»

[Jan Deal]

Now since my 4 track has decided to die (see an older thread I made about this) and giving it a clean, then a "gentle" tap didn't fix it, I now need something else to record music onto.

And I thought that I should enter the realms of the 21st. century and get one of these new fangled digital multitrackers as I've had trouble finding any decent analogue multitrackers about.

What do people recommend? I've noticed that most come with built in drum machine/effects which I am not in the least bit interested in since I already have a shit drum machine and my effect pedals are great. Also, alot of digital multitrackers seem to only be able to record to 2 tracks at a time, does this only apply to budget models? I'm not looking to spend fantastic amounts of money after I've just bought a new guitar and laptop, but I don't want a bag o' shite. Thankfully my flatmate/singer said he would chip in so the most I'd be willing to pay would be £500.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[skuzzlebutt]

pc...cakewalk or cubasis..sound card initial investment...you should be able to hack that around 500 bux... (build your own pc: scan/ misco/ local pc shop etc)after that you can slowly improve your set up.... new mics...better sound card (better still sound card with hub for better S/N).... and learn as you go along....

pros:
- no track limit...
- easy to edit...
- easy to record midi...
- easy to save....
- easy to expand...

cons:
- pc's can be noisy (interference etc) hence hub requirement
- can be a longer learning curve...
- you have to exercise a degree of discipline and not install to many non muso programs on your pc and slow down its proc

that's my tuppence worth.... hope it helps...

[Alan Cynic]

I made the same decision as you a year or so ago, and bought an Akai DPS 12i off of Hog. It has been great! It operates much like a cassette portastudio, so the learning curve wasn't big. Plus it has 12 seperate tracks, and 'phantom' tracks (which I don't bother with 'cos I don't understand them!)The only hassle is that it records onto an internal disc, so when that fills up you have to delete stuff, but it holds loads of songs. If I could be bothered learning how, it's possible to download the separate tracks onto my computer.

[Sam L4]

I am thinking along the lines of a boss multitracker. This site is ace and is real good value - www.guitarstrings.co.uk

[Stripey]

Buy a decent multi i/o audio interface for your laptop and a copy of cubase or something similar. This will cost a lot less than 500 quid, and be hugely more flexible and useful than some dodgy digital standalone multiitracker.