Knowing you will be getting many fine recommendations based on personal experience from many users, that you are asking specifically for hardware recommendations and not software, plus the fact that "Please include some basic information such as name/manufacturer/price and a brief summary of what it has e.g. 2 audio ins, 2 audio outs, 1 MIDI in, 1 MIDI out.

And state if you have used it in Windows or Mac, and if it's a USB connection or something else (FireWire, USB-C)" barely touches the surface of what a beginner may encounter, I will go straight to "local knowledge" and recommend what I feel is indisputably the easiest route for a beginner to use BIAB products to record music.

A stand alone multi track recorder. Multi track recorders today include some variation of DAW software customized to the hardware requirements of the unit so a project can be recorded from start to finish "in the box", they all provide the ability to move tracks back and forth between the hardware recorder and a computer DAW regardless of the operating system of computer.

They are the best of both worlds on one hand freeing a user from possibly learning a difficult DAW software program and having to navigate the actual hardware connections and configurations to make an audio interface work with a DAW.

Of all the available brands and models, I recommend the Tascam DP24 for both features and ease of use. It has very capable proprietary DAW features for effects, editing, mixing and mastering. I recommend it over its sister model the DP32 because the only functional difference are the additional channels. Most will never need and the difference is not worth the additional cost. It can be connected to a computer by USB and recognized the same as a thumb drive or the SD card can be physically removed and read from a reader on a computer. It has hundreds of tracks available but limited to mixing 32 at one time, that is a bit deceptive because tracks can be bounced without degradation prior to any mixdown.

The DP24 is very easy for a novice to operate because you simply select the track you want to record to, or if you are working with a track, select the track and there are physical knobs and graphics for panning, eq, dynamics, sends, and volume.

For ease of use, it is as easy to operate as a recorder as a cassette deck. The transport controls are very similar.

I have both a computer based DAW and a DP24. I have had issues integrating hardware into DAWS, crashes and spent hours getting all the bugs work out before ever thinking about recording. You simply turn the DP24 on, make sure you have recording media inserted, connect instruments and mics and begin recording.

The editing features are basic, but are capable and adequate for a beginner or seasoned mixer. 8 tracks can be recorded at once. I have had my DP24 many years and it has never crashed. Nor did the predecessor, 2488neo I owned. They are very rugged and reliable.


Tascam DP24SD

My two cents worth.

Charlie

BIAB 2025:RB 2025, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.