Using a standalone DAW just for recording drums

[Rickson Gracie]

I have a pro tools digi02 setup in a seperate room and floor than the drums so its will not be easy to mic the drums but i thought about just getting the tracks down with like an 8 track standalone DAW and then downloading them into pro tools.

is this common and easy? can someone suggest a good DAW for this in the sub $600 range?

thanks

[mikeyhasnobones]

i have a used roland vs-880 that i got for about 300 bucks. it can record six tracks at a time which is a pretty unusual feature for cheaper DAWs, maybe look around for one of those? ideal for drums.

[Rickson Gracie]

Originally Posted by mikeyhasnobones

i have a used roland vs-880 that i got for about 300 bucks. it can record six tracks at a time which is a pretty unusual feature for cheaper DAWs, maybe look around for one of those? ideal for drums.

thats very cool that this DAW does 8 tracks at once but how is the sound qaulity compared to current daws on the market? i read its 24 bit.

also...i just did some research on the roland vs-880 and it apperntly has no xlr imputs and phantom power. is it possible to use an audiobuddy mic pre to mic up the overhead condensors to make up for this?

thanks

[TerraMortim]

under $600 you may have a problem finding something unless it's used or on ebay for lots of nice sounding inputs. For just under $1k you can get a MOTU H96HD 24bit up to 192kHz, 8 ins with preamps, phantom power and all that...That would work nicely for what you want to do.. Just bounce down the audio from the rest of the session throw it on a stereo track (or two mono ones panned) then just record the 8 (or whatever) inputs. That's how I did my last album.

[Rickson Gracie]

Originally Posted by TerraMortim

under $600 you may have a problem finding something unless it's used or on ebay for lots of nice sounding inputs. For just under $1k you can get a MOTU H96HD 24bit up to 192kHz, 8 ins with preamps, phantom power and all that...That would work nicely for what you want to do.. Just bounce down the audio from the rest of the session throw it on a stereo track (or two mono ones panned) then just record the 8 (or whatever) inputs. That's how I did my last album.

i was looking for a standalone DAW out of convenience. i laready have teh digi02 rack

[fuzzrhythm]

We just recorded drums on a Tascam 2488. Rented it from a guy for $40 for the week. 4 XLRs, 4 Line/Mic ins (needed XLR to TRS adapters) and 24 bit recording. Phantom power on the 4 XLRS. Just got finished dumping the tracks on to the computer today so I haven't mixed with the audio yet, but it was sounding good during tracking.

[billisa]

A Fostex VF160EX can be had for $3-$400... It will record 8 at once (two XLR). It will do 16 at once with a Behringer ADA8000 interface, or like item, via ADAT. Thusly, you're still under $600. Though, if you really needed one, I would go for a better interface than the Behringer...

The VF160's are VERY stable units -- save tracks as WAV files with onboard CDR.

[ofajen]

Originally Posted by Rickson Gracie

I have a pro tools digi02 setup in a seperate room and floor than the drums so its will not be easy to mic the drums but i thought about just getting the tracks down with like an 8 track standalone DAW and then downloading them into pro tools.

is this common and easy? can someone suggest a good DAW for this in the sub $600 range?

thanks

Yamaha AW1600. You can buy one in pristine shape for under $600 on eBay just about every day of the week. It has 8 inputs, each with a perfectly OK mike preamp with phantom power and can record 8 tracks simultaneously at 24 bit resolution. Then you can connect it up as a USB drive and pull the data into your DAW program at 32 bit resolution (it stores the data internally as 32 bit tracks). Should fit the bill perfectly.

In my case, what little I do these days typically starts on the AW1600 and often finishes there, too. It's actually pretty amazing what that little box can do if you use the features. Full EQ and dynamics on each channel is a nice feature. Of course, I'm used to working mainly with no more than 8 tracks on analog machines, so I don't have big track counts. But transferring to the DAW is doable if you want to pile on more tracks and have better mix automation. Just make sure your DAW software can deal with 32 bit tracks.

Cheers,

Otto

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by Rickson Gracie

I have a pro tools digi02 setup in a seperate room and floor than the drums so its will not be easy to mic the drums but i thought about just getting the tracks down with like an 8 track standalone DAW and then downloading them into pro tools.

is this common and easy? can someone suggest a good DAW for this in the sub $600 range?

thanks

How far away is it?

Could you use a Snake?
I mean, you can get a Snake for $200 that you'll have for the rest of your life.


Even less if you go with less channels.
Tim

[Tim Brown]

Originally Posted by ofajen

Yamaha AW1600. You can buy one in pristine shape for under $600 on eBay just about every day of the week. It has 8 inputs, each with a perfectly OK mike preamp with phantom power and can record 8 tracks simultaneously at 24 bit resolution. Then you can connect it up as a USB drive and pull the data into your DAW program at 32 bit resolution (it stores the data internally as 32 bit tracks). Should fit the bill perfectly.

In my case, what little I do these days typically starts on the AW1600 and often finishes there, too. It's actually pretty amazing what that little box can do if you use the features. Full EQ and dynamics on each channel is a nice feature. Of course, I'm used to working mainly with no more than 8 tracks on analog machines, so I don't have big track counts. But transferring to the DAW is doable if you want to pile on more tracks and have better mix automation. Just make sure your DAW software can deal with 32 bit tracks.

Cheers,

Otto

One of my friends has released 2 CD's that he and his brother recorded on an AW1644, and they are amazing sounding.

The Yamaha DAW's are definitely great units. I just wish they hadn't eliminated the 1644 because what they replaced them, with don't have near as many pro features that I would like on them.


Tim