computer/sound card vs dedicated recorder

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dvdwmth

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Didn't really find the answer I was looking for by searching but this forum is new to me so bear with me please.

Im trying to get a handle on computer/sound card recording as an option for what I want to do.

I'd like to give this question a context first.

I am inspired by a classical music recording I owned once that was simply mind bending. Its a recording of choir and organ called cantate domino on the swedish label Proprius.

It was recorded with two pearl tc4 microphones and a revox a77 (think thats the number) recorder. The sound was HUGE and warm and natural. The best ive heard by a mile.

Its inspired me to try recording with simple mic techniques in various acoustically interesting locations. I want to try this with all types of music and see where it goes.

I've been researching recording devices for about a month and now have a pretty good idea whats out there but I'm really baffled by the question of sound quality. If I only cared about small, portable, convenient, cheap etc, with GOOD sound quality, I could probably figure out what I want, but I care about the BEST POSSIBLE SOUND, within a certain budget, and that can be moved to a location. It doesn't have to be small or light as long as long as its not unreasonable bulky (for example a mixing board/recorder workstation type thing would be a PITA)

So.....

Assuming a budget of about a couple grand tops (I can build a good computer for about a grand and then whatever for sound card), can a computer match the sound quality of dedicated digital recorders. If dedicated is the way to go what type to look at. Hard disk, removable media.

Is digital even the right way to go here. I know what is possible with the Revox, and probably other recorders. But if the sound is as good or better with computers or some other digital device then I do like the flexibility of digital.

I only need two channels and I'm not concerned with features at this point. I just want to establish sound quality.

I'll get to mics in another thread.
 
i'm a technologist....and i have to say , any opinion i offer this week
could change next week due to the pace of technology change.
sadly - as in anything sound quality comes down to how much money you want to spend. for example for classical recordings there are all sorts of very high end and expensive solutions.
two of the contenders at the PC level would be RME or LYNX.
then you have products like apogee and mytek , and many others.
really - it comes down to googling a lot, and trying whats in your price range. tape versus pc approach is a debate that has a million arguments.
just search in google groups. but let me say - people (with high end expensive A/D/A convertors) are doing great recordings on the PC.
 
On a budget ... PC, decent soundcard, cheapish software. Why? Expandability, versatility and all the processing power that comes with a half-decent computer.

At uni I have access to a £1000 Alesis HD24 and I still choose to use the PC there most of the time instead ... equipped incidentally with Nuendo/RME interface.
 
I already have a computer with sonar. But I put the question the way I did because I want to know how computer vs dedicated device compare all other things being equal.

I dont really want convenience to come into the equation right now. Just sound quality.
 
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