Got any Pro Tools questions? Post em here.

[Rukas]

Will try to answer all that I can, Im sure others will help too..

 

[Kadafi Son]

Which on amazon.com is the best pro tools software to buy for my computer?

 

[PuffnScruff]

Which on amazon.com is the best pro tools software to buy for my computer?

the question you have to ask yourself is what kind of computer do i have and how much do i want to spend

do you want to spend thousands of dollars on a pro tools HD rig? or do you want a pro tools rig that you wont have to spend a small fortune on? if you dont want to spend the money on an HD then you should look into an LE or M-Audio setup.

also pro tool 7.4 is coming out really soon.

 

[Rukas]

In my opinion the best option for beginners is the Mbox 2 Pro back. You can get cheaper than Pro, but Pro has the firewire feature which is a LOT faster than USB.

 

[Preach]

as of right now, but since im a usb dickrider i have to precise that the current firewire standard is the 400mbit one right? i have not seen 800mbit firewire devices yet but that may be cause i haven't been looking. usb 2.0 has a capacity of 480mbit which is faster than the current firewire standard. the fastest firewire standard is 800mbit... so i'm waiting for usb 3.0 which is 4,8gbit/sec

 

[Rukas]

as of right now, but since im a usb dickrider i have to precise that the current firewire standard is the 400mbit one right? i have not seen 800mbit firewire devices yet but that may be cause i haven't been looking. usb 2.0 has a capacity of 480mbit which is faster than the current firewire standard. the fastest firewire standard is 800mbit... so i'm waiting for usb 3.0 which is 4,8gbit/sec

Pro Tools fire wire is more stable for some reason, it uses less CPU resources and just crashes a LOT less than USB. If youve used PT Im sure you know the dreaded Hardware Playback Engine errors; well, theres less of them with the firewire connection, a lot less.

 

[Rahim]

1. I want to know what the advantages are of having a pro-tools hard drive compared to a a normal computer hard drive. Can you install a pro-tools hard drive like you would install a normal computer hard drive?

2. Is it a MUST to have a studio monitor if you have a good sub and speakers?

3. Recommend me a hardware mixer, nothing expensive but just for recording a guitar, MPC, keyboard, etc.

4. Recommend a drum machine. My sound is more into R&B. nice hi-hat's, smooth kicks. great snares and rim shots and claps. Recommend me something good and affordable.


Thanks.

 

[Rukas]

1. Im actually not sure to be honest, I'd assume its just a USB hard drive used for backups (a must).

2. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Studio monitors (properly placed) are a must, as they spotlight certain frequencies allowing you to mix and EQ better. Having said that you should always test your mix on the shittiest speakers or headphones you can find too.

3. Not sure about cheap ones, but we have a Control 24.

4. Just get an MPD and latest copy of Fruity Loops and download a shit load of sample and sound libraries.

 

[PuffnScruff]

1. I want to know what the advantages are of having a pro-tools hard drive compared to a a normal computer hard drive. Can you install a pro-tools hard drive like you would install a normal computer hard drive?

2. Is it a MUST to have a studio monitor if you have a good sub and speakers?

3. Recommend me a hardware mixer, nothing expensive but just for recording a guitar, MPC, keyboard, etc.

4. Recommend a drum machine. My sound is more into R&B. nice hi-hat's, smooth kicks. great snares and rim shots and claps. Recommend me something good and affordable.


Thanks.

1) advantages? one pro tools session can take up a shit load of room on your hard drive on your computer. you don't want a slow rig so it is better to store your sessions on a glpyh drive like one of these
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GT050250/

2) a must have? having nearfield monitors is a good idea but a must have is questionable conisdering some of the best albums to ever grace the music industry have been mixed on far less. one of the beach boy albums were mixed through an a.m. radio. but it is good to have different type of speakers to do a/b comparisions i.e. neirfield monitors and regular home stereo speakers. there was a band i was mixing a track for and i would go back and forth between the mixing room to my car for comparison

3) if you are considering buying a pro tools rig then you do not need a mixer. you can plug a guitar, keyboard, mpc, mics, etc all into the interface (003, mbox, etc). you will probably just end up waisting your money unless you really happen to like the preamps on a particular mixer.

if you are trying to go for a more hands on feel then buy a pro tools 003 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Digi003Fact/ the interface is completely hands on

or if you dont want to go that route and still want to be hands on do what i did and buy one of these http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FaderPort/ a presonus fader port.

4) drum machines are starting to be a thing of the past. they really don't make anymore these days. there are very few that are made and the companies that do have some are korg and alesis. roland has one for their electric midi drum set. the alesis one is good with great sounds and very cheap in price.

if you want really great drum sounds buy one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/Alesis-DM-5-dru...ryZ64380QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and use it through a some sort of midi controller

but are you wanting a drum machine or a sampler? people often confuse the two.

