How's it goin' Elder here. The most important thing for you to get is a good soundcard. preferably with an outboard. you can pick one up for under E300. However; i started off using Acid Pro which is extremely user friendly. It doesn't come with plug ins and you will have to accumalate your own samples, but it is the handiest programme to use, edit and you can adapt other programmes like soundforge and reason to work in conjunction with it. the best thing about it is that it automatically samples everything to the Bpm your song is set at. And all you have to do is double click and pencil it in. There are useful tricks that you will prgressively learn with it. I now use Pro Tools only because I bought a digidesign sound card. It's alot more difficult to use then it's counterpart Nuendo. Acid Pro is not good for mastering or mixing but I still use it as a notebook; to get arrangement and sample ideas. I hope this has helped you somewhat. Let me know how you get on. Elder

cheers elder i have to admit i have never used a soundcard and all of the software you have talked of would be new to me. i currently use a digital minidisc eight track (MD8) for recording but it is fairly limited in what it can do, ie no plug-ins, drum machine... although it does produce great sound if recording is done right. Would i be able to hook the 8track up to my PC, in conjunction with the AcidPro you have mentioned?, or do you record instruments direct onto your computer? also where is best place to purchace a soundcard? net, shop? sorry i am a big, make music on your computer, virgin thanks again

usefull links www.computermusic.co.uk ...check out soundcard reviews and any other gear, the mag itself is available in all good mag shops(easons etc). very good. for shopping... www.sub.co.uk www.dv247.com "Would i be able to hook the 8track up to my PC, in conjunction with the AcidPro you have mentioned?, or do you record instruments direct onto your computer?"...you could do either

thanks for that butt since i posted this thread i have downloaded a programme from kreatives.org called Kristal Audio Engine, have not got stuck in yet but hoping it will be fairly user-friendly... i'm not sure if the soundcard currently in my computer is powerful enough but it copes with windows media player quite easily..... now to try and get some drum-loops.

Korg do a nifty little digital four track with built in guitar, mike etc effects and also a selection of drum tracks. Its about the size of a double cd case and fits neatly into any gig bag. Best Jules

is that korg 4 track a software package or external? cheers

One Eye, Welcome on board! There's been a number of music technolgy related threads on this board in the past including: http://www.cluas.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2282 http://www.cluas.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2013 http://www.cluas.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2605 You may find something in them that as well that will help you. eoghan

thanks for that eoghan I appreciate all the help on this thread

I f you want to get into using a PC for making music a good idea is to try out a few progam demos and find out which one suits you. Go into tower or Easons and look at the demo disc which comes with magazines like 'Future music' or 'sound on sound' or 'Computer music' . Usually one of these has the latest demo versions of various recording and sequencing software. YOU DO NOT NEED TO SPLASH OUT LOADs OF MONEY (thats enough capitals) on an expensive soundcard at this stage. Your bog standard PC sound card will run these even though recording audio may have a bit of time lag between the live and monitored signals (the Latency). From what you have said 'ABELTON live 4' would suit your needs the best. This program breaks down a song into blocks and makes it very easy to add pre-arranged drum patterns and other stuff on the fly. Its a modular program and has a very good demonstration program in the demo which allows to you to build up a song and get a feel for the process. It has alot of sounds and also allows you to record audio in chunks eg. verse guitar/ chourus vocal.. I use Sonar 4 and reason. If you are going to get into arranging 'Reason' is truly the dogs b****x . You cannot record into it, but you can sequence everything - drums,bass, synths and import your own samples. You can then export the arrangement and sing over it in a recording program like cubase or the others. You can also wire reason into these programs if you like. If you are going to get a soundcard - perhaps get an external usb on with 2 audio inputs and a midi in/out. USB devices are very easy to set up and usually have 'control panel' within windows which is easy to access and set up your configuration. Edirol is a good make or M-audio. You can get these much cheaper on the net than in Ireland . http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw6_artikel-173439.html Here is an example of a 2 in audio usb and midi interface for 155 euro! (23 squid shipping) Even cheaper maybe from digital village in England. Hope this was helpful