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kimball492
23-04-2016, 07:53 PM
Tutorials and general information on various DAWS
Pro Tools Expert
This has a great weekly podcast worth a listen
http://www.pro-tools-expert.com

Logic Pro
http://logic-pro-expert.com

Studio One Pro
http://www.studio-one.expert

Reaper
http://www.reaper.fm/videos.php

F l Studio
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5353C9EB8A886421

Reason
http://reason-expert.com

Ableton Live
http://www.ableton-live-expert.com

Best Audio Interfaces
http://ehomerecordingstudio.com/best-audio-interfaces/

tonyw
23-04-2016, 07:58 PM
Any demos of you using these DAWS? instead of cut and paste ?

dave.king1
23-04-2016, 08:01 PM
A nice reference library there KB.

I attended a couple of ProTools master classes at the AV show in Sydney 2013 - 2015 prior to retiring, pretty interesting but at the time I had a hate - hate relationship with Cubase so it was more for interest and learning technique than to learning the software.

DrNomis_44
23-04-2016, 08:02 PM
Cheers for that, I bookmarked the ones for the DAW software I have installed on my DAW PC.


Here's what Ableton Live 9.6 Standard looks like when launched and you have an Ableton Live Set loaded:


10773

10774


If I'm not doing much tomorrow I might see if I can make a track in Ableton Live, featuring my Squire P-Bass, my LP Studio, and my new Strat.

kimball492
23-04-2016, 08:36 PM
Pleasure guys. Dave pro tools is great software. But over priced I've used it for 20 years. I think you just go so far down the road of using a certain DAW, invest time and you get used to its idiosyncrasies. If I was going to buy a DAW today I think I'd go for Studio One Pro. It does more and they listen to its user base. But Reaper for the price is amazing and you can certainly get pro results with it. I started with Steinbergs Cubase.

DrNomis_44
23-04-2016, 09:06 PM
Pleasure guys. Dave pro tools is great software. But over priced I've used it for 20 years. I think you just go so far down the road of using a certain DAW, invest time and you get used to its idiosyncrasies. If I was going to buy a DAW today I think I'd go for Studio One Pro. It does more and listens to its user base. But Reaper for the price is amazing and you can certainly get pro results with it.
I started with Steinbergs Cubase. Shame Yamaha ruined it.


Believe it or not, Reaper was created by some Ex ProTools guys, personally I really like their attitude and business model, I also like the fact that they offer a $60.00 license for non-commercial use, that's a pretty good deal, they give you a good grace-period too where they let you try out the fully functional Reaper software, I tried it out and decided to purchase a $60.00 license, and get this, once you have purchased the $60.00 license they let you have subsequent software updates free for life, I don't think I could argue with that.

kimball492
23-04-2016, 09:13 PM
Yeah Doc, shame they left pro tools. But going on to reaper and making it such a success wasn't a bad move.

DrNomis_44
23-04-2016, 09:51 PM
Yeah Doc, shame they left pro tools. But going on to reaper and making it such a success wasn't a bad move.


I totally agree with that mate, from what I have read online in various ProTools forums, Avid, the makers of ProTools, haven't been making a good name for themselves given the number of customers who have been experiencing lots of issues with the ProTools software they spent lots of money on, not sure if it truly is Avid's fault, or the software's fault though.

kimball492
23-04-2016, 10:08 PM
No pretty much they are answerable to shareholders and are more interested in them not the loyal customer base. They've sacked loads of there creative team and the heart and soul of the business.

dave.king1
24-04-2016, 05:29 AM
Slight correction doc Reaper upgrades aren't free for life, only within the release.

I had to cough up another $60.00 when it went from R4 to R5, still a very small price to pay for a good product and I have it validated with a single licence on the 32 bit laptop and the 64 bit PC

DrNomis_44
24-04-2016, 11:09 AM
Slight correction doc Reaper upgrades aren't free for life, only within the release.

