Digital recording with Firewire

[chrischross]

Anyone into this kind of stuff?:

http://www.presonus.com/firepod.html

I'm seriously thinking of plunking down some coin to get an HP laptop w/AMD 64 chip and Firewire interface.

Anyone around have experience with CuBase? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

I'm looking to do Podcasts and live recordings of some local bands. Is this way overkill? Would you rather go with an outboard mixer instead?? Alesis is coming out with their Firewire mixing boards in a month or two.

I think I'm reacting strongly to not having tone controls all of these years.

[lukpac]

Looks like fun, although I don't have much use for something like that.

[dcooper]

The Tower of Power tracks sound great.

[chrischross]

The Tower of Power tracks sound great.

That's what I thought too. Of course, there was a bit more equipment involved then just a simple Firewire interface.

Hey -- I'll bet this thing can do needle drops as well. The blasphemy!

[Crummy Old Label Avatar]

My experiences with Cubase are deeply unhappy ones. I've always found it to be an illogically designed program with the most nonintuitive interface imaginable. But others may disagree.

I've used Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic, and MOTU Digital Performer. I think Digital Performer is the best and most well-designed DAW out there, hands down, but it's a Mac-only program, so that won't help you if you're planning on getting an HP laptop. (Logic is now also Mac-only ever since Apple bought the company.)

Take solace in the fact that all of these applications basically do the same thing, and they all can get the job done. If the layout of Cubase doesn't bother you, then have at it. If you're new to all of this and don't have prior hand-on experience with Digital Performer or Logic, then what you don't know won't bother you and you will find your way around Cubase after a time.

[chrischross]

COLA,

Thanks for the info. In my research, I'm seeing that CuBase LE is definitely the entry level for DAW. If I ever get into to video production and have the need to sync video with audio, CuBase ain't gonna cut it. Steinberg's Nuendo seems pretty impressive, but the $2K price is a bit daunting.

At the Barnes & Noble magazine racks, there was no less than three British magazines devoted to DAW and associated paraphenalia. They seem way ahead in the deployment and interest level devoted to newer technology. Meanwhile, the good ole USA just keeps remastering old boomer rock and not moving ahead with new ideas.

[Crummy Old Label Avatar]

Well I don't want to sound like a Mac zealot (because I'm not, but I'll be the first to admit that they are indeed more well-suited for music and video production), but if you plan to move into video production, you should really seriously think of getting a Mac instead. You are not going to find any Windows applications that work as seamlessly as Final Cut Pro (or Final Cut Express or even iMovie) with whatever audio (and other) applications you wish to integrate it with.

I empathize with your feelings on the stagnation of the US. Whenever I return from Europe, coming back here is like traveling back to the 19th century (or 1973, to be more accurate). There, they are forging ahead (there is currently a fucking FANTATSIC post-musique concrete/improv/DJ scene in Berlin), utilizing all available new approaches and technology. I certainly never encounter people who are mourning the loss of analog tape, caring about Beatles reissues, giving a damn about tube amps, blathering on about the likes of Elton John.....

There's actually a rich present there, a music which has nothing to do with rehashing boomer mores and sounds -- no nostalgia. Young people don't think about the Who or the Beatles, and why on earth should they? They've created their own world, their own music.

A pity that the situation here is so polar opposite.

[chrischross]

I haven't been to Europe since the go-go dot-com era, but I know what you mean. I went to Dublin and it was fantastic. Everything was bustling, and nostalgia was for the birds. U2 was considered old hat, and new musical forms were apparent everywhere. Sure, you had your bands still plying their Irish blues, but DJ music was the driving cultural force amongst those who matter.

The local cable access office teaches folks on Final Cut, so I'll cut my teeth on that. Too bad Mac laptops are just so dang expensive. They should really figure out a way to partner with AMD to get a budget system out there. They could really clean up. Myself, I could care less if it is Wintel or Mac, I'd rather have solutions at this point. Looks like I'll suffer with a combination of hacktacular software for the Windows platform and then upgrade to the good stuff once I put in some dues.