Need Advice On Home Recording Equipment...

WetDaddy

Hey everyone,


I want to get some equipment for recording at home. Essentially what I'm looking for is something with a decent amount of inputs (preferably more than 4, although I do have a 4-channel mixer) and is most likely digital.

The reason I say digital is that I'd like to spend something between €400 - €900 and as far as I know, decent analog equipment is much more expensive than that.

I've been doing home recording for a few years now, on and off, so I know a fair bit about it but am no expert. I've been using single input sound cards (Soundblasters, etc.) and have been tracking everything. But now I want to record drums (along with other things) and generally have more control over what I'm doing. Ideally, I'd like to get something like the Roland VS-2480 (I think that's the model #...) which can be interfaced with either a PC or just a monitor / mouse combination.

So, does anybody have any suggestions? Perhaps money would be best spent on a high-end "musician's" sound card, like a breakout-box / SCSI card combo? I plan on building a fairly ninja PC soon (and cram it full of RAM) so it may complement it well.

Thanks!


-Seán

WetDaddy

Right, after some searching, I found this:

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/d2/page/shop/flypage/product_id/3604/category_id/aa5045ac8dbda1110af5783d9c9b8f89

Any opinions? The price looks good, as do the specs. Also, I can get it delivered to Manchester (my Dad works there during the week), so shipping / customs mightn't be as much a problem...

bombidol

Try an M Audio 1010LT 10 input 10 output soundcard. got mine for 170 Euro on Ebay and it rocks

WetDaddy

Thanks for the suggestion Bombidol. I'll consider it, but unfortunately all the reviews I've read so far have explicitly said that the Edirol FA-101 is far better than the M Audio range of cards...

Although the price *is* pretty appealing

bombidol

thats what drew me to it in the first place, that it was recomended to me by a lot of people

daram

I have an M-Audio Quattro. Also made by edirol I think. Its only four in four out, but I've used it to record drums (kick, snare and two overheads) by running directly into it from my desk and then into the pc (using nuendo at the time). Its also usb powered which will be handy when I get around to buying a laptop. Its simple but effective. Doesnt have phantom power though which is the only annoyance (means I cant run my condenser mic straight into it, gotta use a desk first.

Eoin Madsen

deathfunk wrote:

The reason I say digital is that I'd like to spend something between €400 - €900 and as far as I know, decent analog equipment is much more expensive than that.

Tbh, decent digital equipment is much more expensive than that as well! If you're going for a card with a breakout box I'd recommend a respectable analog mixer to go with it, the preamps on most of those boxes are not the best. Short of an infinite budget I guess you're always trading cost for quality anyway. In the general range you're looking at I've had good experiences with RME products. Ebay is always a good bet to get better quality than your money deserves - just make sure the seller has a good bit of reputable feedback!

daram

Good point on the poor preamps. I managed to pick up an oldish spirit live 16ch desk which does the job with my 4in4out card. The desk has no direct outs, but it has four aux channels which serve the same purpose. Im gonna post up some mp3 which was recorded on this setup in my attic a few months ago.

dabhoys

The digidesign Mbox is a great little beast. Has only the two inputs and two outputs. So falls short when recording drums. But if you have a mixing desk you can always track the drums through that. But just means when you go to mix etc you don't have each thing on its own channels in Pro Tools. Just ordered me MBox hoping to get it next week Along with my laptop I'll have a nice little mobile recording unit...

daram

Mbox is pretty sweet. I love the way it doesnt have a power supply but takes it from usb. be warned though, the "LE" version of ProTools that comes with it is absolute crap. I would have got one if cept for wanting to record drums and keep them in seperate channels.

What laptop you going for? Better be some class of G4. Im saving for a 1.5Ghz 15"

dabhoys

The power of Pro Tools is in the Plug ins. I mean pro tools is a great program. But it really shines with the huge ammount of plug ins available for it.

Already have my laptop it's 1.8ghz, with a gig of ram and also USB 2.0 so I'm grand. No problem running the MBox. Plus I have a 200gb external hardrive with it too. Just got me good head phones too. Sennheiser HD 280 Pro to use too.

But just ordered my new desktop. Can't wait to get it Its a power house.

m0rt

M-Audio cards are excellent. I've had a delta 66 for a couple of years and have no plans to change it.

The Studio Projects VTB-1 is a great inexpensive preamp (about £100).

As for tracking, mixing & sequencing, I can't recommend Cakewalk Sonar highly enough. I have Sonar 3 Producer Edition. It's compatible with all vst and directx plugins & instruments and the midi implementation is far superior to Pro Tools.

rob1891

where do you pick up studioprojects gear this side of the atlantic? Got a mic from the states before and looking for another but would like to avoid the tax issues ...

m0rt

www.digitalvillage.co.uk

daram

Upstairs in musicmaker if you can deal with the annoying staff and high prices. others than that, theres a compnay somewhere in the midlands who've always given me good deals. http://www.studiosolutions.com i think

Doctor J

daram wrote:

Mbox is pretty sweet. I love the way it doesnt have a power supply but takes it from usb. be warned though, the "LE" version of ProTools that comes with it is absolute crap. I would have got one if cept for wanting to record drums and keep them in seperate channels.

What laptop you going for? Better be some class of G4. Im saving for a 1.5Ghz 15"

There isn't too much of a difference between LE and TDM. LE is pretty much the full version except it's designed for the Digi001, 002 and Mbox. It'll still record drums on separate tracks, given the appropriate hardware. The main difference is being able to use the TDM cards to do the heavy processing, leaving your machines processor free to handle the OS. Don't waste your money on a Mac laptop, Pro Tools runs just as well on PC these days.

For anyone buying studio gear let me just say that you get what you pay for. Anything for under about €400 is going to have shyte AD converters, that's guaranteed. Spend as much as you can realistically afford on your hardware (ie don't think you're getting pro quality gear when you buy Behringer)

daram

I used to have a cd with 40000 worth of plugins and assorted audio software on it but i lent it to someone and they lost it. that sucked.

im buying a mac laptop for more reasons than just protools. i think they're sweeter all round myself.

dabhoys

Theres a company now making dedicated laptops for music production. I can't mind the name of the company. I think it may have been alien or something like that. Must check it out...

Jetpilot

dabhoys wrote:

Theres a company now making dedicated laptops for music production. I can't mind the name of the company. I think it may have been alien or something like that. Must check it out...

Carillion Audio Systems

Red Submarine Company

Inta Audio