My band uses the MD8 as the foundation for a flexible home studio. We typically record 8 tracks at a time -
1&2 guitars via mic'd amps
3&4 bass (mic'd and DI'd amp)
The other four tracks are drums. We have a Tascam mixer, originally intended for a 4-track reel-to-reel as a submixer. It's 6-in, 4-out.
We mic the drums overhead with an MS stereo mic, plus one mic on each of 2 toms. These we mix in stereo to Tracks 5&6. We mic the snare with a combination of mics, usually a dynamic (for punch) and a condenser (for snap.) We tape a tie-clip conenser mic from Radio shack to the side of an SM57 and mix these together to Track 7. We mic the kick drum with an AKGD112 and also a transistor radio speaker used as a mic. These we record to Track 8.
If you wanna get fancy, you can slave the MD8 to a computer via MIDI Time Code / SMPTE like we do. We then use Cool Edit Pro to record vocals and guitar overdubs. We can record 10 tracks at once this way, and play back up to 20 or so (on a P200!!)
Otherwise, bounce your tracks down to 4 or so and do your guitar and vocal overdubs.
Works pretty well for us.
DON'T EVER PUT A 1/4" plug in CH1 or 2 with the phantom power ON!!!! EVER!!!. Don't even turn on the phantom power with the MD8 on either. See the thread about CH2 problems.
Seriously, it's a good unit.
The DPS12 is nice, too but you've got to deal with an internal hard drive. If it screws up, you have to go dig up some obslete SCSI drives from somewhere.
Gripes: No digital outputs or inputs. No EQ bypass or phase switches on the mixer. Only 2 inserts (no biggie if you have a patch bay.) Only 2 sends and returns. Aux sends are mono. ATRAC compression sounds kinda funny and limits HF response. Not bad, just funny.
My 2 cent's worth.