Eurythmic
majordomo plasticomo
I apologize if I've chosen the incorrect message board for this post. I'm not exactly a newbie - I've been making my own home recordings for about three years - but I often feel like one when I'm around people who have been doing this much longer. The more I learn about recording, the more I feel I have to learn in order to be as good at it as I'd like! 
Currently, my home studio is based around a Tascam 488 MK][ 8 track cassette recorder. I paid $1000 for this machine in May of 1998. I'm very happy with it, other than the obvious problems inherent in cassette recording. I can make some good sounds with it, despite the fact that I have to be a bit "ghetto" with effects. Compressor? Noise gate? Don't have anything like that. When I want to record a vocal with reverb, I wire my mic through a guitar amp.
I've always thought that to add effects to my recordings, I'd have to buy expensive rack-mount signal processors that I just can't afford. I've tried a cheap all-in-one Zoom box before (though for my guitar, not for recording). Let's just say it wasn't in my possession for very long. A trillion different effects are great, but not if half of your tone turns into hiss!
But I digress. Because of the preconceptions I've had, I was surprised when I was talking with my girlfriend the other day about some recordings she had made with a band she used to be with. I thought they came up with some interesting sounds, so I asked about the equipment. Turns out that all they used was a 8-track minidisc recorder with built-in effects, which the singer paid $800 for used.
To cut to the chase, that's gotten me thinking about going digital. If I can find a buyer for my 488, that will put me well on my way toward getting, say, a Korg D8 harddisk recorder with built-in effects. The D8 can be had for $800, or less!
So, I have several questions. Try to be patient with me! First-off, why is the D8 only $800 when the analog 488 is still $1000? I can't think of what I'd be losing by spending less on the D8, except for the many inputs my 488 has (I could always keep the 488 around as a mixer, however, right?). And even so, I've never recorded more than 2 tracks at once on my 488, anyway.
I'm also wondering about the D8 specifically. If any of you have any experience with the D8, what can you tell me about how much you have/haven't liked it? How's the sound quality? Are the effects nice? I'm sure that I could get higher quality effects from a seperate (and more expensive) unit, but even low quality compression, for instance, is better than none at all, isn't it?
Just looking for advice, in a nutshell. Everything sounds great about the D8, and going digital in general, but I'd hate to get burned from something I never thought of. Thanks!
Jason Artman
Currently, my home studio is based around a Tascam 488 MK][ 8 track cassette recorder. I paid $1000 for this machine in May of 1998. I'm very happy with it, other than the obvious problems inherent in cassette recording. I can make some good sounds with it, despite the fact that I have to be a bit "ghetto" with effects. Compressor? Noise gate? Don't have anything like that. When I want to record a vocal with reverb, I wire my mic through a guitar amp.
I've always thought that to add effects to my recordings, I'd have to buy expensive rack-mount signal processors that I just can't afford. I've tried a cheap all-in-one Zoom box before (though for my guitar, not for recording). Let's just say it wasn't in my possession for very long.
A trillion different effects are great, but not if half of your tone turns into hiss!But I digress. Because of the preconceptions I've had, I was surprised when I was talking with my girlfriend the other day about some recordings she had made with a band she used to be with. I thought they came up with some interesting sounds, so I asked about the equipment. Turns out that all they used was a 8-track minidisc recorder with built-in effects, which the singer paid $800 for used.
To cut to the chase, that's gotten me thinking about going digital. If I can find a buyer for my 488, that will put me well on my way toward getting, say, a Korg D8 harddisk recorder with built-in effects. The D8 can be had for $800, or less!
So, I have several questions. Try to be patient with me!
First-off, why is the D8 only $800 when the analog 488 is still $1000? I can't think of what I'd be losing by spending less on the D8, except for the many inputs my 488 has (I could always keep the 488 around as a mixer, however, right?). And even so, I've never recorded more than 2 tracks at once on my 488, anyway. I'm also wondering about the D8 specifically. If any of you have any experience with the D8, what can you tell me about how much you have/haven't liked it? How's the sound quality? Are the effects nice? I'm sure that I could get higher quality effects from a seperate (and more expensive) unit, but even low quality compression, for instance, is better than none at all, isn't it?
Just looking for advice, in a nutshell. Everything sounds great about the D8, and going digital in general, but I'd hate to get burned from something I never thought of. Thanks!
Jason Artman
