What computer, interface and DAW are you using to record with?

[TonalEuphoria]

So many people seem to use Pro Tools still even with how much more the cost is compared to other DAW's. It is considered the industry standard by many. There are so many great DAW's out there to me.

I have a subscription still for Pro Tools that I bought and tried, and I own and tried Cubase. I've worked around Reaper, Ableton Live, and FL Studio a little bit in other people studio besides, but I still favor and have decided to stick with the one I started using in my own studio and find the most sensible layout and fucntion controls. Which is Mixcraft, and currently Mixcraft 9 Pro. They're running a beta test now on version 10 and I look forward to what they may have improved. I use PC. Personally I have never been wowed by the Apple products and operatiing systems. I was using a larger tower running an i7 Intel with 32gb of ram with a Focusrite 4i4, but have very recently bought a new Minisforum mini pc with a Rayzen 9 6900hx processor and 32gb's of DDR5 ram, that I will upgrade to 64gb's somewhere down the road here. Definitely a much faster computer, but I am still setting it up and getting used to it.

What are you using?

 

[PelliX]

Reaper for the DAW. Dell SFF i5 to run it, Linux based. Mainly using a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 with an 8 channel ADAT extension. Some things are recorded straight through there, some pass through other rack gear and a mixing desk before hitting the interface.

Been down the FL Studio (Fruity Loops when I started) and Reason routes. Never got on with Cubase too much.

 

[SmokeyDopey]

I've been using Cubase 5 for years, but about 20 days ago I decided to try out REAPER. I put a few hours on it testing it, and I've decided to buy the license. Only 60 bucks, and it's worth every penny.

I've also used Pro Tools and Logic. Pro Tools sucks, Logic is OK.

REAPER FTW


-edit-
Running on a HP Elitebook intel i5 with a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB.

 

[TonalEuphoria]

Seems like a lot of people are switching to Reaper. I may have to give it a shot personally if Mixcraft 10 isn't all that and a side of fries.

I found Cubase just too different in it's way in going about it and it created the opposite in environment of what would be considered smooth workflow for me.

I wish I didn't buy it now, because I spent a lot of money on it.

 

[Trelwheen]

Being a solo recordist, I never record more than two tracks at once unless I am recording my drum kit. I track to tape, then send the tracks to a synched pair of Roland VS1824s, which are old standalone 18 track 24/44.1 workstations. I use high-end outboard mic pres, dynamics and EQ, and Apogee converters in order to bypass the onboard converters and preamps in the Rolands, the only "weak" spot in the Rolands' signal chain, although the difference is not significant. I'm just very particular about keeping sound quality high and noise floor low as possible.

These old workstations are well known for the outstanding sound quality of the hard disk recorder section itself and ease of operation.They work just like a mixing board so everything is quite intuitive. They sold new for around $1,800 if memory serves, but they can be had now in mint condition for under $400 and are not hard to find. If you're looking for simplicity and aren't concerned with impressing anybody this is a great option. All the money I would have spent on a PC based foundation was utilized to purchase my tape machine!

When I track drums I record the overheads to tape and the rest of the tracks to separate tracks on one of the 1824s. When I mix down I send one output to tape and another to an Alesis Masterlink. So I end up with one mix on tape and another on 24/96 super CD in the Masterlink.

I know not many folks will want to take the route I chose, but there might be a couple of you for whom it would be an optimal choice. And maybe my oddball mode of operation will get someone else thinking outside the box in their own strange way

 

[TXOldRedRocker]

iMac M1
Solid State Logic interface
Logic Pro

 

[Frodebro]

Mac, Logic, Universal Audio

 

[Derek S]

Built my own PC/Rig for gaming and music production
Cubase 11 "Artist" DAW
Axe FX III is the main audio interface
A mid tier Soundblaster card for day to day pc audio (gaming, web surfing, youtube, etc)

 

[Eric'45]

I use a quite "standard" Desktop PC, nothing special, it's got some i5 processor and 16GB RAM. I see, that's less power than what some of you guys use, but I have never experienced any issues. I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Interface, my Mics either plugged in directly, when I record on my own, or I use line- level signals from other devices.
I have worked with Cubase and Ableton recently. A guy I used to Jam with had used Reason, but that, and Ableton seemed to be optimized for beat producers and electronic musicians. After a while I found out that the free DAW Cakewalk basically has everything I need, and I have become used to it. After a my older version of Cubase didb't work on a newer system, I switched to Cakewalk completely.
I've been satisfied with it ever since. but I don't use much processing or digital effects, I like to find my sound with my Amps and Cabs in the Room.

