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I am getting the mic from a friend, He owes me.
I will ck to see what preamp he has.
Like I said hardware is not a problem. I have all I need. Its the software I am not sure about.

It's difficult to make these kind of recommendations without a clearer understanding of what you have, what you want to accomplish, what level of quality are you shooting for, and what kind of ballpark budget we are talking about. (Though DSG LABEL is giving you some pretty decent advice overall)

Especially confusing are seemingly contradictory statements like "hardware is not a problem. I have all I need" but then not knowing what kind of pre-amp you might be borrowing from your friend.

I mean, if hardware is not a problem, then why not throw up some mics and record some real drums? Why record the bass and guitars all direct? If you truly had ALL the hardware you could ever need, then you would have very little need for any software.

On the whole, acoustic guitars sound awful when recorded direct alone (sometimes a DI sound can be layered in with mic sounds effectively, it all depends on the sound you are going for). Why not put up a few mics for the accoustic?

Regarding the bass, is the sound of a DI bass what you are really looking for? For a strong southern rock sound, you'll probably want to layer in the sound from a bass amp as well, or use a bass amp emulator plugin like Ampeg SVG.

How's the room you plan to record in? Have you treated the acoustics in there properly? Using a high end mic like that U87 can be great, BUT if there are major acoustic flaws in your room, that mic will pick those up as well (which could cause you more headaches, which is why DSG LABEL mentioned maybe using a dynamic mic instead).

Sooo... are you still looking for just software instruments? Do you need processors for EQ, compression, reverbs, delays, etc... ? Pitch correction (like Auto-Tune or Melodyne)?

Regarding some of the virtual instruments mentioned (this part is purely my opinions)...

I agree with Ivory for piano (my jaw literally hit the floor the first time I heard it).

I like some of the sounds in BFD2 better than Strike, but I like actually playing and programing the patterns and fills much more in Strike.

For strings, all lot of the EastWest stuff sounds incredible, but expensive. Another option is the Miroslav Philharmonik (which is included in the IK Multimedia Total Workstation Bundle or sold alone).

That was probably more answer than you were looking for, and I hope it doesn't seem like I'm jumping down your throat about any of this stuff. It's just that from the tone and lack of substantial details in your posts, it is hard to tell exactly how much experience you have, what your needs really are, and how best to help you, you know?

I mean, we could recommend $2000 worth of virtual instruments, but you might be better served in the long run with $200 of OC 703 fiberglass for acoustic treatment. Without more info, it's hard for us to know.

Ok, I'm done rambling for the moment

Best of luck

yes DSG Label gave me great advice. I have a demo verson of BFD2 and so far I love it.

I do have a 451 and a beta 57 we are going to try on the acu.

He want to try different arragements, and its real easy and fast to try different beats and sounds with BFD or Strike.


We are doing a demo of his orignal songs for him to showcase. Its not an albem for sale. he will go to a real studio for that.

We could spend the money and go into a pro studio and record, but I decided to invest a little money in a small virtual studio.
Now we have the ability to work on the songs when we want, make any changes we want, try different stuff.
hopefuly it will help save time in a pro studio by knowing what he wants before he goes in.

It also lets me experiment with recording, have some fun with it. It would be refreshing and fun to try something different than live sound.

thanks for the great advice guys.

+1 for TommyJ1112