You guys must be a heck of a lot more "creative" with the MR-8 than I am. And I always considered myself pretty resourceful. Am i missing something?
Ricklh, unless I'm way confused, at the very least, you will need to invest in a significantly larger CF card in order to record anything more than a few tracks on maybe one song, or two if they are super short. And even if you have a mixer with multiple channels, the MR-8 will only allow for two simultaneous/separate tracks at a time. Tricky for drums, but doable. So, just be aware that the mR-8 is very limited without interfacing with a PC and you might be a lot happier paying a little more for a higher model machine. with more storage space and tracks. TASCAM has a new model out the DP-01, that offers a whopping 40 gig hard drive and eight mono tracks. I'm not endorsing it, because I don't own it, yet. As much as I've enjoyed the MR-8, I would never try to use it by itself to record a whole band. Not meaning to dash your hopes. You should definitely dive into recording if you feel drawn to it, just consider all your equipment options carefully. Best of luck!