All the fellas with standalone multi-trackers...

If having the best sound is important to you, go with a PC and a nice interface like RME. That's the Pro thing to do.

If buying a single, all-in-one solution that may be easier to get up and running is more important, go with the Akai DPS-16. As long as you aren't recording vocals right next to it. Sound quality should be fine, effects won't be as good as a PC, and it won't run softsynths (like Surge!!!)

If you haven't checked it out yet, look up the freeware program Reaper. It's awesome and did I mention free? alternative to the Mac/Logic platform. Basically this program tipped the scales for me, in favor of a PC laptop.

If you have lots of money you can get the flexibilty in hardware, but if you have lots of money, why not get the same capabilities cheaper with a PC, and buy a Moog or API for your front end?

NguoiDuc wrote:I'm honestly considering gettin a two-track reel-to-reel for mixdown...

That would rock!

fader-pro wrote:

fenix wrote:I dont understand, isnt a daw and a hardware recorder the same godamn thing? The daw just has a different user interface. Both record on hardrives,both are digital,both can have controil surfaces. What the hell is the difference?

In the case of the HD, the differences are minimal.....I like it because it uses hot-swappable drives. I'll use two per project; one of them backup.....new artist, new hard drive. It's also dedicated to one thing and does it well, with transport controls rather than a mouse and keyboard. It also allows me to use my PC for other things......

my dual core dual 2.66ghz is only used for music and has never crashed with PT 7. I dont need a mouse because I have a control surface. I have external firewire drives that are hot swappable drives. Ummmm seems theres no difference there!

/
How expensive was it to get your set-up up and running?

fenix wrote:[
my dual core dual 2.66ghz is only used for music and has never crashed with PT 7. I dont need a mouse because I have a control surface. I have external firewire drives that are hot swappable drives. Ummmm seems theres no difference there!

Difference is both price and personal preference....Your dual core
dual a ss wipin PC / Pro tools and firewire drive, system probably wasn't an $899 e-bay special.....even new at $1400 it's still probably a better deal....I suspect that eventually hardware won't be an option though....The visual assistance provided by pro tools and other programs can be invaluable. I've gone back to old school tecniques by choice. Had some dudes in, sayin, 'Just cut and paste that chorus in all the holes", and I'm like, "what? you can't just sing it?" Music for me has become more and more, the joy of playing; not editing, mixing, tweaking, etc.....but I can remember a time (a few short years ago) when the exact opposite was true; I'd spend an evening tweaking a 30 second solo and loved it...



PS. If you've got a PC that "Has NEVER crashed", you may be alone in this world. I see alot of PC's and I've never seen one that didn't require an occassional re-boot....

roxstar wrote:I have an VS-2480, and the biggest problem I've had with DAW's is that the hardware is very primitive. I have a 4x cd burner (slow)

Yeah, this is my problem too. I have a Roland VS2480 and the cd writer is super slow. What I do is track everything in the 2480 because its more "hands on". I then export all tracks and use Nuendo to mix. I know it's cumbersome but, I'm so used to my set up. It just works for me. I would like to get a pro tools setup but I need more than 4 ins/outs.

fader-pro wrote:
PS. If you've got a PC that "Has NEVER crashed", you may be alone in this world. I see alot of PC's and I've never seen one that didn't require an occassional re-boot....

The secret here is to make sure you have alot of RAM for processing. I been using the same PC for over 2 yrs with ZERO problems (other than storage issues). Get a PC that has NEVER been on the internet, make sure you have 1.5 to 4 GBs of RAM and a big harddrive (or a back up drive) and you're good!

If youw want something cheap thats really good look into the Fostex MR8. it's a digital 8-track and I've been using it since i started making music. If you're a hobbyist and just sellin beats it will work great. If your working like as a pro then you might want something better.

d_loc wrote:If having the best sound is important to you, go with a PC and a nice interface like RME.

The ADATHD 24 upgrades to 96.....define "best sound"...

to d_loc:

Like fader-pro said, I wanna use a multi-track by choice. Of course a PC solution (or Mac in my case ) would be more powerful for the same price or even cheaper. But that's not my point. I wanna use this thing as a ree-to-reel replacement. So, I wanna record tracks, maybe edit out some regions that are not okay and that's it. (I could still export tracks to my Mac if I needed deeper editing!) Than I'm gonna save some money, buy a good pre-amp, multi-fx processor and good compressor (Chandler Germanium and the likes) and then I'm gonna read all my recording books and do a lot practising and see, what good results I can get out of my stuff. So, very idealistic though, but I think perfect for me .

Btw. did anyone check out the X48 by Tascam? Seems to be a true recording monster!!!

fader-pro wrote:

d_loc wrote:If having the best sound is important to you, go with a PC and a nice interface like RME.

The ADATHD 24 upgrades to 96.....define "best sound"...

Oh, I think "best sound" for me would be a TL Audio VTC tracking to a Studer 24 Track....stereo bus through a Drawmer S3 *drifting-away-in-endless-dreams

SP-808EX.

It's able to record 4 stereo tracks of audio. It's got some nice built in effects. It stores the songs on a 250mb zip disc. I've heard a lot of complaints about the drive giving users "drive too busy" messages, but I've never had that problem. All I do is record, playback, and apply effects however I want.

I only use one track to record songs because all the songs are coming from an external sequencer. It's got two sets of RCA INPUTS and two sets of RCA OUTPUTS. very handy indeed.

I use a Yamaha AW16g and it's my first multitrack , so I can't make the comparison but I have no issues with it.You can get them for about$250- $300. The way I see it computers will always be around so I'm in no hurry to get a computer for a recording set up. It's kind of like when I'm looking for records I'll pass up the stuff I see all the time. Hardware might be very hard to come by soon so I'm gonna get all I can out of it until I have to use the computer.

Stand alone multi trackers SUCK. I bought one then sold it. It was a lot cheaper for me to buy a sound card and hook it up to my lap top to track out. Plus using a computer program is ALOT EASIER and I think you get better results

tascam sx1 32x8x4,motorfaders,16 track recorder,4 midi outs adats spidif,effects. a real beast.and i use it to control a daw.

Stand alone multi trackers SUCK. I bought one then sold it. It was a lot cheaper for me to buy a sound card and hook it up to my lap top to track out. Plus using a computer program is ALOT EASIER and I think you get better results

Which recorder did you have? I think there are quite some differences amongst the different models.

Btw: The easiest is not always the best way...