RTP-area local music and culture

[Chris Rossi <rossi AT webslingerZ.com>]

Tim Harper wrote:
> <myname AT yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:20031201121344.067$hC AT newsreader.com...
> 
>>I know very little about making/recording music on a
>>computer.  What's a good software package for doing
>>the following:
>>
>>1.  Programming piano track with mouse and GUI
>>    (there will be lots of repetition)
>>2.  Programming drum track (likewise)
>>3.  Recording guitar, bass, vocals
>>4.  Mixing
>>5.  Saving as MP3 or AIFF (CD format right?)
>>
>>The one package I know of is Cakewalk.  I don't know
>>if it does the above.  Are there others?
>>
>>How well do these packages simulate a bass if I
>>want to program instead of play?  Can I
>>record the bass part on a guitar, then use
>>software trickery to lower it an octave?
>>
>>I'm using Win98, Celeron 1.2 gig, lots of RAM, SB Live!
>>(old Dell system with CPU upgrade)
>>
>>Thanks
>>
>>--
>>Doug Appleyard
>>To reply, myname (in e-mail address) is dougappleyard
>>-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
>>                    Usenet Newsgroup Service
> 
> 
> http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/media_production/nuendo20/new_features/
> index.php?sid=0
> 
> Be prepared to be sitting in front of a computer screen for awhile and you
> will need to upgrade your OS. This is the best option out there these days
> on a PC, short of a dedicated DAW. It will work with your hardware but you
> will be best served to get a big firewire hard drive as well and later on a
> better soundcard.
> 
For music production, Cubase SX (also from Steinberg) has the exact same 
audio engine, a bit better midi(?) and all the features you need for 
about half the price.  I'm not sure exactly what the differences are 
between the two, between but Nuendo folks are always saying Nuendo is 
great for 'post-production', ie film/video work, whereas Cubase has 
everything you need for producing music.  I'm using it in my studio and 
haven't found myself (or customers) wanting for features.

It also has full midi/score writing capability (maybe nuendo does too?) 
that doug is looking for.  I haven't made extensive use of it yet, as 
I'm more of an old fashioned recording actual sounds kind of guy.  But I 
know it's there and it's supposed to be pretty good.  And I've played 
with it a bit.

When I was overseas in my apartment with nothing else I did play with 
recording a bassline on guitar and pitching it down.  It doesn't sound 
like a bass, but it can be an interesting sound if you're into that kind 
of thing.  Cubase/Nuendo also come with a VSTi bass simulator, but it 
sounds pretty crappy.  If you're going to be doing a lot of midi/scoring 
stuff anyway, though, you'll want to invest in some software or hardware 
synths.  Cubase comes with a rudimentary software synth that's fine for 
messing around, but sounds pretty cheesy.  My roommate has one of those 
K-station things.  Haven't played with it much myself but it seems 
capable of producing just about any sound you can think of and sounds 
pretty good too.

Anyway, you can download a Cubase SX demo for free.  It's fully 
functioning except you can't save.  So it'll let you see what it does.

rossi
--
http://spacelabstudio.com


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