How Do I Start Rocking In The Digital World?, a true beginner Options

[Zooey]

Dear friends,

I have some experience with the Tascam portastudio world, but little else. What I am essentially looking to do is reproduce that kind of home studio fun on the computer (15" imac), with better sound quality and more tracks. But I am lost in the field of terms.

I have guitars and an old korg, which is midi capable (but is the kind of midi used in depeche mode's early career). What kinds of things do I need to couple these forms of equipment to my computer. I have heard of a Logic Big Box..If I buy this would I be ready to go? How do you get a mic into a computer? (is this is the realm of the break-out box?)

ideally the set up would have singing, guitar, keys and drum loops...

If this question is too far sub-par, please advise my as to any websites that can adequate me to the lingo of the digital age...really, it's all i can do to surf the web.

best,

I am in the exact same boat! I'm looking to fire up a home recording setup (nothing studio-quality, more of a musical scratchpad) so that I can take my guitar playing and add some drums, effects, etc. to fill out a full song. But I know little of home recording, and what I do know is on a PC end.

Ideally I'm looking at potentially buying an iBook with an external sound card (such as an M-Audio), but am lost when it comes to software. Someone pointed out Doggiebox to me, and this looks nice for drums, and I was thinking about the free version of Pro Tools because, well, it's free. Am I headed toward a path of ruin with this setup? And should there be any minimum system requirements for the iBook?

EDIT: After more poking around, I've found ProTools Free only works on OS 9, and Doggiebox only works on OSX. Sigh. Can anyone suggest a relatively inexpensive replacement for one or both programs?

This post has been edited by lunker: Sun 7 Dec 2003, 20:56