Recommendations?

[Rob]

I am Old School. Not Tech Savvy in the least. So, I guess it’s
time to get with the times and ask you guys.
I am going to get GuitarPro 7.5 and wondering what else I may need.

Focusrite Solo or 2i2, and Motu M2 or M4 seem to be the upper crust.
Between these, which would you opt for, or which do you have, and what swayed your choice? Or did I miss something comparable?
🤔
ThankYou For Any Help In Making A Decision

In For The Learn

[superblonde]

Interesting that you mention motu m4 because I think I’m going to buy one (since my focusrite probably wont recover from being dead). I like that it has the level indicator on front, unlike others. You dont need an interface though, unless you want to record. You can use an amp if you prefer. Personally I plan on M4 because I record vocal + guitar + drum machine or setups like that. But you could get any other 1-channel or 2-channel interface too. Or, if you get a typical newer combo amp which has USB, and you only want to record guitar, you could simply use the amp itself as your audio interface (I did that with my fender mustang amp, it didnt sound amazing, but it was good enough).

Definitely get Guitar Pro, it is an amazing tool, not only guitar and bass, it does other instruments well too. GP is really the only thing you “need”, everything else is add-on.

For recording software, personally I say go for Reaper, which is very inexpensive and in many ways better than the other DAW’s. I have several threads on using that. Once you get into recording, you can play clean into the interface, and choose many software amps instead of using physical pedals etc, and BIAS is one that sounds very good for blues, rock, and metal. But there are many software choices there. I dont use that though, I use a pedal. If you have a mac, then garageband’s software amps sound really really good and it’s free with mac (or ipad, and if you go with ipad, get an ipad compatible audio interface to record, which is another reason I was looking at the motu).

Drum machine software is handy as a future step once you are comfortable recording and you want to write your own stuff.

It really depends what you want or would like to do. Follow the lessons? post progress videos? post cover song videos? write your own songs?

in terms of video, I would say get a newer gopro and a gooseneck clamp mount so you can clip the cam to a table or etc. These newer gopro’s can record audio thru an audio-in jack. That makes syncing a separate audio track very easy in a video editor. (the latest gopro is a big leap above prior generations.) Or many guitar videos just use iphone or ipad’s camera with an audio interface to record (and share directly to youtube etc). You could use the internal mic of iphone or ipad for recording but it will sound very demo-quality compared to an interface.

ROTM here has posted many cover videos with a simple setup like a phone or laptop camera, with guitar straight into an audio interface.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[Rob]

Thanks superblonde. Good info, definitely.
I had heard of Reaper, and just a while ago watched
some videos. It almost seems like ProTools is not as
good as it once was, or the Competition is getting
that much better.
I am thinking Motu if I go that route.

Thank You. You have given me something to think about.

In For The Learn

[Byron]

Neither one of those interfaces is anywhere near the upper crust. Either one will get you good results.

There are so many worthwhile options available it all boils down to personal preference.

As far as what else you might need, it depends on what you want to do.

[ZUrlocker]

I use GuitarPro daily with a cheap $30 USB guitar cable from RockSmith. These are fantastic. You can record directly with them into GarageBand, Logic Pro or any DAW. So if money is tight, get one of these on eBay or Amazon.

[Rob]

Good information being shared,
Thank You All!!

What about a sound card?
Is the factory installed one
ok to use with Metal Method and
GuitarPro 7.5?

In For The Learn

[ZUrlocker]

I’m on a Mac, so everything is built in. Normally I use GarageBand to set the guitar or bass amp / pedals / effects I want, but GuitarPro 7.5 also has built in sound banks. I have not experimented much with GuitarPro’s amp / effects simulations, but in playback of GuitarPro files they are better than MIDI but not super impressive. (No one is going to mistake a GuitarPro tabbed file for a real guitar solo.)

[Rob]

Thanks ZUrlocker.
I have a good sound with the
Metal Method DVDs through Bose
speakers. I am guessing if it sounds
good, then when I get GP 7.5 there should
not be any problem with sound breaking up
or dropping out. If that does happen,
it would be a Computer issue and not a
Sound Card issue.
Would that be a good guess??

