Apocalyptica, Rapunzel, Celloforte kinda stuff?
Combustion - Cellofourte - YouTube
I've recorded many symphonic ensembles, from Heinz Hall, the Benedum Center, Heinz Chapel, Duqesne School of Music, the Recital Hall at C-MU and other venues, in door and out. When the Pittsburgh Symphony records in house they use an array of DPA mics. The Ballet and Opera orchestras are captured using a wide variety of mics, mostly AKG 460 or 480 SDs on the strings with Schopes over head.
You present two problems. First, to capture those more traditional sounds in a natural way; second to make a more modern, edgy recording for more modern, pushy music.
The first problem is solved, in my opinion, by keeping it simple and decent quality. Good mics on the front end, coupled with a good preamplifier would be my choice. Your choice of room could be a problem unless, as in Pittsburgh's cultural district, your connections would allow you to have access to certain rooms when they are not booked for events. Anyway, a pair of quality SDs (Schopes, AKG, DPA, etc) going into a quality quiet preamp (John Hardy, Cranesong, Gordon, Millenia, etc ) are reasonable choices.
For a more modern sounding ensemble? I had the good fortune to assist on a Celloforte session. They were brought in as session players on a rock record, and the engineer wanted my input and some of my mics. Celloforte showed up with contact mics on their instruments and guitar effects pedals. The studio put up four Neumann 103s a few feet in front of the players, and four SDs a few feet further back in the room. Some of therse mics went into old Neve modules, some went straight into the studio console. I walked the room while they played, listened, and dropped in an additional pair of C-28s (an older AKG tube SD). I don't know what they chose for the recording, but I know which tracks sounded 'best' in a classical sense.
In terms of what recording medium you pick, it really doesn't matter as long as there is some quality involved in the conversions. There are practical reasons to use a computer, because editing is a lot easier, and from within the computer you can upload to sites or burn CDs.
The reasons to use a laptop (if the production does not get too involved) are compelling, too. Portability rocks.
If it was -me-, I would pick something like the RME Babyface as an interface for a computer. (The babyface in particular is a USB interface that handles 2 channels of AES/EBU input and four out at up to 192K, uses ADAT to expand that an additional 8 channels, comes with TotalMix, TotalMix Effects, Digicheck, and DigiCheck Record.) There are other good interfaces, I happen to be partial to RME because they are like hammers or screwdrivers... they just work. No tears. But there are other choices. A little more money that the Marantz, but the value is higher and you may never need to replace it. But there is no reason why you could not use the Marantz. (By the same token, there is no reason why you could not use a student-level viola on stage with the Victoria...and the results would be similar.)
I would buy the computer based upon the software that I liked. I use Sequoia with is the Big Brother to Samplitude and is a popular classical editing platform (4 point editing is one reason) as well as a popular mastering platform. There are others, like Pyramix, Sonoma, etc. Or you could just go with one of the popular products like Pro Tools or Cubase, etc. THERE IS NO ADVANTAGE TO USING A MAC OR A PC. No one will ever know by the sound of the audio. You will do your work in the software, pick the software that you like and the computer that runs it best.
It would be smart to rent mics unless you know that you will be always recording the same things in the same way. But it never hurts to own a nice pair of SDs, like Schopes, Neumann KM84i, DPA, etc. Top quality LDs are pricey, and today you might want an M-49, tomorrow an Elam 251....
Know that for close miced pop music you may be able to buy the cheapest mics you can find and get away with it. To capture the detail of a viola in a symphony hall? Maybe, maybe not. A lot of people make a lot of claims about this and that copy or modification being 'as good as...'. Clearly, the item to which they compare themselves must be the right tool to buy. I can only tell you that I have never seen a Chinese copy come onto any professional live symphonic recording situation in which I have been involved; and I have never had any noted professional recordist tell me that they preferred any Chinese copy over any of the typically chosen Western selections for classical recording.
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