Software.......

[jim]

OK, I am through with Digital Orchestrator... it sucks. It is totally bug ridden and I've lost too many tracks due to crashes.

What I'm looking for is a package (Cakewalk, Cool Edit, Cubasis, etc.) that can do the following:

Easy to use and set up.
Wave editing.
Reverb effects

As I haven't used these packages, can one of you mates recommend one? And perhaps burn me a copy and slip it in the mail???? I'd be forever grateful (esp to any of you in the US where I could get it quickly )

 

[Eddies cellmate]

I've never used it myself Jim, but I noticed that Cakewalk is discount priced in the latest Musicians friend catalog. It seems to be highly regarded. If you want to check it out, look it up on thier website at http://www.musiciansfriend.com

Good Luck!

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Jim: I have two different Cakewalk programs. Cakewalk professional 5.0 (really old version) and Guitar tracks 2. I've never been able to get the "Pro" version to work right and I spent a lot of money on it back when it first came out. (Nearly $200 I believe)
I used Guitar tracks for all of my projects here. It has a lot of very useful features. You can record layered tracks, punch ins, and it comes with some pretty good effects. The downside is that my recordings always seemed to be off time.
I upgraded my soundcard to try and fix the audio timing (soundblaster live platinum). After upgrading the sound, the timing seemed better, but then there were pops and clicks in the audio. After troubleshooting for a long time I replaced my video card...there was some wierd compatability issue with the nvidia driver. So now I have a new sound card and radeon video card and I can record without pops and clicks...but the latest track I did (where eagles dare) loses the timing several minutes in. Frustrating.
I have an Athlon based pc, these things might not occur on Intel machines.
One other thing I found out is that the Soundblaster cards use a high sample rate of 48000 and convert other sample rates in real time to that rate. That could also be part of the problem on my system because Guitar tracks only allows sampling up to 44.1k. (cd quality). It could be causing some latency by converting everything I record to a higher sampling rate.
There is a new version of Guitar tracks out GT "pro" Uh oh....watch out they threw "pro" in there again. LOL. I believe it supports higher sampling rates.
This is getting long so let me summarize...
If you are changing programs to get rid of bugs...Cakewalk might not be your best bet if you are running it on a system similar to mine.
Hope this helps.

 

[jim]

Thanks dude....

YEah, and I think Guitar Studio is limited to 16 tracks.... too few for my needs.

Anyone give me some insight on Cool Edit?

 

[rabies]

Cool Edit.

Thanks to 7th I have both Cool Edit pro and Cool Edit 2000. Some of the directx plugins that it comes with are cool..I use the compression from this program a lot....but I don't use it to mix/record - I don't like the interface.

My setup so far includes having cool edit, n-track, soundforge and cubasis on my box.....but i only installed the others to get the direct-x plug-ins from them - once installed, you can use them in N-track. I still record and mix in N-track...and master the single track in soundforge.

I am pretty sure have N-track...why shy away from that? In my opinion, it is by far the most intuitive/easy - its all because of that nifty 'mixing board' window. True, you need to install all the other programs to get access to the plugins for reverb, compression, etc (the ones that come with N-track kinda suck)...and the only restriction on tracks is however many your machine can handle.

I also have the full blown version of Cakewalk. It looks very powerful..but there is a pretty steep learning curve. If you plan to bounce a lot of tracks..or send them to auxilliary channels for effect (etc)..this may be the program for you....N-track is very limited in this department.

 

[Eddies cellmate]

Rabs, don't the other DirectX plug-ins from the programs other than n-track work by themselves, without having to install thier original host program? I've installed the plug-ins from Soundforge (and other programs) by themselves and 90% of the time they work just fine with n-track by themselves. Maybe I've just been lucky withem, but so far they've almost all worked.

 

[Stormbringer]

i use wavelab 3.3c, very handy programme!
i also got some cubase versions, but prefer wavelab cos it's easier to handle.

try http://www.astalavista.box.sk/ to downloads some recording software

 

[jim]

Rabs...
hmmmm... there are 2 reasons I don't use N-Tracks. First, I can't do wave editing native. I'd have to install a sceond program. Second, it applies effects on the fly (non-distructively) which is MURDER on your processor and RAM consumption.

Can you send me the Cool Edit stuff? I need to make the switch soon before I go insane from losing tracks....

 

[rabies]

Jim,

1. What do you mean native wav editing?
2. Get a better machine. ...I actually like the fact that it does it on the fly. easier to change.
3. Yea..you want me to press it on a CD and mail it?


EC,

I feel stupid now, but how do you install the native effects for cool edit or soundforge without installing the program?

 

[jim]

The copy of N-tracks I have does not let you edit the wav files. It launchs an associated wav editor if you have one and set it up to use it. Is this on old version?

My PC is a Pent..800, 512RAM. Not sure if it can handle the processing....

I sent you my address. It would be cool if you sent me the Cool Edit stuff.....

Thanks.

 

[7thSon]

Jim just go here and down load your full version of cool edit for free

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=4221

 

[Eddies cellmate]

Originally posted by rabies
Jim,

1. What do you mean native wav editing?
2. Get a better machine. ...I actually like the fact that it does it on the fly. easier to change.
3. Yea..you want me to press it on a CD and mail it?


EC,

I feel stupid now, but how do you install the native effects for cool edit or soundforge without installing the program?

Well, some of the plug-ins come with an installer program, and with those I simply install them to the n-track plug-ins folder. The ones that don't, I just place whatever files they come with into the folder myself. When you open the n-track effects dialog box, n-track will automatically search for compatable plug-ins and add whichever ones it finds to the list of available effects. I've tried a lot of plug-ins just for kicks and experimentation and like I mentioned they've worked for me like this about 90% of the time. A few went kinda haywire, but almost all have worked just fine.

I'm no expert with these things, myself. I usually rely on some of the better websites for guidance.

Cheers!