 

[Rahim]

1) advantages? one pro tools session can take up a shit load of room on your hard drive on your computer. you don't want a slow rig so it is better to store your sessions on a glpyh drive like one of these
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GT050250/

2) a must have? having nearfield monitors is a good idea but a must have is questionable conisdering some of the best albums to ever grace the music industry have been mixed on far less. one of the beach boy albums were mixed through an a.m. radio. but it is good to have different type of speakers to do a/b comparisions i.e. neirfield monitors and regular home stereo speakers. there was a band i was mixing a track for and i would go back and forth between the mixing room to my car for comparison

3) if you are considering buying a pro tools rig then you do not need a mixer. you can plug a guitar, keyboard, mpc, mics, etc all into the interface (003, mbox, etc). you will probably just end up waisting your money unless you really happen to like the preamps on a particular mixer.

if you are trying to go for a more hands on feel then buy a pro tools 003 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Digi003Fact/ the interface is completely hands on

or if you dont want to go that route and still want to be hands on do what i did and buy one of these http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FaderPort/ a presonus fader port.

4) drum machines are starting to be a thing of the past. they really don't make anymore these days. there are very few that are made and the companies that do have some are korg and alesis. roland has one for their electric midi drum set. the alesis one is good with great sounds and very cheap in price.

if you want really great drum sounds buy one of these http://cgi.ebay.com/Alesis-DM-5-dru...ryZ64380QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and use it through a some sort of midi controller

but are you wanting a drum machine or a sampler? people often confuse the two.

i read what u said. thanks for the help.

my next question is.....what is the difference between a drum machine and a sampler and the advantages of the both? your right im confused between the both.

and how does a drum machine work? how do u get the recorded drums from the machine to the pro-tools so that you could mix it, and are the drums already 'pre-cut' or do u have to cut the drums for accurate mixing?

edit: to answer ur question directly, i am looking for drums, percussion, etc. but i dontknow how to chose between the two cause ive never used a drum machine.

 

[Rukas]

i read what u said. thanks for the help.

my next question is.....what is the difference between a drum machine and a sampler and the advantages of the both? your right im confused between the both.

and how does a drum machine work? how do u get the recorded drums from the machine to the pro-tools so that you could mix it, and are the drums already 'pre-cut' or do u have to cut the drums for accurate mixing?

edit: to answer ur question directly, i am looking for drums, percussion, etc. but i dontknow how to chose between the two cause ive never used a drum machine.

Like I said, go the MPD through Fruity Loops and you'll pretty much have an MPC. Then you can map your drums, samples, and sounds to the drum pad on the MPC and hammer out a beat. Bounce it, export to wavelab, eq, export to pro tools, record vocals over them. You can skip the wavelab stage and EQ within Pro Tools too if you prefer that interface.

 

[PuffnScruff]

a drum machine is going to have strickly drum sounds on it. the sounds will come on board in the memory of the machine. you can program drum patterns on it and there are preset patterns already on them.

a sampler is like an mpc, roland mv8800, or emu sp1200. they may come with on board sounds but you can record into it directly. for instance you can hook up a turntable into the back of an mpc and record a few seconds off of a record, edit what you sampled into the mpc and assign different edited sampled sounds to a specifc pad on the mpc. not just drum sounds but everything from piano, guitar, synths, bass , etc. it has a lot of the same features as a drum machine would like programming your own patterns and sequences. just with a drum machine you cannot record directly into it and it is only drum sounds.

now to get your patterns that you have created on a drum machine from the device into a DAW like protools you would/could use midi and a high quality s/pdif cable into your recording interface. the midi would help line up the time code so that the machine and DAW stop and start recording at the same time.

typically if you were to record directly from a drum machine into a DAW all of your drums sounds (kicks, snares, hats etc) would all be on one track (midi or audio depending on how you do it). if it was recording into a midi track you could seperate each sound/instrument onto it's each own track. on pro tools this is a bit hard and takes a lot of time. one great thing i love about cubase is it has a feature that will take a one midi track and seperate it into different tracks for instrument on that midi track. so it makes it much easier to mix each individual track instead of mixing one tracked lumped with all the drums together on one.

 

[Rahim]

You can skip the wavelab stage and EQ within Pro Tools too if you prefer that interface.

yeah i pretty much like doing everything with one application. thnx.

can pro-tools support any type of VST instrument software?

 

[Rahim]

a drum machine is going to have strickly drum sounds on it. the sounds will come on board in the memory of the machine. you can program drum patterns on it and there are preset patterns already on them.

a sampler is like an mpc, roland mv8800, or emu sp1200. they may come with on board sounds but you can record into it directly. for instance you can hook up a turntable into the back of an mpc and record a few seconds off of a record, edit what you sampled into the mpc and assign different edited sampled sounds to a specifc pad on the mpc. not just drum sounds but everything from piano, guitar, synths, bass , etc. it has a lot of the same features as a drum machine would like programming your own patterns and sequences. just with a drum machine you cannot record directly into it and it is only drum sounds.

now to get your patterns that you have created on a drum machine from the device into a DAW like protools you would/could use midi and a high quality s/pdif cable into your recording interface. the midi would help line up the time code so that the machine and DAW stop and start recording at the same time.

