DAW advice for a dunce

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Hi all

As you will see elsewhere on this section, I am looking at buying a reasonably old (in tech terms) Windows laptop to get me started with recording digitally.

In the short term I hope to borrow a USB interface from a friend. He now has better kit and runs Logic on a Mac, but his talents are musical rather that technical so I am hoping you guys can help me out.

Initially I am looking for a free package that I can run on the laptop that will allow me to do the following:

* programme drums
* record guitar
* record other sounds via mic (could be vocals or anything I take a shine to!)

This won't be used for commercial purposes and it will be just me recording most of the time. 

I currently use a four track cassette and have dabbled with n-track, which has a drum machine built in, on my phone. I've had success with n-track but it's incredibly fiddly on the mobile and I gave up after getting one verse of a song down as it became really hard to control.  

So what I want advise on is whether any of the free DAWs are a good starting point. I see Cakewalk is still going for instance and there's a free version of ProTools. At this stage I just want something I can get going on easily.

While it's true that if I start with a free one I've lost nothing, I don't want to install and uninstall too much stuff if I can help it.

Martin


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Comments

  • PC_DavePC_Dave Frets: 3396
    Cakewalk vote here - I was looking for exactly the same, and it's brilliant. Got Helix Native, Amplitube4, S-Gear, Neural DSP's and EZ Drummer all working in it. Absolutely brilliant, and relatively straight forward to get going.
    This week's procrastination forum might be moved to sometime next week.
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  • SnagsSnags Frets: 5327
    I believe the standard answer here is normally Reaper. It's fully featured in the free (evaluation) version, and if you can live with the nag screen delay, effectively remains so indefinitely until you decide you're using it enough that you ought to pony up the modest cost.

    Comes with (or can easily add) MT PowerDrumkit as a VST, which is also free as long as you can live with clearing the nag screen each time, or can be purchased for a very modest fee (it's essentially donationware).

    Not sure what spec machine you'd need in order to get it running smoothly. I currently run it (having coughed up the readies once I started using it properly) on an old Surface Pro, but it's still relatively high spec despite the age (i7, 16GB).
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  • Bill_SBill_S Frets: 103
    I think Cakewalk is a good option too. Reaper is immense but not so intuitive in my opinion. Waveform is excellent too. 
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  • TTonyTTony Frets: 27345
    If you’ve got an iPad, there are multiple apps available that are (a) good and (b) either free (GarageBand) or are typically <£20.

    Although quite high functionality, I’ve also found them more intuitive than full blown PC applications, so an easier entry point for someone just starting out.

    If you’ve *not* got an iPad, why not!
    ;)
    Having trouble posting images here?  This might help.
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  • MartinBushMartinBush Frets: 239
    OK, so...

    I am close to getting a Windows laptop with Windows 7 installed. I believe it has Cakewalk installed on it successfully, but I am not wedded to that and will look at other packages.

    I am now wondering about the audio interface. Are there some that will/ won't work on Windows 7?

    (@TTony - I don't own an iPad but that was my original target. Funds won't allow me to go down that route yet sadly so I'm seeking a budget option!)


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  • hollywoodroxhollywoodrox Frets: 4085
    I get IPads for myself and parents from CEX secondhand they are a lot cheaper and have a 2 year warranty . 

    Also MacFinder do iMac computers by Apple that are ex corporate , you can buy the cheaper spec ones from their eBay store. I have had two iMacs from them one less than £200

    garageband is good on Mac and free,

    IBM thinkpads like the i5 x220 are relatively cheap and reliable also t430 I don’t know how good they are for music but seem highly thought of as cheap high end machines .

    audacity is good for simple recordings and is free

    blackstar ID core amps have a built I. USB interface 
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  • MartinBushMartinBush Frets: 239
    Thanks @hollywoodrox I may give Audacity a go. Last time I used it many years ago it was quite simple so it will be interesting to see how it's changed.

