purchase advice

[mR. MonroE]

Looking to upgrade my current set up. Recording rock/alternative rock music.
Current gear:
PC xp
Pentium 4
512

Mackie 24 4 VLZ
C-Port 2000 (8 ins/ 8 outs)
Sonar 3 producer
Various pre-amps, processors…..

I’m looking for advice on which products to focus on with a budget of $5000 to $8000 for equipment.
I want to be able to have between 10 and 16 channels/tracks for drums alone. I could purchase another C-port but not completely pleased with the first one. I hear good about the Delta 1010, anyone else?? I’ve been looking into Motu but hear bad things about driver support. I’ve been seeing that the Alesis hd24 offers 24 ins and outs but is this a outdated piece of equipment?? I like the computer mixing and would like to stay with it. So, purchase 2 maybe 3 Delta 1010s?? Purchase the Motu 24 I/O, Different sound board??

Thanks for your time,

mR. MonroE

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

You would get better response if you posted this in the Computer recording forum. This is the Studio Building and Display forum.
fitZ

[apl]

Wow! With that kind of budget I'd look at RME ADI converters and a couple of their OctaMics.

Super top notch equipment.

[frederic]

Originally Posted by mR. MonroE

purchase 2 maybe 3 Delta 1010s?? Purchase the Motu 24 I/O, Different sound board??

Thanks for your time,

mR. MonroE

Stick this in the computer recording forum and you'll get more responses, as that is their focus over there:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/forumdisplay.php?f=14

Since you've decided on Sonar, the Cakewalk forum will be extremely useful as well:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/forumdisplay.php?f=10

I have several Motu 2408's that I use as TDIF to ADAT format converters (3 in, 3 out in both directions) and I'm very pleased with their reliability. I do not like their analog ins, they aren't warm at all, but are okay for things like direct-ins from bass amps and guitar amps and DI boxes. I wouldn't be caught dead using them for microphones.

Though, I'm using the first generation 2408's. I would *hope* and *think* the Mark II's and the Mark III's sound much much better, but I don't have those so i can't say for sure.

[DDev]

Originally Posted by mR. MonroE

I want to be able to have between 10 and 16 channels/tracks for drums alone. ......... I’ve been seeing that the Alesis hd24 offers 24 ins and outs but is this a outdated piece of equipment??

You've got several different things that need to be considered.

First, how many tracks do you want to do at a time? If you are going to do 16 drum tracks simultaneously, then a stand-alone recorder like the Alesis HD24 would be a good move because it is a very stable platform (PC's still get mixed reviews for lots of tracks at once). With the additional purchase of the Alesis Fireport you can simply pull the hard drive from the HD24, plug into the Fireport, and transfer your WAV files into your computer for mixing/editing in Sonar. I personally prefer this option to trying to track large numbers of inputs on a PC (I have a Mackie MDR24/96 and have never had a crash).

The second thing you need to consider, since you have some budget, is your input signal path. With that kind of $$ you should be able to get some decent quality mic preamps or a good quality mixer with decent preamps. There are more options available than you can shake a stick at, but I believe RME has an 8-channel preamp with ADAT digital outputs that would make a great compliment to an HD24 as a front end (3-total preamps to service the 24 inputs on the HD24).

Anyway, good luck.

Darryl.....