typically if you were to record directly from a drum machine into a DAW all of your drums sounds (kicks, snares, hats etc) would all be on one track (midi or audio depending on how you do it). if it was recording into a midi track you could seperate each sound/instrument onto it's each own track. on pro tools this is a bit hard and takes a lot of time. one great thing i love about cubase is it has a feature that will take a one midi track and seperate it into different tracks for instrument on that midi track. so it makes it much easier to mix each individual track instead of mixing one tracked lumped with all the drums together on one.

great explanation thanks. now i definetly know that i want a drum machine because i need the inboard sounds. because if i were to use a sampler i would need to record my own drums correct? that something that i don't want to deal with. i want everything (drums and percussion) pre-recorded for me. the drum machine u referred to me sucks from the reviews i read. got anything else?

 

[Rukas]

yeah i pretty much like doing everything with one application. thnx.

can pro-tools support any type of VST instrument software?

RTAS, not VST.

 

[Rukas]

a drum machine is going to have strickly drum sounds on it. the sounds will come on board in the memory of the machine. you can program drum patterns on it and there are preset patterns already on them.

a sampler is like an mpc, roland mv8800, or emu sp1200. they may come with on board sounds but you can record into it directly. for instance you can hook up a turntable into the back of an mpc and record a few seconds off of a record, edit what you sampled into the mpc and assign different edited sampled sounds to a specifc pad on the mpc. not just drum sounds but everything from piano, guitar, synths, bass , etc. it has a lot of the same features as a drum machine would like programming your own patterns and sequences. just with a drum machine you cannot record directly into it and it is only drum sounds.

now to get your patterns that you have created on a drum machine from the device into a DAW like protools you would/could use midi and a high quality s/pdif cable into your recording interface. the midi would help line up the time code so that the machine and DAW stop and start recording at the same time.

typically if you were to record directly from a drum machine into a DAW all of your drums sounds (kicks, snares, hats etc) would all be on one track (midi or audio depending on how you do it). if it was recording into a midi track you could seperate each sound/instrument onto it's each own track. on pro tools this is a bit hard and takes a lot of time. one great thing i love about cubase is it has a feature that will take a one midi track and seperate it into different tracks for instrument on that midi track. so it makes it much easier to mix each individual track instead of mixing one tracked lumped with all the drums together on one.

Seriously, the MPD with Fruity Loops and GOOD sample/drum/sound libraries is the way to go, and does everything you need. Then you can track your beats and arrange them in there and just master in a different application.

And Rahim, you should get out of the "one application" mentality as different software has different advantages.

 

[PuffnScruff]

yeah i pretty much like doing everything with one application. thnx.

can pro-tools support any type of VST instrument software?

pro tools is rtas and tdm(if you have pro tools hd) but there are a few programs that are not very expensive that will allow you to use vst plugins in pro tools.

great explanation thanks. now i definetly know that i want a drum machine because i need the inboard sounds. because if i were to use a sampler i would need to record my own drums correct? that something that i don't want to deal with. i want everything (drums and percussion) pre-recorded for me. the drum machine u referred to me sucks from the reviews i read. got anything else?

you could record your own sounds or you could load kits into a sampler. there are many kits out there that made up of classic drum machines like the dmx, 808, 909, etc.

the thing with a drum machine is you are limited to just those sounds on the drum machine. a sampler allows you to use whatever sounds you want, drums, bass, horns, whatever you have. you just load the kit or record it directly into the sampler.

the nice thing about having a midi controller like an mpd or even an mpc is that it can control a drum machine or drum module like the dm5 i posted on the other page.

honestly, getting that dm5 would provide you with better drum sounds than any drum machine you could buy right now and you could buy the mpd, like rukas was suggesting, and control the sounds from the mpd. that mpd would also allow you to use it to control other samples like keys, bass, etc.

really you need to ask yourself how much you are willing to spend.

 

[Rahim]

RTAS, not VST.

k i just looked that up and it turns out that most VST's are also RTAS compatible so that means they will work on pro tools which is good for me:thumb:.

my next question is this:

lets say i put down a C5 note on the grid using any synth and the length of the note is 2 bars long. how would i change the pitch of just that single note half way through using pro-tools?

 

[Rahim]

Seriously, the MPD with Fruity Loops and GOOD sample/drum/sound libraries is the way to go, and does everything you need. Then you can track your beats and arrange them in there and just master in a different application.

And Rahim, you should get out of the "one application" mentality as different software has different advantages.

the thing im worried about is to where to get these sound libraries and how good quality they will be if i bought them online..or from wherever...do u purchase ur drumkits/libraries from online vendors?

 

[Rahim]

A question i have is about id tags for .wav audio. Sony Acid Pro doesn't support id tags for .wav audio, but does pro-tools support this feature to add/change id2 and id3 tags to the .wav file so i could burn the .wav directly to cd?

Let me know. thanks.

oh ya...terminology question:


What is a rig? and what is the full word for rig?