I remember my first Tascam Porta-1. That was game changing. I had previously had a Teac 4 track reel to reel and sold it. It was a PITA to work with. Funny story... the guy who bought it was running a bootlegging operation back in the days of 8-track tapes. He ended up in federal prison when they caught him and his compadres. He had a whole room full of tape machines like mine for his duplication process.

The P-1 worked well but was track limited to 4 unless you wanted to bounce.... which ended up sounding like one muddy mess. Then, my first computer based DAW running on Windows 95. Cakewalk Pro 8 deluxe and a midi-man card. I was in hog heaven until I had to upgrade the OS, whereupon the midi-man was totally incompatible.

So after a time, I decided to get a portable digital recorder. It was a 16 channel Korg something or other. No computer needed. What a freaking nightmare trying to record music. It didn't do midi and trying to play a decent piano part was an exercise in frustration not to mention how difficult it was to do the drums. I think I battled with that portable desk for a few months before it went on eBay to the highest bidder.

At this point, I figured to get into music recording and do it halfway right, I was simply going to have to buy the proper gear. A new laptop, Cakewalk's Music Creator 4, and a Focusrite Saffire interface later, I was back in the game. Drums were still an issue but I was learning how to write drum tracks from scratch using midi.

One day, a friend told me that he used BB for drums and bass and when I took a look.....well.... that was a pivotal point in music creation for me. I built my own custom desktop DAW some time later and loaded it with everything, and that's where I'm at to this day.

I have blown past that wishful $400 ten times over as I was building the studio setup that I currently have between the hardware and the software..... oh yeah.

Can you record for under $400? Absolutely. Is it ideal? Nope.


I'm a firm believer in two sayings.

1. Use the right tool for the job.

2. You generally get what you pay for.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 05/04/22 04:09 AM.
You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.