PC or AW2816 or Akai dps16?

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dhriley

New member
I am trying to decide between setting up a PC with Sonar or buying a Yamaha AW2816 or Akai DPS16. ( Like to keep it under $2000 )
Primarily it would be used for personal recording, but I would like the ability to use it commercially recording other musicians and groups, in a studio or on location. This site seems to be the place to get the best advice from you guys who have already been using these kinds of setups. Any comments would be helpful. Thanks.
 
Yo DH:

I can tell you about the Yam 2816 as I have one and have been using it and learning it for over a year.

It does a fine job; nice mic pres; but, you can always buy a "better" mic pre. You can mix down and burn your CDR or CDRW with the 2816 -- GOOD QUALITY SOUND.

I don't know how mobile a PC unit would be?

I don't know about the other units, save what I read here on this forum.

The learning curve for the 2816 depends on how much you know or how much experience you've had with other units. I have had several multitrackers and that experience, and the Yam MD8 helped me through.

If you buy a 2816 or 4416 or the newly advertised 16 model, you must also consider buying a back up power unit; if you lose power while recording, you can lose your data and/or screw up the HD. I have a UPS back up and it gives me eleven minutes to shut down if the power goes off -- it takes only 15 seconds to shut down --

"The 2816 operates just like a PC unit only it has a smaller screen and cursor buttons rather than a mouse -- but, I think you can do a mouse with the 4416 -- not sure about the 2816.

Finally, I repeat, the 2816 has excellent sound quality and good headroom.

Try one or listen to whatever you buy BEFORE you buy if possible.

Green Hornet:cool: :cool: :p :p :p :D
 
PC or hardware is mostly a matter of religion. I hate recording on PC's, mostly because the programs I've tried sucks like donkey butt, and you constantly have to fight them.

They are obviously made by programmers with no sense for usability whatsoever. Cubase is a prime example of this, and Rebirth and Reason are prime examples of the complete opposite.

Reason is proof that it's possible to make sequencers and recorders that are usable, but so far nobody seems to have done it.

So, I'm going the hardware way.

It's also a matter of budget. You can start out cheaper with computers, by using a computer you already have, and the cheap soundcard that's in it, and buy n-track. However, if you want to get the sound quality you can get from a $3000 DAW, expect to spend at least $3000 on hardware and software for your computer. :)
 
The battle between PC and standalone continues.....
IMHO, this question comes down to a few things. How comfortable are you with a PC, what is your immediate need and do you want bigger and better capabilities later, and should it be portable. Of course it's much deeper but this is a place to start. A standalone unit is what it is, you can immediately see what it's capable of and use it and I'm sure most will be competent for you for years. If it's portability you need, go with one for sure. But PCs have their own advantages. I come from a art background and slid right into Sonar. It's a similar interface and thought process to 3D graphics. This probably doesn't fly in some musician's minds (no offense regebro). PCs also allow more room for upgrading for future technology IMO. My $.02 :D :cool:
 
Barometer said:
This probably doesn't fly in some musician's minds (no offense regebro).
Click to expand...

Non taken. Quite the contrary. I'm really a computer programmer, but I'd sure *like* to be a musician. :)
 
Yo DH:

What all this boils down to is what do you need to do what you need to do?

Even the "lowly" MD8 can produce some good vibes; I still have mine hooked up in my studio; however, I must admit, I don't use it great deal.

It's kind of like monitors! Zoinks! 8 kazillion threads about those, as well as other ins/outs of recording with this/that or another.

So, whatever fits your groove is what you should persue. But, the digital boxes, as well as PC programs, get better and better and better. I think it's the learning curve that gets in the way.

Green Hornet:D :p :p :p
 
Green Hornet:

Is the UPS needed for any stand alone unit, or just the Yamahas?
What UPS do you have, and how much did it cost?
I have used a Tascam 246 long ago, and recently midi with 2 or 3 tracks of audio using Cakewalk on my PC, mixed down to Sound Forge 4.5 with pretty good results.

Regbro:

Is N-tracks better than Cakewalk or Sonar?
Do you like either the AW2816 or the DPS16 as my alternate choice to the PC or something else?

Barometer:

I have considered the benefits of being able to upgrade the PC, but I'm concerned about the hardware conflicts, windows problems, etc. If I went with the PC, I'm thinking P4 & win98SE.

Sorry if this went too long,
Thank you all for this forum and your replies!
 
dhriley said:
Is N-tracks better than Cakewalk or Sonar?
Click to expand...

