Cakewalk Express, recording on a PC

[Bizarro]

Hi,

I was hoping to get some advice for recording on my PC. I bought a SB Live! sound card and it came with Cakewalk Express 8.0. It seems like a good program, but I haven't been able to figure out how to record audio.

I've been using the shareware version of nTracks and that is super simple and easy to record with. Unfortunately, I don't think it supports MIDI as well as Cakewalk, and I want to use my Boss drum machine for drum samples & sounds.

Has anyone used either Cakewalk Express or nTracks? How about using either with a drum machine?

I've seen a Cakewalk Guitar program too but I'm not sure what that's like.

I really want to be able to use my drum machine and PC to record! Thanks in advance for any advice, tips, and tricks!

[badgas]

Hi Bizzaro.

No, I don't use Express, but I do use Cakewalk's Sonar XL.
I have two soundcards, a Delta 66 and SBL.

My advice to you is when using the SBL, use the 'Line In' and not the 'mic'.

You'll get much better quality in your recording.
Use a mic on your amp, but it a few inches from the grill cloth.

If your looking for recording tips, try,
http://homerecording.com/bbs/
Someone there will know about Express and nTrack.

Depending on your budget, I'd suggest a preamp too. It'll help boost the signal.

[szulc]

I use Cakewalk Pro Audio and a SB Live Platinum with a VS880.
I also use a roland GR-1 and korg X5DR. The VS880 does all of the audio recording and when I am happy with it I master it digitally through the SBLive or Extigy on my other computer using the spdif input and Sound Forge. I use cakewalk to set up my sequence and generate a sync track on the VS880 then I use the MIDI modules to get my backing tracks when I master cakewalk is triggering my MIDI modules so I haven't used any track real estate fot the MIDI stuff and it is first generation. Cakewalk and Sound Forge are slaved to the VS880 using MMC so I need a little space at the beginning of my sequences usually 1 measure is plenty for it to synch up. THe VS880 has a mixer mode where you get 12 tracks I can use 8 recorded tracks and four inputs, in this case my two MIDI modules in stereo. I just bought a JLCooper MSB rev 2 MIDI programmable patch pay which makes the signal routing much easier.

[Bongo Boy]

Originally posted by Bizarro
I was hoping to get some advice for recording on my PC.

While folks here can certainly give you good advice, let me recommend you browse http://www.homerecording.com where about 35,000 or so members organize topics into several dozen forums dedicated to recording. Many of the forums are gear-specific, so you can see what issues and capabilities folks are getting out of specific hardware.

It's also organized around the recording of specific instruments (e.g., guitar, drums), and even a forum dedicated to nothing but mics. Ooooh babee.

[Bizarro]

Thanks for the responses! I'm going to head over to those web sites and start sifting for useful info.

I did make somewhat of a breakthrough today and now my line-in is actually recording through cakewalk!

Cakewalk Express (free w/ my soundcard) is actually a useful program once you get around the poor documentation.

If I get some free time I plan on recording (and posting) a few tunes for some feedback. I currently have Pachelbel's Canon in D, Beattles Help from my Friends, Autumn Leaves, and Silent Night in the works (fingerstyle w/ chord&melody).

Next thing up:get MIDI working on my drum machine...

[Guni]

homerecording.com is cool. Me too, I do have a lot of questions about how to go best about this. I have been using PCs for ages but I mostly used them for pre-productions, like writing scores, getting some ideas together with midi or doing some basic tracks.

Now's the time to get more into this.... Hey, how about we flood the homerecording board together. Ya all using the same usernames (I saw Bongo Boy in the member list) ?:D

Thanks Bongo for mentioning iBreathe at this forum.

Guni