Newbie Seeks Advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter guymandood
  • Start date Start date
G

guymandood

New member
Hi all,

I'm new to the board and look forward to spending several hours digging through the various posts to learn all kinds of neat stuff.

I'm a complete newbie to home recording. I have a band and we want to record some decent demos and I've always wanted to have a multi-track around to play with. I'm finally old enough to enjoy some decent equipment.... etc...

I'm one of those guys who typically buys stuff on a whim, pays too much money, and gets way more than he really needs (i.e. buying a Yamaha Motif without knowing how to play keyboard at all... although I don't regret that specific purchase, even know a $250 Casio would have sufficed). This time I'm trying to do a little research and spend a month or two to decide what is really best for me.

I may get flak for posting such a newbie, un-inspired, general question in here... but I'll take the bad with the good.

I was really intrigued with the ProTools kind of computer-based recording packages out there but ultimately decided that portability would be nice, and unless I was to buy a new computer soley for recording, accessibility would be an issue... who has room for another computer with stacks of speaker cabs, drums, etc. flooding the place anyway? So, I started looking at "console" units.

The portability and "turnkey-ness" of these things is pretty cool. But I have no idea what features should be important for a beginner. At the same time I'd like to buy a quality unit. Like everyone else I want to get the most for my money and would LOVE to get a great unit for a couple hundred bucks... But I know that's not going to happen.

My budget at the high end is $2k. My requirements are simple as I mentioned earlier, just demos and live recording of my "wish we weren't a garage" band. 2 guitars, bass, vocals, and my drum kit. The drum kit will require 7 mics so I guess I need a minimum of 8 inputs. Thinking things through a bit leads me to believe that I'd like a minimum of 16 tracks.

I got a lengthy demo of the new VS1824CD at GC last weekend and thought it was pretty cool. 18 Tracks, each with 16 "virtual" tracks. Plenty of effects (2 at a time, which I don't completely understand if anyone cared to elaborate) plus the ability to add an additional effects board.

Is this thing overkill for someone like me? Is there somewhere else I should be looking? Any suggestions? Right off the bat there were two things I didn't like 1. only a 10GB drive that is not user-replaceable. and 2. The burner is only 4x. Also, I understand that the VS series uses data compression (perhaps this explains the 10GB drive). Should I be wary of data compression.

Thanks in advance for you thoughts and opinions. I will value any and all replies.

-Adam
 
Since it sounds like you have some bucks and want to do quite a few channels at once I would recomend going with something like a mackie MDR (or similar unit) and a stand alone mixer. You can get some great deals on Ebay or even buying new you could stay under $3000.

Pros-
Better mixer and preamp quality.
24 channels at once for recording or mixdown.
Better convertors.
The ability to upgrade or trade in seperate components as needed.
Better resale value.

Cons-
No built in effects or CD burner.

If you want an all in one solution than the Roland stuff is cool but they are usually too complicated for simple multi track/mixing and not flexible enough for more advanced applications.

I'm sure many here will disagree but that is my 2 cents.
 
Back
Top