Oh gawd, another Alesis newbie...

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Rudy2

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Okay, so here goes,

I have been hanging around homerecording for a couple of weeks now and after reading dozens of threads I am seriously thinking of getting into live recording, especially of my own acoustic folk group. Right away you should be thinking, low budget, inspired aspirations, very good results, but not necessarily pro results.

ADAT seems to be an emerging yet high quality way to go for low budget efforts. Sorry to those who have big bucks invested into this technology but ADAT seems to continually be a bargain leader in the bang-for-the-buck catagory when considering used equipment.

So what I was thinking was an Alesis XT-20 with a PC I/O card for download of recorded data to a PC. I think I would also need a decent mixer board and a slew of microphones and stands as well as a decent sound card and editing software to use on my PC.

While I do not think this will be an easy project, I am still excited with the zeal of a newbie and think I can assemble a modest yet decent system for less than $1,000 that will keep my tiny brain busy for many months.

Will someone with more experience than me (almost anyone) please suggest a system that might fill my requirements? I was thinking Behringer mixer (maybe a used Mackie) and cheapo Nady mics to get going. I guess it is important to get a mixer with phantom power and decent mic pre-amps? I want it to be capable of recording 8 simultaneous tracks, live, as anything less seems a poor compromise. I am not concerned at this time with drum/bass loops and samples etc. Certainly compression and reverb would be needed as well as frequency and db editing for each track but I am assuming that those items would be included with the PC editing software.

Hope this makes sense. Although a long-time musician I am struggling to get a handle on the digital terms and methods.

Please reply with your advice and opinions for what I have suggested. Specific brand names and product numbers would be helpful and remember cheap is good! As I said, it will be PC based.

Thanks!
Rudy2
 
Rudy2-
if you get an XT you have lost money before you buy it, this is hard to digest, but believe me, I have paid for my education in bad audio purchases. Since 1989 I have been collecting brand new junk that I thought would help my recordings sound better, 3 months ago I paid $600 for Cubase SX, it nullifies all of my outboard gear. Alesis makes the ADAT HD24 which is fairly future proof because you can transfer tracks to a PC. The HD24 is basically 3 XTs with tons more options. Do the research, for a little extra cash you will be alot happier.
J
 
If you can get by with 6 tracks at a time, you can do what I do:

I have a Tascam 788, which records 24 bit uncompressed. The sound quality it excellent. I back up the tracks to CD, then import into Cubase for better EQ & effects than the 788 (and access to decent plug ins). Now I have back-up copies already on CD, and the convenience of PC editing in a good program.

You can find one on ebay for about $500, which leaves $500 for a few mics and pre's such as the Studio Projects VTB-1, DMP3 (both preamps) and a couple Studio Projects B1's or Oktava MC012's or Shure SM57's etc (mics).

Probably a shade over a grand, but this will give you quasi-pro results, depending on how good you are at it. Of course, we left out the monitoring piece, which is critical. Start thinking about a second job. $$$

Good luck.
 
Adat has pretty much had it's day., but I have had good recording experience with them, as well as many other music enthusiants of many levels. I switched to the Alesis HD24 from the Adats, and I also have a PC setup. The Adat just would not be a good buying decision or bargin due to what's out there.
 
Hmmm, I don't know about ADAT having had it's day...not just yet anyway, not for home recordists. I recently bought an XT (16 bit yet!!) for virtually nothing ($200), which had only 14 hours on it. I've been familiarizing myself with it, and am having the time of my life getting crisp clean recordings, even with my old rack gear in the signal path (Digitech Studio Quad V-II, Rocktron 311, Alesis MEQ-230, ART FXR, etc...) It's a great, economical way to get 8 tracks of digital, and the option to link multiple ADATs makes it all that much better.

I made the mistake of getting a 12 channel mixer though (Mackie 1202VLZ), so it's re-route and patchbay carnival time for me. A 16 channel is a must for more convenient 8-tracking.

I've watched demos on some of the computerized multitrackers, and my eyes glaze over before anything starts to make sense. I may be in the minority in this regard, and given time and study I may change over one day, but for now the ADAT route is working out fantastically for me...Check Ebay regularly, there are some great deals.
 
Bass Jas said:
3 months ago I paid $600 for Cubase SX, it nullifies all of my outboard gear.
Click to expand...

Guess you didnt have very good outboard then... even cheaper units will sound much better than the plugins included is cubase.. and the eq is a disaster.
 
You'll most likely want either a 16 channel mixer (Alesis made one called the Studio 32 - heard both good and bad things about it, but they can be had on the cheap via eBay - probably more then enough for your needs) or alternately (if you plan on doing your mixes via the PC) an 8 channel pre-amp. You can use the preamp to run your mics and set your levels into the ADAT (I believe). Since you plan on mixing via the PC after the fact I don't believe you'll actually NEED an analog mixer. Most stand alone preamps should also provide phantom power as well, though most cheapo mics don't require phantom power :)

That being said, I'm not sure picking up cheapo Nady mics is the way to go. Cheapo mics = cheapo sound, regardless of your recording destination. A better step up might be a bunch of SM57's. Great sound? Heck no... but a workhorse, durable for taking out to record live (you can pretty much drop them, run them over with the equipment van, plug em in and they work just fine), and undoubtably better sound then any cheapo Nady. Others can probably point you to other possible mic choices (go ask in the Mic forum).

Regarding the ADAT, I don't see it as a bad way to go to remain on the inexpensive side. I prefer the (old fashioned) analog recording method myself - well, more working on a board with knobs then working at a keyboard. I considered picking up an ADAT while I'm getting myself set up to record again. They basically work as the older tape machines do - press buttons to play, record, etc. But because I knew 8 tracks wasn't going to be enough to make me happy (I've been down the bounce track path before) I went the extra mile (make that extra $1000) and picked up the 24 track HD recorder. Again, same control type (buttons), plugged in via a 24 channel analog board. That's just my preference - big board, buttons, outboard gear.

As far as getting your sound from the XT to the PC, that's not my area. Too many issues with my own PC crashing, etc that I just couldn't even think seriously about computer recording just yet :)

Best of luck to ya!
 
stetto said:
I've watched demos on some of the computerized multitrackers, and my eyes glaze over before anything starts to make sense. I may be in the minority in this regard, and given time and study I may change over one day, but for now the ADAT route is working out fantastically for me...Check Ebay regularly, there are some great deals.
Click to expand...


I know what you mean. I would so rather turn real knobs than stare at a computer all day.

But..

Not having a huge mixer to spill coffee (or beer) on and miles of cables to trip over is nice. If you're going digital, you might as well make it easy. My whole rig fits in a mixer-top 4-space rack case sitting nicely next to my PC. And CDs are way smaller and cheaper than ADAT tape.

Just another opinion.
 
I would say, If you only want to spend $1000 on your setup, you might not set your goal so high on what you will get if you want to harbor A-DATs. You may get a good deal on the unit, but the A-DAT format is expensive to maintain... the tapes are expensive compared to a DVD+R and CD-R. To replace the heads (which after time is a must) it will cost about $300... did that 2 times... You might want to look into going direct CPU to remain in your budget, increase your budget, LOOK INTO HARDDISK RECORDERS (best bet). Korg makes a D8 with 16 bit uncompressed recording which is pretty user friendly.. Used about $150 ..... 2-tk recording at a time with midi.....Get Four of them and slave them together.....Voila..8-tk recording on 24-trks....$600..

Hope this helps

Killa the great
 
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