Audio Interface Suggestions??

[modernage]

IMO learning proper recording techniques and learning the right way to use protools will make you %500 more productive and unlock possibilities for music making that you will wonder how you ever lived without. your actually wasting more time starring at the screen with your guitar in your hand trying to figure out the software in the dark.

I will totally agree with this. Garageband is a great place to start though. It already comes loaded on your Mac, very beginner friendly, there's a lot there to explore. But every time I use it now I just get very frustrated because it isn't very intuitive. Once you get used to editing in Pro Tools, going back makes you want to slam you head against the keyboard. I need more keyboard shortcuts!!!! I've seen some guys edit tracks in PT like they were about to win a World of Warcraft tournament. Awe inspiring.

Once you understand how to make the software work for you you'll be limited only by your imagination. There's a lot that can be done with just the stock plugins (putting any effect in the feedback loop of your delays, ie: replicating Boss PS-3 Mode 7). Plus there are some awesome plugins and instruments you can't incorporate if you're only using GB. But like I said, GB band is a great place to familiarize yourself with the recording process. I also hear that Propellerhead Record is another user friendly program.

Interface... Can't go wrong with Apogee. If all you ever see yourself doing is laying down guitar tracks... maybe vocals..... the Duet would be great. You might even be able to get by with the Apogee One and save yourself a few bucks. Apogee is a top name brand in the industry, so you'll get nothing but quality and reliability with them.

The bit about the Mbox's being unreliable is a little hit or miss. I've been using an Mbox 2 Pro for over 3 years with no issues. Shoot, I know of at least 3 people who still use the original Mbox on a regular basis, and that's been out for how many years? There is better stuff out there, but at the time that was the only way to get into Pro Tools. Thank you AVID for making those changes with PT9!!!!

Well, Garageband came on the iLife disc, which they stopped giving you for free. Now with the app store, Garageband costs $15 per computer you want it on. You can download it pretty quick through the app store, which is good. Still, $15 is not bad for what it does. Full Logic is pretty sweet, too.

Whaaa? My wife and I just bought an iMac a couple months ago and it came with iLife '11/Garageband '11. Maybe they knew that we were a couple of Steve Jobs fanboi/fangrrrl here so we got the hookup.

Logic is pretty cool. The stock software instruments and plugins are much better than those found in Pro Tools. I would say that it isn't a great place to start for a newb. It has the largest learning curve out of any DAW. It is extremely powerful though, and probably the best when it comes to MIDI.

[eatyourguitar]

Also, for the plugins you can't use, there's usually a way. Garageband has full MIDI support, so I usually install something like MIDI Patchbay.app and then route MIDI in/out as needed. I've used physical instruments into Garageband's software instruments and I've used Garageband's MIDI control to control physical stuff like drum machines over MIDI. Cool stuff. But you can also run a program that runs the other style of plugin on Mac (forgot what it is called, like AST or VTI or something?) and route MIDI signals between them. Not elegant, but it does work.

Also very cool: using MIDI to control some guy's Commodore 64 audio chip via USB/MIDI with Garageband's onscreen keyboard, which we did one night.

dont you need to use soundflower to route the audio between your instruments running stand alone and GB???

Soundflower is a MacOS system extension that allows applications to pass audio to other applications.

the midi commodore cartridge is called MSSIAH

[mathias]

dont you need to use soundflower to route the audio between your instruments running stand alone and GB???

Soundflower is a MacOS system extension that allows applications to pass audio to other applications.

the midi commodore cartridge is called MSSIAH

If you're sending audio signals, you could use Soundflower. I use JACK, which is sort of like MIDI Patchbay and therefore I understood it. http://jackaudio.org/

The Commodore 64 thing was the C64 audio chip, called a SID (I had ot google it to remember) that this guy had built his own USB <-> PIC <-> SID interface for. You could send MIDI signals in through USB, and the PIC decoded them into instructions for hte SID or something. I wasn't involved in the creation, just playing with it. The guy basically built it all from scratch on a whim (over like a year, of course.)