I have
a Roland VS2000CD with Monitor, Keyboard & Mouse.
VS8F2 card and VS8F3 card installed. Also have the Universal Audio plug ins as well as Antares Auto Tune.
I also have a 2.8 GHZ computer with 2 gig RAM and 2 large harddrives. It is running Sonar 5 SE and Sound Forge 8 (latest version). I have tried three firewire interfaces, being
the Tascam FW1082, the Alelsis MultiMix 8, the Phonic Helix 18FW.
I've been recording in my home studio since the old R/R days and have been using computers since my first 8088 machine back in the mid 80's..... I started with Cakewalk back in the old....old days and have also given them a bunch of money on upgrades to where we are now.
It's been my experience, that the All-IN-One box would win hands down in MHO.
Reasons, It works out of the box and does so each day. You don't have to fritz around with drivers that don't work, Plug N Play that's a joke, or software that's always being updated or depending on your internet connection to work just to keep the computer up to date and running. We won't even talk about Virus threats............and the unstablility of Windows XP.
I've paid a fair amount of money in E-Bay fees, getting rid of computer audio interfaces that don't do what they advertise. I've lost hours of working time trying to get them to work.
Since going with the Roland, my Productive time has tripled and I get tons of work done. Not to mention that my blood preasure has gone down and is now stable.
I expect you will get lots of adverse responses to my opinions. So, If you have the money.....try both for awhile and I'm almost certain that unless you enjoy a pain in the butt, You'll Use the computer to surf the net and play Solitaire or keep your checkbook to record all the money you'll save in the end by going with the all in one box.
