Garage band (imac) vs CUbase le 4 agony

When did you get Logic and the MacBook? Out of interest? Recently or when they first made the price cut?

Both about a year ago. My brother's girlfriend was still a student at the time and ordered on behalf. I think there was about a 2 per person limit, so me and my bro took advantage. Cost about 120ish. Great deal, but still on the learning curve, being my first proper DAW. Coming good though, have been investing in recording equipment, almost there with the full clip of mics and got the alesis io26 (even given the internet rantings about its performance has been running perfectly):D
 
First full DAW? Well, at least it was a good one. It can be a little esoteric; but if you haven't learned the little tricks of the Environment window yet - I suggest you do.

I got hold of my Line6 TonePort UX8 yesterday. So far, so good. Great interface and bang on what I wanted to pay for one. Next on the list is a pair of C1000's and assorted accessories and I'll be half way there. I've had my system for a long time with a view to getting this sort of gear but never really got around to it until now. So far it's all working like a dream.
 
First full DAW? Well, at least it was a good one. It can be a little esoteric; but if you haven't learned the little tricks of the Environment window yet - I suggest you do.

I got hold of my Line6 TonePort UX8 yesterday. So far, so good. Great interface and bang on what I wanted to pay for one. Next on the list is a pair of C1000's and assorted accessories and I'll be half way there. I've had my system for a long time with a view to getting this sort of gear but never really got around to it until now. So far it's all working like a dream.


Yeah, i've fiddled around with old versions of logic and cubase on the pc before, cutting up samples and such, but the functionality and reliability of this setup is a revelation. Getting lots of tips of SFlogicninja on Youtube as well. Decided on the c1000s? I've only got the overheads to get now and am deciding between the 1000s and the c430s. Hmmm....
 
Yeah, i've fiddled around with old versions of logic and cubase on the pc before, cutting up samples and such, but the functionality and reliability of this setup is a revelation. Getting lots of tips of SFlogicninja on Youtube as well. Decided on the c1000s? I've only got the overheads to get now and am deciding between the 1000s and the c430s. Hmmm....

Personally, the C1000's. I'm buying general-purpose mics, so I want something that is relatively flat. The C430's are too EQ'd for me, but as drum overheads they'd do just fine!
 
All righty then...

Side snare and new trick dominator beaters as well. They are perfectly between the lightweight stuff (stock beater/ic beater) and the pearl quadbeater. medium weight.

The 12x6 side snare came with s-hoop on top, great for rim clicks, crappy for claw-style sm-57 holder. The head on top is an ec reverse dot. While it sounds decent, I am swapping it out with a g1 coated, for more top end attack.

I just finished swapping out my ram, I am now running 4gb. BOO HISS! To Apple for making the access door screw needlessly microscopic.

I am off for another mic,and maybe some Swiss pies.
 
Shopping results at gc:

1 AKG perception 170 condenser mic/livewire cable
1 12" g1 coated for side snare (ec reverse dot sounded too thick for a side snare)
1 16" Paiste 2002 thin crash
1 18" Paiste 2002 thin crash

A test recording confirms my thesis. By placing a single condenser mic below the octabans, it sound like each octaban has a mic. It brings out about 80% more low end than without one. Now the ban's really sound like Stewart Copeland's from 1986 synchronicity live, which was my goal. He had mics in every octaban.

The 12x6 side snare is a spine-snapper to be sure. The s-hoops are pretty cool, and this snare is an easy lock for a main snare (it thinks it's a 14") or power poppin' side.
 
Are you using wood sticks? That kinda bothers me. Playing advanced aluminum drums with...wood. Wood is for wood and AU is for AU if you ask me.


But then, I use Aheads on my birch kit....whatever.
 
Are you using wood sticks? That kinda bothers me. Playing advanced aluminum drums with...wood. Wood is for wood and AU is for AU if you ask me.


But then, I use Aheads on my birch kit....whatever.

I have some ahead sticks, but the balance is too weird for me. Now if TRICK made some sticks...I'm soo there....
 
So - first use of my new interface. Emergency use recording a big band that I wasn't meant to be recording on my Mac - I was supposed to be using an HDD recorder but unfortunately something went wrong and it wouldn't switch on! I suspect a power surge took out the transformer (old wiring) but it's still under warranty I think so going back to Yamaha in the next few days.