I had to cough up another $60.00 when it went from R4 to R5, still a very small price to pay for a good product and I have it validated with a single licence on the 32 bit laptop and the 64 bit PC


Ah rightio, I didn't know that, still I reckon $60.00 beats what ProTools users have to pay to license their software, not only that, they also have to purchase iLoks too.

kimball492
24-04-2016, 11:27 AM
Yep the latest 12 month upgrade was $299.00. Nearly $400 Aus. To buy Pro Tools 12 currently the cheapest I've seen is $600 US.thats nearly $800 Aus Dollars. Iloks cost about 70 dollars. As I've said I've come so far down the upgrading path now it's hard to change DAWs and then you have the learning a new DAW.But really love the idea of what Studio One Pro Currently off facility wise.

DrNomis_44
24-04-2016, 11:57 AM
Yep the latest 12 month upgrade was $299.00. Nearly $400 Aus. To buy Pro Tools 12 currently the cheapest I've seen is $600 US.thats nearly $800 Aus Dollars. Iloks cost about 70 dollars. As I've said I've come so far down the upgrading path now it's hard to change DAWs and then you have the learning a new DAW.But really love the idea of what Studio One Pro Currently off facility wise.


I'd love to upgrade to a more recent version of ProTools but I currently don't have the budget for it, plus my old Mac G4 won't run any version later than ProTools LE 6.4, I'm still looking at buying an Eleven Rack this year but my mate has been saying that Avid will probably be releasing a new updated Eleven Rack soon.


I guess for the time being I'll have to make use of what I currently have till I can afford to do the upgrade.

keloooe
24-04-2016, 12:08 PM
Nomis, try your hand at a Hackintosh if you don't have the budget for a proper Mac, search up tonymacx86 on Google for all the info you need, plus you could even run a proper dual boot system, or even just wipe the drives clean and run any other OS!

kimball492
24-04-2016, 12:19 PM
Hey Kels did you finish your recordings. Look forward to hearing how you sound now as a band. The nice thing Doc is you no longer need a Mac to run pro tools. Pcs work great I use one also with pro tools 12.

DrNomis_44
24-04-2016, 01:40 PM
Nomis, try your hand at a Hackintosh if you don't have the budget for a proper Mac, search up tonymacx86 on Google for all the info you need, plus you could even run a proper dual boot system, or even just wipe the drives clean and run any other OS!


I might give building a Hackintosh a go one day, I just went down to where all the rubbish bins were and saw an old PC that someone had chucked out, there was a fairly modern looking motherboard in it and it looks like it still has the CPU and CPU Heatsink still on it, just in the process of checking out what kind of CPU is installed on the motherboard.


Here's a pic of the motherboard I scored:

10786


Okay, I managed to remove the CPU Heatsink from the motherboard easily enough, as it turns out here's the verdict on the CPU, it is an Intel i5-3330 running at 3.0Ghz, I'm not sure if the motherboard still works, or if the CPU is still good, I'll have to try it out one day.

The motherboard has Z77 Pro4-M written on it, so I'm assuming that's the motherboard model number.


I just googled the specs on the CPU, apparently it's a Quad Core.

kimball492
24-04-2016, 01:59 PM
Hey Doc, I think you'll find it's possibly a ASrock motherboard? Nice find if it works

DrNomis_44
24-04-2016, 02:04 PM
Hey Doc, I think you'll find it's possibly a ASrock motherboard? Nice find if it works


I think you're right mate, it does say ASRock on the motherboard.


Here's a closeup pic of the motherboard:


10787


The Ram slots (Four) support DDR3 2800+ Ram Sticks.


As you said, it'd be really cool if the motherboard still works, I wonder if I'll be able to use it to build a Hackintosh, assuming the board does work, I found a spare 450 Watt Corsair Power Supply in my wardrobe, but I don't think that'll produce enough juice to power the motherboard, I also have a spare ATI 512MB PCI Express graphics card that I could use with the motherboard.

kimball492
24-04-2016, 03:18 PM
Here's spec for motherboard supports 3rd and 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 / Xeon® / Pentium® / Celeron® in LGA1155. http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Pro4-M/?cat=Specifications
As Kels suggests check out Tonymacx86 website see if board is compatible with Apples software.

DrNomis_44
24-04-2016, 03:20 PM
Nomis, try your hand at a Hackintosh if you don't have the budget for a proper Mac, search up tonymacx86 on Google for all the info you need, plus you could even run a proper dual boot system, or even just wipe the drives clean and run any other OS!


