DifJuz
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Old Newbie
In my youth, I recorded my music via a four-track. Then I moved on to ProTools Digi001. Well, I've recently dusted off my gear and have purchased MC5. I have an old PC I wanted to use: Pentium 4 (2.8GHz) 1GB PC3200 (400MHz) RAM Windows XP SP3 (32-bit). I also purchased the Alesis GuitarLink (1/4" to USB) cable. My questions are: 1. Will the PC I mentioned be decent enough to do some simple recordings with MC5? By that, I mean recording guitars and bass (no more than 8 tracks I would imagine, and only 1 at a time). 2. Has anyone heard anything about the Alesis GuitarLink? Good? Bad? Would it be better to record guitars with that (simple USB connection) or through a sound card? 3. If a sound card is a better idea, any suggestions on what to get? Kinda want to start out low-mid range. I've heard horror stories about latency issues - is the latency dependent only by the sound card or does the PC's processor come in to play as well? I apologize if all this has been covered before. If it has, could you point me to the previous posts? Otherwise, I appreciate any help/advice you could give me. Coming out of "retirement" is hard! Many thanks!
post edited by DifJuz - 2009/11/11 12:05:59
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57Gregy
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Re:Old Newbie
2009/11/11 14:37:18
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☄ Helpful
Welcome back! There are a lot of oldsters here, like me.
One GB is the minimum for MC 5, but you may be okay.
Whenever recording on MC, it's helpful to get off the internet, turn off your modem and disable any virus scan you may have running. Turn off the screen saver, wallpaper, pop-up blockers and the Microsoft system sounds. Turn off any power management schemes you may have on.
That Alesis thing may be good enough to record your guitar, but you would have to hear it, too. It will act as a sound card while plugged in, but you would still have to use some other sound card to hear it, which could cause problems. Both sound cards will want to be the timing master, but only one can be it.
Latency comes from a combination of things, but the most pertinent is the slow analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters in your computer's sound card. They are not good. There are a number of external devices that connect with a USB cable, have very low latency, and cost in the $100 range. Get something you can plug a microphone into, and your guitar, then you'll be set.
Nothing by Sound Blaster, although Creative's E-Mu line is very good. M-Audio makes some good stuff, too.
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DifJuz
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Re:Old Newbie
2009/11/11 16:10:58
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Thanks for the reply Greg!
I'll try turning all that stuff off and see if it helps. I'll also see if that Alesis GuitarLink is any good and how it plays with other hardware.
Be back soon...
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57Gregy
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Re:Old Newbie
2009/11/11 22:15:28
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In case you haven't already tried the Guitarlink, you may need to change the driver mode to MME in MC. 'Options>Audio>Driver Mode' box. I think the menus are a little different in MC 5, but snoop around in Options and you should find Driver Mode.
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Guitarhacker
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Re:Old Newbie
2009/11/12 11:24:47
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On the PC, you should be OK.... I ran a Cake product on a "less than idea" setup for quite some time. The result was slower processing... like screen refreshes, and stuff like that. It might also run your CPU numbers up a bit more than a faster, bigger, newer, shinier computer. But it should run. Never heard of the guitar link.... however, let me say this..... A good external soundcard is worth it's weight in gold. The soundcard (external..aka interface) is the heart of the studio. So.... don't go cheap unless you are really strapped for cash. As for recommendations.... look at Beagle's site..... and look at what us long term users are using. What we use works, and you can listen to our music to hear the results. I was an "old" tape user too.... the jump to digital was a challenge...then the jump to the system I have now was another learning curve..... but it's worth it. Feel free to ask questions too.
post edited by Guitarhacker - 2009/11/12 11:26:53
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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Robomusic
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Re:Old Newbie
2009/11/12 11:45:40
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AS I mentioned in another post a good suggest is to create a second user profile that has all the background services truned off perminantly, and use that just for DAW work. I still record frequently on an old 2400+ XP machine with 1 gig of ram. I can get 1o to 12 tracks with effects and mix down with no issues.
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DifJuz
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Re:Old Newbie
2009/11/14 10:14:42
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First, let me say thank you for all the responses - it's nice to know there are people out there willing to help!
I turned off all the extra stuff not needed on my (rather old) PC. I think the performance was OK (not optimal obviously) but good enough to get some tracks down.
However, the latency issues with the Alesis GuitarLink cable is making things difficult. I think Guitarhacker is right, if I'm gonna spend some money, I think it's best spent on a soundcard/interface.
The MC5 interface is a blast! Still on the learning curve both technically and since it's been a while since I recorded music, but if I can get my machine/devices working well, this is gonna be fun!
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