    I am almost certainly getting a laptop running Windows 7 from a forum member. All I need now is to know what sort of usb interfaces out there will work. There's loads new and second hand on ebay but of course I am pretty clueless when it comes to things like drivers and so on.


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  • hollywoodroxhollywoodrox Frets: 4085
    Behringer do a very low cost interface e called the UM2 uphoria that is a copy of some branded design , I bet there are some good reviews of it on YouTube  they seem to go for about £32 focusrite also do good ones but a bit more cost unless 2nd hand ,I just sold one for £72
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    Try the latest version of Reaper, it works on win7, and depending on which interface you try, see if you can find a version of Asio4all, which is pretty useful, it allows setting up different ins and outs, I got my old line 6 guutarport working fine on a 12 year old HP laptop with 3 gig of ram, handy for just getting ideas down.
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  • pintspillerpintspiller Frets: 994
    Is there a free Protools? There was one years ago but didn't run on anything including/after WinXP. 

    I had a version that came with an interface that would only work if the M-Audio hardware was connected.
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  • dariusdarius Frets: 619
    Reaper DAW. Free full licence until Aug.
    Watch the Kenny Goia learner videos. 
    And hundreds of free plugins. 

    SSL2 or Focusrite 2Ch interface. 
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  • dariusdarius Frets: 619
    Ps avoid ProToolsFirst (Free) like it’s a global pandemic killer virus. 
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    Audacity is free, it records, but it is no DAW.
    Reaper 6 is very lightweight, and will probably work fine, a licence is £60, but you have forever to try it.
    You will need plugins ( free ones ), and try to stay 64 bit-if it works for windows, as 32 bit is becoming obsolete. You will want your projects to be playable on future machines, so try to leave projects with rendered audio, audio files will never become obsolete-but edited tracks with vst instruments and FX may not work in a different DAW.
    I have an Mbox 2 that I could not get to work-with anything, probably due to the way Avid used copy protection, the hardware was basically a dongle for pro-tools, which is annoying-as pro-tools moved on and changed course with the Ilock.
    Anyhoo, I eventually got it to work using some older drivers, but only by using Reaper, Asio4all, and only on a Win10 machine.
    I tried to set it up on my Win7 machine, and got it all recognised, but it just records noise. That's when I tried my old Line6 guitarport, which worked ok. I dont use it for serious mixing-but it is good to have as something to quickly get an idea down-using laptop speakers instead of headphones or monitors-made possible by using Asio4all, which lets you select input and output as 2 separate hardware.

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  • hollywoodroxhollywoodrox Frets: 4085
    Behringer do a very low cost interface e called the UM2 uphoria that is a copy of some branded design , I bet there are some good reviews of it on YouTube  they seem to go for about £32
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  • MartinBushMartinBush Frets: 239
    Cheers chaps. I will take the plunge on one of the interfaces suggested and cross my fingers:)
     
    Let's hope that I can not only get it to work but also do it justice with a few decent tunes.
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  • hollywoodroxhollywoodrox Frets: 4085
    I’m sure you will do a great job 
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    Pro Tools Free is a nightmare- avoid it.
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  • ewalewal Frets: 2558
    Reaper - I tried a ton of different DAWs using the cracked route, then found Reaper and genuinely haven't looked back.
    The Scrambler-EE Walk soundcloud experience
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  • I would have joined the chorus recommending Cakewalk (I use it myself).

    But: it doesn't support Windows 7 (unless you can get one of the older versions, which may not be easy, as the thing is distributed via the Bandlab app). I have an older version on my Windows 7 laptop, and I just have to ignore the update nags, and accept that it isn't going to be able to open any Cakewalk file I make on my other (Windows 10) computer, on which I foolishly updated Cakewalk before discovering this annoyance.

    I have also got Reaper. Feature-wise, it is marvellous. But it can be a bit of a head-scratcher at times.
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