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Post by exyearrboy on Apr 14, 2004 23:33:52 GMT -5
Hey, this is my first post in this forum after jumping ship from the Epi site... and it feels like being in someone else's house. But regardless, here's the question: I'm planning on doing a bit of home recording and I'm pondering getting a decent four track recorder or a port I can plug a 1/4 in jack into which hooks into my USB so I can record directly to my CPU. I want to do something with my acoustic, but jazz it up a bit (i.e. lay over it tracks on guitar, slide, bass, drums, effects, vocals, etc.). I'm wondering if the four track can handle this... I do dig analog sound... or if I should go for the computer recording for the variety? Any inexpensive programs/packages you'd reccommend? I'd considered the Tascam US122. Cheers
Ty
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Post by Steelpriest on Apr 15, 2004 2:18:21 GMT -5
Welcome Ty (or Ex-yearrboy) *g*, hehe someone else´s house...  I recommend our moderator Cage77 when it comes to questions concerning recording with a PC and software. I only use hardware gear (Korg D1600 HD recorder for recording and mixing) and Logic Audio on a PC for mastering, but I don´t record actually on a PC. Have you thought about purchasing a small 4 or 8 track HD stand alone workstation? They are affordable and work almost like the old cassette multitrackers we seemingly all came across once in the past. |
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Post by Aurora on Apr 15, 2004 23:47:33 GMT -5
I'm using an M-Audio Firewire 410, which is firewire driven, and have been very happy with it so far. I looked into the US-122, but decided on firewire due to the fact that I use a number of softsynths and wanted the speed of firewire vs usb. There are a number of reviews on the web, good one is here: www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htmLet us know what route you decide on. |
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Post by cage77 on Apr 17, 2004 11:21:49 GMT -5
Ty - If you're looking to go the route of computer based recording, I recommend getting a controller/hardware I/O device like the TAscam US428. Musicains Friend has them for $399....about the cost of a decent 4 track machine. It comes with a basic version of Cubase and allows you to record 4 tracks at once into your computer via USB. The software also has built in EQ and effects. What's really cool is that it is also a controller. this means that if you move a fader on the 428, the fader will move on the screen. A whole lot less pointing a clicking. If you decide to upgrade, the 428 can still be used to control most any software and will work with any other hardware I/O device. Connections on it include a instrument/line level input, 2 XLR connections (no phantom power), 2 midi i/o and more. HEre's a link - www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=040417092305012221101006426390/g=home/search/d=tp?q=tascam+us428 Brandon |
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Post by Khantheundead on Apr 17, 2004 16:43:56 GMT -5
dude, cage is the man, he gave us some great advice, thanks Cage!
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Post by spacecowboy on Apr 17, 2004 21:49:29 GMT -5
i would honestly look into the m-audio usb interfaces also... best bang for your buck as far as i'm concerned... great driver support and quite frankly i have yet to hear anything positive about the tascam interface... but that's just one mans opinion... i've had m-audio recording gear now for 5 or 6 years and it still works and sounds like the day i took it out of the box and they are still developing drivers and upgrades for it quite often...
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Post by cage77 on Apr 18, 2004 13:15:22 GMT -5
FWIW, I've been using the Tascam US428 ever since it came out and have had no problems. I bought the full version of Cubase VST 5.1 and it works great. Even better, I run it all on a machine running Windows ME....lol. I get updates every once in a while and have had no problems.
The M-Audio sruff is really good too. Most interfaces today are held to such a high standard that getting a bad piece of gear is pretty hard.
All in all, it depends on what you want. Personally, I could not stand all the pointing and clicking that most audio software required you to do. So when the 428 controller came out, I had to get one. It feels like mixing on a real console and adds the "human" side to software based recorders. Even now, more and more comapnies are starting to offer these types of products, all of which compete very nicely with each other.
Brandon
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Post by spacecowboy on Apr 18, 2004 13:22:51 GMT -5
to each their own.... pointing and clicking are a non issue when you can buy surface controllers for next to nothing... the quality of the mic pres and latency and other i/o options should also be considered when purchasing an interface... it will always be an ongoing subjective debate, so i'm glad you're happy with the tascam, just thought i'd put out another option...!
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Post by cage77 on Apr 18, 2004 15:08:42 GMT -5
Good point Spacecowboy. What M-Audio gear are you using? I've been looking at the Delta1010 for quite some time now. Although, MOTU and Presonus are now making some very nice 8in/8out devices for some very nice prices. I don't need the pre's as much as an additional 8 ins. It would be nice to have some channels hardwired in instead of patching and repatching my bay when I want to change a circuit.
Brandon
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Post by spacecowboy on Apr 18, 2004 15:49:10 GMT -5
I've got the m-audio delta 66 with the omnistudio breakout box.... when i need lots o channels though i've got a frontier designs dakota with 16 ins and outs of adat lightpipe... so i just put a few focusrite octopres on there and have 16 channels of mic pres... i've got a digidesign mbox that totally rocks too... one of the nicer sounding usb boxes.. i would definitely go motu the next time around though... there options seem limitless and the price ain't too bad.!
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Post by cage77 on Apr 18, 2004 22:04:47 GMT -5
Space....man.....sounds like you got some nice gear! Focusrite makes some nice gear. At my disposal I have 4 mackie VLZ pre's and 2 Presonus tube Pre's. I don't complain....much.....lol. Of course, the 428 has 2 mic pre's, but I have yet to even try them.
You're right about Motu. Almost limitless expandability. Nice pre's built in too. I like the level monitors on the front. Much better than the simple red over light on the 428. Although in Cubase I can watch the "to disk" level, I still prefer hardware. Good level in, good level to disk, good signal to noise in the mix. I do believe Motu is my next step.
You mentioned Digidesign Mbox....I take it you run Protools eh? I've played around with PT quite a bit at a friends studio. Very similar to Cubase...just a different engine. Either way....very powerfull stuff.
What other fun toys are you running/using??
Brandon
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Post by jfalkens on Apr 19, 2004 9:43:31 GMT -5
I have used a ZOOM MRS-4 4 track recorder for about 2 years. Even though it only has 4 tracks, each track has 8 takes. So you can actually have 32 tracks recorded although you can only play 4 at a time.
You can do mix-downs on the MRS-4 or do what I do. I put all tracks on my computer and use my audio editor (Which is actually Vegas 3.0), and I do my mixing and balancing there. It has worked great for me and it was only $219.00. It has NEVER failed.
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Post by spacecowboy on Apr 19, 2004 17:33:34 GMT -5
That's about it.... I really can't afford any of the stuff I would like to get but at least what i do have I can do some pretty amazing stuff with...
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I recommend our moderator Cage77 when it comes to questions concerning recording with a PC and software. I only use hardware gear (Korg D1600 HD recorder for recording and mixing) and Logic Audio on a PC for mastering, but I don´t record actually on a PC. Have you thought about purchasing a small 4 or 8 track HD stand alone workstation? They are affordable and work almost like the old cassette multitrackers we seemingly all came across once in the past. 
