Hard Disk recorder reccomendation?

[Indrestudios]

I'm helping a friend of mine assemble a small studio, above his rock club, to record live shows. I'm trying to find an interface box & software solution that can comfortably record 16-18 tracks at once. He's using a Mackie 8 bus, for now, as the front end pres, so all signals would be at line level.

Ideas?
I'm using a RADAR24 machine, that I love, but that's out of his budget.
The Digi002r only has 8 analog ins.
Maybe a used PT Mix, or D24 system w/2 888's? again getting pricey for old technology.

There is a MOTU box, that has a PCI card + a 24 channel interface box that looks pretty cool: http://www.motu.com/products/pciaudio/24IO/ I think that system would work with a few, non ProTools, software programs - like Logic.

You probably get the picture, we're not looking for esoteric converters, etc. Just something solid, ideally running on a Mac & Firewire drive.

Any suggestions are welcome.
-Michael

[ARude]

Find a used Mackie SDR 24/96. No worries...

[Indrestudios]

Thanks but I'm not really hip on the Mackie piece, or any standalone unit for that matter.

Looking more for a Mac based recording platform for easy file managment, firewire transfers & backup, and simple in-the-box mixing.

[Sound Sorcerer]

I use Nuendo with a RME9652 card & am very pleased with this system. You can input 24 tracks via ADAT light-pipe at 48khz 24bits with this card. You can also use the MOTU interface you like with Nuendo which is far more flexible than the RME9652...