PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Vote here on the best usb Interface or mixer for my studio

The one concern I have is that we have no real collective data on that Roland and use with pg music softwares as of yet.

Looks like we are about to be finding out the first user datapoint now, though.


EnJOY, and Good Luck,


--Mac

I have the big brother Octa-Capture from Roland and it works just fine in PGMusic softwares.

Looks like a good choice. Roland is a big deal in recording and live sound - they make good stuff. Good luck with it.

when the Roland Quad-Capture USB Audio Interface arrives how will you integrate it into your system

what will you plug into it

what are your expectations

I just checked it out and it looks good to me Sly. In fact I may put it on my list too. I've had no problems at all with my Sonic Cell except for the fact I had to find a 64 bit driver for it and it was kinda hidden on Roland's website but that was almost three years ago when I bought my new computer. This interface is brand new so I doubt that's an issue. There's no reason this shouldn't work just fine.

Speaking of drivers, as soon as you have it installed and working properly go on Roland's website, hit Support and check for the latest drivers. You may have the current one already but many times units will sit in a warehouse for months and meanwhile Roland released a new driver.

Bob

Thanks guys for the support. I really can't believe that I actually found the Roland QuadCapture Audio Interface after hours of talking with you guys and getting some very good suggestions. But right before I was going to pull the trigger on that Focusrite 2i4 I found this one. And when I read about that AUTO-SENS it truly sold me immediately. Along with all of the other specifications. Here is a few words agagin on it.

One-Click AUTO-SENS: Automatic Input Level Adjustment
Setting optimum recording levels is an indispensable part of capturing high-quality recordings. If input levels are too high, the sound will distort; if levels are too low, you lose the advantage of the excellent resolution afforded by digital recording, and the sound suffers from signal-to-noise ratio deterioration.

And I know I am the guy that could be a dash into the distortion. And I am sure at times too low and the signal to noise ration takes me down to a low level. I am not even talking in a studio situation. Because this will be my first. Sure I have had a few mult-track studio software I have messed with. But I was younger and not as smart. So it didn't amount to much of anything. I do sing in Second Life doing live shows. I sing a lot of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como. Sure I am still working being as good as them. Wow that takes training. But last night I was singing for a couple ladies in SL and they were impressed. Though to a Hollywood producer he would know on a few songs I could use some polish. But with a few punch ins and my Sinatra tone BOOM WOW lol. I got off the subject. Oh yes I brought it up because this will keep my mp3 karaoke tracks from distorting too.

But yes I am in this for creating music. And pghboemike let me see if I can answer your questions. What am I plugging it into? My pc I built myself about 3 or so years back. And I have plenty of RAM and a fast enough processor. And on that pc I have my 399 Christmas sale bundle of iZotope plugins. I can't believe that company inspired me to throw down that much money for three plugins. But I was sold fast. It is the Studio Bundle. Nectar 2 Vocal suite was the big thing to me. Also there is a Voice Over preset. And it takes out the breath in the silence naturally. Settings to do an Audio Book read. So who knows. I could get involved in that later. But that takes reading talent. Acting in a sense to read with a good character. Also many other presets for Jazz Vocals and other great genres. Though I do hope that every setting was given a lot of thought and was set by long time experienced producers. A team of them. And not just merely naming it hey this we will call Jazz Crooner. Good enough Tommy. I think this Emmy Award winning company wouldn't do that. So I have guidance. Three plugins with presets galore.

Some guy seemed a little bitter in here about presets. How we won't know the difference in settings to make the decisions. Well on the vocal effect area you can here the difference. Other places in the plugins you here it, compression all these different things we will hear the difference. He just wanted to make me and others feel like we are inept newbies and he is King of the producers. Wow what a master I am. But so far he has yet to let me listen to his masterpieces. Where is his product? I haven't heard it yet. So he can beat me down all day long. My expectations are in 2014 I plan on just enjoying getting to know Band in a Box. Trying to learn new things. Getting to know all the great RealBand styles. Just preparing myself to start on my albums. I know it is one song at a time but I have a couple projects I may work on at once.

Now my expectations of my product. My productions. What do I expect from them? I hope I can take it to a high level with all aspects. I certainly don't expect radio ready productions. I don't expect it. But in life sometimes you can get to a high level at something when you least expect it. If I work hard in 2014 I might come up with some great songs. It might take me a couple years to get all this dialed in and to slowly write and produce some great songs. I know what I come up with though at the very least will be a great attempt at an independent Jazz Vocal album. I don't expect big success. And really don't expect hardly anything with making money from this. Sure I am using Artist Virtual Records for my label. But I am using MondoTunes to digitally distribute to over 750 online stores worldwide. I think it is about 40 dollars for one album distribution. So if I were you I would go with them. I researched the others. MondoTunes is the winner. So I expect just a few sales on occasion of my albums. Not many. It could be 3 albums a month all I care to be honest.

