| I agree with the side effects of "ribbon fever" voiced above. I went through that when I first bought my Royer SF12, and the fact is that mediocre rooms and un-loud ensembles equal less-than-desirable ribbon results.
As alluring as a standalone recorder seems, the reality is that when you are using external micpres you are probably headed towards a small rack, and considering your budget and future plans you would do well to consider the Metric Halo 2882 (which can do 24/96) and older Macbook. I used a first generation TiBook (500mHz) but with a gig of RAM with no problems at all. You can safely record to the internal drive-- I upgraded for very little money. The software is free and rock-solid, the record panel is 80-bit fixed, and the ADC is quite good. The mic pres are not quiet enough for classical but you already have 2 channels of really good Great River, or you could sell that and get 8 channels of Broadhurst Gardens. The 2882 and BG8 fits in a 2U rackcase.
You could get a 2882, TiBook, and 8 ch BG for $3500 and add mics as your budget allows. You will not need to upgrade your capture system unless you need more than 8 channels, and if you do then get another 2882 (about $1000) and you have 16 channels.
For mics the Neumann TLM193 are the great sleeper bargain on ebay-- I didn't pay more than $700 for any of the four I have, and one was new in the box. Very smooth and lacking the current signature Neumann glare. The Rode 55 is a great value in SDC omnis, and you also have the cardioid caps when needed. If you have the scratch then the new Sennheiser 80XX mics are an incredible bang for the buck.
The ultimate stumbling block to any standalone recorder (especially DSD format) is that you really need to edit the material you recorded, and then get it to Redbook (16/44.1) and onto a CD-R. And congrats on deciding to rid yourself of the Superscope. My daughter's piano teacher bought one and the noise and distortion in the electronics was truly remarkable.
Rich |