I've been playing in bands ever since I saw George Harrison and the boys in 1963 (I'm still a Beatle‑freak!) Now, however, I would like to digitally start laying down my own tracks. I have a 466MHz PC with a 15Gb hard drive. What else do I need to produce acceptable demos using the computer?
Ken
Assistant Editor Sam Inglis replies: If you want to make multitrack recordings using your computer, the main things you'll need are the right software, and some means of getting audio in and out of the machine. With regard to the former, there are a number of packages that can handle your requirements for tracking plus effects, dynamics, and so on, including Steinberg's Cubase, Emagic's Logic, Cakewalk Systems' Cakewalk Pro Audio, and Sonic Foundry's Vegas Pro. These come with some plug‑in effects, and more are available. Your computer should handle 24 tracks of 16‑bit audio with no problems. All of the above, except Vegas Pro, also include sophisticated MIDI sequencers, so you can trigger external MIDI modules, keyboards and drum machines.
When it comes to getting audio in and out of the computer, you need to consider how many tracks you're likely to want to record simultaneously. If you'll only ever need to record one mono or stereo track at a time, as you would when overdubbing a single instrument, I'd suggest an affordable high‑quality consumer soundcard such as the SoundBlaster Live!, plus a separate, external mic preamp if any of your sources are mic‑level rather than line‑level (the mic preamps in consumer cards are usually pretty poor).
If, on the other hand, you want to record more than one source at once — for instance, if you want to close‑mic a drum kit and record each mic on its own track, or record several instruments playing together — you'll need a multi‑channel audio interface. Several good‑value options are available, offering a variety of I/O options from stereo‑in/stereo‑out right up to the 24 channels of MOTU's 2408 interface. Again, if you're planning to record several mic‑level signals simultaneously, you need to make sure that you have some way of amplifying these, either using external dedicated mic preamps or an external mixer, or by buying an interface which includes decent mic preamps on the inputs.
If you're planning to do all your mixing, effects use, and processing within the computer, you shouldn't need more than a stereo output (for monitoring and outputting final mixes). If you plan on doing some or all of your mixing using a separate external hardware mixer and outboard effects processors, however, you'll need a soundcard that has multiple outputs as well as multiple inputs. If you're planning on using external MIDI gear as well, you will also need to make sure either that your chosen interface includes MIDI I/O or that you have some other form of MIDI interface. You'll also need some way to monitor the signal that comes out of your computer: a pair of decent nearfield monitor speakers would be ideal.
One thing that I would also recommend is a small mixer, even if you're doing all your track mixing in the computer. The reason for this is so that you can avoid the dreaded 'latency': when recording, you can split the signal from your instrument or mic, so that you hear it directly via the mixer and monitors, rather than having to listen to the signal you're recording via the computer (which, with most soundcards, will mean that it is delayed with respect to the music you're trying to overdub it to).
Finally, you'll need some way of recording your finished tracks to a medium that can be played outside the computer. Perhaps the best way is to use a computer CD burner — then you can back up song data to CD‑ROM as well as burning audio CDs direct from the computer. Alternatively, you could have some kind of stereo recorder such as a DAT or Minidisc, and record the output from your soundcard. If you do this, it's worth getting a soundcard with S/PDIF digital out and a recorder with a matching input, so your output signal doesn't have to go through too many stages of conversion.