Any Lo-fi recording people out there?

Mackie's Traktion had a reputation for being the simplest and most-intuitive during it's (short) time many years ago. I wonder if it'd run and be useful on "modern" systems...

OK, just did some research. Best option offered right now IMHO is T7 - free, simple, and powerful.

https://www.tracktion.com/products/t7-daw

The blurb:

Like all Tracktion DAW applications, T7 features an intuitive, single-screen interface. Input, waveform and mixer – including EQ, level, pan and plugins – are laid out from left-to-right. Simply drag-and-drop additional features and automation on any track as needed. Unlimited numbers of audio and MIDI tracks, combined with a professional feature set, allow you to compose, record, edit, mix and share your music with ease. Modest CPU requirements make T7 ideal for use on nearly any Mac, Windows or Linux computer

@Southdakota Looks like the Hi-Fi Guys commandeered us Mudsuckers on the Lo-Fi discussion. We hung in there a minute though.

They know their stuff, that's why I read them and learn a lot from these guys.

You have some cool tunes , don't sell yourself short

I am so glad you brought this up.

For the record, I still have some cool bass lines on a Tascam DP-1 that I recorded like 10 years ago and still have to copy off of that blue box. Also I actually built a full Faraday-cage for the DP-1 when I thought that the horrible noise I was hearing is because of some radio interference. Still have the nice aluminum-lined box, the issue was the USB connection to the computer. Once that was unplugged, the DP-1 was flawless. Lesson learned right there.

Anyway, now I am recording on a laptop and mixing on another. So I watch these 'how to mix like a pro' videos to learn some tricks. I have to say that I feel that most of the music today is over-produced. I see some famous Nashville producer adding 14 tracks of cow-bells, I am a bit turned off.

When I listen to something like old Jazz, or even the Sex Pistols, I hear emotion. To me most modern music sounds like computer music from the 80s, just much better quality. The soul is missing.

I love your song and btw it sounds perfectly fine for me. Well done and thank you for sharing!

Quote from waraba

No problem , you should stick to rifftracker , now called riffworks , I'm still a heavy user of this dirty little daw to arrange basic ideas and take all my rushes. Too bad this great tool never gets updated as it is by far the most simple and intuitive tool on the market.
I often track my takes using this, export in 32 bits to reaper for later mixing & all kind of dubs. Some tracks like this one were fully made with riffworks as the internal drumbox is enough for electro rock and the workflow is soooo fast. Riffworks has also some nice filters to lofi your takes or drums, this is what is used on this track.

Riffworks, that's right. You are probably onto something there, and I have actually thought about doing some of the early work/tracking in there, just because it is so fast and intuitive, and then importing to Studio One. And I do like the drumbox in it, often I think it sounds better than what I get out of Superior Drummer 3 (user error, I know the program is more than capable). But my main gripe with InstantDrummer was the inability to edit the drum track beyond the very basic controls they give, it is a very steep curve, but I am enjoying learning how to program drums within a midi grid.

@Southdakota I am with you all the way. I firmly believe that art in general is supposed to be about the dude / dudette's feeling. And if people recognize this, it is great art. And if if it is Bach or Mark Rothko (whom I still don't quite get but bow down to people who do) it is not some engineered thing. (And - like I said before - by profession I am a software engineer.)

So the thing is - for me anyway - is that anyone who has a (looking for good word) sensitivity that I can relate to, one who - I hope - felt the same things I feel ... I am a fan, I appreciate their work as artists.

And the complexity of their work - frankly even their mastery of their craft, whether music or painting or whatever DOES NOT matter. It may be selfish but it is only me being able to identify the feeling and being able to find it in myself, that's all that matters.

Today, there are computers running everything I am pretty certain that my watch is more powerful than the original spacecraft that went to the Moon with peeps sitting inside. With all this comes the power to replace real emotions and feelings with 14 tracks of cow-bells with perfect stereo delay added.

I am rambling a bit but I am positive that if I gave a kazoo to Mozart or Jimmy Hendricks they could make me cry. No fancy things are needed.

1 Stereo overhead on the drums, 1 centered on the Kick through a Mackie board into a Blue Sky Reverb, stereo into a digital recorder.
I tracked a stereo bass hard panned from the Kemper and got a performance along with my drummer.
Added two guitars and 1 Harmonica with FX from the Kemper. 1 pass
1 Keyboard part. Set the levels and made a CD copy. Jungle Recording.
Added some horseshit at the end with a keyboard sample.

I love stereo Bass it pisses off engineers but I don't fight the kick at all. I can wrap my bass arms around the ensemble.