Well, I started on a TEAC reel to reel 2 track machine. That was home recording for me for awhile, then I dropped the hobby when I had to return the TEAC. Many years later I 'sequenced' on my Ensoniq ESQ-1, then Ensoniq VFX-SD.

Then in roughly 1996 or so, I bought my first copy of PG PowerTracks Pro Audio and used that for a good 6-7 years.

Then I bought a copy of Computer Music magazine at Borders and on the cover CD was a freebie DAW called CMuzys, along with a raft of freebie plugins.

Guess what, some of those freebie plugins let me relive playing electromechanical keyboards that I played live in the 80's, which was before I was doing the recording on the TEAC.

These days, I have those same kinds of keyboards available to me in my pocket in my iPhone - SERIOUSLY good emulations and surprisingly playable even on the dinky iPhone screen.

They are in Garageband in the iPhone, which will function just peachy as a good ol 4-track (and more) audio only recorder if you want to use it that way. Even the mic in the iPhone is serviceable. So, if you have an iPhone or iTouch and a spare 5$, you can have your portastudio back if you want it.

So, while we may pine for the old days, the new technology in some respects allows us to relive and repurpose the good of the old technology.

-Scott

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