My old recording setup has left me...Macbook and an Alesis multimix 12 firewire tracking into garageband (make fun if you like, but for what I do I really liked it's no frills easy approach), so I think it's time to dive into looking at something else that would give me at least similar quality. Here are my stats if you will.
-Probably have somewhere in the area of $2000 for interface/computer or standalone.
-I no longer own a computer, so if i go that route that will factor into the budget.
-I really liked the Mac and garageband, but i'm not totally hung up on using PC if i go the computer route.
-I have a standalone "pro-sumer" sony analog CD Burner for mixes.
-I'm also really into the idea of going with a standalone multitracker, but at the same time if I go this route, I really don't like the idea of doing time consuming editing on a 3 inch screen...unless it has the option of a monitor...so something that puts a lot of the control in knobs and faders is a plus.
-That being sad, I don't go too crazy into the editing side of things...I like to try and get things sounding as correct as possible from the start. Some eq, reverb, and a little compression here or there is about as crazy as i get.
-I plan on using the setup to mainly record home demo's of myself and band, but I would also like something that could travel and do live band recordings as well. So it needs at least 4 mic inputs, and maybe ideally 8. Phantom power on each channel would be nifty as well so I can mix and match the mics with dynamics. In line with that, I'd like something that can record at least 4 simultaneous channels, but again, I'm thinking for live recording I might end up wanting 8.
-I have never used Midi/Synths/Drum machines/ect. and probably never will. I record mainly acoustic instruments (guitar, mandolin, violin), but wouldn't mind doing some work with some "electric" bands in the area that also use drums (which is something I've never tackled).
-I'm not overly concerned with having the best possible audio quality known to man...my ears can't tell the difference between sample and bit rates and all the other jargon that I don't totally understand. I'd like it to sound good, but this is comming from a guy who started out on a Tascam Cassette portastudio.
All of that being said, I'll give you a rundown of where my heads been in thinking about the past few days before I decided I could probably never figure it out on my own. I initially started looked at standalone multitrackers because I don't have a computer, and I really liked the idea of Korg's D888. Has 8 mic inputs, phantom on each channel, knobs for eq. Then I read the reviews, and people say the mic pre's are basically worthless so I tacked on the price of some 8 channel pre, and decided it would probably be about as cheap to just go with Korg's larger model, but that sacrificed a lot of the control to that tiny little screen.
From there, I stumbled upon the Zoom's 16 channel board, and thought I had found exactly what I wanted (and still might). 8 xlr's, individual phantom power, the basic editing I do seemed like it would be easy enough to control. But, when looking over forums it seemed like a lot of people have experience with error messages, dead on arrival units, and my recording buddy has told me their basically a good songwriting tool but not to be taken too seriously. I'm still thinking the quality might be good enough for me though, in a package that's only $600 right now from sweetwater which saves extra cash for some more mics and such.
Then I delved into setups like my old one, and figured I could pick up a mac for $1200 or so, and find an interface to go with it...or PC. I really think that my ideal setup for computer recording would be an apogee ensemble and a macbook (although I'd have to go macbook pro because mac has left the firewire port off of their new macbooks), but that's a little out of my budget. So I wouldn't be against something similar in a PC setup. I really like the look of alesis's new IO 26 interface...seems like it would be pretty nifty...then from that I stumbled upon to Tascam's FW1082 and it also looked pretty sweet. Then I saw Digidesigns pro tools rack for like $1200 and figured I might be able to get a laptop for another $800...I've never touched pro-tools, but I'm not against it. And this was around the time that I got totally lost. Any advice or direction anyone could steer me would be awesome, and I am sorry for the novel of a post. I just figured it would help to have all the details, and what I would be using it for. Thanks.
Will
-Probably have somewhere in the area of $2000 for interface/computer or standalone.
-I no longer own a computer, so if i go that route that will factor into the budget.
-I really liked the Mac and garageband, but i'm not totally hung up on using PC if i go the computer route.
-I have a standalone "pro-sumer" sony analog CD Burner for mixes.
-I'm also really into the idea of going with a standalone multitracker, but at the same time if I go this route, I really don't like the idea of doing time consuming editing on a 3 inch screen...unless it has the option of a monitor...so something that puts a lot of the control in knobs and faders is a plus.
-That being sad, I don't go too crazy into the editing side of things...I like to try and get things sounding as correct as possible from the start. Some eq, reverb, and a little compression here or there is about as crazy as i get.
-I plan on using the setup to mainly record home demo's of myself and band, but I would also like something that could travel and do live band recordings as well. So it needs at least 4 mic inputs, and maybe ideally 8. Phantom power on each channel would be nifty as well so I can mix and match the mics with dynamics. In line with that, I'd like something that can record at least 4 simultaneous channels, but again, I'm thinking for live recording I might end up wanting 8.
-I have never used Midi/Synths/Drum machines/ect. and probably never will. I record mainly acoustic instruments (guitar, mandolin, violin), but wouldn't mind doing some work with some "electric" bands in the area that also use drums (which is something I've never tackled).
-I'm not overly concerned with having the best possible audio quality known to man...my ears can't tell the difference between sample and bit rates and all the other jargon that I don't totally understand. I'd like it to sound good, but this is comming from a guy who started out on a Tascam Cassette portastudio.
All of that being said, I'll give you a rundown of where my heads been in thinking about the past few days before I decided I could probably never figure it out on my own. I initially started looked at standalone multitrackers because I don't have a computer, and I really liked the idea of Korg's D888. Has 8 mic inputs, phantom on each channel, knobs for eq. Then I read the reviews, and people say the mic pre's are basically worthless so I tacked on the price of some 8 channel pre, and decided it would probably be about as cheap to just go with Korg's larger model, but that sacrificed a lot of the control to that tiny little screen.
From there, I stumbled upon the Zoom's 16 channel board, and thought I had found exactly what I wanted (and still might). 8 xlr's, individual phantom power, the basic editing I do seemed like it would be easy enough to control. But, when looking over forums it seemed like a lot of people have experience with error messages, dead on arrival units, and my recording buddy has told me their basically a good songwriting tool but not to be taken too seriously. I'm still thinking the quality might be good enough for me though, in a package that's only $600 right now from sweetwater which saves extra cash for some more mics and such.
Then I delved into setups like my old one, and figured I could pick up a mac for $1200 or so, and find an interface to go with it...or PC. I really think that my ideal setup for computer recording would be an apogee ensemble and a macbook (although I'd have to go macbook pro because mac has left the firewire port off of their new macbooks), but that's a little out of my budget. So I wouldn't be against something similar in a PC setup. I really like the look of alesis's new IO 26 interface...seems like it would be pretty nifty...then from that I stumbled upon to Tascam's FW1082 and it also looked pretty sweet. Then I saw Digidesigns pro tools rack for like $1200 and figured I might be able to get a laptop for another $800...I've never touched pro-tools, but I'm not against it. And this was around the time that I got totally lost. Any advice or direction anyone could steer me would be awesome, and I am sorry for the novel of a post. I just figured it would help to have all the details, and what I would be using it for. Thanks.
Will
