Eleanor Fudd
Member
If someone could explain the difference, I would appreciate it very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Definitions: - Digital Multitrack Recorders , & All-in-One Digital Recorders
- Thread starter Eleanor Fudd
- Start date
Could be wrong, but to me they are both the same thing.
Basically It’s standalone.
You don’t need an interface or computer or monitor. You mix down to a SD card or CD. Or you can transfer files to a computer. It’s portable so you can record anywhere without bringing anything other than mics and cabling.
Kind of like the cassette portastudios of old.
I still have a Yamaha MD4. It’s just like a cassette portastudio, but it’s digital and records to a data disc. That’s an early version of a stand-alone digital recorder.
Nowadays you’ll have things like the Tascam model24. Mixer, interface and mixdown all in one. No daw needed.
Anyway, that’s my take on your question.
Merry Christmas
Basically It’s standalone.
You don’t need an interface or computer or monitor. You mix down to a SD card or CD. Or you can transfer files to a computer. It’s portable so you can record anywhere without bringing anything other than mics and cabling.
Kind of like the cassette portastudios of old.
I still have a Yamaha MD4. It’s just like a cassette portastudio, but it’s digital and records to a data disc. That’s an early version of a stand-alone digital recorder.
Nowadays you’ll have things like the Tascam model24. Mixer, interface and mixdown all in one. No daw needed.
Anyway, that’s my take on your question.
Merry Christmas
Last edited:
rob aylestone
Moderator
I have a digital multitrack recorder - a hardware one in a rack. It has 24 inputs and 24 outputs - play, rewind, ff, stop and record. That's it. No mixer, no mic preamps that kind of thing. An all in one would, to me mean something like a modern portastudio - recorder AND mixer in one box, but like RFR says - context here is vital. My rack thing could be all in one? It records and stores, reads and plays?
keith.rogers
Well-known member
If you posted some specific examples of equipment it might be easier to say whether they are the same or not. But, my short answer is that I, personally, would not rely on the name of anything [digital] these days to decide what it actually is, and if if it does what I need, but spend time reading the user manual to see if what I need to accomplish is capable, and designed for ease of use, or simply a tacked on feature that is 5 layers down in some menu, maybe with limited features.
Longer answer, it may depend on a specific company's naming of a product, e.g., Zoom (Corp.) sells multi-track recorders, which are "all-in-one" devices to record, mix with some FX and output, including overdub capability. They have [digital] "handy" recorders and field recorders, which are primarily or exclusively "multi-track-recorders" and don't include features most folks would want in an all-in-one device, i.e., something that would replace an interface+DAW. However, one or two of them may have a feature that means it works for one person's needs, but another model of the same type may not. (Tascam uses slightly different terminology, and their devices have a similar span, some of which may satisfy different specific uses better than others.)
Eleanor Fudd
Member
Thanks for all those answers.
Here is a link to a site I found: https://www.long-mcquade.com/departments/46/Pro_Audio_Recording/Multi-track_Recorders.htm
On the left side of the page, under subcategories, we see
Recorders - All-in-One Digital (9) ------- Recorders Digital Multitrack (24)
I think that for a few hundred dollars it would be interesting and maybe productive to try one of those critters, especially since one can move tracks to a DAW and back, but it occurs to me that the recorders preamps would probably be inferior to those on my (original) Babyface. Likewise, the mics on the unit might not be as useful as the mics I own. So, if I had a recorder which would allow me to bypass the preamps, that would be cool. The mic, well that can be bypassed. it seems.
The ZOOMs are what got me looking at this, although I'm not stuck on that brand.
Thanks again.
Here is a link to a site I found: https://www.long-mcquade.com/departments/46/Pro_Audio_Recording/Multi-track_Recorders.htm
On the left side of the page, under subcategories, we see
Recorders - All-in-One Digital (9) ------- Recorders Digital Multitrack (24)
I think that for a few hundred dollars it would be interesting and maybe productive to try one of those critters, especially since one can move tracks to a DAW and back, but it occurs to me that the recorders preamps would probably be inferior to those on my (original) Babyface. Likewise, the mics on the unit might not be as useful as the mics I own. So, if I had a recorder which would allow me to bypass the preamps, that would be cool. The mic, well that can be bypassed. it seems.
The ZOOMs are what got me looking at this, although I'm not stuck on that brand.
Thanks again.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
I have several "Digital Multitrack Recorders". The first was a Yamaha AW16g which is a 16 channel all in one unit with mixing capabilites and a 20GB hard drive and CD burner. When that was water damaged, I replaced it with the AW1600. which is an "upgrade" in that it has 40GB and could do 24bit audio. I still have both and have resurrected the AW16G so that I could retrieve the projects on there. With both, it's possible to actually create a full CD of music. One of my first projects was recording a middle school jazz band concert. I then edited the audio and created a CD which I copied in my computer and distributed to the parents of the kids in the band.
Next I bought a Zoom H4n. Great little recorder which will let you do 4 channel multitrack recording. I used it for 2 years to record an event I attended, but the 4 channels was a limiting factor. So I bought the R24, which again is a fully enclosed unit. You can record and mix up to 24 channels, with added effects like reverb and EQ, then transfer the final master to a computer as a wav form.
There are quite a few available, Tascam's DP24SD and DP32SD, and DP008 and DP006, the Zoom Livetrak and Tascam Model 12, 16 and 24, Soundcraft Ui16 and 24 recorders, hand helds from Zoom, Tascam, and Roland. Field recorders from Zoom and Tascam,
The key is to determine what you want to the unit to do. If you want to do EVERYTHING from pressing record to the final mixed down wave file, then you may need a different device that if you just want to capture 4 or 6 channels of audio and dump them into your computer for further processing.
Next I bought a Zoom H4n. Great little recorder which will let you do 4 channel multitrack recording. I used it for 2 years to record an event I attended, but the 4 channels was a limiting factor. So I bought the R24, which again is a fully enclosed unit. You can record and mix up to 24 channels, with added effects like reverb and EQ, then transfer the final master to a computer as a wav form.
There are quite a few available, Tascam's DP24SD and DP32SD, and DP008 and DP006, the Zoom Livetrak and Tascam Model 12, 16 and 24, Soundcraft Ui16 and 24 recorders, hand helds from Zoom, Tascam, and Roland. Field recorders from Zoom and Tascam,
The key is to determine what you want to the unit to do. If you want to do EVERYTHING from pressing record to the final mixed down wave file, then you may need a different device that if you just want to capture 4 or 6 channels of audio and dump them into your computer for further processing.