Sorry. I had to do this.

T

TekkBeatz

www.iamtekk.com
Ok, here is my situation. I make beats with FL Studio, and occasionally
on Cubase when I am at a friends studio. I have been making an attempt to record vocals with Acoustica Mixcraft. I don't like it at all. Anyways, this post has a series of questions, which all relate to each other in some way. Being that I have different questions, I did not know where to post this.

My current PC is giving me problems. It is an Acer laptop, AMD V120 2.2Ghz processor, 3GB of ram, 250GB HDD. I definitely need to upgrade this system. I have a nice case and power supply already, so I have considered building the DAW myself. The problem with this is, I am not sure what kind of specifications I will need to successfully do all of the things I am trying to accomplish. Another option, is to just buy a complete system. Depending on my financial situation in the near future, I was considering buying a RAIN DAW. Seems like a good option. If my finds do not allow this, I am not sure what other option I will have. A lot of people have told me not to buy a consumer PC (Dell, HP, etc) for production. I bought a BRAND NEW HP with 8gb of RAM, a quad core processor, 1TB HDD, and I had HUGE latency, distortion, scratchy sounding problems with FL Studio and Cubase. So any recommendations that you may have for me, I am open to listen to. Also considering a couple different Macs. Read the rest before you make a suggestion, because the following will affect this.


Next question... I am starting to record vocals, and I am torn between Cubase 5 and Pro Tools 8. I have used Cubase some, so I am somewhat familiar with it, but never for vocals. How is Cubase's vocal quality in comparison to Pro Tools? If I went with Pro Tools, I would most likely get the MBox 2. If I go with Cubase, I have no earthly idea what interface I will get. I will be recording only one vocal track at a time. I also with either track out the beats into one of the two DAWs from FL Studio, or just use the particular DAW to make the beats. I use an Akai MPK 61 if that matters to anyone. I will also be needing to upgrade my mic for sure, because I am currently using a Samson CO1U, which is USB and unrecognized by Cubase when I have tried. Plus I just dont like the product it produces. The mic will be mainly for hip hop vocals, with a little R&B too. Male vocals btw. Any suggestions in this area of my question book? Lol


In closing, I need a strong and stable computer that will run Cubase or Pro Tools with no flaws. Considering Mac also, because PT and Cubase work with both. Also, does anyone have any experience with the Tascam DM3200 Control Surface? Might pick this up for VERY CHEAP. Also the AT2020, good for male hip hop vocals? Room quality isn't affecting my vocal quality. I have a 4' by 6' booth, heavily insulated and professional acoustic treatment.


Thanks for viewing my thread, and reading this long ass post. Huge thank you in advance to anyone who responds to this thread. FP is my go-to source of info. I appreciate you all.
 
As far as the computer.... your HP laptop should be MORE than enough for what you want to do. Technically.. the Acer should be good as well. Your Acer has better specs than my old system and I was able to work well on that system.

If there are issues on your HP it's NOT the computer by any means. It's likely a probably w/ your settings somewhere. You need to make sure you're using your ASIO drivers at all times. The stock drivers that each DAW you own opens up with are terrible... I don't even know why they exist man, u can't use them really to record midi or audio.

In Cubase... go to Device Setup and change the driver from Duplux to whatever ASIO driver you're using.

Actually... let me ask you this... what interface are you currently using? This might be the issue. I didn't see you write anywhere about having an interface so i'm assuming you don't have one yet. This is ABSOLUTELY the issue that needs to be solved. This will be your biggest purchase... forget about building a new computer, your laptop's specs exceed many other people's setups. If you'rs concerned about latency and your audio's quality.. picking the right interface is key. The audio quality won't have much to do with Cubase vs. Pro Tools, it will have much more to do with your signal chain before it gets to the computer.

I'm not a fan of the MBox. I feel like you can get better quality for the exact same money. MAudio makes great products, like the Profire, and Fast Track Pro. I own their discontinued FireWire 410 and it's awesome. Presonus makes some good interfaces from what I hear. There are a host of companies that make great products.

The important thing is that these interfaces will have good ASIO drivers for you to work with. There's also a free ASIO driver you can use in the mean time if you don't have one.. it's called ASIO4ALL. Not the greatest, but it works.
 
CPhoenix said:
The audio quality won't have much to do with Cubase vs. Pro Tools, it will have much more to do with your signal chain before it gets to the computer.
Click to expand...

I'd like to take this moment to mention the programs have practically nothing to do with the quality. It's all in the recording chain, rather than just "much more". :)
 
I understand that the quality has nothing to do with Cubase vs Pro Tools. But what I am saying, is that I huge problem with latency, distortion, scratching sound, when I run more than one VSTi at once. This is a huge problem because in my productions I use multiple VSTs. What I am asking, is can the interface be the cause of this problem, since I do not currently own one? I have the ASIO4ALL drivers. Still have the problem. It happens in FL Studio and Cubase with VSTi's, and in Cool Edit Pro or Mixcraft with my Waves Vocal Bundle and other vocal FX. I would keep my current Acer system if I could fix this issue.
 
Consumer sound cards are not intended for professional audio. A decent interface will absolutely resolve your latency issues.
 
As far as the computer.... your HP laptop should be MORE than enough for what you want to do. Technically.. the Acer should be good as well. Your Acer has better specs than my old system and I was able to work well on that system.
Click to expand...

pretty much what i was going to say too, my current system has less spec too and i have no problems with using loads of vsts. check your devices, settings and also find out what other programs that are running on your laptop that you can switch off to save memory. if its really slow then maybe reinstalling the os might be an option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top