You know, I usually abstain from shit-bagging home-recordists on this forum for ridiculous posts; but the posts following 'suntag's' original take the cake. 'Monty' proceeds to hassle 'suntag' about having his mind made up "about every other issue on this website" but coming hear to have his/her mind made up. Then 'KingNothing'(probably so) makes some stupid comment about recording drunk friends. Finally, our esteemed big shit senior member 'Brad' makes some lame comment about dumb americans.
Geez, I hate to be asshole, but did I miss something here or do these guys need to get out of their rad, killer "DAWs" a little more often. Nice show fellas! You guys must really know your shit.
Buck62 offers wisdom on the D16 and digital debate:
"That's not what the reviews say"
"Digital is digital"
a. Congratulations on reading reviews. They "sound" great.
b. Digital is Digital? Yep, that's why every single soundcard sounds different, people complain about pro-tools interfaces, and converters range in price from $150 to a $trillion fucking dollars. Are you joking Buck?
Monty's back: "steep learning curve".
WHAT? Using the EZ routing on a VS is ridiculously easy and el Monte should know that - he's owned fucking two of them. EZ routing takes care of all aux/patching/bus-ing while you're learning the intricacies, then you can do it yourself.
Then old Buck62 brings it back to whine about a $30 video to operate a $1500-$2000 machine. Ladies and gentleman.
Sorry for bitching so much. Suntag:
vs pros: easy, practicle, portable, and the 24bit models sound truly great. I've been recording on analog for years and the 880's and 1680's sound truly amazing. Also, if you play the guitar, you'll enjoy messing around with the amp simulators. You may not want them on your records, but thet're fun anyway. Oh, btw, the VS "planeteers" may not be terribly helpful (they're self-professed recording gurus like the people in this post), but that site is a tremendous resource, and any question you'll have is probably answered there. The portability thing is pretty amazing too. I'd set mine up next to the drum kit and record all night. It's great - no rewinding, clear sound, blah, blah, blah.
VS cons: You're stuck paying for a lot of features you probably don't know if you'll need. And if you do decide you need them, you may very well end up hating Roland's and having to shell out for outboard compressors, delays, preamps, etc.
A stereo pair of preamps - if you want to record drums - will cost you a least a couple hundred bucks. Compressors too - that was my only real gripe, I thought the Roland's comperssor sounded the opposite of "transparent" - it really colored the sound. But who knows, you might like it.
Lastly, if you decide you really like recording, you'll eventually get a nice analog machine or do it on a computer. It's kind of inevitable, and I know that sounds weird. That's what happened with me anyway. I was drawn to things like nice soundcards from traditionally respected companies, unlimited tracks, and I don't hate computers. By the way, you can absolutely work with regular apps/web stuff as well as record on a single pc, and don't let anyone tell you any different. If you have a mac, create a specific extensions set and restart before and after recording. Sorry, no info on pc. But, ultimately (and it took me a long time to realize this) I'll end up spending less on computer stuff than a standalone recorder. And the problem is that standalones are changing so quickly, resale value on a VS, D16, or whatever sucks ass. You'll be lucky to get half what you spent even six months later.
I don't know, that's just my two cents.
Good Luck!