As it turns out, the motherboard I scored is an ASRock Z77Pro4-M, what's even more interesting is I have just read something on that tonymacx86 about some guy asking if an ASRock Z77Pro4-M motherboard can be used to build a Hackintosh, he got a comment saying that it can, so if I can get the motherboard to work, I might see if I can have a go at building a Hackintosh out of it mate.

DrNomis_44
24-04-2016, 03:24 PM
Here's spec for motherboard supports 3rd and 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 / i3 / Xeon® / Pentium® / Celeron® in LGA1155. http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20Pro4-M/?cat=Specifications
As Kels suggests check out Tonymacx86 website see if board is compatible with Apples software.


Cheers mate, I'm actually doing that right now, it's looking pretty favorable so far, the spare ATI graphics card I have is an ATI Radeon HD 4870 512Mb PCI Express Card, I tried it out in the PCI Express ports on the motherboard and it fits, so that's looking good, I think I have a spare PC case I can use.

kimball492
24-04-2016, 03:24 PM
Interesting project for you Doc good luck

DrNomis_44
24-04-2016, 03:31 PM
Interesting project for you Doc good luck


Cheers mate, the more I think about it the more I seriously feel like doing it, I might need to buy a Firewire PCI card with Texas Instruments Chipset for it since there are no Firewire ports on the motherboard, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I think the first priority is to establish if the motherboard even works and boots.



There's a bit of a snag though, apparently I need to purchase a copy of OS X Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion if I want to download and install OS X El Capitan on my Hackintosh PC.

keloooe
25-04-2016, 10:02 AM
From memory yes the Z77 chipset boards are compatible with OSX. The i5 by the sounds of it will work perfectly as well. 450 watts should be plenty for it, depending on what else you are using in the rig, and for getting OSX, ask around and see if any mates have any macs that you can use for getting your bootable USB!

kimball492
25-04-2016, 10:33 AM
Doc did you get it to work

kimball492
25-04-2016, 10:34 AM
Kels have they got it working with El Capitan OK. Have you built a hackintosh yourself if so how'd it go .

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 10:46 AM
Doc did you get it to work


Haven't tried it yet mate, might give it a test out later on today or tomorrow, will let you know if it does work, I need to get some silver Heatsink compound and put some on the CPU before I can do any testing though.

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 10:50 AM
From memory yes the Z77 chipset boards are compatible with OSX. The i5 by the sounds of it will work perfectly as well. 450 watts should be plenty for it, depending on what else you are using in the rig, and for getting OSX, ask around and see if any mates have any macs that you can use for getting your bootable USB!


I reckon a 450 Watt power supply should be enough to power a basic setup as the motherboard, graphics card, CPU fan, and the CPU, with no Ram, or HDD installed.

kimball492
25-04-2016, 10:52 AM
Not sure if you'll get a boot with no memory doc. But give it a go

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 11:24 AM
Not sure if you'll get a boot with no memory doc. But give it a go


With no memory installed, what should happen if the motherboard is good is that it should go through the Power-On-Self-Test and then it should show an error message saying something like "No ram installed", that will at least indicate that the motherboard's BIOS is good, if I get that then I'll be pretty relieved.


The motherboard BIOS is like a mini operating system that tells the CPU what peripherals are connected to the motherboard, it also does the initial checks and tests before the system boots up and stops the boot sequence if there's a problem somewhere.

keloooe
25-04-2016, 11:27 AM
Hey KB, I have built a basic Hackintosh, relatively simple process if you know how to build a PC and with the right OSX install guide. Doc, you need some ram to get to the BIOS load, so there will be no display at all. Chuck even just one dimm in the mobo and if you get the splash screen from the motherboard manufacturer, then it should work fine.

I plan a cheap Hackintosh build soon so hopefully that goes to plan!

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 11:45 AM
Hey KB, I have built a basic Hackintosh, relatively simple process if you know how to build a PC and with the right OSX install guide. Doc, you need some ram to get to the BIOS load, so there will be no display at all. Chuck even just one dimm in the mobo and if you get the splash screen from the motherboard manufacturer, then it should work fine.

