comparing with software.. adat...and all in one workstation... Lookin for commentary

[eMDe]

well in my years of recording i have worked up from setting up my studio based around a
tascam 4 track cassette
to
tascam 564 Digital 4 track with 12 channel mixer
to
Akai dps12 Digital 12 track recorder with digital mixer
and now i have worked up to
Akai dps16 digital 16 track recorder w/ digital mixer and all kinds of other shit. I have a nice little set up based around it.

Now i have been to many studios and the other day i was at a computer based set up. I belive it was running on cubase.
It looked cool as fuck! i hate mixing down on my dps16 because it takes forever to find and fix your flaws. With the software it had plugins that basically did the mix down for you. I know very little about the programs but we pumped out 3 songs and he took only a few minutes on mixing down. I asked him if it was the final mix and he said yeah its all done. I was suprized i took a listen to it and it was sounding damn good! It made me question my routes in my studio..

So i have been thinking about switching over to a computer based set up and keeping the 16 track as my mixer.. OR trading it in for an adat set up and find a pro to do the mixdowns and mastering for me.. or just keeping what i have and upgrading the software with the new plugins its got for normalizing to make mixdowns less time consuming.

Another plus on comouter set up is sequencing threw cubase or cakewalk (i am very inexperienced but i will take classes in fall) I do all my sequencing on the board (XP 80) and it looks to me that with a computer set up you can actually see the bars as you record vocals which makes editing and copy paste REALLY easy. Now anyone with experince or opinions jump on this thread.. help me figgerout what i wanna do..

[twonky]

I have been very happy, since I made the full on switch from a Mackie/ADAT set up to a PC based system. At this point I am still using the ADAT as A/D converters and the Mackie for tracking into the PC. But once its in ther boy! Its super cool! You can essentially automate your mixes! You dont have to worry about re-adjusting faders everytime you screw something up. The computer remembers it all for you. And the plug ins (while they wont do the mix for you) can be super cool and if used correctly(and sometimes very incorrectly) can sound really great, especially if you dont have a lot of out board gear like comps and effects.

So, I say do it, at first I kind of missed the tactile experience of using the mixer to mix doen to 1/4 inch, but once I got used to the PC, I dont even miss it.

Twonk

[eMDe]

im really leaning towards it. Do you suggest pro tools or cubase or cakewalk? I belive i have only seen cubase in action.

[Teacher]

Pro Tools LE is the most expensive
Pros:
Every professional studio has protools so u'll be able to import ur mixes to a professional pro tools set up seamlessly

Cons:
Limited # of audio tracks
limited to 24/48
i've heard the midi still needs to get improved


CUBASE SX-second most expensive

Cakewalk SONAR- 3rd

These 2 programs are relatively the same, as in what they can do(unlimited audio tracks, unlimited undo, work in 32 bit floating point), but if u'd like to use ACID loops, Sonar would be ur choice cuz it does everything acid can do plus what cubase does

Unless u are going to be consistently going to pro studios I'd pick either Cubase or Cakewalk, if u wanna get pro tools wait till you have enuff money for the 10 gee setup