Software recording vs. hardware recording??

[SketchUp]

i have a computer, so im kinda leanin towards savin up for sumthin like cubase or gettin an Mbox(altho iv heard more cons than pros on these).

but i also like the look of the BR1200/1600CD hardtrack recorders or the yamaha AWG16, sumthin along that line.

basically, i wanna clean up my tracks, have professional soundin end products(to a certain degree).

I'l be recording out of my mpc1k to do this. Anybody have any suggestions?

hit me back,

Sketchup

 

[stjoeben]

More to consider

Ah man, good post. Well let me give you my experince.

I Started with a 4track cassette (2 actuallY) then to a Roland vs840EX (8 trk digial), which upped my sound quite a bit. Then i upgraded from there to Cubase (SE $99.00) on a $300 refurbrised E-machine's 900 mhz computer using a audiophile (m audio) 2496 sound card, and thats when my sound turned pro. That gave my about 20 tracks without straining the system (cpu) as well. I like porta studio's for the portabilaty. But Inputs and Preamps were a big let down (compared to my m-audio card). With the Porta studio's you are stuck with what you got. With software you can always upgrade. There's allways new tech that you can easily add to your set up. Sell a old card, program, ect. and buy a new one. That "open endedness" (?) makes software a better choice period. I upgraded my pc to a 2.6 ghz (Refurb. E-machine ) for only $329. See www.tigerdirect.com. Now i can do 48 tracks easily (never had to).

But you will most definatly need a dedacated space for your setup (PC). With portastudio you can go to ya boy house who's on house arrest and drop his vocal (for instance). Or if your group working on a project and your girl/wife/mom be tripping 'bout all the company, again PORTASTUDIO.

I'm pretty sure portasudio's have gotten much better since mine (inputs and all). But its really more to consider than just sound quality. Sound Quality should be very comparable. Its "how you use it" now a days not just "what you got"anyway.

**The negative side of software (PC/Mac) is compatability issues. They can make you wanna throw everthing out the second floor window. Be informed before you buy*******

****But another plus is you can do everything one it. Production, CD Labels, Websites, ECT********************************

Hope that helps/ TAK

 

[SketchUp]

Ah man, good post. Well let me give you my experince.

I Started with a 4track cassette (2 actuallY) then to a Roland vs840EX (8 trk digial), which upped my sound quite a bit. Then i upgraded from there to Cubase (SE $99.00) on a $300 refurbrised E-machine's 900 mhz computer using a audiophile (m audio) 2496 sound card, and thats when my sound turned pro. That gave my about 20 tracks without straining the system (cpu) as well. I like porta studio's for the portabilaty. But Inputs and Preamps were a big let down (compared to my m-audio card). With the Porta studio's you are stuck with what you got. With software you can always upgrade. There's allways new tech that you can easily add to your set up. Sell a old card, program, ect. and buy a new one. That "open endedness" (?) makes software a better choice period. I upgraded my pc to a 2.6 ghz (Refurb. E-machine ) for only $329. See www.tigerdirect.com. Now i can do 48 tracks easily (never had to).

But you will most definatly need a dedacated space for your setup (PC). With portastudio you can go to ya boy house who's on house arrest and drop his vocal (for instance). Or if your group working on a project and your girl/wife/mom be tripping 'bout all the company, again PORTASTUDIO.

I'm pretty sure portasudio's have gotten much better since mine (inputs and all). But its really more to consider than just sound quality. Sound Quality should be very comparable. Its "how you use it" now a days not just "what you got"anyway.

**The negative side of software (PC/Mac) is compatability issues. They can make you wanna throw everthing out the second floor window. Be informed before you buy*******

****But another plus is you can do everything one it. Production, CD Labels, Websites, ECT********************************

Hope that helps/ TAK

Thanks for that, il take everythin that you sed into hand. appreciate the props. i think i am more of a 'hands on' person n thats why i was leanin more towards the 'portastudio'. But il think about the software approach.

 

[Ozmosis]

Eventually, you'll have to get your track on your PC if you want to put it to disk, unless you get a recorder that can also burn to a disk. As for me I have all my sounds tracked out to a eurorack mixer, going into a fostex mr-8 recorder. I do all my mixing on my outboard gear, and the thing I like about the mr-8 is that it saves to a flash card. I then take the flash card which has my beat on it, and copy it to my PC. There I use Cubase se for mastering to give my track more life. It might be a little bit of over kill since you can mix in cubase as well, but you never know when your PC will go out on you. My PC has crashed on me a few times(non since I got WIN. XP), but just in case it does I can still record and save my work easily as a .wav file. Also Like what stjoeben said since the recorder is portable you can take it to your boys house and record his vocals. Really, both hardware & software recording is useful it all depends on what your trying to do.