Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] prof multitrack studio
From: ccb_AT_acm.org
Date: Fri Jul 20 2001 - 18:41:09 EEST
This takes us off topic. I'm leaving it here so that the development
folks can see how the sausage is being made...
> I guess I am wondering what methods/practices do others use when creating
> music that has audio and midi requirements. It would probably be good to
> see what people 'like' in a tool, what they 'dislike'.
I'm just getting up to critical mass and the ability to get things
down. I have this:
Oberheim MC2000EX 88 key controller. I yanked the OEM card and
installed a Yamaha DB50XG. This is my "melodic" input device
and main MIDI tone generator.
Akai MPC 2000 XL Sequencer/Sampling Drum machine. It's got a
SCSI port with SyJet, CDROM and Zip. The Zip is used for
moving wav files in and out of the Linux box. It's the
brains of the operation. I've never been able to get with
the on-screen model of sequencing - maybe because there's
to midi-seq-mode in emacs ;-). My MPC has the SMPTE chip
installed - it's a pity there's no support for the SMPTE
on the MQX-32M. I've got one and it was a lot cheaper than
the chip for the MPC.
Yamaha QY70 portable sequencer. Used to be my main sequencer but
the size and lack of back light make it hard to work with.
Currently only used as a secondary XG tone generator.
Tascam 424 4-track. Clean, realiable and good enough for
my purposes. Once I get some more room to spread out I'll
probably rig a big beefy machine running Ardour as a dedicated
DAW to replace it. Then again the Yamaha 4416 is just *so*
pretty.
Mackie 1402-VLZPro Mixer. Mix from most of the stuff goes
here. This is also the console for mixdown.
(picking up today) Electrix WarpFactory (Vocoder), FilterFactory and
MO-FX.
Digitech GFX-1 Twin Tube guitar preamp.
Production starts with a basic drum track using one of the Akai kits -
the OEM CDROM has a mountain of them. Bass, pad and other synth
tracks are added with little or no CC stuff on 'em. The MPC has 64
tracks so that several takes can be done to get the CC data right on
the parts. The Electrix gear is automatable by MIDI so I can ride
controls on the effects and record the results to the MPC, again doing
alternate takes as needed.
I use the MPC to stripe track 4 on the Tascam. From here on out the
sequenced parts chase the transport on the tape. Being a rank amateur
I find this to be very entertaining. I record guitar and vocal parts
dry to tape with the MIDI mix out of the Mackie and the effects
showing up in my phones. Again the vocoder and delay are MIDI
reordable to I can do alternate takes of effect knob twidling into the
sequencer. I only have three tracks to play with on the tape, but
there is enough room to track a guitar part, a vocal part and a mono
mix with effects from the MIDI side if I need to use the same effects
processors for other stuff during mixdown. Without this mono mix I
can track multiple guitar parts. Without a vocoder there'd be no
vocals from this shop ;-).
Mixdown goes out from the Tascam into the Mackie with all the other
stuff. For the first go round it's going direct to a little Creative
Labs MP3 Jukebox that can record 16/44.1 stereo to WAV. That goes up
via USB to a windows box, down to Zip and over to the Linux box for
encoding and publication.
At least that's the plan. By this evening all of the parts will be
here. All of the testing and training I've needed to do are coming
along nicely - tutorials from the sospubs and futurenet folks in the
UK have been indispensable. Production in earnest starts the first
week of September. I'm sticking with this config until I get a dozen
or so pieces out of the way and get a good understanding of what's
what. The recording side *is* the weakest link. I'm planning on
moving to bigger space next spring which will allow me to replace the
recording back-end with a DAW built around something like the MM Delta
1010 (MOTU 828? :-(). At that time I'll largely be recommendations
from this group that drives how I put it all together. The upside of
going the PCDAW route that I may never have to deal with the hassles
of upgrading from one dedicated HDR to another. The downside is that
I'd need to build my DAW around a laptop if I wanted anything like the
portability of a Korg D16.
Sorry for hogging bandwidth,
ccb
-- Charles C. Bennett, Jr. VA LiNUX Systems Systems Engineer, Northeast US 25 Burlington Mall Rd., Suite 300 +1 617 543-6513 Burlington, MA 01803-4145 ccb_AT_valinux.com www.valinux.com
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