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Digital 4 Track Recorders?
leftist writes "I'm looking for an entry level digital 4 or 8 track digital recorder to experiment with in the $500 range. Any product recommendations or warnings out there in the geek crowd? Something that uses mp2/mp3 natively a plus!" Krow: What, you wanted content with your story?
I'll take one.
Do not confuse duty with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different.Duty is a debt you owe to yourself.
That always seems to be the response to Ask Slashdot anyways, so I'll pre-suppose the question and provide a Google link: here
You have to figure out the story yourselves. It's not 4'33" by any chance?
Ladies, form queue here -->
Okay, as a /. editor you cop lotsa crap when you do a repost
You even cop crap for posting about every release of Mozilla/Phoenix/other OS darling
But did you really have to revert to denying the existence of the posted article by posting the textual equivalent of John Cage's patented 4:33?
(Is the title - pertaining to music creation - a reference to the aforementioned composition?)
Are you posing the ultimate philosophical yet slashdotical question:
"If a post has no text, does it get read?"
Cliff, I give you 11 out of 10 and salute your originality.
But don't let CowboyNeal repost it!
This sig intentionally left bla... dammit!
Who's got the whiteout?
I think everybody know what he wants to ask. "Ask Slashdot: Digital 4 Track Recorders?"
Yes, it turns out, Bruce Willis was dead through the entire movie. He only realized it when he saw that his wife dropped the ring; but there were numerous clues dropped, like his choice of attire through the entire thing, as well as some foreshadowing with the "I see dead people."
Question answered.
Awesome, I love. It's a go~ When can we ship?
Hey, does this mean nothing can be considered off-topic? ;)
"Yeah, well, Dracula called and he's coming over tonight for you and I said okay."
I can't wait for the double post. I simply have too much work and don't need to waste any more time reading actual stories.
There are 3 basic problems in using a Digital 4 Track Recorders to pull a dog sled in the Iditarod.
1) Current regulation prohibit non-canine devices from pulling the sled. However, a more liberal tone has been taken in recent years may allow this. Cats are supposed to considered for next year's race
2) Current power consumption is pretty high, the solar power banks required to power it would be prohibitive.
3) It may come as a surprise to you, but Digital 4 track recorders don't provide any locomotive capabilities. However, apparently some Japanese company is preparing to release in Q4 of 2003 a dual tread model, so keep the look out for that
the /. editors are just seeing how many lame comments people will make as opposed to actual answers. So far, I've seen two or three actuall (aka serious) answers to the topic (there is no question since there is no post).
Otherwise I think they've jumped April Fools Day by a month and some-odd days.
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
No, only nothing is on-topic. You are off-topic!
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Parent topic is Not "insightful", he just copied+pasted the article word-for-word!
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Linux, of course!
/ Zo om/PR/MRS-4.html -- 450 bucks.
d ig ital_recorder.shtml -- 300 bucks
(sorry, had to be said)
http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM02/Content
http://www.crmav.com/recording/81/pxr4_4_track_
That story must have been sent by Pioneer 10. Give it 12 hours or so, it's a long way out.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
In Case Of Slashdotting:
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I think the post page says it all:
(Use the Preview Button! Check those URLs! Don't forget the http://!)
Something off this page. From what you're asking, the Delta 66 may be the right one. Don't waste your time with cassettes, digital or not, when for about the same price, you get 6 in/6 out, and virtually unlimited tracks in software (CoolEdit, Cubase, etc.).
Yes.
sig sig sputnik
Correction, its the layla 24bit, and its a 8track (leave it to me to screw something that simple up)...here is the product page
As somebody who uses Acid a lot for creating music, I'd have to say that it's more of a production tool than a recording tool. Not to harp on Acid, but composition, rather than recording, is where it really shines.
Typically, when laying down tracks, you're recording a live artist, where something like Acid works really well with loop-based arrangement; the two functions are really hard to mix together and still have a usable interface.
Personally, I use Acid for most of my mix-down and rearrangements, as well as final post mix. I also use a simple USB-controlled 8-track mixer and Cubase to to my track layouts. In a pinch, since I'm the only person ever playing in my stuff, I'll use something like SoundForge and then go back and sync the tracks up manually with Acid.
I'd recommend something like Cubase ($150 to $500, depending on your local music stores) or the Digi-01 pack from the makers of Protools ($450 to $700, again depending on the music store.)
If you're looking for an all-in-one type solution, then the Digi-01 pack is probably the way to go. For the price, you get a very good quality professional (read: 96kbit, 24-bit sampling) four track (I think, it might be 8 tracks) with a variety of inputs. In addition, it comes with a Protools "lite" package of software that should be good for most of the home recording junkies out there.
