Wanting to move to a computer based rig; suggest gear!

[Derelict78]

I have been using Positive Grid's BIAS on my iPad lately and it's pretty rad. They have a desktop version as well.
It's worth checking out.

[hiorgos]

...

[ChetMagongalo]

thanks for giving me suggestions guys.
Yeah I would like to also be able to play without my computer being on so I'm definitely getting an amp of some sort regardless of how easy it is to interface with my computer; I just want it to sound good and not be super loud

[rfurtkamp]

If you have monitors and something like the GT-001, you can play without the computer - it has a LCD and non-USB power options, analog outs, 4 quick-access presets, and full editing (albeit a little slower than the editor on the computer).

Run those outs to the monitors, boom, quiet, sounds like you record with, happy.

[tabbycat]

I'm currently unhappy with my rig, mostly because I think my setup sounds best really loud, but my lifestyle right now doesn't really enable me to enjoy my setup conveniently...
so I'd like to get some gear to help playing into a computer sounding really awesome.

am in exactly the same boat so totally sympathise. have got a lovely 30w class a valve amp sitting right opposite me that i haven't used above '1' in a very long time. sad really. been playing through headphones for a while now due to living in a flat with neighbours on every side, no car or funds to get to a rehearsal space to get loud.
but (like you) i get the feeling that it's about time i accepted that i'm going to be bedroom-bound re noise-making for the foreseeable, so best to think about making it sound good.

re advice, focusrite with ableton gets a lot of love. fruity loops comes up a lot too. they are going to be my first stops re getting a bedroom set up that doesn't sound too shabby. am lookingt at amp sims. want a stomp i can di that will react like a 30-50w class a valve. fets seem to contribute to that. but have little or no money to spend so will probably build my own.
on that subject, came across this last night that i may well have a crack at. looks promising, though i'm more orange than marshall. http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topi ... -im-doing/

The thing is the more hardware (not USB only) you have, the less you'll spend over the next five years or more - software goes bad with OS updates or doesn't work in a new DAW, etc.

There's a reason I have rack stuff still beyond some sounds, it's about future-proofing.

wise advice. which is why i'm adding to, rather than selling and replacing. a univox superfuzz you bought ten years ago sounds as good now as then. and is worth a hell of a lot more (not a big deal but worth mentioning as some of this tech isn't cheap). can you even install a ten year old copy of cubase on anything you are running now?
obviously software should be thought of as a temporary tool and a means to an end, rather than a thing in itself. but it's also not the be all and end all.

have to admit to also being a bit of a luddite re tech. less is more to me. i don't even own a smart phone. old-school text and calls only and no facebook. and i switch it off half the time, which annoys people but i like my own space. alone and uninterruptible.

so a lot of the time i don't want to be staring at a screen at all. i get screen-sickness. i go cross-eyed and brain-dead and feel sterile and numbed by that whiteness.
and especially when i am trying to get in touch with my muse, i just want to sit in a darkened room and play and really hear. really engage with sound, ears and brain connected. all other senses (especially sight) disconnected. so i can't (and don't want to) be reliant on software for effects or anything else i might need to be able to do that.

so that's another reason i prefer to keep hardware around. but then i am old-school by birth. grew up with vinyl records and valve amps, so the idea of virtual cyber digital anything is an adaptation for me, not a starting point.

so anyway, beware swapping hardware for software.
and thanks for starting the thread, it saved me doing one with the same question.

[rfurtkamp]

I'm not a luddite, but I got rid of a cell phone in '93. Haven't looked back. It was an albatross then and few people realized it - I wanted to be free.

Not afraid of machines or intimidated in any way - can build 'em from components, install and configure anything known to man and lock it down, etc.

But software I just can't take seriously at the prices it's going for. You're lucky to get 3 years out of something before it doesn't work with an OS revision or DAW-required change.