I plan a cheap Hackintosh build soon so hopefully that goes to plan!


Cheers mate, in that case I guess what I could do is borrow the stick of Ram that's in my Desktop DAW PC (it uses DDR3 1600 Mhz Ram which the ASRock motherboard does support) and temporarily install it on the motherboard, I could use my laptop to get online to let you guys know how it's going.

kimball492
25-04-2016, 11:47 AM
http://youtu.be/_9L8JBUzkFM I think the guys checking for motherboard lights fan and CPU activity without memory doc

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 11:51 AM
I'm just hunting round my flat for some Silver Heatsink Compound at the moment, if I can't find some I'll have to buy some tomorrow.

kimball492
25-04-2016, 11:55 AM
Shame your not closer Doc I have some here and memory you could try too

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 12:01 PM
Shame your not closer Doc I have some here and memory you could try too


Cheers and for sure mate, hopefully with your help, and keloooe's help, we'll get somewhere with this motherboard, if it turns out that the motherboard is no good, at least I'll have a spare CPU Heatsink and fan for my DAW PC, I might actually replace the one in my DAW PC for the one on the ASRock motherboard.


I might start a new thread in the Home Recording Forum section about building a Hackintosh if I do manage to get as far as getting the ASRock motherboard to boot.

keloooe
25-04-2016, 12:07 PM
If it was just thrown out then it was probably fried, possibly water damage...

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 12:14 PM
If it was just thrown out then it was probably fried, possibly water damage...


True, but maybe it might still be okay, there's only one way to find out for sure.

kimball492
25-04-2016, 12:19 PM
If you get it to boot let me know what memory it takes I'll see what i have and post it to you.

DrNomis_44
25-04-2016, 12:25 PM
If you get it to boot let me know what memory it takes I'll see what i have and post it to you.


Will do, and cheers for that mate, much appreciated.

DrNomis_44
26-04-2016, 03:52 PM
@ Kimball492 I went to a Computer Parts shop called Leading Edge Computers today and bought a new 8Gb DDR3 1600Mhz stick of Ram for my Desktop DAW PC, I have installed it in the PC and while I was at it I swapped out the CPU heatsink for the one that was on the ASRock motherboard, I also put some fresh Silver Heatsink Compound on the CPU too, so far my Desktop DAW PC seems to be running well...touchwood.


So now I have a spare 4Gb DDR3 1600Mhz Ram Stick I could use on the ASRock motherboard, if I can get it to boot reliably I'll have the basics of what I need to start work on building a Hackintosh.

kimball492
26-04-2016, 04:03 PM
Cool doc how's your PC running your DAW software with the extra ram now

DrNomis_44
26-04-2016, 04:16 PM
Cool doc how's your PC running your DAW software with the extra ram now


I haven't done any extensive testing, but my DAW PC definitely seems to be happier running my DAW software with the extra Ram now, I'm back to using my Digi002 Firewire Audio Interface, and so far I haven't experienced any system crashes, or DAW software crashes...touchwood, I'm still going to go ahead and buy a couple of PCI Firewire cards with Texas Instruments Chipsets on them though, I have noticed an improvement in performance after I removed a PCI card with some USB 2.0 ports on it, it had a VIA Chipset on it, I don't know if it was contributing to the instability issues I had been experiencing though, but you never know.


I read somewhere that sometimes Hardware issues can manifest themselves as software issues and vice-versa.


I'm starting to think that there may be some issues with my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Firewire Audio Interface because I downloaded the latest driver update from the Focurite and installed it, but even though both the Locked and FW Active Leds on the Saffire Pro 40 were lit, the driver software said that no device was connected, I'm thinking that the Firewire ports on my Saffire Pro 40 may have gone a bit flaky, or there may be something wrong with the Firewire interface circuitry in the Saffire Pro 40, it could even be a firmware issue.

kimball492
26-04-2016, 04:45 PM
Yeah a lot of Daws especially Pro Tools hates Via chipsets. So you've reinstalled the Saffire Pro then restarted sometimes if You don't restart it doesn't discover the latest drivers. Try to do a rescan in devices if it's showing in the devices list. Also try another cable. My a Eleven rack played up recently it was a cable that had decided to go walkabout. Have you checked to see if you have the latest firmware Doc.

