Hi guys, im just curious what you fellows are using for your recording gear on your PC.


- Im using a Pentium 4 (watercooled to 2.8 for speed and quietness) with 512 megs of pc2700 ram. Sony e540 21" monitor with a ti4200 for the graphics. Windows XP using a WD JB80 gig hard drive. Asus P4PE mobo.

- Midiman Audiophile 2496 soundcard. Great card with very few complaints. Midiman stuff rocks!

- Jackson Soloist guitar as well as an Ibanez RG421(With Graphtech Piezo system).

- Sansamp PSA-1 preamp - The gem of my system, makes recording easy and great sounding with a huge variety of sounds! Very happy with it.

- Genexxa mixer , cheqap but does the job for basic vocals and any other inputs I may need.

- Cubase SX - I use this in conjunction with a lot of vst processors. Im very happy with Ohmboyz reverb and the Waves processors. PSP84 is amazing for guitar stuff as well. For drums I use Battery with the Mixtended drum kits from Wizoo which covers all my needs.

- Evolution MK149 midi keyboard - cheap and does all i need it to do (limited use)

For monitoring I have a set of Sennheiser HD590's powered off a Creek OBH11 amplifier.
I also have a set of Paradigm Monitor 9's running off a Yamaha RXV596 amp.

Everything I own is relatively mid end to low end for recording, but im very happy with it. I have acquired all that I need for recoding and now I feel im limited only by my creativity.

I have no driver issues and the performance is great. Very low latency even under heavy loads and all the guitar effects sounds amazing. Id put the waves processors against any high end guitar effects processor Ive ever played with.

Im curious what y'all are using out there and your opinions of your gear.


PS - heres my latest recording using the gear above

http://www.guitar.com/artists/sounds...ngOfWinter.mp3

and...

http://www.guitar.com/artists/sounds/Gemini8026-Tea.mp3

and this was done using Sonar 2.0 a while back (most technical piece)

http://www.guitar.com/artists/sounds...heEntrance.mp3

I've just downgraded my entire studio - here's what I use now:

Pentium 4 1.5 w 512 RAM, 64M TNT, 18.5 NCR LCD.

Digital Audio - Echo Darla

Midi Interface - 2 4x4 Roland USB

Sequencer - Sonar 2 w/plug in's for FX

Midi - Korg NX5r, Roland JV1010, Alesis D4, Roland PMA 5, and a Rolls 10 channel stereo line mixer to mix them. Kaysound 49 key midi controller to input midi data.

DAW - Boss BR-1080CD synced to SONAR via MTC. Has built in COSM fx, so if you have no fx, you are still good to go - sounds great.

Rolls 3 channel mini mixer to mix modules and Boss.

Various Jems, ESP's, Les Pauls and a Yamaha Bass.

Pandora PX4 - Great sounds in a little box.

Boss GT-5 - Great sounds in a foot pedal.

AR250 speakers - originally high end computer speakers, but they sound really great. Also use AKG K240 for reference.

Everything fits on a 2.5 x 5 desktop area, except for the foot pedal.

I'm still working out the sync problems with the 1180 and SONAR since the 1180 needs to be the master, but everything seems to be going smoothly so far.

sounds like you got your midi needs more then covered.

As far as synching stuff. I hate even getting into all that jazz. How is your sound card, do you have any driver issues at all?

Ive always been intruiged by the echo products

I like the soundcard. I have had no major driver problems either. The DAW is on a Win ME system and I haven't had any problems so far. My other system is XP, but I'm too lazy to move the hardware.

I would upgrade my ME to XP if it weren't for some legacy apps that don't run on XP.

For the Darla, 2 in/8 out is more than enough.