That is success to me. Selling just a few albums here and there worldwide. So I will succeed at this. No matter what happens. Because I know I have the talent with singing in the style that I am focusing on. And I know I have the writing skills. And with BiaB at my side I hope to do great things. My albums won't make me much money at all but it is a fun hobby. But I could get lucky. My album could hit the charts. I saw some interview with some producer. Really a nobody of a producer. Just a guy with a studio at home. Not millions in equipment. He worked on a song and kept on it. Making changes. Adding different ideas. He didn't think much of it. But it turned out he was up for a grammy for it I believe. I am not sure if he won or not. Probably not. But he was a winner for being acknowledged. I forget his name. But that guy never thought that would ever happen to him. So all us could find great success also. And BiaB is at the heart of it all. Lets just have a good time. Forget the nutcases in the world that tried to put their disturbance on us. Know that we are great people. And will enjoy good times in the music business. Just make your own music business. Don't worry about the bigshots out there with the big name record companies. Don't worry about the money they have. The prestige they have. They are nothing to us. We don't need them. And they will learn that the music business is going to take them down a few pegs in the next 10 years. There are just too many very talented people out there. And with home studios built on a budget now being able to produce radio ready music these guys are shaking in their boots lol.

I better get going. In a few minutes my BiaB will be here. I missed it yesterday by 20 minutes having left to the post office. My Audiophile will arrive!! Thousands of dollars worth of studio musician's recordings all for me. WOW I WILL HAVE A FIELD DAY on this just checking out my new band members for my virtual group Frychester. And my solo career band members for Sly Ruby. All virtual nothing more. Just like the Gorrilaz are a Virtual Band. That is my concept. So whatever age you are your virtual artists are looking good! Star quality in appearance. Marketable to all and they will love our music. And once the holograms singers hit the stage it will be incredible. But those don't come out for another 15 years. The life sized realistic holograms. They are coming. But for now my virtual artists live in a virtual environment. Mostly residing in Second Life. I hope nobody read this gibberish lol. Always type happy about all this.

Good idea Jazzmammal, it is worth checking out. Even though it was more expensive I thought that if I can always have my levels right then that really will help me get things right. That is such a big part of digital recording. To make our recordings sound great. I thought hey I just paid 399.00 for three plugins, you can throw down close to 200 dollars for this very important part of the studio. Now I just have to pay off the 600 dollars. So lets see what I have into it

BiaB Audiophile with RealBand -- about 700.00
iZotope -- Studio Bundle -- 399.00
Roland -- QuadCapture Interface -- 200.00
Mic -- Shure SM7B -- 350.00
Other Effects -- TC Helicon Voice Live Play GTX with mic 350.00
Guitar -- Washburn Grand Auditorium 300.00
--------------------------
2,300.00

possibly a Roland Keyboard later 500 dollars
Selling Yamaha Mixer on Ebay to recoup some cash


I will keep studying up on all this. I know the pro studios have all this hardware too
while they still use the DAWs with all of the plugins. But I think now there are more
studios not using that much hardware. I have to find out about all of this. Maybe I
will discover something I need like that later. But for now I think I have a lot to
do. A lot to learn. I have all I need for the next year to get some things accomplished
that is all that I know. I hope you are getting it all dialed in yourself.

Great to hear you have the Roland OctaCapture I saw that one also. It has the AUTO-SENS technology also. How do you like it? Are your levels perfect everytime? Has it really made your recording much easier? Tell me what you think about it if you can. When I read about that feature that was it. I haven't read about the other interfaces having that great technology. Let me know how it has been going for you using it.

Sly I have tried the auto-sens and it does work as advertised. But to be honest I rarely use it as my Octa-Capture is away from my computer so it is much easier for me to use the input and output mixers in the included driver software. Note you can only activate auto-sens from the unit and not from the software.

The reason it is away from my computer is two fold. One is there is no room near my computer as it is set up now. The other is the fact that I have 10 inputs and outputs and I didn’t want all those cords near the computer, especially the input cords. You know the one everyone trips on! If I can save and get the computer music station that I want then I may have it closer to my computer. But for now it is what it is.

Back to your question yes it does work and that is a fact that I had forgotten until your message. I should try it again when I’m recording from multiple inputs. Thanx for reminding me about it!

Hey MarioD,

Check out this video on the Roland QuadCapture...about 1 minute 15 or so seconds in to it the guy aays:

Graphical control panel software provides fast, intuitive control of the VS Preamps. In addition QuadCapture control panel has an AUTO-SENS button. You can control the AUTO-SENS function via your pc.

Those are his exact words. But this is with the QuadCapture and you have the OctCapture I guess it is. But your's is more expensive and I thought was the original? Maybe you need to download an update to this new functionality? Or you have an older version. Check out the video let me know what you think about it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sb1ES7nyFs

You have a nice line up listed there Sly. That list of toys would keep you busy for a long time to come.

