Tracking and Recording on hardware vs. daw

DJ Hellfire wrote:

richieb wrote:Whats good all my mpc2000 2000xl heads just trying to get some feed back from the community out there because im not sure which way i want to go with this. I hear mixing recording with hardware has a better sound than daw is this true? Would like to hear from daw people and hardware people also

The only real downsides to hardware for me is 1. track count. To get a good amount of tracks from hardware, you'd have too spend a lot of money, and then you're talking only about 16-24 tracks. With that money, you could buy a new computer powerful enough to run a daw plus an interface, and have more tracks. But if you're not doing vocals, a 16 track hardware joint should do just for beats.

2. Lack of effects. With a daw, you have so many more effects options.

3. Visual audio. I've used a hardware digital recorder for years before I got Pro Tools. Let me tell you, being able to see the audio you're editing is worth it alone!

i do agree with you about track count... it can set you back but for ppl like me that hook up with ppl over then net it wouldnt be a bother... my city tends to follow the sound of whats "hot" therefore it lacks a high count for emcees that cant actually rhyme

I'm a hardware guy, but even I know that for final tweaking and arranging, you can't beat a DAW.

Something I have and like to ue for getting beats out of the MPC is a DP004. Tiny, easy as hell to use, sounds way clean and can take SD cards. So I can get my beat ideas out of the MPC and store them away, show other peeps, (it fits in my pocket) Any tracks that are deemed worthy, will then get exported to the DAW for further work or rebuilt up in the MPC. There is also the DP008 which gives you 8 tracks before you have to bounce.

So it's an intermediate step that is quick. Lets me save tracks away and get to work on other ideas. God knows all my shit is definitely NOT worth spending hours tracking into the DAW and tweaking to death. Some of the previous posts talked about methods similar to this. . .

You could of course do this with any digi recorder, and most are more featured than the little DP004, but it works for me. Built in mics too for fast idea recording, pocket size, battery op.

~Steve

I don't know how many of you all do this, but I can combine both hardware and daw to achieve 24 actual tracks. I still have a adat xt20, behringer mx8000 24x8 mixer, and 2 echo layla 24/96 interfaces (daw of course) if I need to ever go that route.

But the daw gives you the additional virtual tracks vs having to bounce tracks to achieve the same results. Plus the dsp processing that you don't get with hardware alone was enough to convince me to do most, if not all of my work on the daw anyway.

most daws come with unlimited track count (pro tools has 48 or 64 i think...)


so combo sets are usually done for DAW control with the hardware midi'd

if u record bands and whatnot then this would work as a really good back and forth set up... otherwise u may end up weeding one out of the equation

j rhodes wrote:combo sets are usually done for DAW control with the hardware midi'd

Exactly! In my case, I have the adat sync'd from a motu mtp a/v which works in conjunction with cubase or nuendo as being the master.

dabmeister wrote:

j rhodes wrote:combo sets are usually done for DAW control with the hardware midi'd

Exactly! In my case, I have the adat sync'd from a motu mtp a/v which works in conjunction with cubase or nuendo as being the master.

is yours a tape or hd (adat)??? ive always wanted one for mastering once i learned better engineering methods...

p.s sorry for the mini sidetrack question, lol

j rhodes wrote:

dabmeister wrote:

j rhodes wrote:combo sets are usually done for DAW control with the hardware midi'd

Exactly! In my case, I have the adat sync'd from a motu mtp a/v which works in conjunction with cubase or nuendo as being the master.

is yours a tape or hd (adat)??? ive always wanted one for mastering once i learned better engineering methods...

p.s sorry for the mini sidetrack question, lol

No problem. It's the tape based unit. I bought it new back in the day but rarely have I put it to use. I know it hasn't reached 200 hrs on the heads yet (something around 136 or so to be exact) but it worked fine the last time I had it hooked up.

But I was blown away when I first heard the clarity and sonic dimension of that joint (remember, most of us where coming from 8 tracks or more of analog tape back then and this was alesis's third generation of their modular tape based adat unit), so I had to get one.

thats dope man... ive been looking for one at local shops around here since we have about 12 studio's or so in the surrounding area... but the most i really come across are just stereo based recorders vs 8/16/24 track units...

ive always wanted to use one even if it was just bouncing down tracks from a digital aspect....