Total Beginner Needs Guiding Hand, Help for beginner Options

[russellthemessia...]

Hello all.

I am new both to Mac Music and making music on a Mac (or any other PC). I have absolutely no idea as to how audio setups work, MIDI interfaces, preamps etc. I once naively believed I could just plug my guitar into my computer; that gives you an idea of the level of ineptitude I display. BUT, I am willing to learn so, any plain English explanations of how best to go about recording my voice, my guitar and keyboards (yet to be bought but willing to spend some cash) would be much appreciated. I must make it clear that I fully intend to buy Logic Express 6... other than that, I am a little lost. I do not intend to spend more than £350 after having bought Logic... Many thanks in advance for your time.

[kaboombahchuck]

OK, here is the deal

If you don't have (or want to spend alot) of money, going the mixer way is the most cost effecient. Some folks say that the sound quality is not as good as it would be with an external audio interface, personally, I think the sound quality is plenty good for the cost. Also having a mixer around is never a bad idea. I like using an external mixer to get the desired sound quality before it goes into the computer. I only use the software mixer to do the final mix. Latency has not been an issue, as I monitor from the mixer. The only time there is latency is when monitoring a live recording played through the head phone jack with headphones, and that's just a bit of not setting the mixer up.

If you have money aplenty, then an external audio interface is the way to go. I do not recomend the USB interfaces, because latency is an issue, as is the number of tracks it can handle. Fire wire or better is the only way to go. Also setting some of these interfaces can be a bit taxing on a persons patiance!

Bottom line, if you recorded LPs into the audio port of the mac, and the sound quality suited you, then you will be happy with a mixer. Also if you are a hobbiest, you need to decide just how interested you are in persuing it. You can always upgrade.

Personally if money was an issue, I'd go totally internal with my midi controlled sounds. There are plenty of great free sound fonts out there, and plenty of cheep vertual samplers to play the soundfonts on. Also there are some pretty good softsynth modules out there for free. Get a midi controller you like, and use it to trigger a virtually limitless amount of different sounds, and samples. Also some of the recording programs out there will render the midi tracks to audio internally, no fuss, no mess! You can always buy external modules as money (or the desire) presents itself.

You folks should look around the Softwares sectoin of this site. It's a great place to find progams that will wow you.