My DAW considerations thread.

[christianrock]

We'll see.

They're fetching 450+ on Ebay these days, that would be one reason why I'd sell it! Mine's mint and has the MEX "memory expansion", the manual, and even the cassete tape with the original presets...

[christianrock]

Shit's getting real.

I got an offer for my Fusion.

[christianrock]

It looks like a friend of mine will buy the Fusion.
I had a guy come by to see my multitrack yesterday, he says he'll probably decide today.
I got the Sh-201 with me to work because I'm meeting with a guy who will buy it today.
Then I have a guy who wants to look at one of my 12-string guitars.

This is happening fast...

[MetroSonus]

I didnt know you were selling the 201.

how come?

[christianrock]

The Fusion and N1R are going, too. From the previous page:

First, I've decided to sell pretty much everything I have. All of the ouboard stuff, recording gear, 3-4 guitars, 2 basses, 2 acoustics, and all my keys stuff.

I think I'll keep the A-90 and the EX-8000 for now. I might sell the EX-8000 since they're selling for 450+ on Ebay and I don't think they'll ever cost more than 500, I think they've peaked now.

[MetroSonus]

i thought for some reason the 201 would be exempt.. dunno why, thought that was your favorite one.

how much do the DW8000 keys go for?

[christianrock]

I think about the same. They're usually more beat up though - but if space is not a problem I think I'd prefer one because it has the arpeggiator and some extra sliders.

Edit: actually, the DW-8000 is going for over a hundred dollars LESS.

Also, while a couple weeks ago all sold EX-8000s were over 450, now the only one showing up in history sold for 389.

[MetroSonus]

despite the lack of room, I wonder if I went with keyboards, I'd have more fun playing / editing.

[christianrock]

SH-201 sold... and I haven't heard yet from the guy that came by to see the multitrack.

[christianrock]

I see a few good iMacs and Mac Pros on Craigslist.
Too bad a few of them come with a "lot" of audio/video software which really means it's pirate and I won't have access to them. One does say

I have a firm offer for my multi-track and another for one of my 12-string guitars. One guy offered 450 on the other 12-string which I'm asking 500 also. I might go for it, which will bring my total up to about a couple grand with what I got for the SH-201... and I think that would get me close to getting the Mac, the Steinberg interface and the Spark. Then when I sell the Fusion I'll have the monies for monitors, which I decided will be the Yamaha MSP5s. What was I thinking when I looked at those 3-way huge Rockits. I don't have the space for something loud like that

Also, google somehow has the Arturia Spark listed in my local Sam Ash for 399. Woot! Must be used.

Then I have a bunch of electric guitars, preamps, pedals, and other stuff to sell... and the N1R... and eventually that will get me a nicer synth... plus Logic Pro... and life will be good I think

[ElectricPuppy]

I'm envious of your current studio shenanigans, CR. I miss my gear. UGH.

[MetroSonus]

I wish i had money for gear.. I hate this saving, scrimp and savings plan i'm on.

[christianrock]

Well I'm having to sell stuff I like and doesn't lose its value, to fund stuff that probably won't hold its value at all...

[MetroSonus]

The new PC is the most expensive thing. Two HDDs, RAM, motherboard, CPU fans, case etc

I'm keeping it trim for the most part. Ableton Live, some plugins and I think I'm going to stick with Dune, Zebra and ElextraX as VSTs. The East/West stuff as ROMpler stuffs and the rest is going to be outboard.

VSTs are a dank hole with slime covered intestinal walls that are impossible to climb out of. Ten years on, I've found that it's not that they aren't good or capable, but too many of them have a niche sounds and you need more, rather than a few to get the job done. I think those three are pretty broad, with the exception of Dune.

So what are you relying on VST wise? or you were getting a DAW with stuff in it? Logic? what's in logic?

[christianrock]

The Inception soundtrack was done by Zimmer allegedly using nothing but Zebra. You should be fine with a minimal setup

Logic has a whole bunch of stuff. When I'm done going through what it has, I might think of adding something else

Oh and there's a guy selling Maschine on Craigslist who wants a workstation for playing live. I offered a trade for my Fusion. From what I've been hearing, even though I do love the Spark interface, Maschine is just a better deal.

So Mac + Maschine + Logic Pro + interface + monitors might be all I need for my new tunage.

I started a thread at Gearslutz about my gear changes and someone's trying to talk me out of that Steinberg interface. I know it's not a Lynx but it's supposedly better than the EMU stuff, and those are really the only contenders in the less-than-a-thousand-dollars interface market...

[MetroSonus]

I've heard a lot of good things about it. I think it was also mostly used for the synth stuff on the Tron sound track.


Since you're doing your research, can you tell me the difference between an audio interface and a DAC is?

I figured they were the same thing.. but the prices on the DACs get up to 5k and stuff

What are they, like really high grade recording equipment or something?

[christianrock]

The DAC will just convert from digital to analog. No preamps.

Like the Apogee Rosetta 200 for example - if has ADCs and a DACs. So if you want to use it as your computer interface, you need a preamp to feed sound into it.

Basically, these are totally professional converters that do nothing but convert. The audio interface has converters but has a bunch of other stuff...

On that note, I'm totally looking at the Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 instead of that Steinberg, now. For about the same price, it seems like a higher quality unit, even if the preamps for recording in the Steinberg might be a tiny bit better. But the Focusrite seems to be less colored which might be better, even if a lot of people love how the coloration in the Steinberg sounds...

[MetroSonus]

ah!

Believe it or not I'm getting the Creative Labs PCIE fatality pro card. It comes with a front drive bar connection in which you can connect headphones, mic, line it etc. it'll make monitoring from the PC easy and it runs full duplex, asio blah blah .. I'm going to line into the back of it from my mixer (whenever I get that).

I cant' believe the quality would be worse and even out of my cheapy cakewalk interface, I got excellent results from my Virus.

Coloring wise though, I miss my old sound craft mixer. It had a "warm" feel to it I liked..

[christianrock]

I think I'll miss the warmth of my tapes and my mixer once they're gone...

I'm in full interface research mode right now. And I got work to do... argh.

[MetroSonus]

I thought about getting a tape deck to bounce stuff into and out of.

Yea that drives me nuts when you get on a train of thought and you've work to do. lousy work