Best Setup? Options

[bjurusik]

Alright, I've tried to find answers to my questions in the forums, but I'm still confused. I'm new to computer recording and am unsure as what I need. Currently I have a 17" iMac and a Tascam US-428.
Basically I just want to multitrack with guitar and voice. I've never really used midi, but in the future I may add a midi keyboard. As I understand it, the midi keyboard plays sounds off your computer correct? For example you could chose a grand piano sound set and the notes are controlled by the keyboard. Now when you record a guitar or vocal, it shows up as a waveform. Does midi do the same thing? Say your drum track is midi, is it going to show up in the tracks window below the guitar track? Any suggestions as to what software would work best for me? It has to be reasonably cheap, 300 or less. I've looked at Cubase, Logic, and DP, but they all seem like way to much for what I want to do. Would I be best getting something like ProTools LE? thanks.

[boze]

hi bjurusik-
you're questions touch on all the basic hw issues involved in home recording.

i want to say a few things that are just general comments- the specifics can shift from one sort of hw or sw to another.

Okay, so the two types of recording (midi and audio) look like this:

AUDIO:
instrument (guitar/vocal) --> soundcard --> daw sw (Logic etc.)

MIDI:
midi input (keyboard/knob etc.) --> midi interface --> daw sw --> vst instrument (software sampler/synth)

That's straight-forward enough, right? so picture two halves of your setup: a guitar and mic that you record into a soundcard, and a midi kbd that you use to play synths and samplers that are software-based.

generally speaking then, there is a piece of hw you need to buy for every object in each of those chains that comes before 'daw sw'. does that make sense so far?

it's true that some midi controllers don't need a midi interface because they have usb connectivity, so that's one caveat. but the greater truth of the matter is that for most folks there isn't any single piece of hw that covers all their needs.

my needs are similar to yours actually, so let me tell you some of the things i'm considering as a way to sum up.

$500us
http://www.edirol.com/products/info/ua700.html - this is a good call for the audio side of things in principle. i have an amp modeler and it makes tracking guitar fun and easy with no mics and a better than line-in signal. it's an interesting product tailored for guitar/vocal folks who don't already have a soundcard or mixer.

$200 and up..
http://www.edirol.com/products/keyboard.html - the pcr line from edirol is a good choice for midi control because there are a variety of kbd sizes _and more importantly a generic combination of 8 knobs and 8 sliders on each model that can be used to control lots of on-screen parameters withouth much fuss. *the pcr-A30 also includes simple 1/4 audio input, but that in itself is kind of a half-assed solution that wouldn't be a good way to get guita /vocal recording done.

$300
http://korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=microkontrol - a nice unit with more kinds of midi input than the Edirol pcr series but with smaller keys that make it a bad choice for folks who can actually play piano.

--

of course, there are a _ton of ways to fit the bill with audio and midi hw purchases. the m-audio o-zone is a nice idea for a cheap starter unit that covers all the basics at once at a fair price.

two sidenotes and then i'm done:
first, i think for vocal people especially it's good to look mainly at soundcards that have some sort of xlr input, preferably with decent mic preamps. being able to plug a real mic that needs phantom power directly into your soundcard pretty much means that if you're tracking one instrument at a time you can avoid a mixer purchase and still get good results. the digi001 is a perfect early example of this sort of approach.

second, it's easy to look too closely at features in soundcards and midi equipment but particularly with soundcards you want to make sure that you get a feel for what ppl think of the drivers for the device and how they work in xp or osx. a product can look like it has everything you need, but if it's not going to run stable with Logic or OSX then you'd be better off with a different soundcard even if it didn't look as good on paper.