Should I buy a Zoom R16 or Cakewalk V-Studio 100?

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guitarguy6

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Hey guys, I'm looking to pickup a new recording interface and was wondering if anyone had any input on whether I should go with the Zoom R16 or Cakewalk V-Studio 100. Both cost about $400 at my local shops out in Canada. I'm wanting it for basic home recording of guitar and bass with maybe occasional drums and vocals. Most of the recording will be direct into the recording interface with Amplitube and Peavey Revalver for VST plugin. These products caught my attention because they support Mackie and I can use them to control my DAW. I also like the fact that I can bring either one to a jam session and record onto an SD memory card. At the moment I'm leaning towards the R16 but would like some input on which one you guys would suggest. I'm also open to other products that would work for me and cost <$500.

Cheers
 
Welcome to the forum.

I use a VS-100 and have worked with a Zoom in the past a couple of times. I like my VS-100 and have used it as a live recorder. It works for that and does a good job, but is a lot more complex to deal with (in the field) than the Zoom. In the studio however, the VS-100 integrates a lot better with Sonar (the DAW I use) than the Zoom does. There are cool features of the Zoom that are not quite so cool when it comes to using it as an audio interface in a studio setting (it really is just stereo out to the daw). I can do six channels direct with the VS-100 and my external mixer. My choice would be the VS-100.

Note that in my experience having a control surface is something that I rarely use. I end up doing almost all of my control work with the mouse and keyboard (and occasionally my touch screen) in the daw.

HOWEVER - it seems to me that Roland is in the process of dropping the VS-100. They have issued drivers for Windows 8.1 so you should be good for a few years.

edit. I just took a closer look at the R16. It is probably a better choice than the VS-100.
 
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Thanks for your input. I do have Windows 8.1 on my PC so I'll go with the Zoom R16. Cheers
 
I use R16 with the enclosed Cubase software. Very flexible in that it can be stand alone, battery operated for location, connect to DAW etc. Limit is only inputs at a time. I fly solo so that's not an issue for me.
Good luck
 
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