Musicians: Multi-track Recorder help

I am looking to buy a multi-track recorder for recording songs with guitar, bass, vocals, keyboard, drums etc. Right now I have a Boss BR-8 which records to 100mb zip disks so I obviously need an update.

The one I have been looking at is this one:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ner?sku=701049

That's $500 and I probably can't go very much higher than that for my price range. I probably need more than 8 tracks for what I am planning to record.

My other gear that I plan to hook up at different times:

*Guitars and bass straight in
*Through BR-8 for certain guitar and vocal effects and drum machine
*Through Boss GT-8 for guitar and bass effects
*Through my guitar and bass amps

I do use Audacity for some small editing on my computer but I'd prefer to have a standalone recorder rather than using software and recording everything to a computer because I don't have a computer in my music area and with that recorder I can do everything there and burn to a cd easily.

I am pretty new to recording so any advice would be greatly appreciated.:D

PC or Mac? Garageband is excellent for that kind of thing.

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Originally Posted by ninja9578

PC or Mac? Garageband is excellent for that kind of thing.

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PC but I'd rather not use software.

Think software, not hardware!

If you're on the PC, I recommend any of the Sonar line from Cakewalk. For the same money you're looking at, you could get Sonar Home Studio, a little outboard mixer, and maybe a few plugins to boot. You'll be much more able to incrementally update your setup in the future.

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Originally Posted by ninja9578

PC or Mac? Garageband is excellent for that kind of thing.

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I wouldn't suggest Garageband, its very limiting. I'm using Logic Pro on the Mac. Its great for what i need and theres tons of things you can do with it. Thats if your a Mac user.

PC user, i'd suggest Sonar or Cubase, however Cubase is a bit advanced in some areas thus why i don't use it.

Multi-track mixing desks, i suggest an 8 track desk and maybe going for a Soundcraft one because they do really nice ones. Check them out at www.soundcraft.com They have tons of stuff. Are you looking for a desk you can plug in via USB or just linked through standard mic jacks etc?

Let me know if you need any advice though.

I know jack-shit about standalone equipment. All I have is a couple of KORG synthesizers.

On the PC, though, I use a combination of Audacity and SonicFoundry ACID for all of my recording and editing needs. (I don't know if you could get multi-track recording out of the two, though. I'm just sayin.)

All of my guitars and everything is down in my basement whereas my computer is upstairs and there isnt much room around it which is why I was mainly planning on looking for a standalone unit.

If I were to use software what would I need to be able to do that, like for plugging my guitars into the computer or using an external mixer? Also is it important to have a high performance computer to be able to do that?

Thanks for all the help so far too:banana:.

Your PC doesn't need to be all that high-performance. Usually audio software doesn't use up too much RAM. All you would need is the correct wires. You can find wires that pretty much use all types of combinations, so you can pick up one that has the guitar output jack on one end, and the smaller 1/8 inch microphone type jack (the one that goes into your computer) on the other end. It's just a matter of getting the right cables for the job. But they are all available.

If you were to get an external mixer, you could run all of your equpiment into the mixer and then just have one cable going from your mixer to your PC.

I'm looking into both types now, what would you guys say is the advantage of using the software over stand-alone hardware?

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Originally Posted by Oneironaut

All I have is a couple of KORG synthesizers.

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Which ones do you have? I was looking at an R3 a while back but got a new guitar instead. If I had the money I'd definitely get a Radius though.

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Originally Posted by ThePhobiaViewed

I'm looking into both types now, what would you guys say is the advantage of using the software over stand-alone hardware?

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1. Upgrades
2. Plug-ins
3. Software libraries for expansion
4. Portability of media
5. Easy to make a quick mp3 and upload to the internet
6. Large screen to do edits on visually

I have been trying to use Audacity to record some songs. My set up is having my guitar or keyboard go into my gt-8 guitar effects processor or my BR-8 multi-track recorder (to get drum patterns and mic capability), or through both. I then have that plugged in to my computer using the Line In connection. I do not have audacity set to play the track i am recording as I record it because that delays it. However when I play I can hear it instantly because it is plugged into the Line In.