DrNomis_44
26-04-2016, 04:57 PM
Yeah a lot of Daws especially Pro Tools hates Via chipsets. So you've reinstalled the Saffire Pro then restarted sometimes if You don't restart it doesn't discover the latest drivers. Try to do a rescan in devices if it's showing in the devices list. Also try another cable. My a Eleven rack played up recently it was a cable that had decided to go walkabout. Have you checked to see if you have the latest firmware Doc.


Cheers, I'll give that a go later on this afternoon or maybe tonight, I'm going to see if I can get the ASRock motherboard to boot this afternoon too, I've just installed the CPU Heatsink that was in my DAW PC on the ASRock motherboard along with some fresh Silver Heatsink Compound, just need to find a good BIOS battery for it.


I tried looking on the Focusrite website to see if there was an updated Firmware for my Saffire Pro 40 but couldn't find anything other than the most up to date Driver installer, from what I understand, the Driver Installer automatically updates the Firmware if it needs to be updated, I might look into buying a couple of new Firewire cables tomorrow since I'm going to Jaycar Electronics again anyway, I'm actually going to Cash Converters tomorrow since they are right next door to Jaycar Electronics, they have a white Ibanez RG350DX in stock,which I'm very interested in buying.


Update:


I have just tried re-connecting my Saffire Pro40 up to my PC, the Power, Locked, and Firewire Active Leds are lit up, but when I launch the Saffire Mix Control software, it says "Device Not Connected", I have the most recent Saffire Pro40 Driver (Saffire Mix Control 3.7) installed, and I'm using the exact same Firewire Cable as I was when I had the Digi002 connected, the Firewire cable is plugged into the same port on the DAW PC as it was when the Digi002 was connected, the Digi002 works fine with sound, but the Saffire Pro40 isn't producing sound even though Windows Device Manager reports that the Saffire Pro40 is working properly, the little speaker icon in my systray looks as it should for a working sound system, so I reckon my Saffire Pro40 is malfunctioning in some weird way.


Hmmmmmm....I just tried launching Saffire Mix Control and saw that it is saying that my Saffire Pro40 is not locked even though the Locked Led is lit, so, something is definitely malfunctioning somewhere.


There's this article I found on Focusrite's Knowledge Base:

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/206849129


So, it looks like the problems I'm having with my Saffire Pro40 are due to an incompatibility issue with Windows 10, my Saffire Pro40, and the VIA Chipsets controlling my Firewire 400 Ports, looks like I need to get a couple of PCI Firewire Cards with Texas Instruments Chipsets, the funny thing is, Avid recommend Texas Instrument Chipsets when using the Digi002 and that is working fine with the VIA Chipsets in my DAW PC....weird, I would have expected both Firewire devices not to work, but one does and the other doesn't.

kimball492
26-04-2016, 05:22 PM
I've only ever been to cash converters once and 90% of the guitar stuff was current retail price in music shop Doc don't you find them expensive for secondhand gear ?.

P.s Goodluck on the booting of the Asrock you never know

DrNomis_44
26-04-2016, 06:03 PM
I've only ever been to cash converters once and 90% of the guitar stuff was current retail price in music shop Doc don't you find them expensive for secondhand gear ?.

P.s Goodluck on the booting of the Asrock you never know



Cheers, will let you know how it goes mate.

DrNomis_44
27-04-2016, 12:09 PM
Update:


Okay here's some great news, I finished working on the ASRock motherboard a few minutes ago prior to testing it out to see if it would boot, I put a spare BIOS battery in the battery socket, and made sure everything was connected up, I then moved the case with the ASRock motherboard in it to underneath the computer desk, plugged in the monitor, mouse, keyboard and mains power, switched the power supply switch on the power supply to on, then pressed the power button on the front of the case.....and.....the motherboard booted up, I pressed F2 to go into BIOS Setup and this is the screen I got:


10852


This indicates that:

1, The CPU is good.

2, The Graphics card is good.

3, The Power Supply is good.

4, The Motherboard BIOS is good.

And therefore....

5, The Motherboard itself is good.