....bit of a noob....

[TomBrz]

Hello, bonjour, aloha, and other worldwide greetings,
Self proclaimed DAW noob, abs.NO DAW EXPERIENCE (insert shreek here).

After weeks of research (should I get this DAW, should I get that DAW?), I squeezed the trigger and purchased MB V6 (not 32c) last night. Here's me question list:
Tutorials videos for a "starting from scratch-er", where to find? (I plan on searching for them but if I can get direct info from "Ye of the previously educated", why not?)

I am waiting for a back ordered MOTU M4 interface, so can I use ASIO4ALL to start my journey or should I just wait for the MOTU?

I am reading horror stories about V6 and experiences of others with crashes and this concerns me. I have saved the V6 to an external hard drive, is it better to run it from C:drive programs instead?

I currently have MT Powerdrummer 2 and DrumMic'A also saved to the EHD.

My system is a 2 month old MSI GF75 Thin 95C, I7-9750H 2.6ghz, 227GB left on 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM.

If you would be so kind as to "Noob-izate" your reply, I would be ever so indebted to you.
Again, I need to learn this from scratch and may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I try!

Thanks oh so very much,
TomBrz
(used to record on a 4 track Tascam Portastudio 25 years ago--just to let you know how far behind I am)

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I have a NekTar Impakt LX25+ to use to get started and Zoom B3N which apparently has some use as an audio interface, at least for recording bass and guitars. I haven't started my VST collection other than the drums so this is very much starting from scratch.

[Dingo]

Hi TomBrz and welcome to the Mixbus Forum... best place to start is the 'Getting Started' section of the manual...
You can access a link to the manual and videos plus more by clicking on the help menu within mixbus or 32C.

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I have saved the V6 to an external hard drive, is it better to run it from C:drive programs instead?

The application should reside on your C: system drive, but the default projects folder should be on another D: E: etc fast drive.

Preferences/General/Sessions...Default Folder for new sessions: pulldown menu to choose.

[sunrat]

All DAWs are very complex software and intimidating at first. It takes a long time of practice and studying tutorials and manuals to become efficient (which I lay no claim to being ).
The manual and Harrison Youtube channel are great resources - https://www.youtube.com/user/HarrisonConsoles

I presume you're on Windows 10. You don't need ASIO4ALL, just use built-in ASIO.
I'd recommend installing to your main system drive and recording to the external drive.

Horror stories can look greatly exaggerated - there would be hundreds or thousands of people using Mixbus with few or no issues (including myself) so they will not be posting looking for solutions for problems they don't have. Issues are very often due to suboptimal setup of their system or trying to do something the wrong way.
Welcome to the journey and I wish you happy travels!

I recorded a seminal band on Portastudio in the mid 80s. When the primary member passed away, they released my recordings on a retrospective tribute CD. I also had dozens of cassette recordings of live concerts which I recently digitized. Never underestimate the value of past recording projects.

[TomBrz]

Thank you to you both for the suggestions.
I spent quite a while looking to Reaper to be my DAW of choice. Then I saw Spectre Studios review of mixes done on Reaper vs. Mixbus and the slight advantage of warmth and overall slightly less digital feel in MB changed my mind.
Yup, I still have my mixes from the old Portastudio, running Alesis products for the processing that I still have. Came up with some interesting stuff but it has literally been 30+ years and just a few things have changed. I am way behind the ball but learning a bit each day.

[vicenzajay]

I spent quite a while looking to Reaper to be my DAW of choice. Then I saw Spectre Studios review of mixes done on Reaper vs. Mixbus and the slight advantage of warmth and overall slightly less digital feel in MB changed my mind.
Yup, I still have my mixes from the old Portastudio, running Alesis products for the processing that I still have. Came up with some interesting stuff but it has literally been 30+ years and just a few things have changed. I am way behind the ball but learning a bit each day.

So one thing you could think about would be to use *both Reaper and Mixbus. There are quite a few of us on here who do. I know you're new to the game, and learning two programs might seem daunting. That said, there isn't another DAW out there that uses CPU resources better than Reaper - allowing perhaps the best low-latency recording performance in the "game", as it were.

Several of us record in Reaper and then mix in Mixbus. You don't need to be a Reaper wizard to record. Literally, you load up the program and add tracks, map those tracks to inputs, arm the track for recording, and press record. Like Mixbus, there's a massively helpful forum over at Reaper.fm, and the cost simply can't be beat. $60 buys you two versions of Reaper - which means that (if the last decade serves as example) you will own the latest Reaper version for close to 8 years. Again, nothing in the industry touches that price to version ratio. If you start a studio and make over 10 grand a year, then its price goes to $225....but that only seems fair, right?