Another package to consider, although it's not out yet, is FruityLoops4.0. Their new package has the sequencing, MIDI and, added in the 4.0 version, track recording capability from an ASIO source like the Digi-01 or Gina cards.
I use FruityLoops 3.56 currently and, while it's a great music creation tool, it's really lacking in the track recording arena. Hopefully, this month's release will remedy that. Perhaps I'll review it in my /. journal when it comes out at the end of this month.
Hope that helps!
There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
Please, people, if you don't know what s/he's asking, keep your trap shut, m'kay? We're talking audio here, so signal-to-noise ratio counts, you see...
But, do you want to go the hardware or software recording route?
If you have a decent enough computer (G3 macs or PII upwards x86s will do the trick for about 16 tracks), you might consider getting a good soundcard.
I personally use a M-Audio Delta44, 4 inputs, 4 outputs, nothing more. Perfect for recording. They have nice break-out boxes, so you don't have to crouch behind your computer when plugging in your guitars, basses or mics, they work under Macs, PC's and have linux support via ALSA (yes, linux can do multitracking as well). When you need more tracks, you can just add more cards and get 8/8 or up to 16/16 in/out-system.
As for recording software, well... my delta came with a cut-down version of Logic Audio, which should be good enough for start. Most 'pro-sumer' soundcards come up with basic software, so you shouldn't need to cough up any more money for it in the beginning.
Other software: Cubase is nice, and there's nice 'lite'-versions for beginners (some soundcards come with this instead of logic). Cakewalk is quite popular as well.
If you just want audio recording (the aforementioned do MIDI as well), then there's Cool Edit Pro. For free, there's Audacity (audacity does Windows, Linux and Mac) which is proficient enough multitrack audio editor. SLab is a good linux multitrack recorder.
And mp3, well, you don't want to use mp3 for multitrack recording, but most modern software can import mp3-sounds, and output the result to mp3 (some of them [cool edit/audacity] can do ogg as well)
If you want a proper hardware recorder (which are nice, since you can take them to your rehersal space, summer cottage, ..., what have you), then there's plenty to choose from. Most of these are a couple of years old, so you can find them for reasonable prices used (or even new!)
Roland VS-8xx series, they're nice, compact, can do 4-track recording, and 8-track playback. Loads of features, and useful later on even if you grow out of this one. Earlier models had inbuilt harddrives, the later ones have ZIP-drives (if I remember correctly). If you can get one for cheap (and i think you should), then go for this one.
Korg D-8. A bit easier to operate, but quite useful nevertheless.
And i think Fostex had some as well, just keep your eyes open in the pawnshops.
My personal recommendation would be the Boss BR-8 digital multitrack (http://www.musicstop.com/update/200008/product.ht m). It has eight tracks, and you can mixdown as much as you want - with no degradation of course. There are two multi effects devices built in, and a decent set of other features. It records onto Zip disks, which are more convenient than a hard disk based system IMHO.
It looks like it retails for around $600 in the States (I picked up mine for £450 in the UK). In comparison, all the computer based digital recording systems I've used are unstable, unfriendly and overpriced. Why people still buy things like Steinbergs software is beyond me, they've not produced a stable release since Pro 16 on my humble Commodore 64.
Chris
People will hate me for saying this, but:
ADAT.
There's several real advantages over anything consisting of just the simple PCI audio card that many others have suggested:
The converters are outboard, you get an automatic backup of your work for the cost of a VHS tape, the converters are outboard, it can operate independantly of a PC, the converters are outboard, and it's easy to use while intoxicated.
Did I mention that the converters are outboard?
Oh. You also get complete electrical isolation from the RFI monster that is a PC, which will help prevent your mic preamps from picking up seti@home via the temporary wiring disaster that comes along with any recording project.
Just plug it in with toslink. RME cards are supposed to have good support under ALSA. I've used a Lexicon Core2 (under...another OS) with good results.
You also need a bunch of mics, and mic preamps of some variety. I used to use a 24x8 Tascam console before dropping the studio. It served mostly as a big pile of mic preamps with handy signal routing, though I do admit to mixing some things to 2-channel DAT, sans PC, and having a great deal of fun in the process.
Mixer, mic, and preamp selection is a topic of endless debate, so I'll leave it at that, except for one final note:
Ebay is the poor musician's friend. Just because most of this gear is usually fairly expensive, doesn't mean that it must be so.
Kid-proof tablet..