Hey there: At 3:26 PM +1000 5/22/03, Michael Garrett wrote:
Thanks for the feedback so far. I had heard that Deck LE was buggy but I'm interested. Also, Carl, I thought maybe one of those Zoom four trackers was a good way to go, as far as ease of use and minimal setup time, but it may be more convenient in the long run to record straight into the computer since if you use Doggiebox they're going to be coming from there anyway,
Well, the Fostex had been my main multitracker until I decided to start going digital with recording, so too late now! At least when I do use it now, I don't lose quality when I bounce down tracks. This is one of the simpler Fostexes, so if you want to bounce down tracks you have to mix out to an external device like a tape deck or computer and then playback that mix onto one track of the Fostex. Now that I can use my laptop for this as the external device, the sound quality doesn't degrade. Then Pascal asked:
Would you mind sharing "how to do some simple fills" with the sequenced drums? I have been exporting to ProTools Free and trying to use its editing and automation features to create texture, but haven't had much luck with it. Any help you can provide would be appreciated.
OS 9 is my main OS still (I have several $$$$ worth of perfectly good software for OS 9 and, with a G3 laptop, the "gains" with OS X are minimal anyway, though it's nice to tinker with esp. when there's an OS X only program like Doggiebox that makes it worth rebooting every now and again), so I can't open Doggiebox right now to describe the pattern precisely. The main thing to do to start you off is to--oh what is it called?--expand the beat range per measure (this is either Apple-= or Apple-] ). I think I have it show 16 beats per measure. Try tempo 120, 4/4, high hat every two beats: measure 1: bass hit at 1, snare at 6, bass 8, bass 12, snare 14; measure 2: bass 1, snare 6, snare 9, snare 10, bass 12, snare 14. That's just a very simple one and I'm not sure I have the little snare filip on the right beats (don't forget to stop the high hat over the little snare thing--a real drummer could only do it with three hands!). I did one that's a little more complicated, but without looking at the pattern I can't count it off for you. I'm lucky to do a syncopated beat when I actually sit down at a kit; trying to count out actual fills at my desk is another matter entirely! And remember, I'm working out the entire drum pattern for a song BEFORE I actually sit down to record myself. I sit here with my guitar and work through the song and create the pattern for it. I don't have separate files for "neat Max Roach fill 1," "Keith Moon freak out 2," "Markie Ramone bashalong 3," etc., and then try to mix them together. Working out the pattern is complicated enough as it is . . . Oh, there was a general question about using ProTools. The setup requirements are a pain in the ass (turn virtual memory off, set memory cache to something or other, etc.)--well, not that big a pain, but we all have things that get our (zy)goat <smirk>--so I haven't used it too much and don't have much to say about it yet. Cheers, Carl -- ********** Carl Freire Oakland, California cfreire@ix.netcom.com cfreire@uclink4.berkeley.edu