Clarke wrote:

I wanted to participate in the last jam but obviously will need an actual DAW. If I understand Craig correctly the process is to download his backing track into the DAW and then add your guitar part. He then want’s you mute the backing track and just send the guitar track.

This is all correct, Clarke. Yes, you would need a DAW to participate in the online jam. I just use Garageband which comes included with every Apple/Mac computer. I would be lost without it.

Clarke wrote:

I don’t have an actual DAW – I am trying to use Audacity which is not considered a DAW but an Editor. It can however be used as a DAW but has many limitations. When I import the Jam track from Craig it loads into Track 1 – I then add a second track and record my guitar part while being able to listen to Track 1. Sounds great while I am recording but when I play it back I am noticeably behind the Jam track. Latency for sure and there seems to be no way to adjust that.

When Phyllis and I record we plug into the PA head and then come out of that and directly into the sound card which inputs into the Sound Recorder. Downside of that is there is no way to edit or add anything else to it. Basically it’s a One Take and hope you don’t screw up. If I wanted to add a second guitar part, that is impossible.

I wanted to participate in the last jam but obviously will need an actual DAW. If I understand Craig correctly the process is to download his backing track into the DAW and then add your guitar part. He then want’s you mute the backing track and just send the guitar track.

Question, what are all of you using to do that? Thanks in advance for any help.

I’m a fan of Reaper, but if you are using audacity then you’ll need their handbook/manual …click here..

Try this? https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/latency_test.html

Really Audacity is not intended to be a substitute for a DAW. If you are a PC user, then Reaper would be your cheapest option. I’ve used it a bit, and it works great. There is a bit of a learning curve, but there are lots of Youtube tutorials, and also many other AM members use it. So if you roll up your sleeves and dig into it, in a few days you will be able to do some pretty cool stuff. And you’ll be glad you did. Better to spend your time messing around learning a new DAW than out catching Covid19.

Oh yes, several members are getting into Ableton Live – the cheaper versions, not the full monty. I’ve used it before, liked it, and it’s maybe the most widely used DAW on the planet right now. Tons of tutorials on Youtube. Ableton comes free with some recording gear, such as the Focusrite Scarlett audio interfaces (which you will need anyway). Food for thought.

One thing I remember about Reaper is that it comes as a fairly stripped down package, and I had to download several other bits of software to get it to work. But with Ableton, you just download it, plug in your audio interface, and it works.

sunjamr wrote:

Really Audacity is not intended to be a substitute for a DAW. If you are a PC user, then Reaper would be your cheapest option. I’ve used it a bit, and it works great. There is a bit of a learning curve, but there are lots of Youtube tutorials, and also many other AM members use it. So if you roll up your sleeves and dig into it, in a few days you will be able to do some pretty cool stuff. And you’ll be glad you did. Better to spend your time messing around learning a new DAW than out catching Covid19.

Oh yes, several members are getting into Ableton Live – the cheaper versions, not the full monty. I’ve used it before, liked it, and it’s maybe the most widely used DAW on the planet right now. Tons of tutorials on Youtube. Ableton comes free with some recording gear, such as the Focusrite Scarlett audio interfaces (which you will need anyway). Food for thought.

One thing I remember about Reaper is that it comes as a fairly stripped down package, and I had to download several other bits of software to get it to work. But with Ableton, you just download it, plug in your audio interface, and it works.

I’m following the Ableton live lite that came free with purchased Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen studio kit.. so far only very beginner stage for me.. I can record /export upload to free soundcloud account .. I did the April Mp3 jamtrack ,, last couple nights came up with something ..not sure maybe today get more creative with it from where I left off.. it sure is fun..

i’ve deleted much everything from my youtube account..i just thought way too many to individually poke through the good bad/ugly// lol..so i decided starting clean .. i still have everything in the cloud and on my pc device storage.. anyhoot

Been learning a bit more about basic theory,, i like to know what I’m playing (types of chords/scales etc) eventually it makes everything easier to learn figure out and jam with anybody.. okay ..enjoy..i been at it here just not much on the threads much these daYS.. Take care , yes..ugg going food shopping today .. it’s like i wear a maSK WIPES SPRAYS.. IT REALLY IS ALL WE CAN DO! Stay focused be vigilant.. haven’t drank any alcohol no more beer (stopped that completely over a month ago.. but than bought a case of cheap table wine).. i thought for spagetti Mariana red wine for the sauce,, i than would drink the rest of the big bottle .. i ‘d get hungover/headends.. get on everyones case… so after careful deep thought and advice.. stopped that two weeks ago.. so I’m not touching any beer wine..always hated hard liquor .. so yes watched enough and learned it isn’t wise for me to drink anymore..feel much better too..

okay back on topic.. yes the DAW will take me time.. i’m trying Ableton lite.. I may try Reaper again too

be safe stay home learn Practice and have fun playing folks..gl with the pandemic.. i’m facing it mask and washings foot soles sprayed ..population big here so many hotspots still here

https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk

Free download of a comprehensive DAW.

