new sound files

[m1r3o]

what do you use to record new sound files???i'd like to have a better program than the default on computer!!

[Chris B.]

I personally use a program put out by Cakewalk, it's called Plasma (2003). It's a really good program to use when it's working properly
but I had a dickins of a time to hammer out a lot of problems. Cakewalk makes a high end professional product called Sonar but it's very
pricey. A more economical program they make is Home Studio and it goes for about $40, the same that I paid for Plasma.

The reason I chose to go with Plasma is because it featured looping sound ability while your construct your own songs. This isn't needed
for using when making tracks for FSP. It has a decent amount of effects that you can use to alter the tone of the audio. I've used it to mix
up sound tracks for home movies and such. I even replaced the original FSP cabin music tracks with tracks lifted from a few CD's I have,
David Bowie and Sly & The Stone. In the program I adjusted with the graphic equalizer to make it sound tinny and faint. Sounds great to
have Bowie singing something like "Life on Mars" while you taxi! After you become familiar with the program you can see how resonable
it is to contruct your own FA and captain tracks. All you pretty much need are good sound clips to use (gear sounds, ambient noises)
and a microphone and you're on your way.

The hard part about the functioning of the Plasma program is that you first need to obtain a patch online in order to install the thing in the
first place! That's almost ridiculous! It's a techinical thing to do with the windows DirectX but it tends to show Cakewalk's hand at not
preceiving the progression of DirectX. Once past that I had a problem of the program locking up on a fairly regular basis.... especially
when using MIDI keyboard input. This took a lot of research into getting the proper driver updates to the sound card, video card, and
telling windows XP to treat the program as if it were in windows98 mode. The program runs well now but man! what a headache to go
through.

You'll also note that Cakewalk has stopped production of the Plasma program.... this is probably due to all the bugs that it has.... I'd
recommend going with their home studio type programs as I haven't seen near as much problems associated with it. Don't get me
wrong... Cakewalk is a reputable company.... it's just that the Plasma program was probably born out of some rough Beta testing that
didn't get enough love and attention to become a good program.

Good luck!

Chris B. in Iowa