What do I need?

[Maestro]

After a fifteen year hiatus I have decided to once again start playing music. I now have kids and I want them exposed to instruments. I played bass, self-taught, since I was 14, now 37, and I have always known the basics of guitar. So anyhow, I have decided to buy a guitar and bass to simply enjoy "messing around" once again with music. My question is this: What do I need as far as software to be able to record and lay down simple tracks, perhaps with some samples or synthetic drums in the background? This is not for proefessional purposes, just simply for having fun exposing my kids to the basics of the music process.

Thanks.

[XNASA]

1. Good question.

But after years of using PC recording equipment my advice would be...

"Don't bother getting into PC based recording unless your PC is dedicated to doing just that."

It's a huge pain in the ass. Soundcards, burners, software for this, software for that, plugins.....it's enough to zap the creativity out of anyone.

If you only need 8 tracks, I'd highly recommend one of these.

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-ZOO-MRS8--brand-290.html

[Maestro]

2. Thanks

That does look like a better deal.

[XNASA]

3. I recently purchased the 16tr model.

The best thing is....

The programable drums and the programable bass are on separate channels so they don't eat up any of the recording tracks.

So you get drums, bass plus 8 more tracks.

The drum patterns that come with it are pretty good. Mine has over 400 of them. The bass is OK, but I would rather just record my own.

[Maestro]

4. I'll handle the bass

I taught myself to play bass years ago then sold a wonderful Gibson bass for next to nothing in my blissful youth days when I needed money. Anyhow, I am going to buy another then perfect my limited guitar skills. I'll check into this.

[XNASA]

5. Check out OLP basses.

They look like Music Man basses, sound and look great and cost about $200.

I'll be picking up one soon myself.

[Maestro]

7. Cool, I will check them out.

I've always loved Richenbachers but I just can't justify spending that dough for what I am doing. My first bass was a Gibson. It had some of the best machine heads. The thing never went out of tune.

[Pepperbelly]

6. for just fooling around ...

you can pick up a 4 track casette recorder for a hundred bucks.



http://www.music123.com/Fostex-X12-Four-Track-Recorder-i15790.music

[Maestro]

8. Yeah but I want to digitize the music

so I can replay it on my computer, possibly upload and share with friends. That sort of thing, but for the price I might just pick one up anyway. Thanks.

[Beware the Beast Man]

9. Well, I don't know how much you're willing to spend,

but I bought a Guitar Port from Line 6 and I love it. It's a live instrument preamp with amp and effects modeling software for guitar, bass, and vocals. It retails for about $99, and for $199 you can get Guitar Port with the Rifftracker software. It's recording software that also features drum tracking.
http://www.guitarport.com/
For an additional cost, you can also download several different model packs from the Line 6 website to add more amp sounds and effects

For now, I use Acid Pro 4 to record guitar tracks through my Guitar Port (version 5 is now out, but alas, my machine is ancient and doesn't support it), and Fruity Loops to create drum tracks, synth, and effects.

I'd say for just noodling around, the Guitar Port and Rifftracker should do you just fine.

Good luck!