Years ago I started with Cakewalk that morphed in Sonar which was highly rated.
Seem they sold off the company and now its FREE…amazing and its fully functional.

You’ll need an interface of some kind and to be honest most of the best DAWs are now pretty similar in layout and use EXCEPT ABLETON.

(I’m now using Presonus Studio One 4 Professional)

My first post

Billy wrote:

The best bit of advice I can give is to start with the set up tutorial of your interface, (2i2?) to whichever DAW you decide to go with, it’s important that you minimise latency between the two to as low as possible before you go any further with recording.

Yes I am aware of that, Good tutorial on youtube for that issue yes .. the next thing I am trying to figure our is importing mp3 jamtracks from youtube or even here.. couldn’t figure it out.. it’ll take time,, I need to take time to watch and get motivated.. if I learn some basics on Abelton lite .. I can try Reaper afterwards.. I’m done for tonight.. I am making slow progress.. any of them will take time

sunburst wrote:

Billy wrote:

The best bit of advice I can give is to start with the set up tutorial of your interface, (2i2?) to whichever DAW you decide to go with, it’s important that you minimise latency between the two to as low as possible before you go any further with recording.

Yes I am aware of that, Good tutorial on youtube for that issue yes .. the next thing I am trying to figure our is importing mp3 jamtracks from youtube or even here.. couldn’t figure it out.. it’ll take time,, I need to take time to watch and get motivated.. if I learn some basics on Abelton lite .. I can try Reaper afterwards.. I’m done for tonight.. I am making slow progress.. any of them will take time

Should be quite straight forward to import mp3 or anyother type of file, I save backing tracks to my PC’s desktop in a file titled “Backing tracks”, When your DAW is up and running and you have started a new project, files can be imported using the “media” “Import” or whatever the menu is on the DAW being used, click on it, search for your “backing track” folder, select the track and click on it. It should upload to your DAW instantly ..

Don’t think Ableton can work with MP3 you can drag and drop them into Ableton which then converts them to Wav or whatever Ableton uses .
Up to Ableton 10 you also could not export from Ableton as MP3 you had to use Audacity which you could also use to convert MP3 to a format Ableton works with then import.

Supported Audio File Formats
In general, Live supports audio files with 1 or 2 channels, with a resolution of 8, 16, 24 or 32-bit and any sample frequency up to 192kHz. WAV and AIFF (AIFF-C) are the only formats which Live can load without conversion. All other formats are converted into WAV when being imported. The converted file is stored in Live’s Decoding Cache. (The locations of the Decoding Cache can be found in the Additional Information section of this article

Hi Clarke,
I ran into this yesterday and after what I noted below, it works perfect.
You need to set the “latency compensation” on Audacity (It’s under edit -> preferences -> devices.) out of the box it is never really correct, as everyone’s system and gear is different. You also can control the audio subsystem you use.

When you open the above noted box, on that tab, click the question mark next to the cancel button, it opens the help page. Look for Latency Compensation at bottom and click on the “Latency Test”. This tells you how to do it, it is quite simple. You have to run a click track with your recording gear and then measure the offset, set it and forget it. That fixes all the timing issues. You’ll only need to touch it again if you change your subsystem…

After working with Audacity yesterday, I have no need to buy a DAW, audacity does everything I would need and it was free. It easily does everything I used to do on my old Tascam analog multitrack recorder plus easy edits.

Clarke wrote:

I don’t have an actual DAW – I am trying to use Audacity which is not considered a DAW but an Editor. It can however be used as a DAW but has many limitations. When I import the Jam track from Craig it loads into Track 1 – I then add a second track and record my guitar part while being able to listen to Track 1. Sounds great while I am recording but when I play it back I am noticeably behind the Jam track. Latency for sure and there seems to be no way to adjust that.

When Phyllis and I record we plug into the PA head and then come out of that and directly into the sound card which inputs into the Sound Recorder. Downside of that is there is no way to edit or add anything else to it. Basically it’s a One Take and hope you don’t screw up. If I wanted to add a second guitar part, that is impossible.

I wanted to participate in the last jam but obviously will need an actual DAW. If I understand Craig correctly the process is to download his backing track into the DAW and then add your guitar part. He then want’s you mute the backing track and just send the guitar track.

Question, what are all of you using to do that? Thanks in advance for any help.

Hi I use Audacity and for what your trying to do Audacity is the simplest method.

I’ve recorded multiple tracks and exported highlighted deleted joined cut pasted etc in Audacity I’ve even got plugins to work as well as focusrite and much prefer it to the DAW that came with focusrite

There’s even a latency correction facility in it as well.

One thing to note is Audacity is it has a smaller footprint than the big DAW programs