decision making time: tape or computer?

[phyglenaut]

hello,

any kind soul out there want to take some time to offer some advice?

i'm looking into getting a recording setup soon. i used to have an adat setup and was pretty happy with it, plus i'm comfortable with it.

now my main question is computer or tape machine?

i have a lot of experience with computers, in fact i teach computer maintenance and have personally built hundreds of computers myself (with a preference for amd/asus machines)

so in other words, i have no problem getting a smoking machine up and running, with raid, 2 gigahertz plus etc. etc. with some minor upgrading to an existing machine

however, i just can't seem to find an industry standard for computer recording? i seriously don't have the time to sit and read through millions of websites and filter through all the strong opinions on motu, gina, layla, darla, aardvark, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

i'm just very leary with all these different sound cards, and features, and extras, etc. etc. etc. it makes me want to just get on ebay search on adat xt 20 and be done with it. of course there's that little voice that keeps telling me, what about all the maintenance? and worrying about how many hours i'm logging on the heads, etc. etc. should i go to a 100% computer based format? i mean that does make more sense in the long run if you think about it. but if so, which one? i don't have the time and/or patience to sit and research endlessly. i've already spent approximately 6 to 8 hours searching on this subject and i'm only more confused now than when i started. i imagine if i really wanted to find some stuff out, that i'd have to spend at least a week scouring message boards, and web sites, and calling people and retailers etc. etc. i seriously don't have that kind of time, so i was hoping there'd be a few of you out there who've already been through this dilema who'd be kind enough to save me the time and trouble with some good sound advice. (pun intended)

basically, what i'm getting at, is can i achieve what i'd achieve with the adat xt 20 using a computer solution for about $500-$700 (cost of a good xt 20 on ebay)? am i going to run into software limitations, or be bogged down with a bunch of extra accesories and garbage, or have a bunch of driver issues? is the learning curve horrendus? how do i get my analog mixer outputs into whatever soundcard you'd recommend? and how many analog inputs can i get into that soundcard simultaneously? etc. etc. from what i've seen just about any computer based solution that seems like its worth its salt is more expensive than an adat anyway? am i correct in my assumptions here?

also, what about an adat xt 20 with the adat edit card, or another compatible sound card? is this the best of both worlds or just more of a headache? can you cut down on head hours with the adat edit card? can you mixdown directly to computer that way, bypassing the need for a dat machine? i never had an edit card with my old adat so i don't know.

well, any info you can give would be much appreciated. i'm going to post this in the computer/sound card section too, so that i can hopefully get responses from fans of both mediums

thanks

phyglenaut

 

[mixsit]

You can go Adat (as a recorder or just use it for the converters) + a Frontier Dakota card (or equal) + the software, + the learing curve. This would then be "only" 16 or 20 bit, not 24. But if your going to do the learning curve anyway, might be better to just get a decent card with the ins and outs you want, or... go the self contained 'mini-studio' route.
Either way there's some training time involved.
One way to do it is start small/simpler, get your feet wet, and then you'll know more about which way to go.
It's fun and exciting, but not simple.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Hard Disc Recorder

Best of both worlds. Just get a dedicated hard disc recorder like the Alesis HD24 or the Mackie version or even the Tascam. These give 24 tracks of hard disc recording. No tape, no heads and 24 tracks for about 2k. And, though I don't have a crystal ball, it does kind of seem like this is where things are going. It seems that computers are going dual chips. One for midi/audio and one for plug-ins. Alternatively, there is the computer for the plug-in and midi stuff and a dedictaed hard disc for the audio and, the tape stuff I supposes is going to be for archiving mostly becuase long term archibing on hard disc is an unknown. There are no hard disc recordings from 30 years ago but there are tapes.

I guess we will see eventually, but I think that the computer along with the dedicated hard disc recorder seems like the most intuitive way to go.

 

[mixsit]

The HDR's and HD24's look like very good solutions.
I tried the MDR, but had to back off, because I just couldn't go with the higher sound levels (fan/drive noise) vs the Adats it was replacing. (I needed the noise to go down, not get worse.) That was the only draw back for me.