I have a pretty well equipped 8-Track Tape based home studio. The whole routine - 24 x 8 Console, 1/2" 8-Track, DAT, racks of effects, blah, blah,blah. I have been stagnant as far as recording for the past couple of years due to real world family issues but have recently been bitten by the bug. My question is, with all the computer based digital software products which record such astounding audio as well as MIDI why in the world would a guy still run all this analog equipment? Why not get rid of it and buy the latest computer & software and keep it in the beige box? No, I cannot afford Pro Tools, but even at the home studio level something such as Cakewalk 9.0 is an amazing product: Audio, Effects,Mixing....
Why do I even need this this DAT Machine or this 112MKII Cassette Deck, or these MidiVerbs, etc. Seriously, I have extensive computer knowledge and work with them all day long in the graphic design field. I wouldn't stand for old fashioned stuff in that area, why settle for it in recording?
I'm looking for serious ideas as to whether a guy like me should get computer, software, a real good Mic Pre, and burn CDs to my hearts content. Do I really want to continue to drop 50 bucks for 30 minutes of 1/2" tape? If it sounds as if I have already made up my mind, I really haven't. I really do love my equipment, but from a purely logical standpoint, this old stuff doesn't make sense, does it?
Thanks for any and all input.