VERY modest recording equipment

OLP · 10-05-2007 06:24PM #1

Hi, Me and a few mates are looking to buy a cheap 8 track recorder, basically something so we can record very rough demo's, for working on songs and giving to engineers so they can get a feel for the song.
I'm not gonna put up links to stuff I've been looking at as I really don't know alot about them. I'm looking for advice on what the best thing to buy is so we can record drums/bass/guitar/vocals, seperatly of course. Our price range is roughly E400-500.

Thanks.

Doctor J · 10-05-2007 06:53PM

Are you looking at a standalone unit or something where you can record onto a PC or laptop?

OLP · 10-05-2007 06:57PM

Sorry I ment to say that, I don't really know the pro's and con's of standalones vs interfaces, whichever's cheapest/easiest to use really.. either of them is an option.

Doctor J · 10-05-2007 07:13PM

Recording onto a PC is the most flexible option, though you'll need a PC, obviously. The standalone units are ok, but most of them only have two or four mic inputs, which is next to useless for recording a band. Perhaps a copy of Cubase SX and something like this

http://www.thomann.de/ie/alesis_io26.htm

would allow you to record 8 mics at one time. Never used that thing, so I can't vouch for how good/bad it is and it's years since I've used cubase too, but that should work, in theory anyway

OLP · 10-05-2007 07:21PM

That seems perfect really, we have the use of a laptop so thats grand. Do you know if the Cubase software would be licenced because we'd all like to have a crack at it?

frobisher · 10-05-2007 09:28PM

It sounds like a stand alone unit would offer you what you are after in the most plug and play and headache free fashion. I'd look for something like a used roland like these (but please base your decision on doing homework rather than my pointers as I don't know these machines intimately):
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Roland-VS-1680-VS1680-Digital-Recorder-Newest-OS-V-2-5_W0QQitemZ160115389890QQihZ006QQcategoryZ41479QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.ie/Roland-VS-1680-VS1680-V-Xpanded-OS-2-5-VS1880-1880-880_W0QQitemZ290113751756QQihZ019QQcategoryZ3278QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There are of course other options out there, many of them. they often come up for sale on adverts.ie. Do you have any mics/leads/stands?

TelePaul · 10-05-2007 09:49PM

OLP wrote:

That seems perfect really, we have the use of a laptop so thats grand. Do you know if the Cubase software would be licenced because we'd all like to have a crack at it?

Check that your lap top has a firewire card, if it doesn't you'll need to buy one. Second, make sure you have at LEAST 1 gig of ram. I guess that interface comes bundeled with LE which doesn't require a dongle but uses a code to install. The licensce agreement states that you can only install it on to one computer at a time, but buying it is better than cracking it so....

OLP · 11-05-2007 01:27PM

We've decided to up the budget in hope of the option to make good quality recordings, and also we're going to go with a standalone. We're looking at this http://www.thomann.de/ie/korg_d888.htm at the moment, would that do for recording drums/bass/guitar and vocals tracked at good quality?

TelePaul · 11-05-2007 01:53PM

Looks good. Though editing on a stand alone is a pain in the ass.

OLP · 11-05-2007 06:26PM

How do you mean?

TelePaul · 11-05-2007 07:41PM

OLP wrote:

How do you mean?

I'm not trying to unduly influence your decision, but what you can do with a computer sequencer really has to be seen to be believed...do any of your mates have cubase or pro tools or ableton?

OLP · 11-05-2007 09:11PM

Nah, the clostest thing I've ever come near to them is playing about with Cakewalk just making drumbeats and stuff. But can't you transfer stuff from a standalone to a PC?

TelePaul · 11-05-2007 10:27PM

OLP wrote:

Nah, the clostest thing I've ever come near to them is playing about with Cakewalk just making drumbeats and stuff. But can't you transfer stuff from a standalone to a PC?

Yeah but you'll need a sequencer and some sort of interface unless the stand alone has USB.

OLP · 13-05-2007 05:21PM

Ummm I think the one I'm looking at has a USB, and aren't there free sequencers?

TelePaul · 13-05-2007 05:44PM

OLP wrote:

Ummm I think the one I'm looking at has a USB, and aren't there free sequencers?

Yep you could try Reaper. IMO though you could just record straight to sequencer and cut out the middle stage but editing individual tracks is a good compromise between ahrdware and software recording,

VERY modest recording equipment

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