It's cheaper, which is why I mentioned it as a budget starting choice. Since I hate all PC recording programs from pure principle I can't say which is better. :)


Do you like either the AW2816 or the DPS16 as my alternate choice to the PC or something else?
Click to expand...

I really can't say, since I'm not familiar with the DPS16 at all.
 
If portability and being on location is your BIGGEST concern then by all means the Yammie/Akai is the move. The PC will allow you much much more in terms of flexibility though. It will be more powerful and more modular.

Lets look at a comparable PC setup
The PC if you roll your own can cost as low as $800 w/rackmount case and a light weight 15in LCD flat screen monitor. Get a Delta 1010 ($550) and an Alesis Studio 12R mixer ($350) Add the cost of Cakewalk Home Studio 2002 ($100) and you have a flexible multitrack (30-40?) solution that can use up to 16 efx. Far more tracks or efx than either of the Box units. 8 preamps with XLR and phantom pwr and a hardware mixer. The price? $1800


Swap the 1010 for something like a Aardvark Q10 and you have 8 inputs and preamps in one rack space. ($700) The difference is you will have to rely on low latency driver from Aardvark to do monitor with efx in Cakewalk. The Price? $1600. Add a hundred or two for SONAR to get unlimited efx (all that your system can handle) and it jumps up to around $1800 again.

It can be done......I plan on using a PC setup for home and location recording and am doing research to this end. My budget is a lil higher than yours though ;o) I have my setup pretty much mapped out. After working with a computer setup I dont ever plan to go to a standalone box only. I have a gazillion plugins......and a vst plug in wrapper so many of them were free.
Id have to spend at least $10,000 dollars to do the things I do in my puter with hardware only. Mannnnn and then you STILL have to look at itty bitty screens most of the time. LOL. No thanks.

Given the budget and a lot of location work.....sure gimmie a Tascam MX2424 and a few Presonus Digimaxes. Less hassle and no monitor and keyboard to fumble with. When I get home though....I would pop out that drive and transfer the files to my PC. Hardware boxes can be very intuitive and simple to deal with
but they dont offer near the flexibility as my Duron 850.

Warning.....if you dont like to fumble with puters and arent willing to spend a few weeks tweaking your puter for performance and reliability then its probably not for you. Im at home working with computers and have built all my DAW's so it wasnt a problem for me. You must shell out the cash for quality components for it to be stable though. Dont skimp you will be sorry. You will then join the group of folks who think PC's are trash for recording.

Peace
 
Yo DH:]

I bought the TRIPLITE UPS at Full Compass for around 75 dollars. It will give me eleven minutes of power if the AC goes out in my area, which it does often. It only takes 15 seconds to shut down the Yam 2816/4416.

Many folks buy one of these units [the more time of reserve power you want, the higher the price.] for their PC's, and other electronic gear.

Yamaha doesn't advertise you need one in their promos; however, it is in the manual that it would be a good idea to have one. It's a nice safety back up and it will let you plug in more than "one" piece of gear.

The Yam manual also waits until page 12 to tell you that there is a shut-down procedure for the 2816 that must be followed to protect you data. It's no big deal but I think that information ought to be on page ONE!

Green Hornet

:D :p :p :cool: :cool:
 
dhriley,

Both units are capable of making great recordings. The PC isn't portable so I won't recommend it here.

But if you want the flexibility to work with PC recording formats, the Yamaha has templates that will control Sonar, Protools, Cubase and one other program which I can't think of right now.

I think it has better effects as well.

Hope this helps.
 
First I'd like to thank all of you who help me on this.
I put together a PC, P3 550, 2 drives, Cakewalk PA 9.0,
Sound Forge, Yamaha sound card, Win 98SE
It works fine.
However, this is temporary.
I have decided to get the Akai DPS 24.
 
I've had this same delimma for quite some time and I have decided to go the pc route. My main reason is one of durability. If I spend $2000 on a dedicated system in a box, then I'd be risking the chance, no matter how slight, that one thing may malfunction that could in turn bring the whole system down. If I'm past the warranty period, then bye-bye two grand.

With a pc, if one thing goes then just switch it out (unless you bought a retail machine with proprietary software.. then you screwed yourself to begin with). Like jrides said, the basic shell of your hardware comes to around $800. The rest can be updated as technology becomes more powerful. Keep the software user disks in a safe place, and then if something catastrophic happens to your pc, you still have the software for the next machine.


Cy
 
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