Recording Programs for PC

KavoKJK · 2016-12-19T15:32:51+00:00

Hello Guitarists Does anyone know of a good recording program? I basically want to record myself playing a piece, and then record myself playing over that p...

Recording Programs for PC

warrenpridgeon

Another vote for Reaper. You can evaluate "forever" for free... or splurge and pay the $60 to buy it.

V8

Nitebob but I found working MIDI into it, was a nightmare.

...Ableton ?

Nitebob

V8 I've used Ableton Live Lite before and it was a breeze, but had limited tracks. I assume the paid version will have more tracks.
V8

Tuckstir

ok blindfold on. aiming in the dark
Anybody with linux experience here?
I'm about to redo my home server and contemplating putting on an OS that actually has a GUI.
Ubuntu studio I see come with Guitarix and Rakarrack with the ability to record through Jack.
just curious to see if anybody has done or attempted it..

NorioDS

Tuckstir Anybody with linux experience here?

I used Linux for around 15 years. Only stopped when I switched to Mac.

I used Ardour as a DAW and it was fantastic. This was years ago and I never tried anything with MIDI.

JACK seemed to be temperamental. I know it was meant to be the answer to all of the audio issues on Linux but that was only true when it worked. Things have probably changed since then, though. In fact, I think I only finally got it all working when I tried Ubuntu Studio. So you should be fine.

(I went Storm Linux → Slackware → Debian → Ubuntu, with Ubuntu Studio for guitar → Mac.)

If memory serves, I tried Rakarrack and it was pretty good. I did this track with Ardour and, I think, Rakarrak for the effects, etc:

https://community.guitartalk.co.za/d/791-norrirock-new-one-from-norio

The playing is awful but I can tell you that it was easy to do. Which was nice. But it still seemed like a professional DAW. From the stuff I read at the time, Ardour was like a professional DAW.

It's nice that it's opensource so you can be fairly certain it won't start costing you later. The downside is that the user-interface probably hasn't improved much and you probably won't get

Here's a list of its features:
https://ardour.org/features.html

And a pic:

Hope this helps!

klaasvakie

Tuckstir

Tuckstir Anybody with linux experience here?

My main machine runs linux, I've used ardour as well as audacity to record with minimal hassle. Ardour has more features but is also quite complex (and looks terrible on HiDPI displays). I also use Yousician which runs on Linux, but I found it to be quite crashy on my system (Intel i5 - builtin GPU), so I now have a Winblows laptop set up at my guitar.

I almost never record myself (I should do more but I'm shy), but my normal practice routine usually usually has the laptop running Yousician or Youtube dependent on if I'm practicing or playing. My amp (Line6 Amplifi) plugs into the laptop via USB so the laptop sounds come out the amp, and it also allows me to record directly from USB.

My phone connects to the amp via bluetooth and runs a metronome amp as well as the app to control the amp. The phone sounds also go out the amp via bluetooth.

What I've been looking for is a windows program that will capture video from the webcam and audio from USB. Most of the real DAWs require that you record the video on a separate camera and then import that into the audio project, but that is just waaaay to much of a ballache for a quick record. kdenlive on linux can do the above, but my linux machine is no longer close to the guitar ?

What do you guys use?

wern101

Nitebob Reaper all the way for me. Tried (i use the term to indicate 10 minutes) a bit of midi drums and promptly gave up. As for the rest, it's a great DAW!

V8

Nitebob I assume the paid version will have more tracks.

Yeah it's fully featured, with a whole bunch of extra toys (plugin's n things). For your purposes it's likely complete overkill.

There's a few versions (limited by tracks, 8 for the 'free'' one, 16 for $100, unlimited for $300 and then all the toys for $500 - all prices were last I checked, which was a while ago).

Nothing that Reaper can't do - just a lot more wysiwyg in Ableton. Reaper 's midi implementation confuses me too!

NorioDS

I did a bit of searching and it turns out I did a whole thread on my Linux recording adventures.

? https://community.guitartalk.co.za/d/453-pc-recording-in-linux/40

And ?https://community.guitartalk.co.za/d/751-minor-creepiness (the recording I did)

So looking over some of that, it looks like there's a drum machine for Linux called "Hydrogen" that I used. Honestly can't remember this stuff ?

Hope this all helps! Good luck bud!

You'll probably have an easier time with Reaper but, I know you like to tinker so Linux will give you a LOT of stuff to tinker with! And all for free. I know coz I used to love to tinker as well. (Fair warning: It does get annoying when you don't have time to fix some random thing that broke and you just want to record something. But, again, it's been years since I've tried any of this stuff. Maybe less stuff breaks and breaks less often these days?)

Tuckstir

thanks Norio..
yeah love to tinker.. and My current Linux setup is Ubuntu server.. which after a update now gives a kernel panic error.. which seems its going to be easier to reinstall, so might as well give it a GUI while I'm at it and make it something I can use more, will also free up a Pi thats hogging a screen.

Love Linux but you need to be prepared to pull some hair at times.
had a look at the package list for Studio and its fairly comprehnsive
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuStudio/PackageList
https://ubuntustudio.org/tour/audio/

also going a route with it pre-installed should give less headaches than having to try installing stuff, will give it a bash a try it out..

NorioDS

Tuckstir Love Linux but you need to be prepared to pull some hair at times.

Very very true. And the main reason I switched to Mac.

To be fair, if I bought a Dell laptop of the same cost as my Mac, I'd probably have zero issues with Ubuntu. Something like the Dell XPS 13". Dell is normally very well supported by the Linux community.

But, ja, I had a mix-match of hardware and the issues were aplenty! Eventually just got tired of tinkering when I needed to be working.

Tuckstir also going a route with it pre-installed should give less headaches than having to try installing stuff, will give it a bash a try it out..

Definitely true. UbuntuStudio ties everything together really well. Much nicer than trying to piece it all together yourself, using a plain Ubuntu install.

Tuckstir

NorioDS . Dell is normally very well supported by the Linux community.

Well my setup.. is Using A Dell Power-edge T30 and installed Uuntu Studio this weekend and managed to get everything up and running. and running its smoothly.
The biggest hurdle was figuring out how Jack actually works. Connecting all the bits . But in this day and age, YouTube and google be your friend.

klaasvakie I've used ardour as well as audacity to record with minimal hassle. Ardour has more features but is also quite complex (and looks terrible on HiDPI displays).

Yeah its quite busy but seemed to work fine for my basic needs

I did a quick little recording using my strat copy, using Rakarrack, Jack and Ardour5.
Please excuse the crappy playing

NorioDS

klaasvakie What I've been looking for is a windows program that will capture video from the webcam and audio from USB. Most of the real DAWs require that you record the video on a separate camera and then import that into the audio project, but that is just waaaay to much of a ballache for a quick record. kdenlive on linux can do the above, but my linux machine is no longer close to the guitar ?

What do you guys use?

I don't have a free suggestion but Camtasia should do exactly what you need and then some.

I've used it for work and it works well but it's pretty pricey.

klaasvakie

NorioDS I don't have a free suggestion but Camtasia should do exactly what you need and then some.

I've used it for work and it works well but it's pretty pricey.

Thanks for the suggestion, it seems to tick all the boxes --- at USD250 I think I'll go through the trouble of grabbing the SD from a separate camera though ?