AMD 1.3 GHZ, 256MB (need more) 40 GB RAID 0 - Win XP
Delta 1010 and Delta 66
Midisport 8x8
Mackie 1202VLZ - mostly mix internally...
Peavey Studio Mix - might need to replace this...
Hafler P1500
2x KRK 6000 - love these
Roland MCR-8 - older mixer-type Midi controller, no feedback, but way versatile...
Sonar XL 2.1 (incude a few extra nice plugs)
Cakewalk FX3 (reverb) - I like this
WaveArts TrackPlug - just got this, need to work it out.
SF - Acid Pro 3.0 + stock plugins - SF plugins don't work right in Sonar sometimes
Various Loop CDs - Fun
SF - Noise Reduction - my savior
Sonitus Plug In bundle - just got this too, mainly for the multi-band compressor.
VSampler
Presonus M80 Mic Pre - Flexible
Presonus ACP-88 - prefect for the M80
Presonus BlueTube - For $100, why not? pretty nice
Presonus BlueMax - Ditto. Not used much
JoeMeek VC3 - For $150, why not. Decent Pre, cool compressor and enhancer
FMRAudio RNC1173 - excellent. Might have to do the RNMP next... (anybody want the BT/BM pair w/ rackmount??)
dbx 166A - Classic dbx when you want it.
Boss VF-1
Roland DEP-5 - Need a lexicon reverb....
Roland GI-10 - Guitar to Midi
Roland XP-30 + Various Boards
Roland XV-3080 + Various Boards
Roland JP-8080 (soon)
Roland HPD-15
Roland VG-8 + cards
Roland promo 12-space rack
Axxess Racks
Various Patch Panels and Cords
Boss Pedals (various)
Ibanez Pedals (various, just got an FC-10!)
Rivera TBR-1SL (modded)
Rivera S-120
2x Rivera 2x10 Cabs
2x Carvin Legacy 2x12 Cabs
Morley BH Wah and LA Vol
TC G-Force + Preset Card
BBE 822
Sabine Rack Tuner
Rocktron Hush C
Rolls rm203 rackmount Line Mixer
Various Guitars
Rolls Matchboxes
Audio Technica AT4050 (need another..)
SM57 x2
Oktava MC-012 (all capsules) x2
Sennheiser e602
AKG C1000S
StudioProjects C1
AKG 240M x2
Rolls Headphone amp

Kind of a mix of guitar and studio, but I think that's most of it......

All I need now is talent and time....

jeez, how many power outlets do you have in your house?




Fancy setup, im curious as to what is the one piece you would never give away is? With all that gear, do you have one item that you at all costs wouldnt replace?


Also, are you guys running any fancy power conditioning to your units? Im having issues finding enough plugs and making sure my power is clean and healthy!

I'll just concentrate on the studio portion, since getting into the guitar-related gear would probably take me the rest of the day:

Hardware:
Gateway PIII-550 Mhz system w/ 256Mb RAM
2 Quantum Ultra2 SCSI drives (9 & 18 Gb)
Plextor 40x SCSI CD-Rom & Panasonic 4x CD-R
Castlewood 2.2Gb SCSI ORB drive
SoundBlaster Live
Lexicon Core 2 w/ MP100 daughterboard
Gravis MIDI Adapter
Cakewalk/Peavey StudioMix console

Software:
Windows 98 SE
Cakewalk Pro Audio Deluxe 9.0.3
Musician's Toolbox III
Cakewalk Groovemaker 1.2
Sonic Foundry SoundForge XP 4.5
Sonic Foundry Acid 2.0
Magic Audio Cleaning Lab 1.04
Adaptec Easy CD Creator 3.0

Korg Triton (all the keys one would ever need)

Studio gear:
(2) ART Tube Channel preamp/compressor/EQ
Alesis SR16 drum machine
Alesis 3630 compressor
BBE 362NR Sonic Maximizer
Behringer Eurorack 8-channel mixer
Carvin StudioMate SM162 16-channel mixer
Carvin H40M headphones
Carvin HT150 power amp & PM5 monitors
Korg PXR4 portable recorder
Rockman X100 (for demos and quick-takes)
Sony minidisc recorder (for recording band practice)

Mics:
Shure SM57
Shure SM58
Nady DMK7 drum mics
Nady SCM900 condenser mic
Audio Technica midnight blues mic
EV ND267AS mic

This page explains how we used all that gear for recording our last CD and has some pics of the setup:
http://w3.one.net/~brentano/nbsp/fantasypants.html

While going through the process, I ended up selling off quite a bit of studio gear, including keyboards, FX units, EQ's, compressors, etc. My theory was that if I didn't need to use the gear to record a full band, then I'd probably never use it. I've found that instead of using outboard FX and compression, I get just as good of results adding software-based FX and compression, which REALLY speeds up the mixdown and mastering times!

