self contained 4-16 track hard disk?

[djs]

hi all.

i've been using my G4 powerbook and m-box for live recording for some time...works well but limiting. i do want to upgrade to somplace between 4 and 16 tracks. i know plenty of products exist for this, but i recently had a scary experience at a show (almost had a tray of beers dumped on the laptop!). so i've started looking for a solution that would allow me to leave the laptop at home (i also wouldn't have to worry about the comp. crashing). something like a DA88 might work. i would like to get something with an internal hard disk though. just for tracking....no computer required. i would prefer it not to have pre's or converters so i can choose my own (probably much better quality then most stock) so maybe with digital ins (lightpipe or something?). then after the show i could either directly interface via firewire or such, or pop the drive into another chassie (which would makes it easy to get more recording time out of the unit if it had hot swap drives).

the smaller the better. i don't want tape because of the limited time for recording...plus i don't want to have to stock-pile tapes. i found all sorts of 2track versions of this, but nothing bigger...oh, rackmount is big plus!

any and all sugestions are very welcome. thanks in advance.
-dan

[hollywood_steve]

Good news, bad news.....

The good news is that the Genex GX9000 meets every one of your requirements and does it with some of the best audio quality available at any price. (www.genexaudio.com) You get 8ch of top quality 24b/192kHz PCM audio and they throw in a free DSD recorder as a bonus. (well, thats one way to look at it....)



The bad news is that no one will mistake this thing for a walkman; they are the same size as the DA88 you mentioned.

Also, although I didn't notice any price limit, I'm guessing that you are looking for something a lot cheaper. You want something to save your notebook from the possiblity of a beer shower - I'd much rather have to replace my notebook than my GX9000.

[djs]

thanks for the responses. both units look very cool and have diferent +'s & -'s.

hollywood steve,
do you know the rough cost on that genex GX9000? i had a tough time finding that info.

fyi, i'll put this up for anyone else interested in this market...i found this one today...may be the one i go for. one cool feature is that it incorperates PT session files with the audio!

http://www.hhb.co.uk/hhb/usa/hhbprod...rive/index.asp

thanks again,
dan

[hollywood_steve]

do you know the rough cost on that genex GX9000? i had a tough time finding that info

I think the base price is around $3600, but you will spend around $5k to have everything you need (onboard converters, 2 hard drives, I/O panels, etc.)

If you already have a high quality A/D converter, you could save some money there, I suppose.


Regarding prices, you should do some homework on the HHB machine, you may be in for a shock. (I could be mistaken, but I thought I remember reading that its on the wrong side of $10k)

[djs]

thanks. this is something i'm going to be looking at for about 6 months from now, so i have plenty of time to do my homework. which, when it comes to audio gear i like to do as much as possible...especially with prices like these! i wouldn't think that HHB device would be quite that much, but i plan on checking all three of these bad boys out in depth (plus any others i come across), and if the best package for me has the highest price tag, so be it. i don't have killer converters just yet, but studio is the place my money goes first, and those are next on the list. so by the time i get around to buying one of these boxes, i will have converters to use if i choose to.

thanks again.

[Paj]

Ditto the Mackie, etc.

Lowest price with lightpipe:

http://www.fostex.com/index.php?file...igital/d2424lv

[djs]

thanks Paj. i like the price point on this one! has anyone out there used any of these? i'm interested in sound quality, not just price. thanks.