anything out there in the mainstream. The main differences between AI and Elements are half the group and fx tracks, 32 audio instead of 48 audio tracks, four insert fx slots vs eight. There is a discounted upgrade to Elements for AI users, so it would be the cheapest option to buy the interface with the software and then do the upgrade to Elements.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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Wow, I guess I need more coffee - you're absolutely right. Elements > AI. Sorry about that!

 

Still, totally agree that buying the interface & getting Elements for free, then upgrading to a better version seems to be the ticket.

 

(OK just checked, looks like it's $50 to upgrade: https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/?buy=cubase-elements-10.5).

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I have an old iMac, and am using Logic Pro X, and using the ''Behringer XR-18 mixer" as my interface... it's excellent, clean, many inputs/outputs, and also has MIDI in & out. I'm very happy with both Logic & the XR-18, both do everything and way more than I need.

Ludwig van Beethoven:  “To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.”

My Rig: Yamaha MOXF8 (used mostly for acoustic piano voices); Motion Sound KP-612SX & SL-512.

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Hi again guys,

 

Here's the audio interface I'm considering at the moment. Focusrite Clarett 8Pre 24/192 18-In/20-Out Thunderbolt Audio Interface. It's not inexpensive, but it's pretty much loaded and it uses Thunderbolt which is like 4x faster than USB connectivity. I've also downloaded the 90 day-free trial of Apple Logic Pro X to get my feet wet. This will get me going.

 

I want to thank you all for your contributions to this thread. I now know 10x more than I did a week ago about recording in the digital world, and look ahead to doing some "projects" in this social-distancing world we currently find ourselves in. Cheers to all.

 

Heartbeat

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Hi again guys,

 

Here's the audio interface I'm considering at the moment. Focusrite Clarett 8Pre 24/192 18-In/20-Out Thunderbolt Audio Interface. It's not inexpensive, but it's pretty much loaded and it uses Thunderbolt which is like 4x faster than USB connectivity. I've also downloaded the 90 day-free trial of Apple Logic Pro X to get my feet wet. This will get me going.

 

I want to thank you all for your contributions to this thread. I now know 10x more than I did a week ago about recording in the digital world, and look ahead to doing some "projects" in this social-distancing world we currently find ourselves in. Cheers to all.

 

Heartbeat

 

You can expand that with ADAT as well if you ever need more physical inputs beyond the eight, so that's a solid option. Be aware it's Thunderbolt 2, not the newer Thunderbolt 3. Make sure your iMac has Thunderbolt 2 ports, or that there is a solid, proven Thunderbolt 2-to-Thunderbolt 3 adapter that is known to work with that exact interface and operating system. I have a Thunderbolt 2 interface, and it's great for latency.

Yamaha: Motif XF8, MODX7, YS200, CVP-305, CLP-130, YPG-235, PSR-295, PSS-470 | Roland: Fantom 7, JV-1000

Kurzweil: PC3-76, PC4 (88) | Hammond: SK Pro 73 | Korg: Triton LE 76, N1R, X5DR | Emu: Proteus/1 | Casio: CT-370 | Novation: Launchkey 37 MK3 | Technics: WSA1R

Former: Emu Proformance Plus & Mo'Phatt, Korg Krome 61, Roland Fantom XR & JV-1010, Yamaha MX61, Behringer CAT

Assorted electric & acoustic guitars and electric basses | Roland TD-17 KVX | Alesis SamplePad Pro | Assorted organs, accordions, other instruments

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I "went shopping" for that interface and saw USB versions.

Musician's Friend lists the Thunderbolt version as "not available." I didn't find the Thunderbolt version on Sweetwater.

 

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/focusrite-clarett-8pre-thunderbolt-audio-interface?source=3WWRWXMG&msclkid=f0e853cd014f15bd46850d42cc2eb040&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=**LP%20-%20NonTM%20-%20DSA%20-%20Category&utm_term=pro-audio&utm_content=Pro%20Audio

 

 

It's been a few months but I went with a Presonus Quantum and am very happy with it. That is also Thunderbolt 2 and has similar features and layout.

The biggest difference I see is that the Quantum has 2 Thunderbolt ports. That's handy, I've got my recording hard drive plugged into the second one. You could also chain up to 4 Quantums although there are probably better ways to get more channels. It comes with a software controller, the only pots are the master output volume (hooked up to my monitors) and the 2 headphone outs. All the input gains can be adjusted by a digital controller on the front of the unit or from the Universal Control software. I've got a large monitor set up for the DAW and the control software screen opens automatically on the laptop screen.

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QuantumTB--presonus-quantum-26x32-thunderbolt-2-audio-interface

 

The preamps have very low noise and high headroom, clean and sound really good. The output and headphone amps sound great too. I'm happy with it. Cheers, Kuru

 

^^^ Mighty Max has good suggestions above too ^^^

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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In an earlier life, I owned and was chief engineer and bottle washer at a studio back in the 80's running MCI and Soundcraft equipment. I'm considering getting back into it, but only as a hobbyist in my home.

 

I have a fairly new I-Mac with 16GB of ram. What software would you recommend for me to get started with the basics, and something I could grow into if necessary? Also, what kind of hardware would I need to get my microphones, keyboards, guitars, etc. into the I-Mac?

 

I appreciate any recommendations.

 

TIA

 

Lots of good suggestions here.

On the iMac I"d also suggest starting with Garage Band. It"s already there, quite capable for most projects and if you find your way around it, they"ve kept the interface very similar in Logic Pro X if you ever decide to take the plunge. YouTube is a great resource for learning and there is no shortage of tutorials for any of these DAWs - Garage Band and Logic Pro X included.

Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560

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