Sly

Can I recommend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oncB_dNkRU

and go to ~ 5:50

and watch a few other of the RcordingRevolution Video's

May simply be the way you have the mixer set up.

If the mixer sends two channels to the computer, it's a matter of setting up your monitor/mix routing properly.
Sounds like you may be coming back out of the computer to the mixer .. or getting a monitor mix.

Hey Larry,

Thanks for the video to The Recording Revolution. I watched that. Sounds like you gave that to me at a good time. I only bought three plugins for 399.00 from iZotope. So I will keep it at that. Though he is probably right I could have just used the stock ones and got good at those. But even he bought a truckload of them over the years. But luckily I heard what he said now to I don't find more plugins and buy those too lol. But the ones I have are everything I need in plugins. All aspects of the getting everything right. And all the great presets to give me guidance for various types of sound. Without them I wouldn't have a clue what settings could be best for my productions. And luckily I got them on sale too.

I will go back and read his ebook some now. Check out more of his videos and subscribe to them. Because that guy has some good principles. I see that he isn't out to sell us anything. Though he did speak of pro tools as an industry standard if someone is ever considering going pro. Just to have that around would be nice he essentially said. I thought it was Cubase before. I have heard of Pro Tools however. Though I will go with what he said. Use the DAW that you have. That is all I need. I have RealBand. Why not use that? I have my iZotope plugins that make it even better. I don't need to spend any money on a DAW like pro tools or Reaper when as you can see when you open RealBand you see the multi-tracks right in front of you. It's all there. I am sure a pro could use RealBand and create an album using it and get a grammy award.

So now I will just pay off about 600 dollars in about 3 months or so. Be zero in debt. Then maybe consider a keyboard so I can add some original notes notes to my song. Add some melody here and there. I just got my package from Canada 2 and a half hours ago. BiaB Audiophile is still unopened. I am not jumping to it because I want to treat it kind of like a present from Santa. You wait patiently. Then open it when the time is right lol. Also my Roland QuadCapture Audio Interface is preparing to ship from Amazon now it says. So give me a few days to get this rolling. So now my plans are it is BaiB University all 2014 taking it slow. Learning all I can. Enjoying it at every level. Don't let them beat you down making you feel inept by calling you a newbie. Because in a year you might just produce a song that will make that clown's head spin! Also now I am going to study up at The Recording Revolution website. I already like that guy's style of teaching. He isn't trying to sell a certain product I can see that. But who knows he might have something for sale somewhere I am sure. A book or two I don't know. But that is ok. He should make something on teaching people the ropes somehow.

Thanks Rob, I didn't know I would have to get an interface so soon. I was considering one a week ago for the near future but after I started to record using this Yamaha mixer I found out that I couldn't do it without recording the instrumental track I imported just for testing...onto my vocal track. So after asking on this forum I was told the news. I had a feeling it was something to do with my mixer. Luckily I have managed to afford this investment. I believe I have made the right decisions with what I ordered. I hope you get it right also.

Sly, the guy at Recording Revolution sells some excellent video tutorials on mixing, editing, recording, compression, eq, vocals, etc. I own most of them and they are very good. He also has lots of short free videos but the paid ones are much more detailed and well organized.

http://therecordingrevolution.com/products/

Great John I checked it out. I will hold out for now. Looks like he could be making some money. I like his concept. Trying to keep people from buying a lot of things they don't need. Seems unbias. Looking out for us. Though he seems to be pushing Pro Tools very hard. If you want to go pro you need pro tools. It is the industry standard and you should have it around at least basically. I am not so sure about that. You can't even load your VST's in that DAW I see. But you can if you use some kind of adapter I was just reading about. I thought Cubase was the leader? The standard? I am sure people that want to be pro don't need Pro Tools. In fact since he told me I have to have Pro Tools I am steering toward Cubase. That DAW accepts VST Plugins. I was just on their site checking out a video on it. It looks very good. Though I will see what I can do with RealBand. Learn in RealBand first. Get some songs under my belt first. Why get ahead of myself thinking I need anything new. I forget who told me what. It might have been you that is for Reaper?? Not sure. I haven't seen any videos on it. It could be nice. But when you open that program nothing is there. All the channels or tracks aren' even created. I wish they would have it look full and interesting with all the components when you open it initially. That one is half the price of Cubase. But the one I have now I bought with BiaB so I will get to that one.

Rharv the particular mixer he has does not have a feature that route separate from the main out.

check out this free Introduction to Music Production course
sign up and they'll let you know when its's offered again

https://www.coursera.org/course/musicproduction

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=coursera+introduction+to+music+production&sm=1

once you get your system functional check out streetjelly

What is streetjelly?
Musicians performing live by webcam for tips. Also known as Online Busking!
Think of it this way, it's self-broadcasting meets micro-donations meets musicians.

http://www.streetjelly.com/how_it_works

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=228684&page=1

have fun!

I am checking out Berklee now. Looks interesting. I may have to buy a DAW that they list as what they teach. I am watching some video now. Thanks