This isn't to advertise 'against' Mixbus. It's just offered as food for thought given your post above. Mixbus, with its DSP coding and console workflow, is a beautiful mixing environment. It's what I'm mixing with as well. But when it comes to quick, rock-solid, stable, CPU friendly recording, nothing touches Reaper - not even close.

[TomBrz]

vice--
Thank You for the reply. I have been working on MixBus6 and am having crashes already. Here's what I have done: Purchased Mixbus, got it going, loaded up MT PowerDrummer and Sennheiser's Drummic'A. Had several issues using D'a so I dumped it. I recorded a single drum track by copying a few grooves and fills from MT PD. Fiddled around with moving, editing the track and not much else. MB has crashed when I have reopened it, when I have tried to setup Impact LX25+ midi controlller and DSP usage shows 15% just from having a track. Again, NOOB, but I am trying to be patient, although frustrated with plunking down $90+ and already having problems out of the box. Sound quality, analog warmth were the selling points for me but Learning on MB DOES NOT SEEM EASY, maybe too much possibility of overwhelming info.
Tutorials need to be idiot proof and step by step, at least for my feeble brain!

Reaper's price seemed very reasonable and I might just have to start out learning basics with that.

[vicenzajay]

So don't get too frustrated yet. MB is a different learning curve than many DAWs - not least of all for the fact that it loads all of its DSP at once, which will look as if your computer is getting overwhelmed by it before you even start. It also lends itself to working just like a console - you mix with the tools on the screen, and you'll find that your plugin needs start to diminish rapidly.

The sound of that DSP and the eventual workflow to get a great mix make MB worth it. It just takes a bit to get there.

That said, things like simple recording, VSTI import and midi mapping, etc. are just SO much easier in Reaper - like, there's no comparison. And your CPU will never give you issues when you're working with it. In your case, I'd do your midi drums in Reaper - render those tracks and then import into MB already printed. It will work like a champ, and your MB CPU usage will thank you.

edit - you don't even have to buy Reaper to figure this out. It's a fully functional, no issues trial - I'd advise giving it a go for a joint DAW workflow that might be the best combo in the industry.

[TomBrz]

yep, I am going to go with adding Reaper and doing most things there. I just spent 2 hours trying to figure out how to get the USB keyboard controller working. I would read some instructions, got to MB, wait 20 seconds for it to load, then not get it fixed and bounce back out. MB consistenly showed 15% plus on DSP just sitting there and the error folder was 20 messages deep before I even did anything.
For now, I need to ignore MB just to save my sanity.

[vicenzajay]

I think you'll find Reaper super easy for the recording/vsti stuff...and if you have a question - those folks tend to answer up super quickly.

Again, though, don't give up on Mixbus as a mixing environment. Just having the 32 EQ emulations on each channel makes it worthwhile, let alone the superbly integrated, tweakable saturation on the mixbusses. You couldn't get better plugins for those two tasks for less than the price of the entire DAW.

Once you get your tracks recorded/rendered, it's a piece of cake to import them into MB and go from there. Yeah - the DSP will look weird (and the error folder will give you random, strange, useless information like "found reference to a plugin that wasn't found 10921io23082759238 - or something else completely worthless) - but once you're loaded up, the mixing workflow is magic.

I was a die-hard Reaper user for over a decade (14 years or so) - so it was a big step for me to move to MB for mixing. Now I woudn't go back....I just like the sound and the complete set of channel tools available at my "fingertips" that MB gives me.

I will say that I have *not moved to v6 for several reasons. The first was finding out that the "ready to go" sidechain compression option was left behind in the new version. The second is watching the plethora of folks on Windows experiencing crashes and weird behavior. It will all get sorted, but I'm probably going to wait out this version and stay tuned for v7. V5 is working fairly well for me, so I've really got no reason to upgrade.

Enjoy Reaper - I'll probably see you on those forums as well.

[TomBrz]

I have Reaper loaded up (demo for now), time for some serious learnin'.
Yes, it is surprising to see all the problems people seem to be having with MB v6. Sometimes it just goes that way with software updates regardless of the source. Guess we will just be patient.
Thanks again for the sage advice.
Like I said, I have to figure out everything, how to use a daw, how to get my midi controller keyboard to make sounds, how to use plugins, which plugin's to get, still waiting for a audio interface so hoo boy I am going to be busy for a while. This whole digital music production is pretty daunting when you used to be able to plug in guitar or mic direct into the old Porta and start making music. I will get there. Best of Luck to you and yours!