In For The Learn

[The Vanimal]

My entire setup is around my Mac, Scarlett 212 USB-C interface, Rocket 5″ KRK’s ( they are AMAZING – so worth the $350 I spent on them) Guitar Pro and Positive Grid Bias Effects 2. I also use Logic for all of my recording.

As far as interfaces go, there are probably 50 different ones that will work just fine for you, but I am a Focusrite fan – sold, easy to setup, and just works – I think I got mine on-sale at Guitar Center for like $80

Those are my thoughts, and what works for “me” – find what works for YOU and stick with it 😉

Vanimal

[Rob]

Thanks, Vanimal.

Sorry for not acknowledging your Info way sooner!

In For The Learn

[The Vanimal]

No worries at all 😉

[pipelineaudio]

Rob wrote:

It almost seems like ProTools is not as
good as it once was, or the Competition is getting
that much better.

Some of us would say that PT was never very good which was why REAPER was created.

The interface game is still pretty much a two horse race between RME and MOTU when you want the very best, but for most they’re all so good now that its just a matter of getting something that fits you, your budget, and hopefully stays supported for a while. I have a chart here that gives the actual, measured (as opposed to their claimed) round trip latency at various buffer sizes. http://kailuamusicschool.com/tech/round-trip-latency-roundup/

Lower RTL at a given buffer size correlates strongly also with driver performance, cpu use and number of plugins you can run at lower settings, as DAWBench’s benchmark charts can attest to as well.

[Shroud1969]

I have also been looking at the MOTU. In my research, it seems they have the best ASIO drivers…according to “people” (my general gestalt).

Surprising that dirt cheap Behringer performs pretty well.

[superblonde]

I’ve finished more small projects with protools now (because using it is required by a local studio) and I can definitely say avoid protools, absolutely avoid protools. For example it only imports very specific video types and only 1 video track, and export to only few types of video output. With Reaper it is possible to drop nearly any type of video into the track, and have multiple video tracks, with video effects, or drop images into the video track as stills, then render video out to basically any video codec in the world (because Reaper can also use ffmpeg). So many things about protools violate basic user interface guidelines of how apps should work but avid obviously can’t update it because all the old industry is used to how protools behaves in a broken way. And the $$$ is ridiculous. Whereas reaper is under $100 one-time buy.

I might go into pro rack gear soon which is totally unnecessary for home musicians.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

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   rack2.jpg
   

[The Vanimal]

Evening guys – I probably have less that $1500.00 in everything. I use Logic, have for years – a Scarlett 212 USB C connected, KRK Speakers, Positive Grid – Elite Version for AMP, and FX’s – I also have a few of the Isotope tools ( plugins for Logic) and I’ll just never use anything else. ProTools – which for the longest time was “The DEFACTO” studio tool – is a MAJOR Pain in the BUTT to deal with, has lots of quirks and noteven CLOSE to being worth the cost of the software vs quality of end product (again – my personal opinion)

You do NOT have to spend a TON to get QUALITY – you do need to either PAY for classes or PAY for a Tutor so you really get trained on the software – once you know it – make it your own, and stick with it

Good luck with all you do !

Vanimal

[pipelineaudio]

Shroud1969 wrote:

I have also been looking at the MOTU. In my research, it seems they have the best ASIO drivers…according to “people” (my general gestalt).

I do a lot of videos where I show one of my rooms using two MOTU 2408 MKII’s from 1999! In a world where three years is obsolete, these things are still flying. They do require a pci or pci-e card and the last driver update was 2015, but man, it has been a great run!

RME still has new drivers out for the RME HDSP 9652 cards i sent Justin to test REAPER with that were made in 2001.

The MOTU drivers area grab bag so its hard to tell sometimes which internal features they will come with, but they are generally very good. For USB, RME pulls way ahead and I think at this point all RME devices have loopback enabled drivers.

I’m pretty interested in MOTU’s new LP32 as a direct competitor to the RME Digiface USB I have. It has wordclock I/O unlike the RME and also has AVB, which I would really like to try on practical terms, after giving up on DANTE and hitting the limits on AES-50. Its about the same price as the Digiface USB, but will no doubt have slightly worse drivers

Surprising that dirt cheap Behringer performs pretty well.

