Need some hardware/software

[Synth]

Okies. I've decided that its time I sit down and actully write some damn music, but i'm not sure to what I need to achieve what I want to do.

I havn't really come up with a style of music yet, but I do know what I kinda of want my music to be. So heres a list of what I want to be able to achieve.

I know that I want to use my guitars in my songs, so i'm going to need a way to record them. I don't want any amp sims, i'd like to get a great recording from my amp. And acoustic recording.

I want to have processed guitars(gateing, panning, crazy stuff) that sort of junk. I'm not sure if Fl would be the best for that(which is my sequencer) so i'm guessing I need some type of audio editor.

I'm also looking for studio quality sounds, but i'd still like to keep it on a low budget.

And fruityloops isnt the best for live audio, so I'd also like a more audio-friendly squencer.

What I currently have, is guitars, a midi keyboard, FL, Reason, and a decent computer.

[SnappleMan]

"Buy" Sonar, Cubase, Nuendo, or Pro Tools. I don't know what you have against amp sims, but I would suggest you get your hands on Guitar Rig, it'll sound better than any reasonably priced amp you can buy, and you wont have to deal with setting up a decent room, getting a decent mic, or any of that garbage. Get a good audio interface, using onboard, or anything but pro or semi-pro shit is not a good idea. Also, get used to MIDI, get used to complaining about lack of RAM, lack of CPU, lack of inspiration, lack if time to work.

But yeah, getting a real amp to record music with will cost you at least $500, unless you want people to endlessly whine about your bad tone. Try Guitar Rig (after you get a good audio interface), you'll be glad you did.

But yeah, if you need some REAL help about this, you can hit me up on AIM at SNKFreak, I'll break things down for you and offer what little I know to help you out.

[Splunkle]

Okay. If you don't want to use amp sims, thats cool, but you are going to have to invest a fair whack of money. So I would highly reccomend you try out some demos, just to see what tones you can get, because it might save you a packet.

If you still want to record your amp, your are going to need:

1) An amp. Obviously.

2) A microphone.

3) Mixer/Preamp.

4) Good audio interface.

Discussion of appropriate amps I'll leave to the actual guitarists.

For microphones, I like the trusty SM57, because its durable, can record almost anything, cheap, at least for a microphone. I know other mics are often used, but the 57 gives you lots of flexibility.

A SM57 has an XLR connenction, so are going to need something with an XLR connection. Also, the mic's signal comes in rather low usually, so something to boost that a bit helps. Hence the need for a Preamp/mixer. If you are only going to be using the 1 microphone, a preamp is probably a better idea, but if you want to use more in the future, a mixer could be a good investment.

For an audio interface, you are going to want something that is clean. Mr. intergrated audio isn't going to cut it. Cheapest options here are the E-MU 0404 and the M-audio audiophile 2496.

Don't foget to buy from Zzounds to help OCR.

Okay, once you have all the equipment, the position of the microphone is important. So the position you want depends on the tone you want. A quick google search gives lots of guides to this, so try them out and see what flies and what doesn't.

As for acoustic guitars, I've never micced one up before - they all had internal mics. So I'll let someone else talk about that.

Okay, effects and stuff. FL can do everything you have posted, and it can do it live. Fruity can only take live audio inputs from ASIO drivers, though, so make sure your audio interface doesn't suck. Whether FL suits you is something you have to determine yourself. Grab some demos of other products, and see if they really suit you, buy them. But you alreadly have FL, so if you can work in that, I would stick with it.

Super-quick-FL-guide: In the mixer, each channel has a little pull down box labeled "in". By default, it is set to nothing, so change it to the input your preamp/mixer is connected to. Now just load up all your effects in that channel like you normally would, and start playing. Easy.

[Sixto]

I'd go for something like this. It's got two mic pres and comes with Cubase LE. You just plug in and go. And a Shure SM57 or an Audix i5 would be your best bets for a dynamic mic, but don't forget about the condensers. The $200 Studio Projects C1 would be perfect for acoustic guitars and vocals and even sound great on guitar amps.