Interface vs. Portastudio

[TDG94]

Hello all,
Heres some background info for you. I have a room solely used for practicing. It has acoustic, electric and bass guitars, a drum kit, a piano, a roland rd-700 sx, brass instruments and various hobby instruments. I am looking to record all of these. I have a Macbook Pro, and I am semi-familiar with Garage band. I have had some experience with a Tascam Portastudio.

My dilemma is, I'm not sure whether to purchase an audio interface or a product such as the Tascam Portastudio. Any thoughts, experiences, pros/cons, recommendations etc. are all greatly appreciated. Thanks,

- T

 

[frederic]

Portastudios by any brand are convenient as they're ready to go very quickly from when you power them on, they have built in mixers, and you can buy tiny ones or big ones depending on your needs in regards to input channels and simultanious track recording. Easy to use, and you can toss them in a laptop case to take with you.

The drawback of course is flexibility - while most manufacturers do release firmware upgrades for their product lines after a year, two tops, that's about it. Whatever the machine is coded to do, it does, and that's it. This is where a PC/Laptop can shine because you can load different software, add VST effects and instruments, expand the system with an additional or larger replacement interface, and so on.

I actually own both, well, several actually. I use a PC to manage my home studio which is based on digital mixers and hard disk recorders (the PC is used for storage and midi sequencing), and I have a couple of recording devices including a Tascam 244 porta studio (very old beast) for doodling and creativity, as well as a Zoom H2 for vocal creativity and "humming", which is often how I compose - I hum or babble notes into something, and the H2 has that job.

If you are considering a portastudio, I would definitely visit an actual music store and try one out, bring a mic and hum or sing into it (even if you can't sing), then play with the mixer settings, the eq, any built in effects, and overall operation of the machine.

Hope that helps!

 

[oretez]

As well as being stand alone recorders the Zoom h2 h4(now 'n') and R16 also function as A/D interfaces

these three range in price from about $130 to $400

if you are familiar with analog portastudios the R16 should be very easy to adapt for basic record functions permitting you explore digital editing and mixing at relative leisure

R16 also functions as a control surface (faders) that might or might not be useful for computer based mixing

good luck

 

[grimtraveller]

Welcome to HR !

Wow, this is a big big question to which there is simultaneously no answer and many answers ! Bear in mind that any answers you get will come from our particular biases which in turn are framed by our experiences.
Actually, the answers that Frederick and Oretez have given are both sound and sensible and there's not much I can add. Any particular system you end up with will work and should work well. The computer route is probably the one favoured by most, but I don't think there is a 'best' actually.
Personally, I've gotten to grips with the cassette portastudio {4 and 8 track} and the digital portastudio (10 and 12 track) and I've had a ball with both. I found the learning curve steep in a gradual kind of way and the conclusion that I have come to is that regardless of the route taken and gear used, the final arbiter on how this all comes together is you, the user.
On HR.com there's an interesting cross section of people and sometimes, fairly experienced people find difficult things a newcomer might find simple. The vice is generally more versa, though ! The point is, you'll never really know which you have the greater aptitude for until you take the plunge.

It might help also, if you haven't already, to look through past threads, using the search if you want something specific, but otherwise just browsing. You need only go back a few months. Lots of interesting debates come up that may help you get closer to where you want to be.

 

[kcearl]

an interface connected to a software daw will give you infinite possibilities when it comes to recording and mixing...you are not restricted by the quality of the tools provided as the can be upgraded or swapped, depending the job...it can be used for both sketches and the finished product and as most licenses allow you to install them on more than one computer, only the size of the interface and its power supply limits portability with used in conjunction with a laptop..


whereas the portapotty is excellent if you have workmen doing a large job on your land or house without having them using your own personal restroom and walking through your home..



EDIT: oops sorry, I totally misread your first post

 

[Jim Lad]

Welcome aboard.
I use both and wouldn't have it any other way.
I record on the Korg D3200 (as good as it gets for home recording) and transfer the files over to PC. (Echo Mona & Mixcraft 5)
Why restrict yourself to one or the other?
If you can afford both, go for it.
But not the Tascam Portastudio. That's old technology. Tape stretches, hisses and does not produce nearly the quality that home recording is capable of.
Those who are using Portastudios, I imagine, are in it for nostalgic purposes and would probably admit (given enough alcohol) that there are indeed, better ways to do it.
Have a Look at the Tascam Neo or better still, if you can't make up your mind, get the Zoom R 16. It does both.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&N=0&A=endecaSearch&Ntt=zoom+r16&Q=

 

[frederic]

I record on the Korg D3200

A friend of mine has one of those and I must admit I do like working with it a lot actually. It records very well and is easy to operate.

Those who are using Portastudios, I imagine, are in it for nostalgic purposes and would probably admit (given enough alcohol) that there are indeed, better ways to do it.

I can tell you dead sober there are much better ways to do it. The reason why I keep my 244 around is simply because I already have it, and have boxes of tapes to go with it (which are almost as old lol).

I think the OP was talking more about the all-in-one concept moreso than a Tascam-branded tape-based portastudio. Tascam's "portastudio" name has become a generic term over the years. Just like Kleenex. No one blows their nose in "facial tissues" - we all call 'em Kleenex regardless of brand, right?

How old is your Korg? I do like 'em.

 

[Jim Lad]

I don't know how old it is.
I bought it from Long & McQuade, was their rental unit and it has the 80 gig hard drive, so probably just a couple of years old.
Makes no difference though, since Korg has never seen the need to upgrade.
I recently purchased a "2seemy" which is a device, designed by a newly sainted French man, that now hooks the Korg up to a full screen. Just magnificent.
Someone has come up with a similar device for the Tascam 2488 but it's not on the market yet.
I was trying not to upset the Tascam owners, in my earlier post.

 

[frederic]

sainted French man, that now hooks the Korg up to a full screen. Just magnificent.

Yeah, a real monitor makes that very nice. I have a plethora of Akai DR16's and a few DR8's racked up and when I bought the official akai remote (DL1500) for it, that remote came with an AT keyboard interface and a VGA monitor output, allowing me to view far more information than what the tiny little LCD's on the recorders show. I know exactly what you mean.

Of course they stopped updating firmware before the machines were truly "wicked" but that's another story.

I was trying not to upset the Tascam owners, in my earlier post.

No sweat, I didn't take it that way at all.