Home recording/midi keyboard advice please!

Quatre Mains

Hello all
I am trying to get going with home recording - Presently I have the following;

Guitar -> GFX unit -> M-Audio Audiophile 2496
Software - Sonar 2, Reason 2 (not updating till I know I'm going to stick with it TBH)

- I have no keyboard at present. I'm only needing it for basic tasks, but my q is this - would there be any benefit to me buying something like this over soomething likethis, or would I be wasting my cash? I'd love to hear from other guitarists about what equipment they have etc etc as I can;t get my head around all the gear thats out there - for example, I can't work out the advantage of say a Line6 pod over a regular GFX unit, or if its better to record a bare track then add fx using plug-ins etc. Cheers in advance, am a bit lost at present!

sturgo

I just got myself a korg microkontrol. http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=microkontrol

It's a great tool if you're into electronic music. It's works perfectly with Reason 3. If it's studio recording you're into, you might want to go for something a bit bigger. The microkontrol is degsined with 2 things in mind. Live performance & portability. I've only had it about a week. but it's streets ahead of the M-audio O2, which I also use.

frobisher

Your question depends on one thing. Your budget. If you have the cash then I would definitely go for the Ozone over the Oxygen8 as it is a more versatile and powerful tool. It gives you a pre-amp input for a mic through USB into your PC which could prove extremely useful as your recording progresses and develops. That's a pretty sweet deal. (Waltons carry M-Audio and so do www.dv247.com)

In relation to your other question about guitar fx v pod v plug ins for recording. There are as many ways to work as there are musicians but unless your FX unit has quality amp simulators I would very strongly suggest that the POD is definitely the way to go. By a long shot! Not only does it add FX and tools like compression, the amp simulator will make recording without an amp sound alot more realistic. As for recording dry and then adding plug ins? It's a great way to experiment and have alot of control but it's not the most intuitive or flowing work method. You should try all different things and see how you feel about them. PODs are available cheap these days, the POD XT is the best but the old ones will do fine but version 2 of the older models will sound better.

Feel free to ask any other questions, if I can help I will.

squibs

Will you be using the keyboard for the knobs (control of vst and vsti paramenters) or to play tunes? If it's the latter, you'll need a 61 key keyboard at least. I have a yamaha djx as my main keyboard and a behringer 25 note keyboard by my computer keyboard for noodling, preset surfing and mix automation.

With regard to recording guitar, it's really down to the signal path and quality of the effects algorithms. As a rule it's better to get your guitar sound how you like it and record it complete with effects. If you play a solo riff with no sustain/delay/verb you'll have a different touch (usually comes accross as having less conviction). So when you put the effects on the part later it sounds different. Of course if you record your signal "wet" then you're screwed if you got the perfect take but overcooked the reverb. Some effects boxes (and most DI boxes) will allow you to split the signal so you can record and monitor the wet track but also record a dry track and "re-amp" it later.

Quatre Mains

Hi lads
thanks for the advice for starters, much appreciated. My GFX unit (Zoom GFX-8) does have amp simulators but they're fairly crap so I might look at picking up a 2nd hand Pod at some point. As for the keyboard, I am strictly a 1-finger player so a small keyboard is fine. I did have an old full-length keyboard but it spent most of the time in a case under the bed as I didnt have room for it. Ideally I'd like to be able to hear my guitar simultaneously along with mp3 files etc so I might go for the Ozone, as my s/card only lets me hear one or the other at present.
So it looks like I'm not too far off on the gear front at least, which is a relief. So that leaves just the software...let the nightmare begin!

Cheers