Most of the “name”companies, including Behringer, as well as all the way up to SSL and the constantly overhyped Audients use the same TheSycon.de driver, so its hillarious to watch people make spurious claims on the forums about the differences in drivers.

[PaulWolfe]

Never done any recording at all. You guys got me intrigued and Sweetwater had the Scarlett Solo on sale.

It got here this afternoon so I’ll have to do some playing around to see what I can come up with.

Thanks for the inspiration.

[Rob]

@PaulWolfe

Great!! Please pass along your findings
when you get things figured out!!

In For The Learn

[superblonde]

superblonde wrote:

you could simply use the amp itself as your audio interface (I did that with my fender mustang amp, it didnt sound amazing, but it was good enough).

Using a newer guitar amp which has USB is a good low end option but watch out for prior gen Mustang amps now. As of March 2020, Fender has discontinued the long running Fender FUSE software which allows effect configs of the Mustangs, because the software was old-style 32 bit or based on Silverlight or something. The amps still work stand-alone and the USB will still work as an interface, but software control of the amp won’t be usable anymore so many of the features are gone. (I think there is some open source project to try to control the Mustangs now but it is not complete) Probably these amps will be going for much cheaper these days since the support is discontinued.

I liked the dual use of my little 6″ mustang as an inexpensive (under $60) portable, battery-powered backyard guitar jam tool in addition to having the USB interface and tons of amp tones & pedal configurations. Not sure what under-$100 small amp with those features also works as an audio interface. There are many small ~$50 amps but they don’t have a USB audio interface or a configuration app. Maybe blackstar id core.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[Rob]

@superblonde

Thanks for that info!
I have a Mustang LT25 that I just recently
saw the USB plug.

In For The Learn

[PaulWolfe]

Okay, I need to come up with ideas for chorus, verse, etc… Do you guys record ideas on a DAW or just use a phone to record ideas.

[superblonde]

Use a DAW for sure. For zero cost, at least use Audacity. If on a mac or ios, for free use garageband.
With a DAW, then you can very easily do something like this:

1st. Record a metronome or make a drum beat as the 1st track. Or drop in a backing track.
2nd. Make a guitar track and mark a region of the guitar track which is 1 verse long, or 1 chorus etc. Set it to loop-record do multiple takes of playing over top of the backing.
3rd. After a bunch of tries, play back thru the various jams in 2nd step, to pick the favorite one, and practice that until it’s down.
4th. Cleanly re-record the guitar part over top again, to make a good version.

then, repeat until a whole song emerges.. repeat for the bass guitar..etc.. There is amazing power in setting the exact length of section you want to record (punch-in).

It’s so much more song-friendly to spend the time getting the DAW together with tracks like this, compared to recording random isolated guitar clips.

These days when I play, I always have the DAW open and guitar routed into it.

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

[PaulWolfe]

Thanks SB… the Scarlett Solo came with Ableton Live and a bunch of extras. I also downloaded Cakewalk per Doug’s suggestion.

Now with your suggestions I’ll have to get my ass in gear and come up with some ideas.

I appreciate your knowledge, Super Blonde.

[superblonde]

Guitar Pro 7 has the line-in feature although I havent used it. Sounds like it functions like a software amp plugin, for playing along to GP files, which could be very quick to set up, and allow direct plugging into the interface with good guitar tone. There’s no recording capability (yet).

I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

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1. 

   guitar-pro-7-line-in.jpg
   

[PaulWolfe]

I guess I’ve got a long way to go…

I found a drum loop I like, made a 16 measure loop and promptly failed to come up with anything.

In my head I can hear ideas but I can’t replicate them… I tried listening to the drums through headphones (in one ear) and scat-sang an idea into my phone… Now I’ve got to figure out how to PLAY that idea and see what unfolds.

This would have been much easier 3 months ago when I was just starting the Quarantine. Now that I’m back to work (and the wife and kids want to do stuff) my creative time seems to have shrunk by quite a bit.

But anything worthwhile takes time and patience so I’ll keep at it.

[Author]

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