 

[SmokeyDopey]

RAM isn't such a big deal, I assume it helps but I don't think it's critical. What's important is CPU. When running a lot of plugins (especially if they are oversampling), the DAW will stutter if the CPU is on the limit.

 

[JohnH]

These days, a simple '2 track at a time' set up can be very simple, and give high quality results. Most recent small analogue mixers will give a decent USB output , two tracks at a time. These can be just as good as a dedicated Interface. My Mackie ProFX v3 can do 24bit at up to 192 kHz, which is more than plenty, and as a mixer, it has the versatility of various inputs and effects. I feed that into one of two laptops, both I7 but not new, one is 6 years old and the other is 9 years old and they both work fine with this. I'm just using Audacity, which does what I need.

 

[Filipe Soares]

Macbook M1 Air (8 core, 8gb, 512gb)
Logic Pro
RME Babyface pro

 

[TonalEuphoria]

RAM isn't such a big deal, I assume it helps but I don't think it's critical. What's important is CPU. When running a lot of plugins (especially if they are oversampling), the DAW will stutter if the CPU is on the limit.

I had this problems with my past recording computers. Both Intel. An i5 and i7. One a laptop and the next a tower. Certain plugins don't want to run at all with both of them. The i7 has been a little better and has 32gb of DDR4 ram. I can't remember the hz right now, but while it's better, it still is a problem. And I'm hoping that once I get into really working with the new AMD Ryzen 9 processor on the mini pc I just bought, it isn't a problem.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

I'm running a Focusrite 18i20 into Intel I7 10th gen, Win 10 PC, MSI 490z Pro, w/ Adobe Audition. I have Yamaha monitors. 32GB ram @ 3600 bus

 

[Calebz]

Lenovo X1 Carbon - I7 - 16GB RAM

I use reaper 99% of the time, but one of the studios I use does most of their work in samplitude, so I keep that one installed as well (it has a few proprietary plug-ins that are pretty neat).

Depending on what location I'm in, everything goes into a focusrite 2i2, 4i4 or 18i20 (with 8 track adat extension). Focusrite drivers and focusrite control do a pretty good job of not giving me any shit about bopping between different focusrite interfaces.

 

[RCM 800]

Was using reason but never was a fan of the interface to many routing options for me. I basically just want something simple like the old 4 track cassette recorders we had in the 90s lol but can use plug ins like ez drummer and bias amp and fx. I bought a focusright 2i2 and was using the software that came with it but couldn't get it to play right with my plug ins or even the ones that came with it so ive downloaded reaper now and intend to get the license but really dont have time to learn another interface right now so home recording is temporarily on hold .

 

[Headache]

Lately I've been using an sm57 into a focusrite interface, straight to my phone. Using an app called Dolby-On.
I take the tracks inside to my PC and use Reaper as the DAW.
simple and sounds great!

 

[Mike_LA]

Reaper for the tutorials
https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php

 

[TonalEuphoria]

Was using reason but never was a fan of the interface to many routing options for me. I basically just want something simple like the old 4 track cassette recorders we had in the 90s lol but can use plug ins like ez drummer and bias amp and fx. I bought a focusright 2i2 and was using the software that came with it but couldn't get it to play right with my plug ins or even the ones that came with it so ive downloaded reaper now and intend to get the license but really dont have time to learn another interface right now so home recording is temporarily on hold .

Mixcraft is actually very friendly to lots of people who are school 4 track players like us. It's the first DAW I tried personally after working with others using just about everything out there. I tried Pro Tools and Cubase myself and still like Mixcraft better and have decided to just stay with it. You might give it a lot. It's pretty affordable and they have done quite a bit of tutorials on Youtube which have been amazingly helpful in learning the DAW. They are about to release Mixcraft 10 coming down the road here, and it should be even more user friendly.

Mixcraft 9 Recording Studio multitrack recording software.

The Easiest Music Recording Software For Musicians. Stay In The Creative Zone.

acoustica.com

 

[tschrama]

Win10, i5-4570, 16GB, reaper, focusrite scarlet (a black colored model with 8 mic preamps and firewire).