The computer's somewhat dated--I bought it to use exclusively for home recording about 4 years ago. Despite its age, it runs like a champ, so I've been somewhat reluctant to upgrade it. Throughout the recording process it seldom dropped out when recording 5 simultaneous tracks of audio or playing back ~12 tracks at a time.

My one piece of gear I couldn't live without--the ART Tube Channel preamps. Great value for the money--they offer a tube-based preamp, tube compression, and tube parametric EQ in a single rack space. Great for boosting levels and adding warmth! I only have 2 of them right now (enough to use for recording guitars live and on guitar & vocal overdubs), but I think if I was to buy more studio gear I'd invest in several more of them so I could use them when recording drums & bass. The new V3 models with different voicings for guitar / bass/ drums / vocals are intriguing.

I also wouldn't mind picking up a Roland guitar synth (pref. a rackmount version) to use in conjunction with the Triton.

--Brent

One thing - there is a difference between a true tube based preamp and a solid state preamp with a cheap tube FX box in it. I know ART makes the latter kind; they may also make the former (and you may have such a one), I dunno.

The difference is, the cheap tube boxes use a standard preamp IC like an Analog Devices SSM-2017, and then stick what is basically a very mild tube fuzz circuit on the end (with a current starved tube in it). This is fine if one likes the effect, but it's not the same, and IMO not as flexible.

This is nothing like a real design based around a tube like a Millenia Media, Manley, or even Peavey's VMP-2. Then again, it's all about what you like and what you want to capture. I'm certainly no purist - I use modeling amps. ;-)

There's not much of my gear that I wouldn't updgrade if I found a $100K sitting on my doorstep (would love to try/own some Grace and Manley gear). But these pieces of gear I'd probably never actually get rid of, even if I didn't use them as much.

2x KRK 6000 - love these moniotors and got 'em cheap. Not powered, but they're very detailed.
Roland DEP-5 - My first piece of real studio gear. 15+ yrs old, but I've got a soft spot for it.
Roland GI-10 - Small, simple, works fine. OOP and hard to find.
Roland VG-8 - just too much fun. A cool creative tool for me.
Rivera TBR-1SL (modded) VERY versatile, too much fun to explore. Maybe I'll get tired of it one day.
TC G-Force - Love this unit. Could replace it with several pieces of gear and maybe get a better sound, but it's so versatile and configurable that there's no point.
Audio Technica AT4050/CM5 - Versatile, clean, forgiving, and not too expensive (for what you get). Maybe not your first condenser (was mine!) but belongs in your mic cabinet.

And yes, the power strips are a nightmare! I don't have a conditioner at the moment (on the list), but I have a hospital grade surge suppressor. I tend to only turn on the gear I need at the moment, which tends to help.

I don't really know the difference, but it doesn't really matter much to me given what I use them for (home recording). I picked up the Tube Channels to add some warmth to digital recordings rather inexpensively. They have drastically improved the tone of my recordings. I'm sure there are better sounding and better architected tube preamps out on the market, but for the money, the ART gear is hard to argue with. I've been doing some shopping around today, and I'll likely get a couple more ART preamps soon to use for bass & drums on our recordings.

One of the things I learned while my band was recording our last CD was sometimes it's not how fancy the gear is, but just having the right gear. It's hard finding a decent middle ground. Some examples:

1) We started out using general purpose mics for drums, vocals, and guitar--we later invested in very inexpensive dedicated mics for each and it made a huge difference. In this case upgrading to the right gear made a big difference.

2) We were using a couple dbx boxes (DDP and ProVocal) for drum and vocal processing. After we realized we only needed basic compression, limiting, and FX on drums and vocals, we traded the dbx boxes in on more basic units. In this scenario, downgrading simplified the overall rig and recording process, without any drastic change in sound quality.

Net, in our recording process we probably spent twice as much on gear as we planned, but the end result sounded 10 times better. I'm not sure had we invested more in gear how much better it would've sounded, but I think there's a law of diminishing returns here.

--B

Hee hee. I could have fun with this if I listed the gear in my work studio. Especially since we got the new consoles, but its really not mine, so I'll list my home studio. Its not much as far as gear, but it takes up a lot of space.