The new interface is great except for the fact that for whatever reason the XLR inputs at the front don't correspond to the channel numbers at the back in terms of positioning. Input 8's XLR is on the far right, but the gain for input 8 is on the left. Makes no sense and meant that I missed two songs as a result; but I learned the lesson at least. Great interface - pretty good preamps too by the sounds of it. It's all good.
 
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I am taking notes, because it represents where I will eventually be.
 
Are you using plastic heads? That kinda bothers me. Plastic is for plastic and wood is for wood, if you ask me.

Frankly, I kinda doubt wood heads exist, but I don't want to start anything.
I'm just suggesting that modern sticks would go well with modern drums.
 
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Update:

After I get my imac updated, running etc... not two weeks after I buy my imac, apple drops the price of the 24" imac to $1499, the same as the 20" used to be. Slap in the face...
 
I feel I should interject on behalf of us Cubase users...

Cubase has always worked fine for me. I spent over a year trying to get a pleasant sound out of Logic Pro 7.2 and I never managed to get anything satisfactory. My workflow only improved after I went back to cubase.

I am running it on a mac at the moment, but I have had plenty of decent experience on PCs as well. There are actually many aspects of Cubase that are more intuitive than Logic, as anyone who's tried to get the Environment organised in Logic 7 may be able to symphathise with.

Just thought I should put across an alternative point of view, as the discussion here seems to be against the use of Cubase 100%! I think perhaps a few bad experiences have prejudiced you against what is actually quite a nice little program.
 
I feel I should interject on behalf of us Cubase users...

Cubase has always worked fine for me. I spent over a year trying to get a pleasant sound out of Logic Pro 7.2 and I never managed to get anything satisfactory. My workflow only improved after I went back to cubase.

I am running it on a mac at the moment, but I have had plenty of decent experience on PCs as well. There are actually many aspects of Cubase that are more intuitive than Logic, as anyone who's tried to get the Environment organised in Logic 7 may be able to symphathise with.

Just thought I should put across an alternative point of view, as the discussion here seems to be against the use of Cubase 100%! I think perhaps a few bad experiences have prejudiced you against what is actually quite a nice little program.

I have cubase, I haven't loaded it on the imac, just the function-resistant Sony Viao pc. I can assume it was something proprietary (hardware) in the Sony, but in the meantime I still have a long way to go with garage band, and getting the right sound out of my kit.

The jury is still out in terms of audix d6. I am thinking for my purposes the shure beta would have gotten a better low end from my kick drum.

I digress: Cubase isn't really for someone totally fresh in the area of recording. Garage band is much easier to assimilate for newbies. When I am ready to advance, I will install CUbase 4 Le and press on.
 
I feel I should interject on behalf of us Cubase users...

Cubase has always worked fine for me. I spent over a year trying to get a pleasant sound out of Logic Pro 7.2 and I never managed to get anything satisfactory. My workflow only improved after I went back to cubase.

I am running it on a mac at the moment, but I have had plenty of decent experience on PCs as well. There are actually many aspects of Cubase that are more intuitive than Logic, as anyone who's tried to get the Environment organised in Logic 7 may be able to symphathise with.

Just thought I should put across an alternative point of view, as the discussion here seems to be against the use of Cubase 100%! I think perhaps a few bad experiences have prejudiced you against what is actually quite a nice little program.

Cubase and I have never gotten on well at all. I suspect it's a combination of being given particularly bad versions to work with and the fact that I (personally) DO find Logic much more intuitive. Personally, I never had a problem with the Environment in Logic 5, 6, 7 or 8 (although 5 could be a bit fiddly and 6 was a bit limited) and Logic 8's environment is incredibly simple; although ReWire can cause problems. Simple solution there: use Soundflower instead!

The only downside to using Logic is the number of free plug-ins available. AU formats are harder to come across than VST but SoundHack is available as a free plug-in as well as CamelCrusher and a few other good ones - plus the included plug-ins are generally superb. Particularly fond of the drum machine and modelling synthesiser ones.

I guess Cubase and Logic are basically equivalent. They're both very similar in terms of layout and functionality, but I just find Logic to be like Cubase without the hassle or fiddling. For me, it just works. Cubase I had to tweak with for ages to get to go my way. But if you're happy with Cubase, plenty of people still use it!
 
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