Studio in a Box question

[WCman1976]

Hey everyone,

I am trying to get into the home recording thing, so I have been reading up on the different ways to accomplish my goal. There have been lots of things I have read about studios in a box that list all the positive things about buying them but, believe it or not, I have yet to read anything NEGATIVE about them. Can anyone tell me why I would be better off buying Pro Tools instead of, let's say, a Roland 16 track recorder?

 

[grimtraveller]

I don't think you would be better off. And I don't think you'd be worse off. Would you be better off having a telly with a 50 inch flat screen or one with a 26 inch concave screen ? The reality is that whatever TV you had, that would be the TV you have. You'd watch the same programmes and acclimatize.....
And that's my theory. Having extensively used both a cassette portastudio and a standalone DAW (the AKAI DPS12i, which is sort of analogous to the 16 track Roland) and having taken serious note of virtually every post and poster that records music on these pages over the last 10 months and having listened to alot of the various contributors' music and noted the bewildering variety of systems/DAWs that are used, I honestly could not say one way is better or worse than another. In truth, they all (singularly and in combinations) work. And though some ways of doing things may seem {to those that don't do it that way} fiddly, time consuming and convoluted, I'd add that they all work well. It really depends on certain variables including you, your personality, what you want to record, the extent of your current understanding, your teachability......
There are negatives attached to everything but bear in mind that to someone else, those things may not be negatives at all.
Whichever way you go will be the way that you'll be tuned to. As you progress, you'll either outgrow it and move on to something else or you'll stick with it as you're comfortable with it. Using the 16 track Roland as an example, it's a grand unit to learn the meat and potatoes of recording. Time will tell whether or not you'd feel you need more.

Oh, and welcome to the big chair !

 

[Richard Monroe]

The main downside of most SIABs is that they lack expandibility and often aren't supported by the manufacturers when they are just 3-5 years old. They tie you to a set of hardware that can't be upgraded. IMHO, the best of the lot are ones that can *also* be used as computer interfaces, such as Zoom R16. Then, at least, you can run the tracks into the computer and process them in Cubase, or Reaper, or whatever. The other drawback of a SIAB as opposed to a component system is that when one part of it breaks, your whole studio is down until it is fixed or replaced. That said, my studio is based on a protools controller and a couple of SIABs, so I definitely continue to do it both ways.-Richie

 

[heatmiser]

Welcome WCman,

I use a roland 24 track standalone unit and love it, plus I have not used a computer for recording or mixing thus far, so I'm not one to recommend using a pc, especially if you're new to it. If I were to play devil's advocate though, I'd say a few negatives to the standalone units are:

- not as easy to upgrade as a pc based system
- not as easy to collab with others online
- not as much effects processing power
- just not as versatile in general

It also seems like most people now use pc-based systems, even when starting out, so there must be something to it. Personally I am very happy with the Roland and am not yet too bothered by any of the points above.

 

[Jeff_D]

I'll say, recording on a computer requires a certain computer user aptitude (at least it helps). For some people, that alone is a real turn off. It helps even MORE if you are familiar with the inner workings, both software and hardware of a computer (but not totally necessary). To me, it's really more of a matter of having a compelling reason *not* to record on a computer than it is to find a reason not to use a SIAB.

I think you'll find that a computer offers access to a ton of excellent effect, both free and pay-grade that you'd have to spend a BUNCH of cash on to get the equivalent outboard gear. Keep in mind also, that outboard gear has the finite number of channels to use where a plugin allows multiple instances.

The ability to see what you're doing with your editing is a huge advantage also. You can see all of your tracks, the waveforms, your envelopes, effects and everything. The few siab units I've used had small screens with a very limited amount of visual info alot even use the same button to do multiple functions which was really confusing to me.



So, I guess in addition to the disadvantages listed by the other posters, more limited access to effects and tedious editing are 2 more negatives. For me, the only reason I'd consider a siab is for portability, and the units that function as both like the Zoom 16 listed above would be where i'd start my search.
With all that said, I've heard some really good sounding recordings come from some siab users. And, if you do go computer, I wouldnt go with Protools.