dont want him using my system, all win7 stations 7 pro, 2 tb hd 16 gig ram extreme processors, on all units.. what is a very basic daw that will rubn on his computer, an older xp system..

The daws I run are cubase 4.5, cubase 5, cubase 6, presonus one ver 2, and flstudio pro.

any help would be much appriciated, and want to get him started with free ware vst-vsti-- so any suggestions will be more than welcome.. my knowledge of freeware, at this point in my career, is , sadly lacking.. the daw doesnt have to be freeware, nor do the instruments or effects, but he is 9 and just learning..so please, all suggestions are welcome.

anyone?

Many will disagree but my vote goes to the inexpensive Energy XT2. Works a treat on my LoSpec XP SP3 notebook.

Tunafish: http://www.brambos.com/archive.html

Yeah, either Tunefish, Mu-Lab or (which I think is the easiest) Acid XPress:

http://www.mutools.com/mulab-product.html
http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/

I usually always recommend Acid Xpress for beginners.

Since he also needed a proper ASIO-based interface, I bought my nephew a Yamaha Audiogram. It comes with a simple version of Cubase (AI).

http://www.synapse-audio.com/orion.html

You might want to give us some infos like processor , memory and such .

The link has the minimum sys required ( which is pretty reasonable !).

The reason I reccomend orion is that I have found that It's " old school " pardigm ( channel strips , auxiallry channels ect) are really good for the novice ; It's a good way to start building chops for the strictly digital world by getting familiar with hardware schemes , and I like to use it for the speed in which you can get going . ( just choose an instrument from the included ones and all routing is complete; start making noise!!)

It's seems a little eccentric to some at first , and it's not an uber powerfull recording/mixing daw ; not lots of wav editing power... more like a midi tracker that's been taken pretty far with some good instruments and effects included..

I don't know if thats a good description so just demo !!!

Good luck !!

Thanks everyone, this is going to come in handy.. the specs of his computer are

Intel pentium 4 CPU 2.40ghz
2.39ghz, 1.5 gb ram
windows xp home sp3

I am just wondering if he can use my synths..pretty heavy cpu---i have to get him some monitors and a midi keyboard tomorrow..I am going to hook up my old emu 1820..should work fine

Any suggestions for instruments?

I have almost the same specs (1.25GB instead of 1.5) and can recommend:

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/2237
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/5169
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/214
http://www.elektrostudio.ovh.org/index2.php?go=2
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/769 (but not with very large instruments)
http://www.kvraudio.com/product/1191

There are more, but I'm sure most of them will be posted eventually anyway.

Also: now that we're on to instruments this isn't too bad a fit forumwise, but if you'd like the thread moved to Hosts or Getting Started, with a shadow topic left here (leading to the new location), let me (or any mod who's around) know.

I'd suggest a nice Rompler like Halion Player or a used Kontakt. Then there's tons of free synths and basic effects. Half the fun of first getting a DAW is trying out all the free junk out there.

Very high quality but limited quantity would be Yellow Tools free. About a 2 gig download if it's still available.
Last edited by Bhan on Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:20 pm; edited 1 time in total

I'll agree with that.

I was wondering something similar, what would run on a Win7 netbook? I'm not sure the specs right now, but it's about a year old. I'd be happy with only for four tracks and no audio recording. This is also for a 9 year old

Thanks so much everyone..man I forgot about oatmeal..still sound as good as ever?
and synth one--another beauty

Is green oak crystal still around?

Yep.

Yep.

Get him to learn FL studio.. It's really easy to learn the basics on, really easy to do arrangements on, and conducive to having fun and being creative on. Yet it's very deep and powerful. I've been usin it for 8 years and I can't believe the new ideas I get with how to use it. It's got those crazy internal controllers that you can do all sorts of things with. Plus the built in instruments are pretty damn good, 3osc could be great to learn on (I did).

As far as freeware synths definitely check out tyrell nexus 6. Can't believe it's free. A wonderful synth to learn on, has nearly every feature you'd expect from a virtual analog. I think it sounds better than 98% of soft synths period, free or otherwise. Drumatic is a cool free drum synth. Another favorite free synth of mine is Unknown 64 pro. Used to be pay ware but now free. It's a c64 emulator, and its funny to me how anemulation of a shitty digital synth can have a better sound than most soft synths. It just has character, check it out: http://www.vstcafe.com/2010/08/odosynths-unknown-64-pro.html  ?m=1

If he's wanting to make teh wub wubz it's going to be hard to beat massive though for instant gratification.


Good luck to your son, it's exciting to see young'uns gettin into this stuff!!