Software to record and arrange

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

hi - not trying to start a “what’s the best DAW” discussion by any means…
however - I don’t master my gear well enough to make it exactly do what I want so I figure I’d go down the “record phrases and arrange with software” route… i love my OT but i keep making compromises when I start arranging and would like to add a few micro edits here and there

what are you guys using?.. i wont need any midi or VST synths. just pure audio recording and multi track arranging and EQ etc… I have a very old Live lite version (6) which feels cumbersome to use but then I don’t know what I’m doing so maybe it would just suffice if I could be arsed to read up a bit.
curious what you guys workflow is and what you use? cheers

#2

Hi:
On the computer, i use renoise and reaper… which is for me the software-version
of an octatrack and a vs2400 …
So stuff goes from:
octatrack > renoise, or renoise > octatrack
Reaper > renoise or Renoise > reaper
Reaper > vs2400 or Vs2400 > reaper
octrack -> Vs2400 or vs2400 > octatrack
in the end… it always end up on my computer as a nice file i can import into whatever tools i use to bundle m together… which these days is reaper.
usually its hardware to start things of. and slowly trickles into renoise where i arrange it. into reaper where i more “give it finishing touches” or turn it into samplefood.
which goes into renoise to be turned into propper sampler-fodder to go back into the octatrack…

#3

thanks for your input - I’ll check them both out… why would you prefer one or the other?

#4

well i personally record all my hardware in to reaper then arange it with reaper to its just easy and it is also low cost kind regards trey.

#5

Because renoise is a loop/pattern based tracker type program.
which is just brutally efficient if you like that style o programming/composing
and reaper is more a linear based tape-recorder type program. so its better with LOOOOONG recordings …
so like i said: got the hardware. . and its counterpart in software :slight_smile:

#6

sweet - after reading up on both programmes, your response makes a bit more sense to me @the_dreammer =)

  • looks like reaper is what I should give a go. Renoise looks really interesting but i guess there was a reason why I turned towards hardware. I sit in front of a computer way too long at work already and hardware made me more creative and productive in an instant.

thanks for your input chaps!
I still like to hear from others just out of curiosity - how do you guys arrange and edit?

#7

Audacity is where I go for editing. Can do multiple tracks simply enough too.

I don’t really use it for fx though.

#8

I prefer audacity and ardour because I like to work on linux, but also because they are open source - good spirit :+1: :heart: :heart:
I use Audacity for recording and editing of short stuff and for other simple tasks. As DAW I love ardour. It runs on linux and mac and is good enough for me for composing and arranging multi-track stuff. Actually I think it is a fantastic DAW.

#9

Adobe Audition CC.

#10

Reaper through a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20. Also will use the Zoom R24 as hardware recorder at times for recording 8 tracks at a time, even if it does not have midi because can pop out the SDHC card up to 32 GB and put in PC and import those tracks into Reaper and further edit.
The R24 also is really cool in that it also acts as a looper/sampler, meaning you can have 24 different already recorded tracks that while you are playing other instruments you can just push the button(s) in and out of these pre-recorded sounds/tracks and even record entirety in Reaper, providing you have armed tracks set-up properly for each.

This can be confounding because the A4 only gives one the SUM of 4 tracks on one pair of stereo outputs, so not so much editing there and places more emphasis on how having midi output would open up a lot more possibilities .