How many of you guys use stand alone recorders?

Just remember peoples that the funkiest music was recorded mostly by dead folks ( by now) and pressed on vinyl which if you liked any of that early hiphop sound (insert your favorite producer/year) you will find that it was made with what would be considered old equipment... Now with that said thats why we sample because we want to recapture that funk and make it our own.Even if you dont sample your ideas are usually based upon a sample you heard somewhere.. which again was recorded on so called old equipment which a lot of folks covet to this day... why do you think an SP can command the price that it does when some consider it limited?.. I bet that some of the same folks that are saying things would gladly take one if they could get it. Do you see those SSL boards is anyone saying they're old and tossing them out? exactly my point.Remember those great recordings that we all love well they were recorded without computers why do you think a Berry Gordy or a John lennon (when he was still alive) could come to your crib and wreck your whole set up with a 4 track and a radio shack mich!!! We aint doing anything new and now i know that may come as a shock to some of you but but trust me them U87s and Pultecs will never be old or played out.. As for me i still use my DPS 16 and would gladly purchase a DPS 24 if some one would would sell it to me hahaha but I have The CPU standard set up as well you know on some best of both worlds ish... Oh yea how do you think all those joints were made surely not with all the computers and plugins we have today!!! just some food for thought... Peace

Roland VS840EX 8track with Card Reader Mod. Cheap and effective.

Akai MG1214

DEEPDOWNINSIDE wrote:Roland VS840EX 8track with Card Reader Mod. Cheap and effective.

Yo man I was looking into this on the VS forums. I also saw cats using SCSI to USB converters. It seems that the informatition I got from the forums is pretty inconclusive. What do you thing about this...? Would it work?

mikedean wrote:Akai MG1214

how are the tapes working out for you? ive thought about buying one.. but i havent mastered my four track cassette and mpc yet.. and i was kinda unsure about tape availability.

anybody using a zoom r16 ? looks kinda interesting..

So after doing some bigger projects which required more editing and tracks, I'm really starting to lean to a DAW like Pro Tools. I still want to keep my D3200, but cutting, pasting and moving tracks around is soo tedious.

You guys who chop samples with Soundforge or Recycle then import to MPC know what I'm talking about. Stand alones serve their purpose, but sometimes there is a better tool for the job. In my case, with larger projects, I'm feeling the PT route. Either a Digi 003 or 003 rack, and iMac or beasted out custom Windows machine.

slomough wrote:

DEEPDOWNINSIDE wrote:Roland VS840EX 8track with Card Reader Mod. Cheap and effective.

Yo man I was looking into this on the VS forums. I also saw cats using SCSI to USB converters. It seems that the informatition I got from the forums is pretty inconclusive. What do you thing about this...? Would it work?

Sounds interesting I will have to look into that. I love the hands on feel to vs840 someday I may upgrade.

One thing I always tell myself is that The Beatles and Quincy Jones would have killed to have the "old" stand alone recording equipment I have today.

"PUT IN TEN YEARS BEFORE HITTING RECORD WHATEVER YOUR GENRE IS."

Really good point! Nowadays, new producers IMMEDIATELY start recording bullschyt and posting music on Soundcloud.
I actually agree with most of what Sarga was saying. If you want that 90's sound, buy 90's equipment. If there is anything I would change, it would be if you have today's equipment and still want that 90's sound, learn to make your gear do what you need it to do. It takes time to learn and understand, but it can be done. Learn how music was made 20 years ago and do the same process. Most 90's Hip-Hop was drum loops with sample loops, so if your downloading MP3's / REX files (or whatever else is out here) and using the latest tools that came with your Pro-Tool plugins, your never going to get the sound your looking for. At the same time, I can use drum /sample loops in an MPC5000 and it will sounds exactly like some early Kool-G Rap if I want it to. The down side to this is that you spent $2000 to do what a used ASR-10 can do!

I use a tscam porta02 and the sound quality aint the best, but it is so easy compared to the computer

Just treated myself to the new Tascam DP008, you know that mini 8-track recorder. This will accompany my MPC500 when I'm on the go because lately I've been away from the studio. Tired of banging beats on wooden tables at work or at my girl's house.

I've been recording songs on my roland vs-890 for about 10 years now. I have recorded hundreds of songs on it, and 8 or 9 full albums lol. I love this thing, and honestly, I still havent tapped its full potential. I have also used it as a live board for many small shows. I have a "song" saved on it that is entitled "SHOW", and it is all set up to just plug in mics and rock a show. Compression is all set. Sounds real good live. I bring it to my DJ gigs too, and run my mic through it, to have the compression on my voice.

Most of my music friends record songs with computers but to me it doesnt feel right. I go record at their houses and I spit the hook one time and they like "OK get out of the booth, I will copy and paste that on all the hooks". Thats crazy to me right there. I think you get more of a human quality when each hook is a bit different. When they come to my house and record, and I make them actually spit the hook each time, they kinda complain about it but they are always happy with the subtle nuances in the final product.

Also, punch ins! On the computer it is so easy to just set it and forget it. I think I can set auto punch in points on my VS but I just do it manually by pushing record when Im punching someone in. I personally dont punch in my own vocals though, I make sure to spit it all the way through (most likely will perform the song one day, and you cant punch in on stage lol). I encourage other artists that come to my lab to also try and spit the verse without punching in.

If this VS broke I would not upgrade to protools or digital performer or any of that. I would buy another roland VS series machine. Prob a 24 track though. LOL I dont even know how to bounce tracks in my roland but it makes the performances better to be limited the way I am.

i got a fostex fd4 as a christmas present from my brother.
haven't used it much yet, because, eventhough i want to do as much as possible outside the computer, I guess i kinda do have to get that shit in there.
to be able to put stuff up in the net (as soon as I feel that the time has come ),
and to be able to turn stuff into mp3s. (non of my friends got a walkman for some reason..).
since it is a 90's machine, it don't got a USB port. but it does have SCSI.
I've heard of those SCSI-USB adapters, but was told they're slow...
I'm thinking of working with floppy's. but theY are kinda small, memory wise...
any opinions, experiences or advice would be apreciated.