I'm just curious about what gear (both hardware and software) the audio guys out here use. Also, if you could get whatever you wanted, what gear would you use? Here is my gear list: Computer: ADK Computer, Dual Core 2 Pent 2.67 GHz, 3 gigs DDR2 RAM, 3 hard drives totally over 800 gigs of storage Audio Interface: Cakewalk SPS 660 Software: Cakewalk Sonar Producer 6, Acid Pro 4, Reason 4, Soundforge 8, Finale 2006 VST: A bunch of East West sounds Keyboard controller: Roland Fantom X8 Wish list: Computer: Mac Pro 8-core, 32 gigs of ram, 3 tetrabytes of hdd storage Audio interface: Digidesign 96 I/O Software: Pro Tools 7 HD, Logic 8 (on top of the software I already own) VST: Komplete 5, more East West samples That's basically it. My studio is getting better and better, I just wish I had more money to pour into it. I was able to make great strides this past year... but there is always more to do. What about you guys? Thanks, Nathan

I have a pretty good run down of my software on this page...

my software page

I am using a macbook pro 2.2 c2d with a 7200 rpm hd... 2g ram...

I dj so having a mac desk wouldnt make much sense. if I had the cash I'd buy one but..

lol, the net kinda killed the music industry.

you used to be able to pull descent cash from dance music and raves... now its blah....


people would rather be glued to myspace and facebook than go drop e and *$7# at raves...

what can you do?


well nevertheless... thats is the software I am using

cheers

At the moment I am using the following after upgrading the last couple of months

Hardware

Amd X64 4800 dual, 4 GB ram, 2 hard drives (total of 500GB)
Audio interface: E-mu 0404

Monitors: some very old Litovel studio monitors from 1961 (but I am absolutely amazed for their sound and accuracy, that is why I use them in combi with a kenwood tube amplifier from 1963 - I never had any better (yeah some 10.000 dollar gear :P) sounding so far)
Furthermore I have a piano and pen and paper (still old fashioned writing somethimes, mainly for non-game projects)

Midi controller: ehmmm.....none (I edit the cc's manually as well I am a clicky person)

Software:

Sequencing and editting: Finale 2007 (my precious!), Sonar Producer 7, Soundforge 9 (went back to use 8, since 9e gives me loads of problems with my Waves bundle), Vegas 8 (just upgraded and the new audio features are great!), Kontakt 2

VST: from East West: (Gold XP, RA, Choirs, Stormdrum, Bosie290) and others I have: Tsaiko Drums (from Sean Beeson, get this one!), Etno World Percussion 3
Absynth 4, Atmopshere (just bought this one a few days ago, big fun!)

Mixing and mastering tools: Waves Diamond Collection (still recoverring from this one financially and with explaining my wife it was needed)

Wish list:

A small familly of computers with as husband a MacPro and as wife a macpro notebook to create a mobile recording studio.
A Protools setup
Also more VST instruments - from East West, VSL, Project Sam and Sonivox

There are so many nice things and when reading magazines like SoundsonSound I see so many things I would like to have in the future, but I am pretty settled for the upcoming period. Due to some investments after completing some non-game music projects my studio got a nice set up for both movie and game music, but also for doing some additional mixing/mastering jobs for some students and people who just finished the conservatory and making demo cd's.

PC: Dual Core Athlon 64, 2GB ram, 2 hard drives
Sound card: M-Audio Audiophile 2496
Sequencers: Cakewalk Sonar Studio 7, FL Studio 7 (barely used now)
VST instruments: Drumkits from Hell Superior, EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Silver
Keyboard controller: E-mu X-Board 49
Percussion controller: Korg PadKontrol
Speakers: Altec Lansing 5021s (nice compromise between quality and suitability for games, films etc)
Other: 2 electric guitars, 1 bass guitar, 1 electroacoustic guitar, Pod XT Live preamp/effects/amp sim, Shure SM58 dynamic mic, Samson C01U condenser mic.


Mostly cheap and cheerful stuff to be honest. I'd like to have Sonar Producer Edition or to have a lot more VST instruments but I'm not professional or anything so can't justify the expense. I'd also like to have better vocal recording facilities, but getting useful recommendations that aren't based on superstition or trial and error seems difficult.

Thanks for the responses guys! Kylotan, how is FL Studio 7? I messed around with Fruity Loops 1 way back in the day and it was kinda cool but mostly (if not all) a loop based program. I know they've added alot, so is it worth it now? With the software I have, is it basically redundant?

I was looking at FL Studio 8 and have to admit.... it looks kinda sexy but I don't know if it is worth the money. I might just stick with my current apps and use the cash towards some more plugins.

Jaap, I've heard nothing but bad things about Soundforge 9 so I never changed over. In fact, I mainly only use Soundforge to edit samples for small projects like mobile games or on the DS. Aside from that, it just collects virtual dust on my hard drive. :)

Take care guys!

Nate

I was quite happy when I heard all the new features. Multichannel audio, 5.1 possibilities, noise reduction included as well as the Izone plugin. I wish I had waited a lil more and read what people experienced.
In the beginning it was ok btw, but as soon as I bought the waves bundle it became messy like hell.

I need to get the Waves Bundle at home. My last two in-house gigs have used Waves and I love them. The things you can get it to do are great! Which one do you have? I have used the Gold bundle at both places. Another great bundle is the GRM Tools which can also produce some amazing sounds, especially for sound design.

I have the Diamond bundle and also the GTR3 plugin and loving them like mad haha.

I never really digged into the GRM tools. Have to check it out :)

Quote: Original post by nsmadsen
Kylotan, how is FL Studio 7? I messed around with Fruity Loops 1 way back in the day and it was kinda cool but mostly (if not all) a loop based program. I know they've added alot, so is it worth it now? With the software I have, is it basically redundant?

I expect it has very little that Sonar Producer 6 couldn't do. I got it back when I couldn't afford expensive software like Sonar, and only ever really used it for programming bass and drum tracks for my guitar recordings. I can't comment on how good all the synths and so on are, as I never used them. I get the feeling that FL Studio really shines in the synth department, which is not something I've ever had much experience with or need for.

When I started using SoundFonts with FL Studio the editing tools were easily good enough to let me create some nice backing tracks, and the way in which you arrange the loops was quite handy. I expect it is possible to get some really good results out of it. But these days, now I have Sonar, a couple of decent VST instruments, and a Korg controller for entering percussion in a fluid way, I do all my work in Sonar.

Cool thread. Here's my info:

Computer:
Intel E6600 core 2 duo
2GB RAM
2 SATA HDs in a RAID array, ~500GB total
Various cooling solutions to get it as quiet as possible

Displays:
3 19" LCD monitors linked together with the Matrox TripleHead2Go

Sound card:
EMU 1212M

Speakers:
FOSTEX PM0.4 monitors
FOSTEX PM0.5 Subwoofer

MIDI keyboards:
EMU Xboard49 keyboard MIDI controller
Yamaha P-60 digital piano

Software:
Cubase SE3
A ton of Voxengo plugins
Garritan Personal Orchestra
WIVI horns & trombone
Eastwest "Halls of Fame" IR set

Other stuff:
SAMSON C-control (it's a small control room patcher/mixer)

Here's a demo:
http://www.venzon.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/concept2-08wav.mp3

I don't do this for a living so most of the gear is lower-end (but still pro-quality) stuff. I've got enough equipment that I don't really need anything else right now except more time and more skill at composition. :-)