Recording Advice Needed

[Slartibartfarst42]

A while ago I bought a Presonus iTwo Audiobox and downloaded the Studio One software. The idea was to use it with my Atomic AmpliFire and record some ideas, possibly developing my own songs. It soon became clear that this was way too complex for my old brain so I sold it. What I started looking for was something where I could fairly easily record some ideas onto a machine that would add drums and possibly even bass parts before transferring it to computer. The unit would be able to record and store multiple parts that could be played together as I build the song parts.

I initially looked at some sort of reasonably sophisticated like a Digitech Trio Plus or Boss RC30. I'm now wondering if AmpliTube and an iRig would give me what I want but I'm not sure and I really don't want to get confused again like I was with Presonus and Studio One.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I'm a bit surprised that on a forum for AmpliTube nobody has been able to offer any help and insight but I have made some progress by myself so now I have some rather more specific questions.

As I'm moving abroad I've decided to leave my Atomic in the UK to save weight and just play guitar through my laptop. To do that I'll need some sort of interface and from what I can gather, the iRig HD2 should do the job well and simply. As AmpliTube 4 comes with that, it makes sense to get my guitar tones from AmpliTube. Most of the tones I like most are Marshall so the amps included should be fine for me. That leaves just a few things to resolve before I buy:

1) I believe I can record using AmpliTube 4 yet some places are still advising me to buy separate recording software. Why? Is the recording software that comes with AmpliTube 4 OK or just not very good?

2) I assume I can buy some sort of software that I can use with AmpliTube 4 to add bass and drum parts to a recording. All I need is a range of drum styles that I can simply load onto a track and then cut and paste parts to suit the song I'm recording. I'm guessing this can be done by someone for drums but I'm less sure about bass and in either case, I have no idea what to buy from either IK Multimedia or anyone else. Could someone please suggest what I should buy that will do this and I'll go off and buy it. I've tried contacting IK Multimedia but nobody is responding, which I assume is to do with Covid-19.

Thanks

[garfy]

Hi Slartibartfast42 and welcome to the forum.

To do that I'll need some sort of interface and from what I can gather, the iRig HD2 should do the job well and simply.

Yes, the iRig HD2 will do this for you and it comes with the standard version of AmpliTube 4 so the Marshall amps you favour will be all yours.

Now to the recording side...AT4 has it's own 8-track recorder built in. It's a great tool for recording ideas straight in and you can import audio files to play along with or mix together into a complete song.

That said, it is not as, shall we say, elegant as specific DAW software like Studio One in that you can't use virtual instruments within it. It is primarily audio based (either import previously recorded audio files or record audio in) so that would be how your additional instruments would have to be. If you have a bass guitar then that can be recorded in via the iRig HD2 and run through the amp sim. If you then wanted drums, you would need to import those in and then edit the performance together. Perfectly possible, but not the most ideal way to work.

Hope that answers some of your questions. Feel free to fire anything back.

[Peter_IK]

To answer the part about support response times, please note there is indeed a much higher volume than usual but the team is working literally around the clock to help. We have a statement here.

The suggestions above are great. I'd recommend if you want to use external instruments and FX that you do consider a full-fledged DAW. I know that many are extending their trial periods (Steinberg Cubase, Ableton Live, and more) and I'd recommend Reaper as a starting DAW as it has a 60-day demo period that is quite generous and I believe they also have been giving out a longer trial.

For drums and bass we have MODO DRUM and MODO BASS, the former does have MIDI/grooves that you could use for songs and there are now third parties who make grooves mapped to it.

[Peter_IK]

To also follow up, you might want to check out a full workstation virtual instrument like SampleTank 4 that has drums (including patterns/grooves), bass, and just about any other kind of "bread and butter" instrument you'd want to use in composition. The newly-released SampleTank 4 CS is free and comes with over 4GB of sounds which you can use for whatever purpose without limitation.

[Slartibartfarst42]

Many, many thanks for the information as it is slowly making sense in my head.

If I understand things correctly, while AmpliTube 4 has a recorder, it's of very limited use. IK Media can supply virtual instruments with Sample Tank 4 that I could use to record but not with AmpliTube 4. If I want to add drums and bass without playing them myself, I need a proper DAW. Things like Reaper, Steinberg Cubase and Ableton Live would all do the trick and someone else has also suggested N-Track Studio and Pro Tool First to me. Cost is obviously a factor as I'm wary of investing too much just in case it ends up as complex as Studio One for me. The other major factor is also having a system that is as easy to use as possible and works with AmpliTube 4 and Sample Tank 4. Is there a DAW that best fits those criteria?

[texzen123]

I'd try Reaper-Its awesome and free (to download- like 30 bucks to buy?) Great recording software.
Still not sold on AmpliTube..have some trouble tickets submitted for noise and quite difficult to dial in. [mod redacted - please review rules, thank you]

[DarkStar]

Reaper is not free -normally after 60 days evaluation you should buy a licence or uninstall it.
And, in the current circumstances, Cockos is offering a temporary license key valid through the end of June 2020.

[Slartibartfarst42]

My main reason for using AmpliTube 4 is because it happens to come free with an iRig HD2. I'm going to need an interface of some sort and this one seemed reasonably priced and simple to use. This is important to me after the problems I had with Presonus and Studio One. I've tried looking at a number of DAWS and they all look like they would meet my fairly limited demands:

Pro Tools First - Free (I might have read that wrong but it reads like it's a free version. Perhaps it's just very limited)
Reaper - $60
Ableton Live - $69
N-Track Studio - $69

From what I can gather, most of these will accept AmpliTube 4, will allow me to record using an iRig HD2 and will work with a Windows 10 laptop. These are the basic requirements. They will all allow me to add virtual drums and with the exception of Ableton, will also allow me to add bass but this isn't a huge issue if I can get both instruments from Sample Tank 4 anyway.

As long as they all do that, it really is down to which of these DAWS is the easiest and most intuitive to use and as I've never recorded a thing before in my life, that's where I need the help. I'd like whichever system uses the most accessible language, requires the least prior knowledge, requires the least technical ability and has the most support in case of difficulties.

Does one of these stand out as the best fit for me?

[garfy]

Hi Slartibartfarst42

Unfortunately, if you haven't used recording software before they all come with a bit of a learning curve similar to Studio One. In your situation, it kind of helps that you have a fairly specific purpose in mind (play/record guitar with it, add drums, add bass) so whichever DAW you choose you can at least work towards your own goals before moving into the minutiae of the software.

From your list of suggestions, you can probably discount ProTools First as it is a closed environment and IKM (as well as other 3rd party software) won't work inside it, unless you buy it specifically from their own Avid App Store.

Ableton Live sort of lends itself to more loop based composition, although it can work like a regular DAW if you really want it too. Reaper and N-Track Studio are more conventional linear recording DAWs and both have a demo version available to try-before-you-buy. I haven't used N-Track myself so can't comment further on it. However, Reaper (which I have used) is held in quite high regard when being compared to some of the DAWs from major developers and it's own developers have encouraged the user base to become a community around it, which means there are lots of helpful tutorials, forums and user driven FAQs etc.

I'm sure either of these DAWs will fulfil your needs, but neither (in fact any DAW) will give you an instant way of being able to record if you are coming at it from a standing start. They all need some investment of time, which may mean a couple of hours looking at the User Guide and FAQs and having a stab at it and learning from mistakes. That being said, a lot of hardware is the same and at least with a computer based DAW you aren't wasting tape

Hope that helps.