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Shawn Pixley
05-27-2011, 9:34 PM
By way of background, I have played guitar on and off professionally for about 30 years. I no longer try to make a living that way. My son is about to graduate as an audio engineer. He thinks I should get a recording program for my computer and suggests either Logic Express by Apple or Record by Propellerhead. These are geared to the musician / songwriter rather than the recording engineer. does anyone have any particular experience or feedback on either of these?

Despite my love of all things Mac, I am drawn to the Record Program over Logic. It seems to mimic the analog interface I grew up with. Conversely, Logic seems to have better filing / organizing capabilities. Also leaning to Motu Audio express interface. I will largely be taking in mic'ed amp tracks, vox, and direct in Bass. These products will be primarily used for songwriting and track arrangement between studio sessions. I am hoping that due to the number of musicians here, that there may be commensurate expertise on which to draw. Any help or advice?

Michael James
05-27-2011, 10:17 PM
my .02.
Not a mac guy so my exp is PC. Propellerhead Record was created to work with their flagship program REASON, and utilize it's fx.
I don't think it uses VSTs or other plugins - thats a huge minus in my mind. I love Reason and it can be used as a rewire "add in".
Logic express is is the light version, and I'm not familiar with it.
I went to pro tools M-powered kicking and screaming a few yrs back, but was sold by the local dealer who dragged me back to his pro studio and demo'd the bigboy PT, and guaranteed that the interface was the same, but obviously lacked the fx processing power a hi end card will bring.
Pro Tools 9 just came out and is no longer proprietary to M-audio cards. My suggestion is bite the bullet and go that route. You can do "anything" with it - lots of really amazing features and the files work on ANY version of PT (older versions do too) if you had something you wanted to fly in to a pro studio.
Cubase is awesome but only seems attractive to those that have grown with it. I dont find it intuitive at all. You can probably find a "used" edition of adobe audition 2 or 3 that is very impressive and less costly. Or look at the Cakewalk Sonar stuff.
FL studio has grown up and you get free updates for life. Lots of "kids" making beats with this but recording audio too.
Good luck! Bottom line decision should be based what will work for you now and tomorrow. BTW, mic'ing guitars is almost a thing of the past. Check out amplitube or line 6 podfarm, etc. Not quite perfect but if you take a line out of an amp to input then you get the feel of the speaker working and unlimited amp/effect choices.
Or, I have a "like new" 4track cassette I'd let go of really, really cheaply. :cool:
mj
disclaimer - Just a user, no assoc or endorsement with any of these products.

Shawn Pixley
05-28-2011, 10:05 AM
Michael, thanks. I don't think I want to go the full Protools / Interface / board route. DS has that and I am ureI can access when trying to go to full record / production. I am a musician not an engineer. Record seems to be be meant to cater to muscicin and the creative process and they link it to their Reason product for edit / mix / production.

I used to use little cassette four track to write / record demos, but gave that away a few years back. (wish I still had it as I would output the entire body of work through a DAC into my computer, but I digress). I picked up a good deal on an integrated DAW (18 track Korg) ten years ago. It unfortunately requires too much set up time to facilitate the creative process.

DS walked me through Logic yesterday. I like it and could likely make it work. The editing area is very powerful and some people think that it may supplant Protools with the next generation release. Reason appeals to me for the recording interface. It is modeled after the SSR board (the current board I am most familiar with in the studio). I don't know about editing because they probably encourage you to add Reason. The other part it is relatively new and I get concerned with it being more "buggy" than Logic, which has had more run time.

Again, thanks for you perspective.

As to mic'ing amps, I agree that the amp simulators have improved and I will use a direct feed from guitar to input especially after hours. For final recording though, I still find a good tube amp through a good mic sounds the best. You can hear the difference.

Bryan Morgan
05-29-2011, 12:22 PM
I use Sonar on a PC with a TC Electronics interface. I've never used Record but I do use Reason. I've played with Logic but didn't care for it. I also prefere to mic my amps rather than use amp sims, they just don't sound like a real amp, plus I can't stand the latency no matter how small it is. For portable scratch pad stuff I have a Boss BR800. It kind of sucks for sound quality (the amp models are horrible... ) but it is extremely easy to use.