Okay, I'll give it to'ya, that talented people do good thing with digital,...
although it's the message, not the medium, [IMO].
Well, for my own purposes, and the scope of my 'talent', analog rules. That being said, I'll admit that I too have a couple digital-based units.
My real preferences in digital workstation gear would be:
-Tascam 788 Portastudio, 24-bit/44.1k HD 8-track recorder, 6-simul-record, all-digital mixer
-Fostex FD-8, 16/44.1k HD 8-track recorder, 2-simul-record, 8x2 analog mixer
-Tascam 564 MD-Portastudio, ATRAC-encoded 4-track minidisc recorder, great
12x2 analog mixer, 4-simul-record & convenient removable MD media
-Fostex FD-4, 16/44.1k HD 4-track recorder, 2-simul-record, 4x2 analog mixer
-Yamaha MD-8, ATRAC-encoded 8-track minidisc recorder, 8-simul-record, 8x2 analog mixer, convenient removable MD media
-Fostex MR-8, 16/44.1k CF-memory recorder, 2-simul-record, 2x2 mixer, digital effects, USB, the cheapest new 8-track out there.
-All the rest of them, I could take or leave,... but the units like the Fostex VF-16 and VF-08/VF-80 look like decent units, and
the Yamaha AW-16G, also looks nice.
-If you're really into sequencing and midi, there's
the Roland CDX-1, 8-track, and the Tascam Pocketstudio 5 for midi+4-tracks.
-If you want the most tracks, & top of the line DAW-standalone workstation, it would be
the Roland VS-2480, although there are a lot of units at the 8-10-track level, like the BR-1180,
BR-864, BR-8, or even the BR-564, [4-track].
-Zoom makes a whole line of DAW's, too. A friend of mine has a Zoom 1266, and his recordings sound great!
It depends on the scope of your project, and how much you want to spend. Most units you can think of are fairly affordable, considering what you get.
There is a lot of great gear out there, given new gear and mint units on Ebay. Usually Ebay-gear is a better value, with certain exceptions.
If you take it a level further, into discrete digital gear, IMO you can't beat
a Tascam MX-2424 with
a DM-24 mixer. That's a winning digital combo!
For however much money you want to spend, there's a digital recorder/workstation for you!
[PS: I don't think this guy's a marketing hack!]
