Cubase LE

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 8 Dec 2005 6:23 pm

I was thinking about buying a Tascam US-122. It comes with Cubase LE software. Anyone ever use this software ? I am mainly interested in how difficult it is to use. I dont need fancy recording stuff, I just want to combine my backing tracks and my steel together so I can hear myself on CD for learning purposes.....James

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 8 Dec 2005 6:51 pm

Generally speaking it's easy to feel a bit intimidated by recording software at first, if you're not used to it. Basic recording and mixing in Cubase is fairly simple I'd say, it's 'all the other stuff' that can be confusing. But there will always be a certain learning curve involved, no matter which software you choose, so be prepared for some head scratching and desperate searching through manuals......

Have you considered one of those all-in-one 8-track digital portastudios? Some of those still feature an 'old fashioned' mixer so you don't need to go through all those menus and stuff to get your work done.

Here's a new model Tascam just released:

You can read more about it here: http://www.tascam.com/Press/Releases/DP01FXCD.html

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

[This message was edited by Steinar Gregertsen on 08 December 2005 at 06:53 PM.]

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 8 Dec 2005 7:17 pm

Thanks for your response. I have looked at those, but the price tag is nearly 3 times what the US-122 is. I am not sure I neeed something with that many tracks for what I plan to do, do I? I just want record my backing tracks with me playing, and honestly, I am not to sure exactly what I do need.I want something that offers a little better quality than a boom box with a little built in mic and no way to regulate the volumes of each. Since I dont plan to do anything other than listen to my own playing on the CD's I make, I was looing for something a little less costly. However, that system you pointed out is quite nice....James

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 8 Dec 2005 8:43 pm

Perhaps all you need is something like the Audacity, never tried it myself but I've read favorable comments from others who use it. And it's free,- perhaps you should download it and check it out.

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

Jeff Hogsten · Post by **Jeff Hogsten** » 9 Dec 2005 8:12 am

I have and use a tascam 122 at work and it would be great for what you want cubase is not that hard there is a book called cubase power that will tell you anything you want to know and I would help in anyway I can ive been using nuendo their pro version for two years now if you have a good computer this would be better than on of the all in one units

Jeff

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 9 Dec 2005 8:52 am

Jeff, are you saying use the 122 but the other software you suggested ? I am little confused, a lot of people keep telling me about stuff to go download, and I really appreciate that, but if I just download a program, I stille need something to connect the tracks and the steel to the computer with...Can you expalain a little more please?...Thanks...James

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 9 Dec 2005 9:58 am

By the way, I dont know if my computer is good or not. It was given to me as a gift. All I know about it is that its a compaq and has an Intel III, 730 MHZ and 256 MB of RAM. None of that means much to me, but thats what it is.....James

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 9 Dec 2005 1:51 pm

I can not find any system rquirements for Cubase LE on the Steinberg site, probably because it's not offered as a stand alone software but only comes bundled with other hardware like the Tascam.
However, here's the minimum requirements for Cubase SL, which has the most similar features to the LE:

Pentium / Athlon 800 MHz
384 MB RAM
Windows XP Home or XP Professional

So it seems like you're pretty close, but not quite there. Upgrading your RAM shouldn't be a problem (RAM is dirt cheap these days), and with a little luck your 730MHz will be enough since you don't plan to put it through heavy use.

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

mickd · Post by **mickd** » 9 Dec 2005 3:43 pm

What Steinar said - Audacity is free and seems to be really stable now. I've been using it for a few weeks ever since I upgraded my PC and am impressed. You can import your backing track and then add your own playing on top (so long as your soundcard supports simultaneous play & record). The only hardware you'll need is a mike to stick in front of your combo (not even that, if you direct-inject to the sound card, though you may find the signal needs a boost).
Editing is easy

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 9 Dec 2005 3:47 pm

Sounds like that may be a bit much for my computer. I was thinking maybe I could just get a little 4 track recorder, even a casette type, and then but my tracks on the computer, then my steel, and use a freebie software download to mix it with ? Does that sound like something that would work ? I was looking at Matchbox and it seems like it would work, but I dont recall what the system requirments were for it....James

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 9 Dec 2005 3:55 pm

mickd, that sounds more like what I need. I am not sure about the sound card on my computer, but if I used the 4 track, can I put my mix from that into the computer driectly from the recorder and then mix it with the software your using ?....James

mickd · Post by **mickd** » 10 Dec 2005 4:04 pm

James
you probably *could* do that, but I don't think you'd need to. Audacity takes the place of the 4 track - you can record as many tracks as you like with it and then mix them all down to a stereo wav. I'd say download it and give it a try - you can always uninstall it if you don't like it.

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 10 Dec 2005 4:22 pm

Mickd, thank you VERY much for the information. You have helped me a lot and I really appreciate it my friend.....James[This message was edited by James Sission on 10 December 2005 at 04:23 PM.]

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 11 Dec 2005 9:17 am

Kristal is another good free recording program.
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

JP

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 11 Dec 2005 10:19 am

Thanks a million Jim, all help is certainly appreciated...James

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 12 Dec 2005 3:55 pm

Hi James, to help you with your computer situation let me say this. The specs on your computer tell me that it is probably below the minium specs to use any professional software like Cubase le and so on but with that being said you could still use those programs including audacity with a few exceptions.

1. Don't try to record over 4 or 5 tracks.
2. Don't use any reverb plugins that use the computer ie use your outboard reverb as you record.
3. Don't try to do to much due to the limited power of your computer it will bog down.
4. Just try and see how many tracks you can get before your computer chokes and then use that as a recording rule. If it will record 6 tracks without choking then never try to record any more.
5. Use the 122 it seems pretty simple and will in no way tax your computer.

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions. Oh by the way it really doesn't matter which software package you use as long as it will run on your slower computer. Some of the bigger full packages like Sonar, Cubase and that will not but the LE versions probably will like they mentioned Audicity and Cubase LE.

Bob[This message was edited by Big Bob Martin on 12 December 2005 at 03:56 PM.]

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 12 Dec 2005 4:08 pm

Bob, thank you, that was helpful. I actually ended up just buying a Tascam 424 MKII from Jack Stoner. I am thinking I can record my backing tracks to one track,from CD to the Tascam, then play my steel on a second track. I understand that wont give me a lot room to mess with tracks, but I think if I can just get the 2 tracks to my computer and mix the volume levels to where the steel sounds good in the mix, I would be ok with that. I am thinking that Music Matchbox or soemthing like that would allow this. I guess I am on a learning mission....Thanks again.....James

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 13 Dec 2005 12:47 am

Hey James, it sounds like you're all fixed up. Good luck and remember just have fun with all of it don't get so critical that you don't get enjoyment out of it because it can happen. Let us know how things turn out.

Bob