Carvin 40 channel, 8-buss console.
Pro Tools, Digi 001.
Echos and Verbs from TC Electronics, Beringer, Alesis & DBX.
Focusrite mic processing.
DBX Compressor/Limiters.
Eventide Eclipse.
TC Electronics Finalizer Plus.
Rolland R-8 Drum Machine.
Panasonic DAT.
Technics Cassette.
Technics and Denon CD players.
Otari MX 5050, 1/4 inch reel.
Otari MX-70, 1 inch, 8-Track.
Mics by Groove Tube, Sure and EV.
Crest Power amps.
Monitors-I forgot the company.
Mac G-3.
Various Guitars and Amps.

That's all I can think of right now. I really don't need more.

Mac Dual G4
MOTU 828 w/Digital Performer 3.1
NHT A10 Monitors
Roland JV1010 & Kurzweil SP88 Synths
Various Groove Tube and Shure Mics
Waves Gold Plugins
Line 6 Pod PRO
Joe Meek Preamp
Unity Sessions Soft Sampler
Ibanez 6 string bass
Ibanez, Fender, and Carvin Guitars.

I'm very happy with my stuff and I don't really ever feel limited by it. Nitpicking: I'd like a bass modler like the Tech-21 Bass DI or a Bass POD. I'd like to sell the Roland Synth and get something a little more modern like a Triton rack or something. I'd also like to pickup a copy of Kontakt instead of Unity, cause Unity sucks!!

Apex Mic
Apex Boom Stand
Tascam Portastudio 424
and Goldwave on my computer.

Guitar stuff:
'97 Squire Strat w/ DiMarzio Super Distortion
Schecter Revenger-7
Line6 Flextone II
Line6 Floorboard
Korn Toneworks AX-1G

I want to add:
Bass and Bass amp/modeller
Synth
Decent computer
Roland V-Drums set (I can dream, eh? )

I have:

AMD Athlon 1800XP+
512MB Ram
32mb AGP card
Echo Mia
Behringer 8 channel mixer
Shure SM58
Studio Projects B1
Acid 4 Pro
Sound Forge 6
Cubase 5.1
POD
AKG headphones

I want to get:
Audiophile USB
40gig 7200rpm HD for my notebook (IBM supposedly is coming out with one)
Presonus TubePre
Bass
Better 6 string acoustic

Really too much stuff to list both studio and guitar wise BUT......

Pentium 4 1.8 Ghz
Terretac soundcard
4 Alesis ADAT XT's
Mackie 32x8
Eventide H3000 D/SX
Digitech 2101LE
korg DTR-1
Alesis BRC
Behringer Tube Composer
Behringer Ultramizer
Symmetrix 428
Digitech Valve FX
Ensoniq DP/4
Digitech Studio Quad
Peavey tube Verb/trem
Furman Punch 10
Digitech 128
Digitech 256XL
422 A BBE Sonic Maximizer
ADA Microcab II
Proteus World
Mics:
2 AKG C1000's
1 AKG C3000
1 Alesis Groove Tube large diaphram
2 Russian Octavia mics
4 SM 57's
2 SM 58's
1 EV condenser vocal mic
2 Sennhieser MD 421's
Software
Acid 4.0 pro
Sound Forge 5.0
T Rax
Platinum Bundle
about 70 Acid Loop CD's
Cubase (not sure of the version)
Vegas
a ton of other software I just cant remember it all!! lol
Video Editing
Pinnacle Deluxe Hollywood Studio
Hollywood Studio Pro effects
RCA/S video/USB/Firewire breakout box
guitar gear
Its ALWAYS changing BUT guitars:
Ibanez JEM7VWH
custom 7 string by EKG
Fender Ultra Strat
Fender American Tele
Samick 335
Samick Les Paul
BC Rich NJ series Warlock
Ovation Custom Legend
Pre WWII Banjo with a 6 string neck on it
OLD unknown make acoustic (I use it for lap steel)
Amps:
Vox AC30
Univox 1x12
Pedals:
Mesa V-twin
Vox Clyde McCoy wah
Ernie Ball Volume
Route 66
Ibanez Roto chorus
Boss TU2 tuner
Rocktron Hush

bla bla bla bla bla bla lol

www.excaliberstudio.com The site has not been updated in quite some time but...... at least you can see pics there.