Help Me Start, Please!, Need advice on what to buy. :-) Options

[formatj]

Hi ibnabouna,

I don't think you made a mistake with the Audiophile card. It has very similar specs to the Mbox in terms of dynamic range. It also supports 96kHz, the Mbox only supports 44.1/48kHz.
With the Mbox you are paying for microphone preamps which you don't currently need.
If you do want a mic preamp one day you can buy one separately with digital out and use the digital in of the Audiophile.

The audiophile card was shipping with a copy of Logic delta for a while, don't know if it still is. This will have some similar functionality to protools LE.

You can also go to the digidesign website and download a copy of protools free.

Put the money you saved towards some good software plugins.

[ibnabouna]

Thanks, formatj.

You really reassured me there.

I look forward to trying out this new setup.

[Presto]

You don't waste time do you. I should imagine if you had done very thorough research into what equipment would be best for you, you may have found that the time could have been better spent on getting the work done on more hastily acquired equipment (which may turn out to be the best anyway). Anyway, if you buy mail order or on the web, you probably have the right to send the stuff back within 7 days if you don't like it (depending on what country you live in).

I was a beginner only a few months ago. I'm quite satisfied with the Mbox for my needs but it's true your needs are different and you don't need the 48V mic power (yet). If formatj says you don't need a preamp either then he's probably right (I have no idea). PTLE is quite simple to use so PT Free must be too, and I suppose so are the OSX audio apps. I have no means of comparison, and only know the Mbox/PTLE solution for my songwriting and mic recording needs.

Still, I really don't think 96KHz is a good idea. Also, if you're going to put your results on CD you'll need a good plugin to get back down to 16bits and 44.1KHz.

Formatj. I imagine a pianissimo with hiss, then suddenly silence with no hiss, then suddenly more pp with hiss. Does the hiss eating function in SparkX analyse the hiss found in the 'silence' areas, then get rid of (or attenuate) the same hiss throughout the recording (without getting rid of too much useful sound)?

Yes! Good plugins are probably going to be very useful. Be careful to get the ones that will work with the app you use, or even the app that works with the plugs you want. There may well be an appropriate plugin thread somewhere on here. I've noticed there's a thread on cleaning up vinyls. Use the MacMusic 'search' button.

Also, don't be surprised if your topic gets moved to another place. You put it in the OS9 forum, you prefer OSX, and you asked about Audio Hardware choices ;-) If you'd put it in OSX you may have got more OSX solutions. I think its always better to choose first the most appropriate software tools for the job, and only then the hardware that they need.

Good luck! I'll be interested to see how you get on with the restoration. Have you done a search for restoration articles on the web?

[ibnabouna]

Hi again, Presto,

I don't have much time to post here, but for now, I will make a brief comment on this post's location in the OS 9 forum. If you look over on the Audio Hardware forum, you might still see my original topic with a "moved" designation on it; I originally posted it in the Audio Hardware forum.

For whatever reason (still unbeknownst to me), the mods moved it here, even though I clearly expressed a preference against OS 9 in my particular situation.

Go figure, huh?

[formatj]

Presto,

Here is info from TCWorks website for "Denoiser" from Spark XL

"The Denoiser is optimised for broadband noise and utilizes a fingerprint method, so it is easy to control the behaviour. Only 3 parameters are required to finetune the denoising process – and the audition function ensures that only noise is removed, not your material!"

So yes, it does remove hiss from all sections of music including pianissimo ones.

I own Spark, not Spark XL, however I have seen/heard it in action and was amazed by the results. I will definitely upgrade to XL at some stage.

The Waves restoration bundle has similar types of plugins. They are available in VST version. Ibnabouna, you may want to download a demo to see what they can do when you have your system set up.

I also don't think 96kHz is necessary for ibnabouna now however just like phantom power + preamps from the Mbox it is an extra feature not required now but is there for the future.
He can add a preamp + phantom power later to the audiophile system if required.

I think M-box is a good solution for certain requirements, especially a portable system with a laptop for recordings with a microphone. It's probably just not necessary for transferring material from casette tapes.

[ibnabouna]

Hi, guys,

I wonder if I can bother you with one more question.

Much has been said about this program called SparkXL, but some have also mentioned lesser versions. I came across this Spark LE Plus program ($49.95) today. It says you get 4 plug-in slots; does that mean you can add 4 plug-ins on top of the included ones, or are the included ones all you get period? The good thing about this is that it runs in OS X.

You know that I need something to (1) record and (2) clean up the hymns via some plug-in I undoubtedly have to buy. Will this work or should I go for the full SparkXL?

Thanks a lot!

[formatj]

You can add VST plugins which you can buy separately.
If you want to operate it under OS X there aren't many OS X third party high end plugins yet; no waves etc.
In the future Spark will probably also support Audio units (similar to VST plugins).

Spark XL is the only version that comes with noise restoration software.

See if you can get a demo of Spark and other software products mentioned in a music store (take a cassette tape with you) or otherwise download the demo versions.

You can also download the free version Spark ME and try out some of the basic features. www.tcworks.de

[ibnabouna]

Thanks, formatj.

What I hear you saying is that I should either go with the full-blown Spark XL or go the other extreme and just get Spark ME and some other noise reduction software. Am I to understand that there is no point in getting Spark LE or Spark LE Plus?

Also, what do you think of a noise reduction program called Ray Gun? It's currently OS 9 only, but an OS X program appears to be forthcoming. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

Spark XL is $750. Spark LE Plus + Ray Gun would be $149.

Any thoughts? I just want to make sure I will use this stuff before I dedicate the money to it.

[aladinsane]

after experiencing it for a few weeks I can say that
ray gun is very nice. good for humming and hiss removal. although you can never realy reduce noise without chopping off a bit of the rest.

[Presto]

Have a look at this:

http://www.waves.com/htmls/prods/restoration.htm

It won't work on OSX (even though they do say 8.6 and higher), but it will give you an idea of what you need.(It will work with PT LE so I suppose it will work with PT Free)

When (if) you find a cheaper equivalent in OSX then you can decide which app to plug it into.

To tell you the truth, I think you should really consider using OS9. Have a look at the Oxymoron topic.

The OS interface you use is not a real problem. I can even use Windows, but once I'm in an app it doesn't really bother me.

Actually, it may be a good idea to start a topic "Restoration". If you put it in the OS9 forum you will get responses from people who've done it. I'm not sure you'll find many (if any) who've specialised in restoration on OSX.Still, OS9 users do have a look at OSX from time to time.