Yo Halloween entity:
You can do a lot of stuff with an 8 tracker; however,
the Yam AW1600, newer model, has a few more tracks and there is a forum site put together by devotees of the 1600 that will give you lots of help.
I use the "not-made-anymore" Yamaha 2816. It has a lot of turns and twists but even with a non-organized manual, it isn't that hard to navigate.
You will have to read "the manual" for any HD recorder more than once; experiment and put in time "trying" this/that etc. But, for the price, you will be getting a good unit.
You can examine the BOSS units. Some only record on 2 tracks. I've never had much of a need to record on more than 3 tracks at once; however, having the ability to record on 8 tracks at once makes one feel safe for the future.
I'm kind of guessing that the "newer" HD recorders will be producing DVD level quality sounds. The current models do a nice job on the CD once you get the hang of the procedure. Burning a CD was about the easiest thing to fathom on my 2816.
You will find as you get into it, that doing a good job on a 3 minute song will take you 5 hours to burn, if you're lucky. You can always go back and delete the stereo track of a song and re-mix it--now you're talking more time.
But, if you dig music and twiddling the dials and menus, it's a fun/fun operation and you'll learn something every time you turn it on.
Cheers,
Green Hornet
