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Joined: Jul 2006
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Hi There folks, Greetings, I would appreciate some feed back and advice here. I am considering whether to buy a hard disk recorder (either The Korg D888 or The Zoom HD16CD both of which are 16 track recorders and cost $699 each) or whether I should purchase another PC. My Budget is just about $800, My home set up includes a Yamaha Motif Es 7, a lexicon Omega interface, Cakewalk Sonar 4 (studio edition) running on a Compaq Presario Pc (Windows XP Pro, 1.8 Ghz Athlon processor, 1 gig of Ram, and hard drive space capacity of 37 giggs). I bought this Pc at Walmart back in 2003.. My question is, should I just buy me an external hard drive (250 Giggs) to hook up to my Pc and then purchase one of the above hard disk recorders to integrate into my system or should I buy me a new computer like a Dell or..umm I dunno? By the way, the zoom HD16CD really caught my eye with all those features and a whopping 80 Gigg internal hard drive plus a CD burner onboard, control surface capabilities http://www.zzounds.com/item--ZOMHD16CD. Again, just my thoughts huh !!! I know that scenarios differ; however, I would appreciate some feed back here from y’all on some advice etc as to what decision to make here. ReeeeesPEKK !!!!
Jacobins
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Joined: May 2000
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You going to want to be doing any recording in other locations?? That's the big advantage..
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Joined: Jul 2006
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Well yes, maybe I will want to do recordings at my church. I have a choir of 7 singers and myself on keys so, maybe I will want to record our Tuesday evening rehearsals and burn to CD to give all the singers so that they can further review and prepare for the Sunday service. Any thoughts on my previous posting in light of that?
Jacobins
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Joined: May 2000
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I'm PC.
For onlocation I use my laptop and the EMU1616M. Took a lot of learning, tweaking, installation of an aftermarket internal 7200rpm/16mb cache hard drive, 1g ram, plus an external FireWire drive, again, 7200rpm/16mb cache and the knowledge of knowing how to set PT's Temp Stream to that external drive to pull this off, but with the addition of an inexpensive Berry A-D box, I can record all 16 channels into the laptop at 24/48 without probs.
I think the biggest difference lies in the type of person you are.
If you are a techno type, or are willing to become one, the PC offers sheer flexibility and ability to upgrade and try new things as they come out.
But I have a neighbor who records his band using a dedicated hard disk recorder, they sell the CDs at the gig, nobody can listen to them and tell you what they were recorded on or how they were recorded, his sound is pro -- and he is not a techno, "tweak the pc" type, you see. He had enough of a time learning how to use the dedicated hard disk recorder and now that he knows enough about it to get tracks in the can, that's all he wants and that's all he does.
Ya gotta know yourself, then.
Either platform can be great, or could be a disaster. If a disaster, look inward first. Because others are obviously successful.
--Mac
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Joined: Jul 2006
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Hi Mac,
Thanks. I know you have been in the business for a while and you are very experienced. Some of what you said are like Grreeeek to me, a musician, acustomed to "live" jazz giggs and now getting into the home studio vibe..so ummmmmm but thanls anyways. I did some research on a few of the things you mentioned and now understand a bit what you said. I guess, it's a continual learning process huh. Mac, have you checked out the Zoom HD16CD? take a look at it and tell me what you think, in terms of integrating it with my home studio set up as a control surface and more and also in terms of doing a quick rehearsal at my choir practices and burning CD copies of the rehearsal on the spot.
Hit me back again, mac !!1
!
Jacobins
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I don't see why anyone couldn't do production from scratch to pro quality CD with the Zoom stuff, my aforementioned neighbor is still using an older Zoom product, I forget the model. Or maybe its a Roland. I forget that kinda stuff.
Any way you choose there is going to be a learning curve, but at least with the dedicated recorder things don't change literally from day to day, so what you learn only has to be learned once. The dedicated recorder has that advantage and for many it can be a big advantage. The tradeoff is that once you buy it, it will be stuck in time, as it were. That's not necessarily a kill, either. You have to weigh those things and decide which tradeoffs are for you, man.
Yeah, I didn't start out to become an ubertechnogeek, all I wanted to do was replace my old large and expensive 16 track analog studio. I actually thought it would be a simple task, silly me.
Bam.
You been hit.
--Mac
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Joined: Jan 2002
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You already have an external soundcard with the Lexicon Omega - a Laptop would be ideal to use with it. That way you can do remote location recording, and also do stuff at home, and have the familiarity of the PC recording environment. You should be able to find a new or used laptop with better performance than your desktop PC for the budget you are looking at.
I do this with my PreSonus Firebox - use it at home most of the time, but I've used it also with my laptop for field and remote recording - I even used it with Freq-a-scope for a spectrum analyzer for a live sound setup at our local Jr. High to help tune the system.
Quite handy.
-Scott
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Joined: Jan 2002
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Quote:
I'm PC.
For onlocation I use my laptop and the EMU1616M. Took a lot of learning, tweaking, installation of an aftermarket internal 7200rpm/16mb cache hard drive, 1g ram, plus an external FireWire drive, again, 7200rpm/16mb cache and the knowledge of knowing how to set PT's Temp Stream to that external drive to pull this off, but with the addition of an inexpensive Berry A-D box, I can record all 16 channels into the laptop at 24/48 without probs.
--Mac
Mac, what A/D converter is that? I'm looking to get just a stereo A/D so that I can also use the SPDIF input on my FireBox. I'd like to use something that works for sure.
-Scott
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That Berry is 8 channels for ADAT, Scott. No Spudiff.
The EMU1616M, like so many cards, has 16 digital inputs, but only 8 are analog, you have to go into the ADAT to get those other 8.
The Berry's converters don't match the fine converters in the EMU, but used judiciously, like on the drums and stuff, they get the job done without breaking the bank.
--Mac
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Hi Scott,
Got your message re using the laptop with the Lexicon Omega, however, here is what I am thinking re the Hard Disk Recorder, notably the ZOOM HD16CD. How about recording my Praise Team (7 singers and myself on keys) directly on the zoom, and I don't have to worry about interface, just hook up the mics directly thru 7 XLR inputs and my keys on one. Just have to check the levels, and then.....hey, let's RECORD TO A WHOPPING 80 Gigg hard drive......then do a some quick mixing...and then burn to CD's.....AND GIVE ALL MY SINGERS A DEMO CD copy for them to go home, listen and fine tune their act. Don't ya think that this would be more convenient instead of a laptop plus loaded on software and plus an interface?
Any thoughts on that?
Jacobins
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See the other thread to see what Mac has to say about that.
Then follow your star, man.
--Mac
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