I have to disagree a bit here with miroslav..........something I don't think I've ever done. I find that the OTB rigs seem to mostly be people buying the 8 / 24 / 32 track complete stand alone systems (Tascams....Zooms....etc).........for more of the "need to turn knobs"......"need to not have creative distractions"......"need to be challenged by limitations" reasons. I don't think I've heard most of them say they have space so they want to make use of it now or down the road. The ITB people also don't seem to be mostly mentioning lack of space as their issue.
That's not really to say that miro is wrong at all..........but if you follow the reasons that people buy the stand alone units........I think many of them are not looking to expand...etc.
Not really sure what part you are disagreeing with...?
When you say most OTB rigs you've seen are about people buying standalone recorders like Zooms...I think you're looking at it from a very narrow, home recording perspective...which again, is limited by space and mostly by budget.
I don't consider a standalone Zoom recorder to be any kind of real "OTB" setup. I'm referring to more serious racked gear, lots of analog gear, consoles, and even big tape decks, etc...and a decent room(s) to put it all in.
If you look beyond the limited space/budget home rec world...you would see that more involved project studios and bigger private studios are often full of those OTB things. Not all, some people stick with their ITB rigs for the most part, but many still have pretty involved OTB gear too.
The first thing always is the budget...and then formal studio space.
The reality is that most home rec spaces are not well suited for anything to do with audio recording, but it is a tough nut to sell to the millions of guys who are sitting in front of their ITB rigs, convinced that they have a real studio going on.
I'm not saying that as any putdown, because everyone that gets very involved with the studio thing, usually goes through those early, multiple phases of "making do" with what you have....and that's fine.
I do however know that for many home rec folks...there is no real plan (mostly due to budget and space) to ever go beyond the "making do" ITB rig in the back corner of the spare bedroom...and that too is perfectly fine.
It's just that when discussions turn to what it takes to make a serious studio...I just don't buy the notion that a computer in the back of the spare bedroom is going to fulfill that requirement on the same level as a more formal studio space with a good blend of OTB and ITB gear.
Anyway...this is often a dead-end discussion for most in the home rec world, because no amount of talking and debating will ever change their budget and space limitations...so people stick with their views and it's easier to believe that you already have what you need.
Again...I'm not looking to criticize folks or make anyone feel bad about where they are in their studio "quests"...and these are questions I've asked myself many times over the years. How much do I need to invest into it, and how far do I want to take it...?
This something I am at this very moment kicking around in a big way (again) as I look at a very possible big studio move and upgrade.
I can easily say...WTF do I need to do all this for, to spend all this money, to go through this hassle, and it still won't guarantee me anything AFA the music is concerned...but I do know that it will certainly not hurt, and it does make the whole journey more focused, more intentional, more planned and WAY more enjoyable...as opposed to something I just dabbled with, without any real investment or commitment, and nothing more. There are now thousands of guys doing just that...dabbling on their computers.
So for me, it has been a long-term goal, and I've said it before...regardless of how creative I am in my studio, the one thing I always tried to do was to build a studio environment that was as close to pro-level as I could get it.
IOW...the music is one thing, and that's something that is always going to be a very subjective goal, so just make your music as you like it and don't care too much about trying to please everyone. Music is what we do IN the studio....but for me, it's also been about the actual studio, and seeing how far I could create a very pro recording environment, which is a much more objective goal..and TBH, just folding my hands and looking at a computer screen with a bunch of software was never going to feel like a fulfillment of that goal.