big giant circles

this is an excellent question for which I do not have an answer.

I would gladly adapt if I didn't have lots and lots of expensive software that isn't quite as ready as I am.

what specifically are you planning on recording with it? What DAW are you planning on using? If people simply say that their recordings "come out noisy" that could be a whole slew of different factors that arent necessarily related to the interface. If you're merely planning on using an SM58 to record, there's not much point in getting an interface with phantom power unless you plan on buying a condenser mic later on. Also, don't get the SM58. Get the Audix OM2. Go to any Guitar Center or other music store that might have both and ask to test them both out side by side. You'll hear the difference.

Japanese people love preposterous weapons, especially swords.

well, I sure wish Melodyne would work for me in 32. I'm not sure if it's entirely Vista 32, or what, but here's a list of things that don't work properly for me. -Melodyne (freezes up immediately, must shut down in task mgr) -Reaktor 5 (when loading an ensemble says "Reaktor 5 has stopped working) -Kore 2 (when loading any patch based in Reaktor, freezes program indefinitely.) -Winamp (crashes consistently after 2 or 3 song plays) -Firefox (freezes up randomly, but consistenly. Process remains open indefinitely, prevents me from even being able to restart properly.) I guess I should just post all this in the Help forum. It's a brand new computer, it's a legit copy of Vista, as are all my plugins. I've uninstalled/reinstalled each at least a half a dozen times, but nothing changes. I'm procrastinating the hassle, but I'm going to wipe Vista of here and put XP back on. My experiences with Vista have been absolutely awful so far. We have a PC with Vista set up at work, and I have probably equally as many problems with it, which helps to know it doesn't just seem to be *my* computer.

Hey man, nice to see ya again. This sounds like a cool idea, I might be interested in throwing something together.

I own the M-Audio Profire 2626 which uses their Octane preamp technology, and I think it sounds really really great. They have a lesser version (the 410) which is about half the cost ($399). Anything less than that, and you may as well just get a USB interface IMO. Lots of people here have the Presonus Firebox ($299), but I have had countless troubles with several of the Presonus Firestudio Project (next step up) so I'd personally steer clear of them. With a budge of $200, I'd just go for the Fast Track Pro or a PCI card.

There's really nothing critically wrong with USB interfaces. They're pretty on par with firewire for the most part, and as the owner of both a firewire and USB interface, both with 8 inputs I don't really have any problems with either. PCI is fine too, and like OC said, they're much easier to put in than you think. If you can put a DVD into a DVD player, you can install a PCI card. If you do go with a USB interface, I like Harmony's suggestion about the Fast Track Pro. While I really love M-Audio stuff, I don't much care for the Mobile Pre. It doesn't even have a master output control knob, which is just plain silly.

what's your budget?

So, how do you choose a specific server from a lobby again? Here's how Garian explained it, I think. Type "sv_search_key [key]" in console, and then click Start the Game. I did this last night, using the key that is specified in our config, and it said no server found. Is there something else I'm supposed to do?

I downloaded the newest version there is of Melodyne, I'm not sure which version specifically. But it's on my iLok, and the program simply won't initiate.

You mean all NI stuff period, or just the EastWest NI stuff? I cannot for the life of me get NI Reaktor 5 to work in Vista, furthermore, any of the Reaktor presets in Kore 2 freeze it up and I have to reboot the machine. Also, I have yet to get my copy of Melodyne 3 to work in Vista.

Indeed, I'd say that if you actually play the instrument that you're playing a software version of, you're more likely to be able to tell the difference. I'm also glad Snapple brought up the point that a lot of audio demos for most products are generally put together very painstakingly and skillfully. I'd say in the case of either RealGuitar or Acoustic Legends, the more exposed the instrument in your mix, the more likely people will be able to tell that it's not *real*, but in a full mix done well, it should be pretty convincing to all but the uber-nit-picky, and we don't really care about them I think it's safe to say that either way is a great way to go, short of just recording an actual guitar, as long as what you're writing is not super exposed out front with nothing to hide it's virtual flaws.

real strat is intentionally sampled dry. it's meant to be run through amp modeling such as guitar rig or amplitube, etc. by itself, it sounds about as good as any electric guitar with zero processing

I'm certainly not in the position to downplay Acoustic Legends since I've not yet heard it, but I believe you're a bit off on your terminology. Not sure how RealGuitar is classified as a synth, it's a sampled instrument, not modeling. The sounds you hear are not synthetic in any way, and honestly, I'm a bit surprised you think it doesn't at all sound real. Anyway, here's a few video examples that really turned me on to it: Strumming: http://www.musiclab.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/amax/downloads/down.cgi?fid=183&sessionid=anonymous Soloing: http://www.musiclab.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/amax/downloads/down.cgi?fid=170&sessionid=anonymous Hotel California http://www.musiclab.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/amax/downloads/down.cgi?fid=237&sessionid=anonymous Tears In Heaven http://www.musiclab.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/amax/downloads/down.cgi?fid=236&sessionid=anonymous If you've already watched these and are still unimpressed, then my apologies, I'm going to watch some Acoustic Legends demos now to see what I'm missing *edit* Yeah, I will say Acoustic legends sounds pretty good, and it probably offers slightly more variety in the patches than RealGuitar, but I'm still a little partial to RG (which has steel picked, steel fingered, nylon picked, nylon fingered, steel 2 picked, steel 2 (doubling), 12-string, and steel stereo which is plenty for me. EQ/comp/reverb take care of the rest for me) simply because of the ease of use, and the fact that it uses less memory than Kontakt does.

or for just $99 at guitar center, get MusicLab realguitar

BFT! (bout friggin' time) I've listened to this one for probably at least a couple hours or more collectively by now. Nicole is a good friend and a really talented (and ever growing) artist, and this is a great example of her abilities. And Starla is my favorite pokemon <3. Really fantastic work from some fantastic ladies! (Technically, I can say I was like .001% involved in this remix as Nicole's melodyne coach/critic woohoo!)

FINALLY got the All 4 Dead achievement last night, woo! Also, does anyone else occasionally experience any texture glitches such as these?

This pretty well sums it up. Except you forgot expensive, too. I know it requires something like a 13 pin midi cable connection to some sort of synth module (Roland makes one). Carvin makes a guitar that does this, along with a couple other companies. You'd be better off (IMO) simply recording your guitar (slow down the tempo and then just use timestretching if you need to) or otherwise get a program like MusicLab RealStrat/RealGuitar and an amp modeling FX plugin like Guitar Rig or Amplitube.

Has anyone else seen these yet? They're awesome--easily the best parody L4D vids out there. Part 2 recently came out. w00t. Boomer's Day Off Part 1 Part 2

Hehe, we've got this theme covered from both angles Awesome track, very toe-tappish, per Vinnie's usual trend.

Punched 2 survivors off the rooftop tonight and incap'd zoey, but the dang All 4 Dead achievement remains elusive. I guess I could have punched my smoker off the 4th survivor, but eh, I'm a team playa'. My personal fav. character to play as is Louis, simply because the dude is killing zombies in a collared shirt and tie.

IMO the fantom is over-rated. It's not as effective as software (both instruments and sequencing) in a studio environment with a bit higher learning curve, it's heavy and bulky, and even at cost, they're pretty durn expensive. I do think the V-synth looks pretty spiffy if you absolutely were going to get a keyboard. If you're looking for 88-key weighted, then yeah, something like the FP-4/FP-7 or RD300G/RD700G are probably decent. Although, again, for the same price as an FP7 or RD300/700, I'd just get a Yamaha MO8 or something.

bwahahaha! parody time!