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'''When actually recording, I recommend turning off software monitoring and using your device's direct monitoring to remove the disorienting nature of latency'''. If your interface has very low latency, however, the difference may be negligible. Then, software monitoring is preferable, as it makes sure you don't accidentally record a difficult part perfectly only to later find out you weren't properly set up to record it. ''If both direct and software monitoring are enabled, you may get a phasy or comb-filtered type sound because both sources will be sent to output. They will be slightly out-of-sync, causing the unwanted effect. Make sure to use only one or the other.''
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This covers the basic functionality of most professional '''DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)''' software. It's probably nothing new to anyone already producing music, although some sections might be interesting. This is a quick overview for the noobs.
There is often an '''input monitor''' button per track. This sends the input stream from the audio track to the software output ''when the track is record armed''. Essentially, what you hear before you press record is exactly what will be recorded.
Hardware interfaces generally provide a [[Interface Setup#Inputs/Mixer|software mixer]] to control the hardware. It also usually includes an option to enable '''direct monitoring''' (or '''hardware monitoring''') of any of its inputs. This routes the audio going into that input directly to the output without having to be routed through the computer's operating system and other software. '''The advantage of direct monitoring is that there is minimal latency.''' For non-acoustic instruments that use heavy audio processing like electric guitar, this is a very good thing. Trying to play guitar but not hearing your playing until a 10th of a second or more throws off the feel and timing of the player.
When trying to set up your DAW and track inputs, direct monitoring can be misleading. The sound from the direct monitor might be fine, but the track you want to record that audio might be set incorrectly, so that it only records noise, the wrong audio source, or silence. Rather than trying to record a test clip, then play it back; it's often simpler to disable direct monitoring on the interface and enable software monitoring. This may mean you are hearing more latency, and it is difficult to play in-time while recording; but it will quickly demonstrate if your track is recording correctly. What you hear from the software monitor is exactly what your recording will sound like. You will also hear any processing the DAW performs on the signal, such as level changes, panning, or [[#Inserts|insert plugins]], which are bypassed in direct monitoring.
''NOTE: Modern DAW software is equipped to know what the audio latency from your input source is and time-shift the resulting recording so that you never know it existed.'' When recording, you should play in-time with the click track and/or other tracks.
Many plugins come with their own graphical user interface (GUI), which often resembles their real life counter-part. For example a plugin simulating a specific distortion pedal may use a visual mock-up of the pedal with virtually knobs and switches that rotate and switch via click dragging.
The term '''VST''' is often synonymous with plugin. VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology{{tm}}by Steinberg, which is one of the most popular API's for programming plugins. However, there are other types of plugins, such as '''Audio Units (AU)'''(Apple), '''Real-time Audio Suite (RTAS)'''(Digidesign), and '''Rack Extension (RE)'''(Propellerhead). For a complete list of plugin format compability with DAWs, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_multitrack_recording_software#Plugin_support here]. Also, a piece of VST software may be a synthesizer/sampler rather than a plugin, although these are technically called VSTi's, a type of [[#Virtual Instruments|virtual instrument]].
== Virtual Instruments ==
Automation events can be manually edited or recorded like MIDI. Single automation events can control multiple parameters, or multiple envelopes can control the same parameter. The sky is the limit. Just be sure to stop tinkering at some point and finalize that track before you die!
For more, see [[Automation]].
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[[Category:Recording]]
[[Category:DAW]]