what to buy?

[PJ6620]

hey, i'm pieter-jan and i am 17.

i do a bit of 'composing' myself with sibelius 3, but the soundquality is awfull. So, i looked around for better software. i heared about giga studio and cubase, but i don't understand everything they say on the site. (like you need a gsif compatible sound card (?) for the stand alone player(?))
So, i'm asking what software (and maybe hardware) i have to buy to improve the quality of an orchestra. I don't want to spend every euro i've got, but i've seen you can buy much stuff on ebay.

I have a dell inspiron 6400 laptop, a 22" screen, a roland fp5 piano and a sennheiser HD 515.

sorry for my poor english!

i hope i'm in the right forum!

[JonnyM]

I seriously doubt that Software is going to make for poor quality recordings. Digital pretty much IS what it is. The weak link is more probably getting what you hear in the room into the darn computer. If your mic is decent, i.e. if you recorded to a plain old tape machine and that sounds good, then it's just how to translate from mic (analog world) to PC (digital). There are dozens of solutions out there, generally involving a USB or Firewire output to hook to your PC (Digital) and some kind of mic-pre on the other for your Analog Mic. I've used the Tascam gadget for the last few years with good success, but again, it's just one solution out of many. It only has two mic inputs. However If I put my Mackie Mixer in front, that no longer becomes limiting.


This is what I've been using, there is a newer model available now. My software is very basic, Shareware product called Audacity. It's easy to use and basically free to try. Download a copy and try it before you spring for more expensive software. That my 2 cents.