M
mnormand
New member
At midlife, I now find myself interested in recording basic multitracks. I already have an H4 that I used to do simple one shot stereo recordings on the fly of our two small bluegrass groups, mostly for practice and such. One mic, let 'er rip. All acoustic, nothing is plugged in.
Also used Audacity a bit on the laptop, with the H4 tethered via USB simply as a mic. Worked fairly well, but can't quite figure out how to configure Audacity to hear the 2nd track as I record live, in the phones, while the 1st track is played alongside. So I slightly move one earphone off a bit.
The H4 requires reading glasses
with its tiny screen, and clunky jogdial, which is discouraging for 4track use with so much interaction.
Let's assume my budget is about $150-300 or so. I guess this could include 8tracks as well, I see some in that budget range, probably not a bad idea to go 8track now. Among the current crop of standalone 4-8track recorders, are there any that standout sharply for simple ease of use, learning curves, etc?
I'm looking for USB connectivity, A/C power, SD cards only (no other types), portability, big easy to use slide or rotary controls, standalone use, maybe a built in mic? etc.
But bottom line.. its got to be easy to use, and easy to see!. The far majority of use would be the common track layers, while hearing all in the phones as you add the next. Ability to mute certain tracks as needed, that's probably pretty standard? Then of course mix it down to final, etc.
Thx gang, appreciate any input!
Also used Audacity a bit on the laptop, with the H4 tethered via USB simply as a mic. Worked fairly well, but can't quite figure out how to configure Audacity to hear the 2nd track as I record live, in the phones, while the 1st track is played alongside. So I slightly move one earphone off a bit.
The H4 requires reading glasses
with its tiny screen, and clunky jogdial, which is discouraging for 4track use with so much interaction. Let's assume my budget is about $150-300 or so. I guess this could include 8tracks as well, I see some in that budget range, probably not a bad idea to go 8track now. Among the current crop of standalone 4-8track recorders, are there any that standout sharply for simple ease of use, learning curves, etc?
I'm looking for USB connectivity, A/C power, SD cards only (no other types), portability, big easy to use slide or rotary controls, standalone use, maybe a built in mic? etc.
But bottom line.. its got to be easy to use, and easy to see!. The far majority of use would be the common track layers, while hearing all in the phones as you add the next. Ability to mute certain tracks as needed, that's probably pretty standard? Then of course mix it down to final, etc.
Thx gang, appreciate any input!