My problem now is that the sound that I am recording only comes out of the left speaker which is really annoying because I am using headphones. However, when it has been recorded onto the track and is played back then it comes through both ears.

Audacity has meters for speaker and input and the speaker one has both the left and right moving but the input only has the left meter showing anything. i can also put audacity in stereo mode and I get static on the right channel then but I am only plugging in one connection so there is no signal for the other channel.

Basically I am asking is there a way to get it to play that mono signal back through both speakers when I am recording. Otherwise would I have to get some kind of adapter that can take 2 inputs to be stereo and put them into the Line In? The gt-8 has alot of stereo sounds so itd be cool if I could plug 2 different connections in at the same time. Thanks

I don't think Audacity was designed for multi-track recording (unless there's a version miles beyond the one I saw). Try out Sonar Home Studio for what you're trying to do.

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Originally Posted by skysaw

I don't think Audacity was designed for multi-track recording (unless there's a version miles beyond the one I saw). Try out Sonar Home Studio for what you're trying to do.

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So far its working for what I have to do. I just recorded a short instrumental version of Smells Like Teen Spirit with 2 guitar tracks and it's working fine. The old version I had didn't line up when you recorded a new track while listening to the others but that is automatically adjusted for on the newer version.

With the money I save from not buying a recorder I might buy a Yamaha MM6 keyboard which comes with Cubase LE (I'm not sure how good of a version that is).

Right now I'm just using my computer speakers so it doesn't bother me that it's only coming out of one but I'd like to use headphones and I'm not sure how to get the mono signal to come out both ears.

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Originally Posted by ThePhobiaViewed

Which ones do you have? I was looking at an R3 a while back but got a new guitar instead. If I had the money I'd definitely get a Radius though.

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Sorry. I didn't see this until now. I've got the Electribe R-mkII and an A-mkII.

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Originally Posted by skysaw

I don't think Audacity was designed for multi-track recording (unless there's a version miles beyond the one I saw). Try out Sonar Home Studio for what you're trying to do.

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Yeah, actually I'm not too sure. I use the stereo setting, as well, but when I playback, they do play through both speakers, simultaneously...so I'm not sure. I'm not too familiar with much of the terminology, though, so...hmm...

Ok for no reason at all now it has started coming through both ears. It might have been when I changed it to go through my gt-8 first then the BR-8. So it works now.

Anyone know any good keyboards in the $600 range? I'm thinking the Yamaha MM6 now but the Juno-D is right around there too. Or is there anything else musical for around $600 that would be cool?

And O those Electribes are pretty cool looking, I've never seen them before.

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Originally Posted by ThePhobiaViewed

With the money I save from not buying a recorder I might buy a Yamaha MM6 keyboard which comes with Cubase LE (I'm not sure how good of a version that is).

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Actually Cubase (even LE) will make what you're doing much, much easier.

I wouldn't spend too much on a keyboard just for its sounds, unless you plan on playing live with it. Get something solid that feels good and has a good range (72+ keys). You can find all the sounds you'll ever need in soft synths.

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Originally Posted by skysaw

Actually Cubase (even LE) will make what you're doing much, much easier.

I wouldn't spend too much on a keyboard just for its sounds, unless you plan on playing live with it. Get something solid that feels good and has a good range (72+ keys). You can find all the sounds you'll ever need in soft synths.

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Right now I have a Casio WK-3000 which was like $300 and has 76 keys. I have played the MM6 (61 keys) at a local music store and really liked the small size and it had a good feel. The sounds were good too. I don't plan on playing live or anything, more just make some home recordings.

I plan on making songs that have a drum track, maybe 2-4 guitar tracks, a bass track, 2-3 vocal tracks and maybe some keyboard tracks. I'm not sure how well audacity will handle many tracks, I'll have to experiment and find out. In about a year and a half I will be getting a laptop for college and I'll probably get some good recording software for it.